Do You think I can gain the weight back in my arms and legs if I go off my meds? I am doing great, viral load 127, and t-cells around 700.I got so skinny only months after taking Crixivan.

This seems to be a frequently asked question and unfortunately, I still do not have any answers. I recommend that you look at my answers to similar questions on both the women's forum and general treatment forum.

One, we do not know what causes fat loss (lipoatrophy)in the arms and legs. That makes it difficult to know how to treat it when we do not know why we get it. Two, there have been no studies to date showing that stopping medications will make it go away and restore our fat back to normal again.

There are several clinical trials looking at switching medications or stopping medications or other therapies as ways to improve or reverse lipoatrophy. I encourage you to go to a HIV clinical trial center or see a HIV expert who participates in clinical trials if one is near you and find out if you are eligible for one of the lipoatrophy studies.