A (secretive) relation is hiv positive and taking truvada (and two other medications for the last 9 months)on an ongoing basis but has had a blackout lasting about 5 seconds in the middle of the street 4 days ago. She also has been experiencing fuzziness or dizziness, lasting 2-3 hours 4 or 5 times as far as we can tell in the last 2-3 weeks. These symptoms were not there before but wondered a. What it may be? and b. If I need to insist she visits her physician. Many thanks.

Blackouts/dizzispells warrant clinic evaluation. Those symptoms often would be due to non-HIV issues such as low blood sugar levels, low blood pressure, severe fatigue (ie from sleep problems), epilepsy, side effects of non-HIV medications, stress/anxiety, and many other conditions. Some HIV medications (such as efavirenz) and HIV-related conditions can be contributing to those symptoms so a good clinical evaluation by provider familiar with the patients is recommended. KH