#&%$^@*%!!!!

[DancerBoy]

My VL still isn't undetectable.  I've been on meds for over a year. A few months ago it was at it's lowest which was 74. Then it went to 136.  Now it's at 299.  Sucks. Big. Balls.  There, however, is not enough virus to do a resistance profile. Grrr.
-D

[Queen Tokelove]

Sorry to hear that your virus is being a bit stubborn on ya. I still think your numbers are great, I hope I do as well as you when I start meds. What are you taking?

[aztecan]

Hey Danny,

Sorry to hear the viral load isn't cooperating. What regimen are you taking?

How are you CD4s holding up?

The viral load is still good, even if its not exactly undetectable. Keep in mind, it used to be that anything less than 400 was undetectable, so, you sorta are.

Just keep taking it a day at at time. I'm pulling for you.

HUGS,.

Mark

[DancerBoy]

My t-s are ok.... They're at 306 now and have been increasing steadily.  I am on Reyataz, Truvada, Norivir, and we added Ziagen right after Montreal and it didn't make one damned bit of difference except give me another copay and make my muscles sore.
-D

[Basquo]

and I bet the sore muscles were all due to the ziagen, and not at all related to the fact that you had to haul that cow off the floor three times a day in the Fright Fest show!

[Miss Philicia]

Keep in mind, it used to be that anything less than 400 was undetectable, so, you sorta are.

Exactly.  I would not sweat these numbers at all.

[Blixer]

D,
As others have said, don't sweat the numbers.  Yes, we all want undetectable.  That may be the ideal.  But with a VL as low as yours things would seem to be in decent shape.  If it keeps increasing you will eventually get to where you can do a resistance test.  In the meantime, if your CD4s are going up then it means your system is recovering.  I know I'd be nervous and maybe a bit frustrated if my VL went in the wrong direction.  But overall it looks like the meds are knocking it down and keeping it low enough that you are making progress.

Best of luck!

[bocker3]

Hey D,

I'm with you here -- going through the same thing -- doing everything right, still not UD.   Frustrating as hell!  I do try (with on and off success) to focus on how I'm feeling (very good) and that my t-cells are up, etc.  I do understand how hard that is though -- Feel free to PM me anytime you want to vent. 
I just had a different viral load assay drawn (branched-DNA) to rule out false positives that can sometimes occur with the standard assay.

Mike

[newt]

Hello

a pain in the arse situation

Ignoring the difficulties of saying whether the 3 viral load tests really show a slow upward climb, some thoughts...

An effective response to Reyataz depends on the drug level in your blood.  Some people need to take a higher dose, 400mg Reyataz and 200mg Norvir, to achieve the optimum Reyataz level of 850 ng/mL.  There is a test to measure this but it is not very precise, the commonly available one.  You could therefore try increasing the Reyataz/Norvir dose and see if this works.  The downside may be perhaps negating the lipid friendly properties of this PI.

Food is important for optimum Reyataz absorption, not too fatty, 7-10mg fat is ideal (about amount in the original dose-finding studies for the drug). 

An alternative may be to drop the Viread and just use Ziagen and FTC.  Viread lowers Reyataz levels a fair bit, and while not normally important with a boosted dose, in a few cases it could be important.

A switch to a more resilient PI like Kaletra, or an NNRTI, may solve the probelm of controlling the final few virons.

There is unlikely to be much benefit from using the 3 nukes.  As you said, adding the Ziagen did jack squit.  If it is to be a third nuke, AZT maybe (for kinda long-winded technical reasons).

A measurement of viral load using a different lab is kinda belt and braces good idea.  Different machine calibration etc is reason enough for mysterious high/low results.

These are all try it and see approaches. 

Did you get a resistance test before starting treatment? If you did, and it was clear for mutations, then I wold be inclined to look at the drug level + absorption thingies/switching as management strategies first and look at resistance if the viral load stays above 250 or goes up (deffo if it goes up). If you didn't it's a good idea, eh? If your viral load is truly 300+ (rather than lower, cos viral load tests have a 3 x margin of error), you may have enough virus to do a resistance test using one of the newer tests (genotype and phenotype please), or enough to get good information by sending the sample off to somewhere flash, like a clinical trials centre, where they have sophistacted ways of looking for this kind of thing.

- matt

[Robert]

Danny.

I'm on the same regimen  as your original (Reyataz, Norvir, Truvada). 

RE:  Newt's idea about food and absorption, I take my meds in the morning with a bowl of oatmeal.  Good fiber.  Low fat. 

Who knows?  It might help.

good luck.
robert