How long to live? - TheBody.com's Bulletin Boards

It depends on what long-term side-effects your doc is talking about. I would think that after 7 years you would already have some concrete indication whether or not they were coming or not, surely? Is your doctor talking about lipo and body fat changes? You said you look as you always do, so surely this can't be the side effect he's talking about.
You sound like your health is fine, your attitude sounds marvelous, you have no problem with adherence and your levels are all perfect. Why change? If I was in your position I wouldn't. I would stay with what I was doing until such a time as some test or other turned-up an unexpected result, like the liver function test or lipids etc, which I assume you have regularly anyway at the same time as your other bloods. Is your doctor being offered some sort of incentive from a rival drug company or something?
If I was in your shoes I would simply look out for any changes in my normal blood tests and if they were all perfectly normal and my face and body still looked as good as always (factoring-in normal aging) I wouldn't think twice about staying on the current regime. I just started on a combination for the first time 14 days ago and will stay on it forever, or until such a time as some evidence comes to light that it's doing me damage in some way or isn't doing it's job. In the meantime I'll take my pills get on with my life and think about all the things I want to get done. I don't know why your doc is suggesting a change, I really don't. What concrete evidence does he have IN YOUR PARTICULAR CASE (sorry for caps but I have to highlight that) that you are running the risk of long-term side effects, and what are those side-effects? What evidence does he have from any of your tests etc that you are going to come across them? I would personally wait until such a time as you had that evidence before thinking of switching something which is working so perfectly. I think your intuition is right, if it's not broken leave it alone and be happy.

It sounds like your medication is going to keep you alive for many years to come and you should stop worrying about dying and get back into living. There are no rules on how long the meds will be effective for you, I know it's sort of unrelated, but I've been on herpes suppression medication for 20 years and it's just as effective now as it was at the start. Yes, I know it's a different virus and they're different drugs, but why isn't it plausable to imagine that the meds you are currently on won't still be effective in another 7 years, 17, or 27? You'll probably die of old age before you die of treament failure, the biggest threat is lack of adherence and you have that well and truly covered. I wouldn't change meds unless I logically needed to for a concrete reason.

All the very best to you, you sound like a wonderful person.

Taurus

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I'm like fake fruit...... I don't bruise that easy.

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