Your immune system is harmed by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which targets blood cells that aid in infection resistance. If HIV is left untreated, AIDS—also known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome—occurs.
Antiretroviral drugs are used in the treatment of HIV. They strive to halt the spread of the infection. By doing this, you can lessen the impact of HIV on your immune system.
There may be similarities between the drugs used in the treatment of HIV and AIDS.
If your immune system has already been harmed, medications may be able to prevent more harm and even help your immune system partially repair itself.
Although HIV and AIDS have no known cures, most HIV-positive persons live long, healthy lives if they are cautious to take their HIV medications on schedule.
Which antiviral medications could I be prescribed?
Antiretroviral drug categories include:
- Inhibitors of nucleoside reverse transcription (NRTIs)
- Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors
- Anti-protease agents
- Inhibitors of integrase
- Entrance blockers
If you have HIV, your doctor will typically give you many different antiretroviral at once—at least three drugs from at least two of the five groups. Combination therapy is used in this situation. Some HIV treatments come in the form of single pills that mix many drugs. You may occasionally be given 1 or 2 pills, but they could actually be 3 separate medications.
In addition to antiretrovirals, your treatment may also need antibiotics to prevent infections as your immune system could no longer be able to fight them.
When will I start taking antiretroviral medications?
To assist evaluate whether you need therapy, whether your therapy is effective, or whether you need to adjust your treatment, your doctor will speak with you and recommend you for blood testing.
These tests include a CD4 cell count and a viral load (the amount of HIV in your blood). The immune cell class that is impacted by HIV is CD4.
Will my medication become resistant to me?
Many time people cannot get timely delivery of their medicine from pharma companies. Regularly skipping doses of your HIV medications puts you at risk of building up drug resistance, which would make the medication less effective for you.
Your doctor can lessen your risk of developing HIV drug resistance by prescribing effective drugs and utilising a combination of drugs rather than just one. By taking each dose on schedule, you can help decrease your risk of developing resistance.
If you do become resistant to a medication, your doctor may prescribe a different medication or suggest a drug combination containing more than three medications.
Antiretroviral medication is typically required for life. The best method to maintain an undetectable level of HIV viral load is to take your antiretroviral medications exactly as directed.
