Integrase inhibors and weight gain

[etaoinshrdlu]

Citations:

• https://www.poz.com/article/integrase-inhibitors-may-tied-weight-gain
• http://www.thebodypro.com/content/81598/integrase-inhibitors-weight-gain-evidence-review.html
  

Anyone here experience this, or possibly think they have? I'm a 53-y.o. white male. Started treatment in 2007 and I was 5'10" 125# then. Started with Truvada+Reyataz+Norvir. Switched in 2010 to Epzicom+Reyataz. Switched again in 2015 to Triumeq. Switched yet again in 2018 to Juluca.

Coincidentally (or not) I started gradually gaining weight after I switched to Triumeq. I don't have a scale at home. I and my doctor noticed the gain during my biannual checkups. I'm now 140# and not at all happy about this, I have a visible tummy!

Whole food plant-based diet here for three years also, so I doubt it has anything to do with food intake. I'm not an active person, as my job involves sitting at a computer all day and then my main hobby requires, again, sitting -- band and orchestra rehearsal most evenings. I mention this only as a data point, given that I've lived my entire life and work at essentially the same level of (in)activity.

I know I don't exactly match the folks observed in those studies. And I also acknowledge that anecdotes, especially when n=1, are not data. And yet, the timing sure lines up: weight gain gradually appeared after switching to an integrase inhibitor. I'm curious what others here might, or might not, have noticed in their own experiences with this class of drug.

[Jim Allen]

So many different aspects to weight gain.

What did your doctor say about your weight gain?

My first large weight gain for me was from finally suppressing the virus and gaining a healthy 10 kg, after that and more recent years it's the aging is a factor, I'm in my late 30's and no longer a teenager so I might eat relatively healthy but need to reduce my intake and increase my excersise

HIV makes you fat.
https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=69386.msg

Women gain more weight than men.
https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=69710.msg

Weight Gain and Immune Activation May Be Linked in People With HIV
https://www.poz.com/article/weight-gain-immune-activation-may-linked-people-hiv

Strategies that help people with HIV control their weight and also those that reduce immune activation could help alleviate the burden of even well-treated virus on the body.

The researchers found that pretreatment viral load and CD4 count were associated with a difference in BMI increases between men and women

Citations:
https://www.poz.com/article/integrase-inhibitors-may-tied-weight-gain
http://www.thebodypro.com/content/81598/integrase-inhibitors-weight-gain-evidence-review.html

Btw:

More research is needed to determine whether integrase inhibitors are associated with weight gain and whether any such gain in body fat is associated with various negative health outcomes.

[etaoinshrdlu]

Doc hasn't said anything about the weight gain. When I started treatment in 2007, I suppressed the virus in less than a month. Weight stayed steady at 125# from 2007 until 2015. 2015 is when I switched to a STR with an integrase inhibitor and also when I began gaining weight.

TBH, I found the cited articles just a couple days ago and thought, "Hey, yeah, the timing lines up with my experience." I acknowledge more research must be done and that there are many other contributing factors besides meds. I'm simply curious if anyone else here has noticed the same II-intrduction factor that I did.

[Jim Allen]

That's grand, hence my own experienced added. 

Stories online aside, do let the doctor know next time you are in with them. Its always best to keep them posted on personal developments & concerns.
 

[etaoinshrdlu]

That's grand, hence my own experienced added.

Which I appreciate very much, thank you.

do let the doctor know next time you are in with them

This is my plan. My next checkup is in less than a week.