POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: cityboy on November 06, 2013, 07:31:07 pm
-
My doctor suggested to have less pills this might be a switch to consider. Has anyone made this switch? What side effects were there? I am doing ok cd4 over 900 cd4% 43.
-
Hi C-boy,..
I am not on your medications. so I won't be able to give you the answer your looking for.
However,...
This is the way I look at that. If the regimen is working, why switch ? Your tcell count is great, your % is great, and I am assuming your viral load is undetectable.
Unless the doctor is seeing something in the other blood test ( Kidney, Liver metabolic... ), that may be a result of your current meds, I say " Why Switch?"
Other than the pill count, ( and co-pays ) Are you currently having any intolerable side effects from your current regimen ? Are you having difficulty, with the number of pills you currently take daily?
Another thought:
I am not sure what you co-pays currently are, but if you decide to switch, you may want to find out first, what the co-pay is for Stribild.
You are already on Truvada, so the two medications that are in Truvada, ( Viread and emtriva) are also in Stribild, so basically no change there.
The other two medications in Stribild are:
Elvitegravir which is a integrase inhibitor
Cobicistat, which is a Pharmakinetic Enhancer.
You will be changing out your protease inhibitors for the two listed above.
So, :) while I have not answered you question, once again I ask why fix something that isn't broke. and make sure you know what the co-pay is for Stribild,if you decide on this, depending on how you get your medications.
It may be less expensive, than the meds you are currently on.
Hopefully you will get the answers to the initial question you asked ! ;)
Take care---Ray
-
thanks Ray
-
I recently switched in August from Truvada/Norvir/Prezista to Stribild. It was a way to cut down on copays for my medications. I was viralogically suppressed when I made the switch, and things have been fine since.
My doctor did check my kidney function (mainly GFR) before starting my treatment.
As for side effects, the only thing I was notice dutring the first week or so is brief dizziness when I would wake up. That dissipated within 5 minutes and didn't affect the rest of my day.
-Kevin
-
I'm thinking of switching b/c it's cheaper. 1 copay instead of means I save $840 a year.
-
I switched from Atripla to Stribild. In almost every way the switch has been hugely positive. I no longer have constant brain fog, no more crazy dreams and I seem to be emotionally much happier. I've had no noticeable side effects at all from Stribild.
The cobicistat in Stribild seems to be having a slight negative effect on my kidney function. Although there is some evidence that cobicistat causes the test results to be skewed while the kidneys are actually functioning fine, my new ID doc has chosen to be cautious and is watching the situation closely. She may suggest a med switch in January when I have my next appointment.
Hope this helps - at least a little.