The Body's Bulletin Boards: The correct med regimen

I was diagnosed in December of 08. Viral load 10,000, CD4 93. I had no idea I had the virus and was not sick. A public health center started me on Atripla. After 2 months, my creatinine levels were moving up (not good). The doctor recommended taking the Atripla every other day with a different drug on the alternate days. I decided to get a second opinion. Boy am I lucky I did. The consult doctor did bloodwork and found the creatinine had moved up in just a weeks time. He told me to stop taking the Atripla immediately. The clinic that originally prescribed the first regimen did not have me slated for bloodwork followup for another month. My current doctor said that in that time, I could have gone into irreversible renal failure. Pretty horrifying stuff. I stopped the Atripla as advised while the new doc did more gene studies. A week later I went on a combination of Sustiva and Epzicom (which contains 2 drugs) so I take two tablets a day at the same time instead of just one with the Atripla. Friends, hear me well. I'm not blaming the first clinic. This is a complex disease and there are a ton of meds out there. Unfortunately, there have not been many long term testing proctols for many of the combinations. You must get involved with your health. Ask lots of questions. Remember there are things more important that just your T-cell and viral load counts. You must consider your kidney functions, liver, etc. The good news is, that chances are very high that eventually you will get onto the right regimen (combination of drugs) that will knock your viral load down to an undetectable level and elevate your CD4 count. Don't hesitate for a moment to get a second opinion, even if it is necessary to go to a different city. Get this stuff right up front and then eventually you can get into a long term regimen that works propertly for you. Also.. for complex reasons it is NOT good to take some of the cocktail drugs on one day..and the others on alternate days. Two experts have told me you must take all of the drugs every day for optimum efficency and effectivness. I thank God that he moved me to get more information or my situation could have gone from bad to much worse (like dialysis for the rest of my life!).

Remember, your doctors/PAs are well intentioned good people but they can make mistakes. They have a lot of people to deal with. YOU have only ONE! YOU. Don't just trust everything you hear without questioning and understanding. Insist you have frequent bloodwork for liver, sugar, egfr, creatinine on a regular basis early on. This is the time to monitor carefully.

You will be in my prayers and I hope you will include me in yours as we get through this together.

God bless!

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