Isentress+Kivexa+Prezista+Norvir

[drew50]

Thanks to increased neuropathy in my feet, legs and fingers, i had to stop taking Videx and have gone on to Isentress but despite the fact that the side effects are minimal with isentress, I think the combination of all four (Isentress+Kivexa+Prezista+Norvir) has hit my system for six and I'm plagued with diarrhoea, night sweats and a general feeling of illhealth i haven't had in a while. I've been diagnosed with Lipodystrophie in my stomach and face too, something i always dreaded (a thin man with a bloated stomach is NOT attractive!)
Does anyone else have experience of this sort of drug combination? They still give the impression that if you're hiv+. it's just a question of taking a couple of pills - if only! If you're infected with a resistant strain....well, I don't need to tell you all.

[Miss Philicia]

I'm on the same combo, except instead of Kivexa (Epzicom in the US) I take Truvada.  When new treatment guidelines were released last week in the US they took Epzicom off of the "preferred" treatment list due to recent data, but it's just for patients beginning treatment so I guess it's of no concern to you, but you may find it interesting nevertheless:

http://www.poz.com/rssredir/articles/hiv_guidelines_Prezista_761_15551.shtml

At any rate I'd suspect most of your problems/issues are from taking Videx (how long were you on this? and what else have you been on in the past?)

Your new regimen sounds good -- the newest HIV drugs are much less prone to harsh side effects.  If you just began this new regimen you can't expect it to reverse damage done on a previous combo, though I'd say over time your PN should hopefully lessen or at least be more easily managed -- what are you taking for PN?

Also, do you take anything to manage diarrhea issues?  Is so what, and if not why not.  You complained about night sweats in a post dated 20 January 2007 so obviously this is something that pre-dates this new regimen.  I think for many HIV patients this just comes with the territory of having an immune dysfunction infection.  How long have you been undetectable and how long did your body go with a high viral load?

[drew50]

Hi Philly,
Thanks for your reply. My problem is that I had lung emphysema and arthritis long before i became infected with hiv - that means that with all the drugs for all diseases together, I'm prone to diarrhoea and stomach problems anyway. It's always tricky to identify from where a particular problem comes. I take Losec to keep the stomach inflammations at bay and am on a daily preventative Immodium dose but sometimes that's just not enough. Normally after a drug change, i get just such a reaction. My CD4 cell count has dropped in the last six months but is still round the 300 but the virus is still undetectable, so the drugs are working but the neuropathy became so bad, my doctor had to change the Videx. As far as I'm aware, there isn't an effective treatment for neuropathy in the feet and fingertips - stopping the Videx should help it becoming any worse. Unfortunately I have a complex resistant strain, so can't do anything about the lipo and skin outbreaks (from the Kivexa). The night sweats I've always associated with my initial infection, though they do return whenever i get bowel problems. I've had Heliobacter Pylori problems in the past and that was difficult to get rid of so I'm hoping my current problems have nothing to do with that. After a while you just become fed up with all the tests and the time it takes to identify things and the fact that every two months something new rears its ugly head. But hey, I'm still alive at 58 so i can't grumble - many people are far worse off than me.