You've made the commitment to begin treatment and settled on your first HIV medication regimen. To ensure that your meds keep working, you'll need to take the exact dose and exact number of pills in your regimen on time, every time. But there may be challenges waiting to trip you up, including:
- Side effects
- Pregnancy
- Depression, drug addiction or other personal problems
- Forgetting to refill your prescription
- Illnesses or injuries
- Family emergencies or travel
- Getting tired of taking meds every day
Whatever the reason, and however hard it may be to talk about it, it's extremely important to bring up the problem with your HIV specialist or case manager before the problem interferes with your med schedule.
"For some people, HIV changes their lifestyle -- now they feel healthier and are not abusing themselves anymore. That's what happened to me."
-- Precious Jackson, diagnosed in 1998
