When i went on my current regiment i had no fat pads. They seem to have developed over the past year with Reyataz turning out to be the culprit. At the time I was told Reyataz was the most unlikely drug to cause fat pads but their seems to be a new take onthat. Not wanting to further increase the fat pad size my Dr suggested Atripla which shows a lower frequency of fat accumulation. What is yur take on this change?

Thank you for your posting. I am not completely sure what you mean by "fat pads" but assume it is some form of fat accumulation. The reality is that we know much more about what contributes to fat loss than fat accumulation syndromes. There has been a tendency to think the latter is from protease inhibitors, but the data with currently used agents is pretty weak. That doesn't mean it isn't true, just that we need to do more research. Regardless, we do have considerable data with Atripla that looks promising and assuming your provider believes that this drug will continue to control your virus, it is not an unreasonable thing to do, recognizing the limited data in this area. Regardless of the data, or lack thereof, I do hope this works for you.

Best, Eric