Hi Doctor,

I started Truvada / Sustiva (or Stocrin as it is marketed here) a week ago. So far so good, no side effects except slight dizziness the first night, so I guess I should be grateful. I know it is too early to repeat tests,still waiting for my first month to be over. But my question is, should I be feeling any better physically?

My CD4 was 100 just before treatment, and had a VL of 600000, but I felt almost perfectly healthy with the occasional headache, and it is pretty much the same still. Do I get to feel any difference, if at all? Or are all the benefits just in the numbers?

Thanks a lot!

You are off to a good start with your ART regimen so that is good news. Your case highlights how often persons can feel good despite having advanced HIV-related immune deficiency. Often patients would continue to feel OK until an AIDS-related complication arose threatening to both their health and life. In patients who are relatively asymptomatic the benefit of treatment is preventing serious health problems from developing in the first place. KH