I have only started taking hiv meds for approx 3 yrs now and the drugs have caused me to have high cholesterol, borderline diabetes, and now form the drugs to combat the high cholesterol, and diabets meds my liver enzymes are highly elevated I want to know what the experts feel about taking a drug vacation and if so for how long to see if my body will return normal cholestrol, normal sugar levels i have changed my diet drastically and increased my physicall activities drastically to help combat these problems please help sincerly Mike

Stopping HIV medications may improve your blood lipid levels but it also may increase your risk for serious health problems including heart/cardiac disease (a phenomenon observed in the SMART study). Persons whose health improves (and gain weight) from effective HIV therapy may aggravate tendencies towards diabetes or elevated lipids that in an unintended outcome from treatment. The net health effect of stopping HIV medications for many patients is negative over the short term. Your HIV specialist is in the best position to look at the individual factors in your case and advise you. KH