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Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: etaoinshrdlu on March 25, 2019, 05:13:42 am

Title: Integrase inhibors and weight gain
Post by: etaoinshrdlu on March 25, 2019, 05:13:42 am
Citations:Anyone here experience this, or possibly think they have? I'm a 53-y.o. white male. Started treatment in 2007 and I was 5'10" 125# then. Started with Truvada+Reyataz+Norvir. Switched in 2010 to Epzicom+Reyataz. Switched again in 2015 to Triumeq. Switched yet again in 2018 to Juluca.

Coincidentally (or not) I started gradually gaining weight after I switched to Triumeq. I don't have a scale at home. I and my doctor noticed the gain during my biannual checkups. I'm now 140# and not at all happy about this, I have a visible tummy!

Whole food plant-based diet here for three years also, so I doubt it has anything to do with food intake. I'm not an active person, as my job involves sitting at a computer all day and then my main hobby requires, again, sitting -- band and orchestra rehearsal most evenings. I mention this only as a data point, given that I've lived my entire life and work at essentially the same level of (in)activity.

I know I don't exactly match the folks observed in those studies. And I also acknowledge that anecdotes, especially when n=1, are not data. And yet, the timing sure lines up: weight gain gradually appeared after switching to an integrase inhibitor. I'm curious what others here might, or might not, have noticed in their own experiences with this class of drug.
Title: Re: Integrase inhibors and weight gain
Post by: Jim Allen on March 25, 2019, 06:26:20 am
So many different aspects to weight gain.

What did your doctor say about your weight gain?

My first large weight gain for me was from finally suppressing the virus and gaining a healthy 10 kg, after that and more recent years it's the aging is a factor, I'm in my late 30's and no longer a teenager so I might eat relatively healthy but need to reduce my intake and increase my excersise

HIV makes you fat.
https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=69386.msg

Women gain more weight than men.
https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=69710.msg

Weight Gain and Immune Activation May Be Linked in People With HIV
https://www.poz.com/article/weight-gain-immune-activation-may-linked-people-hiv

Strategies that help people with HIV control their weight and also those that reduce immune activation could help alleviate the burden of even well-treated virus on the body.

The researchers found that pretreatment viral load and CD4 count were associated with a difference in BMI increases between men and women

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Citations:
https://www.poz.com/article/integrase-inhibitors-may-tied-weight-gain
http://www.thebodypro.com/content/81598/integrase-inhibitors-weight-gain-evidence-review.html

Btw:

More research is needed to determine whether integrase inhibitors are associated with weight gain and whether any such gain in body fat is associated with various negative health outcomes.
Title: Re: Integrase inhibors and weight gain
Post by: etaoinshrdlu on March 25, 2019, 11:52:23 am
Doc hasn't said anything about the weight gain. When I started treatment in 2007, I suppressed the virus in less than a month. Weight stayed steady at 125# from 2007 until 2015. 2015 is when I switched to a STR with an integrase inhibitor and also when I began gaining weight.

TBH, I found the cited articles just a couple days ago and thought, "Hey, yeah, the timing lines up with my experience." I acknowledge more research must be done and that there are many other contributing factors besides meds. I'm simply curious if anyone else here has noticed the same II-intrduction factor that I did.
Title: Re: Integrase inhibors and weight gain
Post by: Jim Allen on March 25, 2019, 12:43:25 pm
That's grand, hence my own experienced added.  ;)

Stories online aside, do let the doctor know next time you are in with them. Its always best to keep them posted on personal developments & concerns.
 
Title: Re: Integrase inhibors and weight gain
Post by: etaoinshrdlu on March 26, 2019, 10:37:01 am
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That's grand, hence my own experienced added.
Which I appreciate very much, thank you.

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do let the doctor know next time you are in with them
This is my plan. My next checkup is in less than a week.