Started Isentress + Truvada - interested in hearing other positive experiences..

[wylidas]

Still feeling pretty depressed and anxious all at the same time. Didn't update yesterday cause I just didn't have the energy. Today I am trying to run errands to keep myself distracted, but it's difficult.

PozinLBC- if you're reading this, let me know how you're doing. Curious to see what effects you're still feeling now that you're further into taking it. Today marks Day 9 for me. Gonna keep going and talk to my HIV doc about it all next Monday.

[twenty5plus]

Hi,
I've been on this combo for six weeks and have been experiencing insomnia and anxiety. Would like to hear from any others with similar symptoms. thx

[Miss Philicia]

Sleep disturbances are the most frequent side effect for Isentress, or 4% of patients on that combo. You're option would be to take a sleeping pill or change regimens. Personally I would switch before resorting to sleeping pills.

[wylidas]

twenty5plus-
I agree with Miss Philicia. I am not having the extreme insomnia, I will sleep and wake up for a short period then fall right back asleep, but I do feel my anxiety is ramped up since starting Isentress/Truvada and I used to be able to sleep through the night without a peep. I mean I was literally dead to the world.

My guess is that it's the Isentress and not the Truvada. I am already prone to anxiety, but I know the difference between my own anxious thoughts and actually feeling like my CNS is being disturbed, and this definitely is my CNS. I am sticking it out until I see my doc next MOnday, and see what he says, but I agree with Miss P that I would switch medications in a heart beat before I would go to sleeping pills. Anytime you have the option to be on fewer meds, take it! I wasn't to be at a point where all I have to take daily is my HIV meds, the way it used to be.

I was on my old regimen for 4 years and slept like a baby at night. I am thinking of asking my doc to switch me back to it if I don't show improvement on the anxiety level with ISentress soon.

[Miss Philicia]

I was on my old regimen for 4 years and slept like a baby at night. I am thinking of asking my doc to switch me back to it if I don't show improvement on the anxiety level with ISentress soon.

Sorry, I'm confused by this going by what you wrote up in your signature line.

[wylidas]

I'm not sure what's confusing about my signature line, but I will clarify if necessary.
I took Epzicom/Reyataz/Norvir for over 4 years and my primary issues with it were anxiety and elevated BP, but that was generally what I would feel in the hours after I would take it. I took my meds always in the morning with breakfast, as the NOrvir was best with food.

By the time I went to bed at night, I was not anxious and would fall right asleep, hence my comment about how I slept like a baby. This was the routine for years until I went on Ativan in January 2011 due to a very turbulent and bad relationship ramping up my anxiety. I stayed on that drug for over 6 months then I decided to come off, as that relationship had ended and I felt I could handle coming off, but instead all hell broke loose and I went into acute and protracted benzodiazepine withdrawal. It was because of this that I started having trouble adhering to my meds, and with my doctor's help took a drug holiday and have had to take a long leave from my job. Now I am back to trying new HIV regimen, and we decided to try Truvada/Isentress as it's interaction profile is less severe than other regimens, but so far, I am not liking the way I feel on it, so I may wind up going back to my old regimen or trying something else altogether, or sticking this one out to see if the side effects lessen. I may be in the minority, but I am having side effects from this combo, and they are not just in my head unfortunately.

Hope that clears things up.

[Solo_LTSurvivor]

So wait.  I know you've posted before about your experiences, but it would be easier for you to recap here (for me, that is).

So what was going on after those few weeks on Atripla (after your bad experience) until you started on Epzicom/Reyataz and Norvir?

You weren't on anything?

[wylidas]

THat;s correct. I didn't have insurance and I was still new to Austin at the time, so I just went without anything for over a year. May not have been the ideal situation, but it was all I could do at that time. And I responded really well to E/R/N once I started them. I was UD very quickly, and I stayed that way the whole time I was on that combo. And my quarterly lab results were always excellent. Liver function, etc etc etc all of it was really great.

