POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: positude68 on May 25, 2011, 08:50:44 pm
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I was just switched to prezista, norvir and truvada beginning january. i have noticed that since then i have gained almost 15 pounds which is mostly midsection area. I also noticed a significant shortness of breath. I can be short of breath simply after eating a meal, and typically have a very bloated feeling even if I ate a small portion.
All other numbers and labs work show the meds are working great for me. Anyone else have any side effects like these? Before this I was on sustiva and truvada, but had to take twice a day. I loke the current regimen with only once a day.
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hmmm. No. I was on that reg for about a year and had problems GAINING weight. Never noticed shortness of breath either.
Not sure what to say about that. Are all your other blood tests ok?
-Will
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Hi Positude, welcome to the forums.
I'm sorry, but I don't know much about the side-effects you mention in relation to your current combo.
One thing I'm confused about - you say you had to take Sustiva and Truvada twice a day, but this is a once-a-day combo. Why were you taking it twice a day? You should have only been taking it once.
Ann
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Welcome to the Forums.
I'm on the same combo and I too have gained weight... 37lbs in a year on meds. However I can say that along with my diagnosis came depression and that led probably to stress eating, and isolation which led to being less active.
Are you still as active as you were prior? Also have you ever been active? Perhaps that as you age its only natural for you to have shortness of breath without at least some physical activity?
Perhaps you can counter-act these "side-effects" with reg exercise and better eating habits. It probably wouldn't hurt whether you were poz or not.
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Hello welcome
I am interested to know if the weight gain is under the skin or you feel it is more on the inside (ie can you pinch some extra).
To my mind the symptoms warrant speaking with your health care provider.
- matt
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Hi all. thanks for the replies. Memory lapse on old med combo. Last combo was kaletra, combivir(?) and truvada. Combo before that was sustiva combivir truvada. I think thats right if memory serves correct. I think the Kaletra was taken once in morning and once in evening. I cant remember. I do remember that once on newest reg I was happy to only have to worry about taking meds once per day which was a relief for me as my memory is quite faulty now.
The weight that I gained almost feels like I have fat building up inside around my organs. Sounds strange, but thats best I can come up with. Still, I have gained around 15lbs in 5 months. On other regiments I was lucky to gain a couple pounds.
My eating habits aren't the best but arent the worst either. I do like to snack alot between meals so maybe thats part of the problem. I do try to exercise on a somewhat regular basis but I feel I am so terribly out of breath it just feels and seems so drastic now.
On the bright side my count has gone up to just over 450 so that is a good thing. When I found out about my condition I was in the teens, and that was 7-8 years ago.
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Samething happened to me as well. I was switched to Prezista, Norvir and Truvada after not gaining any movement with my numbers on Truvada and Kaletra.
I have been on my current Prez,Nor &Tru for about a year and have gained 10 pounds of which all of it I hate.
I am also on a thyroid medication which I am having my doc increase to counteract the effects of the meds I am on.
I hate the way my body looks and yet I do cardio 3-4x per week diet, do not snack in between meals and still have this little belly in my mid section.
Really have no other remedies other than to switch meds and risk my numbers dropping.
Diagnosed in 2007,currently at 240 cd4s and undetectable.
Good luck if anyone else has some advice please speak up.
Thanks.