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Author Topic: Got my first prescription for HIV Medication. - Would like support & questions  (Read 5424 times)

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Offline TheRoof

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  • Posts: 188
Today I saw my Doc. My CD4 is around 470 & Viral Load is 11,000. I am 22 years old. I have been with HIV infection since Summer 2008. Four Years is a considerable amount of time, and the main reason I put it off is because I wasn't mentally ready for the regimen they prepared me with. Due to my virus being resistant to many meds (But was still able to get a first-line treatment.

Six Feet, 160 Pounds.

Norvir 100mg Twice a Day
Prezista 600mg Twice a Day
Truvada 300mg Once a Day.

I truly wish my doctor put me on a once a day regimen,  I have asked him multiple times. He knows best. (Maybe we can switch to that when I go undetectable)
Anyone with this combo what is to be expected?

            Thank You for hearing me out.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2012, 06:39:14 pm by TheRoof »

Offline mikeyb39

  • Member
  • Posts: 980
Hi Roof,
I'm on this medication minus the Truvada, i do Prezista, norvir, Isentress.  I think you will be pleased with this combo.  I started out on Atripla and was very pleased at switching to this combo from the 'once a day'.  I really have no side-effects unlike the one's i had with the Atripla. 

mikey
11/02/2010  cd4-251, vl-591000
12/09/2010  started Atripla
02/18/2011  cd4-425, vl-800
06/10/2011  cd4-447, vl-70
10/10/2011  cd4-666, vl-80
01/05/2012  swiched med (prezista,norvir ,isentress, )
02/10/2012  cd4-733, vl-UD  Viread removed
06/10/2012  cd4-614, vl-UD
12/14/2012  cd4-764, vl-UD
09/01/2013  cd4-785, vl-UD
03/06/2014. cd4- 1078, VL-UD
09/05/2014  cd4-850 , VL-UD
09/05/2014 switched meds isentress, prezcobix -still only two antivirals
10/14/2015  cd4-600 , VL-UD

Offline Ann

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  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
For a treatment naive individual like yourself, the Prezista combo IS a once a day combo.

From the Prezista Lesson:


Once-Daily Dose: Two 400 mg Prezista tablets plus one 100 mg Norvir tablet once a day for people who have never taken antiretroviral drugs and for treatment experienced individuals who do not carry any Prezista resistance HIV mutations.

Twice-Daily Dose: One 600 mg Prezista tablet plus one 100 mg Norvir tablet twice a day for treatment experienced individuals who carry one or more Prezista resistance HIV mutations.


What are you resistant to?

Condoms are a girl's best friend

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"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

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Offline newt

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  • the one and original newt
Stop, wait, unless you have resistance to protease inhibitors (Prezista is a protease inhibitor) ask for the standard first-time treatment dosing of 800mg Prezista + 100mg Norvir once a day (as per the lesson Ann linked to). It will be cheaper, kinder on your stomach and cholesterol ... and, erm, once a day.

I am on this combo and find it simple to take (and on it once a day).

- matt
"The object is to be a well patient, not a good patient"

Offline TheRoof

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  • Posts: 188
For a treatment naive individual like yourself, the Prezista combo IS a once a day combo.

From the Prezista Lesson:


Once-Daily Dose: Two 400 mg Prezista tablets plus one 100 mg Norvir tablet once a day for people who have never taken antiretroviral drugs and for treatment experienced individuals who do not carry any Prezista resistance HIV mutations.

Twice-Daily Dose: One 600 mg Prezista tablet plus one 100 mg Norvir tablet twice a day for treatment experienced individuals who carry one or more Prezista resistance HIV mutations.


What are you resistant to?

I would have loved to take Prezista once a day. My doctor said "He doesn't want to risk it" Maybe when the Quad comes out I can switch to that instead. I am not sure.  I know that Truvada and Prezista are not my biggest concerns. My biggest "dread" will be Norvir. Norvir is the ultimate "Catch-22" drug. I hope hope HOPE it will be kind on my body.

I will look for my little pamphlet it gave me. - I literally just got off the phone with my doctor ten minutes ago. I asked him "After I am undetectable would it be possible to switch to a one a day regimen" He said

"He wants to knock the virus dead. That once the virus is undectable and stays that way" people have succession of switching to other treatments.
I will search for that packet to see what the resistance is (It shows resistance to some of the older meds like Zerit, AZT, and the older protease Inh.)

Stop, wait, unless you have resistance to protease inhibitors (Prezista is a protease inhibitor) ask for the standard first-time treatment dosing of 800mg Prezista + 100mg Norvir once a day (as per the lesson Ann linked to). It will be cheaper, kinder on your stomach and cholesterol ... and, erm, once a day.

I am on this combo and find it simple to take (and on it once a day).

- matt


!!!! That is what I wanted to do. I wanted him to at least up the dose of Prezista. I have to take 200mg Norvir + 1200mg total a day.        He said he doesn't want to take "Any risks". - He is the doctor and he knows better.
He said he has gotten more conservative over the years.


