meds or hiv?

[uk lady]

hi all i am new here so please forgive me if i am posting this in the wrong place, anyway here goes. i am a 27 yr old positive female, know of being positive for 4/5 years. have been on meds for 2 yrs sustiva & truvada. when i started meds my cd4 was 240 & vl was well very high cant remember! within a couple of months my vl went to undectectable & my cd4 had risen to 500, then went on to go up to 700 & the last lots of 3 months results were 400. doctor says all is good tho no need 2 worry as the precentage is 40 whatever that means i have no idea! my worry is the last 6 months i guess maybe a little less i have noticed i am losing weight in the top of my legs, bum. def can feel my trousers are a little looser, i havnt actually lost any weight overall tho still weigh 9 stone i am 5 ft 4" by the way. i may have lost a bit in my face not much tho but i think i can notice it. this really bothers me as before meds i lost quiet a bit of weight & was looking quite rough & after meds managed to gain all my weight again which was fab, now i am becoming very depressed about the thought of maybe losing weight again. does anyone know if the meds i am on could be doing this or is it hiv itself? thanks so much uk lady

[bobino]

Hi UKL,

Your fat loss could be the result of HIV infection alone, drug treatment alone, or a combination of both.  The truth is that no one knows.  I've never been on meds, and I have pretty bad lipo.  So clearly it can be a symptom of HIV infection alone.  Don't know much about the meds you're on, honestly, but I'm sure other posters in the forum will be able to tell you if your combo is one known to have an association with lipo.

Hope this helps.

John

[uk lady]

thanks john i guess its not known really if it is hiv itself or the meds, as i want to change my meds anyway i will try discussing with my doc one thats easy on the fat loss altho im not sure that the one im on now isnt ok anwyay! oh well im sure it will all be in the end