POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: EUINAU on June 30, 2013, 07:00:33 pm
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I have only recently been diagnosed - mid May and been on my meds ever since. I take I/T so one pill at 7 am and 2 pills at 7 pm. I am traveling for next 3 weeks and will be in a country that's is 2 hours ahead of my current location for 5 days then 17 hours where it will be further 3 hours ahead and then 2 weeks in a country with additional 1 hour.... I feel first part of the trip is fine I can take meds at 9am/9pm however I am not too keen to be taking my meds at 3am/3pm would it be OK to just take them 4 hours later for those two weeks and when I get back just o 4 hours in reverse?
So confused... I'd be interstellar to hear what you do in similar situations. Merci :)
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Oh the autocorrect... Surely not interstellar rather interested :)
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don't make this complicated. just take your pills at the regular time of 7/7. changing the time by an hour or four isn't going to make a difference ;)
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don't make this complicated. just take your pills at the regular time of 7/7. changing the time by an hour or four isn't going to make a difference ;)
Well Said!
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Oh, that simple. Great thanks for your advise.
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Oh, that simple. Great thanks for your advise.
studies have shown that being >=95% adherent results in successful treatment. Several hours change in dosage times then has little effect on your overall therapy.
the way you listed your trip, your time vs. your home time gradually changes in steps. If you take your meds at your regular times, you'll only be changing by a couple of hours at most each time you move. Rather than worry about how far you are from your home time, you will only be "adjusting" the time when you are taking your meds a few hours with each change. Just take them at the "regular" time, and you'll easily stay within that 95% adherence range - because you'll still be at 100% adherence. ;)
This is no different than when people, like myself, take their meds at "dinner time". The actually timing of when someone has dinner frequently fluctuates from day-to-day; however "dinner time" usually falls within the same 4-6 hour range each day - a range similar to the you will be going through gradually on your trip out and your trip back home.
one more piece of advice:
a public service announcement from leatherman:
you should always overpack medications!
Terrorism, volcanoes, floods, blizzards, lost/damaged luggage, winning at the slots, having Mom or GrandMother keep you an extra day, an accident or roadside repair - all these things could make a trip be longer by 1 day or 1 week and leave you without meds. Or sometimes just a simple miscount can be the problem - so alway take more and never have to deal with that nagging voice that drives your crazy when you don't have enough meds and will have to skip some daily doses. ;)
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Leatherman gives good advice. Both on timing and on bringing extra meds.
I travel quite a bit -- and have been as far as 8 timezones away. I always just take my meds at the same approx. time (Reyataz with breakfast and Atripla around 9pm). I know that I am far more likely to forget to take it if I change my habits, so 8 hrs late one direction and 8 hrs early in the other is far better than missing a few days because of the change.
Enjoy your trip -- that is the important thing here.
Mike
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Thanks no issue with meds as currently away from home for work and had 3 months supply for 10 weeks trip. Lots of meds to travel with. Will be doing it again in few weeks hope it will be as smooth through customs as last time :)
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sounds like you have things handled well for you trip ;) It also sounds like you're doing well with a lot of traveling - not to mention dealing with things after having been recently diagnosed, recently starting meds, and having a negative partner back home. That's a lot on anyone's plate; but it sounds like you're dealing well with it all.
Best wishes and safe, easy travels. I can't wait to see a post from you in the not-too-distant-future when you get that UD report back from your next labs. ;)
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:) thanks leatherman I hope to hear that soon though its probably gonna take a while to come from 5 million to UD.
I think I was lucky to have met such an excellent nurse from the hiv dept, she is amazing. The doc was really good too and as said somewhere before this site is great source of info. seeing guys like you on meds for decades, knowing meds today seem to be so much better I am really not worried. I don't feel the need to tell anyone to be honest and I think I surprised myself how well I deal with it or rather how quickly I accepted it. :)
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Hi Euinau,
I am new diagnoised like you and start Atripla on this Jun.
Hope to keep in touch to learn from each other experiences.
Hi Leatherman,
Please help to advice us how in the case to take pill when we travel to far away time-zone countries (Ex: from asia to EU wit 10 hour lag)
Thank you
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When travelling, it's best to stick to your usual med-taking routine.
If you normally take them at night before bed, continue to take them at night before bed. If you normally take them at breakfast or lunch, continue to take them at breakfast or lunch.
What's most important is that you're taking them every day, so keeping to your usual routine is important and will help you remember to take them.
The occasional real-time difference due to arriving in a different time zone won't break the bank. Or anything else for that matter.
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I had that same problem...
I always took my meds at 1am...
So in the end, when I went overseas...I had a watch that was timed to my normal clock..
So I just look at the watch for 1am and take the meds...
My friends were wondering why I brought that watch..lol..It's kinda low-tech and doesn't really use any brain power...I was just worried I might count the hours wrong or something
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I had that same problem...
I always took my meds at 1am...
So in the end, when I went overseas...I had a watch that was timed to my normal clock..
So I just look at the watch for 1am and take the meds...
My friends were wondering why I brought that watch..lol..It's kinda low-tech and doesn't really use any brain power...I was just worried I might count the hours wrong or something
I think you missed the actual advice being given on this subject. Take it at the same time in the new timezone -- if you are in the habit of taking meds at, say, 1a.m., then when you get where you are going -- take it at 1a.m. there. No need to try and keep taking it at 1a.m. back home -- that just increases the risk that you will forget. The fact that you will take it a little earlier or later than norm on that first day doesn't matter. Missing doses by falling out of habit , might matter though.
Mike