Ugh so much to think about.

Offline TheRoof

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  • Posts: 188
This is interesting. I found the booklet of my resistance tests from 2008 and 2011. In 2008 I was resistant to...
I UNDERSTAND NOW why he is putting me on Norvir twice a day. It's because I am resistant to it... But in


Resistance 2008
NRTI's -- Zerit, Viread
NNRTI's - None
PI's - Viracept (Full), Invarase (Full)

Then.. in 2011. My resistance tests changed...

Resistance 2011
NRTI  - None
NNRTI's - None
PI's - Reyataz (Partial), Viracept (Partial), Norvir (Full)





I don't know why Norvir wasn't detected in 2008, but Both were Phenosense tests.
Oh well. I guess I should have heeded the warning of being a barebacked cum-whore taking all those poz loads when I wasn't on meds yet. Maybe that would have saved me the trouble.
jk... jk...  I didn't really do that.

But now it makes sense. I am resistant to Norvir. Which is why he is upping the dose.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2012, 09:05:01 pm by TheRoof »

Offline thunter34

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  • His name is Carl.
I was just going to echo the others' statements about your combo being a potentially once a day combo, but I would like to add for the record that I pushed to be once a day with this one even though I wasn't technically "treatment naive".  I had been on two combos prior, though not resistant to them.  I left them due to side effect issues like yellowing on Reyetaz and the Kaletra squirts.

My success with this combo has been great.  My numbers are higher than ever now (in the 700's) and UD.

jk... jk...  I didn't really do that.


I did.
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline newt

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  • the one and original newt
Fair enough

You still have at least 4 once a day options (for the future perhaps) and the 2 x day option of Isentress (which is what I would do if it had to be 2 x day, and be Norvir-free).

The Norvir resistance is immaterial, this drug is just being used to boost the amount of Prezista in your body.

- matt
"The object is to be a well patient, not a good patient"

Offline TheRoof

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  • Posts: 188
I was just going to echo the others' statements about your combo being a potentially once a day combo, but I would like to add for the record that I pushed to be once a day with this one even though I wasn't technically "treatment naive".  I had been on two combos prior, though not resistant to them.  I left them due to side effect issues like yellowing on Reyetaz and the Kaletra squirts.

My success with this combo has been great.  My numbers are higher than ever now (in the 700's) and UD.


I did.


Fair enough

You still have at least 4 once a day options (for the future perhaps) and the 2 x day option of Isentress (which is what I would do if it had to be 2 x day, and be Norvir-free).

The Norvir resistance is immaterial, this drug is just being used to boost the amount of Prezista in your body.

- matt




I haven't started my regimen yet. BUT I I will in the next two weeks. - - My doctor recommended that I have about two weeks extra  of meds Just in case anything was to happen. (Like insurance getting canceled.) - I know I have to talk to my doctor about this (and I did) He said that most people who are on a twice a day regimen. Get "used to it." and tolerate it quite well.   



I of course will take the meds. -- But twice a day regimen is a lot easier to fuck up with me personally.
Than a once a day.



In your GUYS opinion. Since you take this regimen.
If I do start the twice a day. Then once I go down to undetectable. Would it be possible to switch once a day? Without much risk of resistance?

OR should I really ask for a once a day regimen, AND if it doesn't work switch to twice a day?   




This is a big decision. -- I am just looking at the three bottles. -- that is my life saver. My viral load lingers at 11,000 after 4 years at 56% reproductive capacity.
The fact that a once a day wouldn't be enough definitely makes me very "unsure" it's kind of like that patient-to-doctor information asymmetry.


One more thing to add. I would do integrase twice a day, and be norvir free myself. Since every single patient I talked to who has issue with this regimen. I always hear problems with the norvir aspect.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 10:14:32 pm by TheRoof »

Offline TheRoof

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  • Posts: 188
double post.  (But will add..)

I have heard good results with the Quad Pill. I have read some "reviews" from the participants in the studies. From the poz magazines they have at my clinic office.

The BIGGEST side effect turns out to be kidney function. -(quad)- Which is pretty serious if taken for long - term. This tends to be the consensus for the Quad is kidney problems.

All though if the QUAD came out this summer. I would have preffered the cobiscitat booster to norvir.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2012, 10:45:29 pm by TheRoof »

Offline Rockin

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  • Posts: 507
double post.  (But will add..)

I have heard good results with the Quad Pill. I have read some "reviews" from the participants in the studies. From the poz magazines they have at my clinic office.

The BIGGEST side effect turns out to be kidney function. -(quad)- Which is pretty serious if taken for long - term. This tends to be the consensus for the Quad is kidney problems.

All though if the QUAD came out this summer. I would have preffered the cobiscitat booster to norvir.

From my very limited experience on this it seems that kidney problem is the number one side effect from long-term treatment overall. Isn't there something that can be done to, I dont know, protect the kidney from such problems?

 


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