has anyone been on Fuzeon here ? my doc suggested me that... NERVOUS!!!

[nomatterhow]

Hi,

I already talked with a member here who suggested I should avoid Fuzeon and I agree actually , then thought to see if anyone's been on Fuzeon here?  or has experiments with it ... is it so miraculous in resistant patients ?

due to my complicated resistance profile, my doc has suggested me 2 options ... I have never taken meds before

1-Truvada, Intelence, Prezista, Norvir & Ziagen

2-Truvada, Intelence, Prezista, Norvir & Fuzeon

he said he prefers the second option, but I guess its such a pain in the ass (injecting,  keeping in fridge etc ... given that I travel a lot for work and haven't told to many people in my entourage about being poz yet)

thoughts ?

we finalize the whole thing on monday... I am a bit anxious , this i gonna be 10 pills per day right ??

[Miss Philicia]

I was on Fuzeon for 2 years. I don't think any member here should be telling you to avoid it considering your resistance profile that you were diagnosed with -- if you need it, you need it.

That said, your doctor has presented you with two options. Why does he state a preference for the one with Fuzeon?

People freak out about Fuzeon because it's a medication that one injects, not because it gives them diarrhea or changes the shape of their body or anything ghastly like that. If you can handle injecting yourself then it's not a huge ordeal. It works really well, and like you I have a complicated resistance profile, and Fuzeon was the the first HIV med that made me undetectable. Patients inject themselves with insulin or testosterone, etc. Fuzeon isn't particularly different.

[nomatterhow]

he just said , he thinks chances are higher that I go undetectable on Fuzeon than on Abacavir ... then again he stated the first option can perfectly work as well ...

I still wait for monday as he is discussing this with the Bichat hospital staff on monday ( it's actually the Parisian hospital where HIV was discovered in 1983   )

[denb45]

I was on Fuzeon for almost 2 1/2 yrs when it 1st came out 2005 or 2006, it helped me out a lot, and got me to UD after many yrs. of being very sick, nothing to be nervous about, unless you don't like needles, it's a sub-Q type of injection ( under-the-skin) and really isn't painful at all 

[Ann]

Have you thought about compromising by using Fuzeon until you're UD for a few months and then switching to Abacavir?

[Miss Philicia]

Have you thought about compromising by using Fuzeon until you're UD for a few months and then switching to Abacavir?

I thought about that yesterday and should have mentioned it, though I might stay on Fuzeon for longer than "a few months" just to be safe. Maybe a year.

[nomatterhow]

Yes my doc said Fuzeon is for 3 months ... What's the advantage of Fuzeon over Abacavir ?

[Miss Philicia]

Yes my doc said Fuzeon is for 3 months ... What's the advantage of Fuzeon over Abacavir ?

Abacavir (Ziagen) is in the same NRTI class as Truvada, whereas Fuzeon is in a separate class. I assume your doctor prefers to initially attack HIV from as many angles as possible to suppress your viral load quickly and to be prudent in doing so considering your resistance issues.

[newt]

Given mr nomatter is not at all resistant to tenfovir or abacavir this is a good start. A non-standard nuke pair, but useful in cases like this cos abacavir is a strong drug, and together they equal 2 active drugs. So what is needed is the equivalent on 1 more active drug. As there is extensive resistance this will have to be a couple more drugs to make up the strength of the combination. Either Fuzeon or Intelence/boosted Prezista could fulfil this role.

I would always prefer tablets to injections, so my preference would be to do the Intelence/Prezista. But Fuzeon is a life-saver (and should be recognised as such, even if seen as a short-term measure until other meds can be found to use).

Fuzeon trends to produce very nice CD4 rises (though these are often lost when the drug is stopped) so there may be clinical reasons to start on this (eg getting your CD4 count up because this is protective).

I have an issue with Fuzeon and resistance, since testing for this is not routine, so unless a really swanky hospital/university did the resistance tests and specifically asked for gp41 mutations to be examined, it could be a shot in the dark (ie useless).

Intelence resistance is complicated, involving 13 mutations in HIV. In the key studies on Intelence (DUET) T-20 + 2 other active drugs was just as good as Intelence + 2 other drugs. Even if Intelence is only part-effective, adding in activity from Prezista the tablets seem workable.

Me, I'd start on the tablets and if my viral load wasn't really well down, like under 2,000 after a month, probably be on the Fuzeon (or on/adding in an off-label, experimental drug).

It's really hard to comment more without seeing the exact mutations in your HIV.

- matt

Edited for spelling