I just had hoped that taking Truvada/Isentress would be a fresh start for me since it's apparently so well tolerated by most people, which is why I really want to give it a fighting chance. But anything that messes with me psychologically is never gonna work for me, cause I tend to already have a high sensitivity in that department anyway, ESPECIALLY post-Ativan. That drug played absolute hell with my CNS and brain function.

[wylidas]

Oh, and to clarify how long I was on Atripla, it's actually hard for me to recall. What I do know is it was longer than a week, and less than a months. It may have actually been only 2 weeks I was on it. I just know I got really, really depressed and felt stoned all the time, and I couldn't sleep at all due to the intensity of the dreams. So I told my doctor I couldn't do it, and my numbers were good enough at the time that he felt we had time to find the right thing. It just took me another year to get insurance and go back on something.

So it's not like I was on Atripla for months and then discontinued and developed a resistance to it. Just wanted to clarify.

[Solo_LTSurvivor]

THat;s correct. I didn't have insurance and I was still new to Austin at the time, so I just went without anything for over a year. May not have been the ideal situation, but it was all I could do at that time. And I responded really well to E/R/N once I started them. I was UD very quickly, and I stayed that way the whole time I was on that combo. And my quarterly lab results were always excellent. Liver function, etc etc etc all of it was really great.

I just had hoped that taking Truvada/Isentress would be a fresh start for me since it's apparently so well tolerated by most people, which is why I really want to give it a fighting chance. But anything that messes with me psychologically is never gonna work for me, cause I tend to already have a high sensitivity in that department anyway, ESPECIALLY post-Ativan. That drug played absolute hell with my CNS and brain function.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Wy.  I could've researched your posting history, but I was lazy.

No worries.  You did what you had to do.  We've all been there.  Now all you can do is find the right combination that works for you.

Besides, I'm sure you benefit from the fact of having a sounding board here on these forums so you can get things out for discussion, as that is quite helpful when it comes to living life; condition or no condition such as teh aids to deal with.

[mecch]

How are you doing?
I am sad to read your recent posts with the dark clouds in your emotions.
Im repeating myself but I do wonder if you are expecting the impossible - a side effect free combination and side-effect free experience.   I mean given the way you write about your body awareness and about your experience with most drugs. 

I know it may not be possible, or easy, for you - but somehow you need to get your mind off the drugs, HIV, and listening to your body.  Especially the later which may be the hardest!  And put your mind onto something that is engaging, and fulfilling and hopefully not too stress inducing. 

I know, a tall order, and anxiety is a real beast on the back.  But still.... 

Want to share some of your plans for the future that don't have anything to do with all this HIV and body stuff? You might find that the side effect free experience just sneaks up on you when are not thinking about it, or waiting for it, and are otherwhere engaged.

[wylidas]

Update: I feel ok most days, but I have noticed that I am extremely irritable and easily angered. Maybe it's all just part of my body reconstituting itself.

Also, strangely I do have vivid intense dreams, which is something I didn't have with my last long-term combo. And I thought it was only SUstiva that brought that on.

I'm keeping on my path otherwise, and I am set to return to work this coming Wednesday. Gotta say I am pretty anxious about that, because I hear stories of how busy we are and I don't know if I am ready for all that....

[euronaive]

Hi Wylidas,

Is this thread still alive? I just started on Truvada and Isentress as well as my first medication, and am really annoyed by the cold hands/feet, diziness/drowsiness, low mood and absolute need to go to bed for a few hours after taking the Isentress. Only after about five hours things finally clear up. For the night dose this is fine, but during the day it is really interfering with my work, even though I am on a flexible schedule. So I stumbled upon this thread after googling 'Isentress cold' and want to say that I fully agree with you initial evaluation of the side-effects. I think the Isentress does do something to the blood circulation, but perhaps it is just the calcium that is in it that has this effect on us (if I may). How are you doing now? I am going to see how it goes for another week before considering something else (I have been on this combination almost two weeks now, and tried the Truvada at night and at noon, the latter seems to work better).
Take care, E