Lexiva side effect question

[Allentownboy]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here with a recent diagnosis, and am still wrapping my head around it all.  It certainly is alot to absorb! 

I have a question about a Lexiva side effect I am experiencing, and thought perhaps some of you could shed some light on it.  I have only been on my HAART therapy since mid last week, and am noticing that I am getting increasing itchiness on my legs, chest and arms.  No rash or flushing,  just a crazy itch that flares up especially at night (I take my meds in the morning).  I am taking some Benadryl which seemed to help last night when it was at its worst.  My questions are these:

Will this side effect eventually "go away"??  Is it simply my body getting used to the meds and this will pass?

I do have an allergy to Bactrim which the doc found was the Sulfa compound in it, but he still put me on this Lexiva anyway.

I really hope one of you have had this experience and can give me some guidance.  I will be seeing my doc later this week as well to make certain the Mepron they have me on is being as effective as the Bactrim was until I reacted so badly to it, so I can ask him also.  I just want your "real world" feedback beforehand.

Thanks everyone...

[newt]

erm, LEXIVA should be used with caution in patients with a known sulfonamide allergy.

The capitals is cos this is cut n pasted from the drug info provided by GSK (http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_lexiva.pdf).

It might pass, but then again, you could switch n not itch (so to speak)

- matt

[Allentownboy]

Thanks Newt - I saw that too. I was just hoping someone could give me their experiences and let me know if their body "got used to it" and things were cool after awhile, or they had to go on something else because they couldn't cope.  Honestly, I may get taken off of this med anyway once the Genotype/Phenotype tests come back in another 10 days.  In fact, my whole regimen may change...

I wonder if there is a way to "desensitize" the system in relation to the Sulfa components in these drugs.  Don't people lose a great number of options in protease inhibitors due to this allergy (which is fairly common I am reading) making treatment regimens limited?  There must be something docs can do to make it more tolerable. 

But I am new to all this, so what do I know...