How many people have stopped taking there Medication for HIV?

[gafry53]

I am wondering how many people out there have stopped taking there HIV medications? With all the hassle with insurance companies and the high cost of medication and there side effects. How many people are free and have let things happen as they will??

[leatherman]

sadly, you probably won't get any answers from those people. They've either died of AIDS or are in the downhill slide to that kind of death.

Side effects from the meds causing someone to stop being adherent?
that's pretty much a thing of the past. 30+ yrs ago the meds were a problem and sometimes it seemed they were as bad as the disease. Today though there are just too many options of meds, many that have been "refined" through the decades to lessen the bad side effects, for people to not be able to find a regimen that works for them without bad side effects.

High med cost and the hassle of insurance?
Well the hassle of insurance to get meds is really a small price to pay to stay alive (we're dealing with that kind of issue right now with my hubby; but it's the kind of issue we'll deal with to keep him healthy and alive). The costs of meds though IS definitely an issue. Thankfully however many "third world countries" get very cheap meds through the PEPFAR program, and many people in developed nations have some sort of access to meds - either through national health care or programs like the Ryan White Care Act.


I was quite sick through most of the 90s and when I stopped meds twice (in 1996 because of the side effects and in 1998 because I had too many resistance issues and had to wait for some new med to come to market) I ended up back in the hospital and nearly dying both times. ugh!

Stopping meds is quite simply the wrong option to ever consider. Not dying from AIDS is worth any hassle.

[harleymc]

Due to mental health issues I did stop medications for over a year. My cd4 count dropped from high four hundreds to ten.

  I started back on medications in 2011,my viral load has remained supressed since then but my cd4 count remains stubbornly below 200. 

I was lucky to survive treatment interruption but I would certainly never recommend it to anyone.

[virgo313]

Reading your past posts, maybe you can choose & decide to stick with current Atripla & continue to have "savings" & be healthy

If your Dr could understand your financial like "savings for retirement" & insist change to newer more expensive (as he admit he get "kickbacks"), then i think you should change Dr.