Forum on Women and HIV: Side effects and what to do

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		Side effects and what to do Dec 7, 2003 I'm a 25 year old female that has been infected since dec. of 98. I just (in July 2003) started med. My counts were 69,000 viral load and cd4 count of 368. I wanted to get on meds. that were not alot of pills so I'm on Sustiva and Combivir. In Sept. The doctor said that I now have anemia. He gave me some iron pills at 325 millagrams 2x and now in oct. i have to take shots 3x a day for the anemia. I also now have constant headaches all day lond so my doctor also perscribed fioricet tablets and elavil. My question is this. I dont know what is more healthly for me, to quit the meds, change meds, or just go with the flow? I'm really disappointed right now cause i never expected this to happen. any advise?


		Response from Dr. Aberg The drug most likely to be causing you headaches and anemia is AZT. AZT is one of the components of Combivir. I would recommend that you switch out the AZT for another nucleoside. You have several options. The simplest one would be tenofovir (TDF, viread) which is taken once daily. You could also take the lamivudine (3TC, epivir) component of the Combivir as once a day. That way, you would take only 3 pills (Sustiva, Viread and Epivir) once a day. Please have your blood count monitored closely. The anemia can be quite severe and can require blood transfusions. I would stop the AZT and start another medicine as soon as possible.

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