How to Identify AIDS HIV Drug Resistance Symptoms

Most people who are HIV positive experience extremely high viral load numbers, often over 1 million, shortly after infection when the virus is replicating very quickly in their systems. As T-cells begin to respond, they suppress the HIV and the viral load figure may read at a "set point" level. A viral load test, more than any specific presentable symptoms, will indicate whether your drug therapies are beginning to meet resistance.

Instructions

Track Your Viral Load to Measure HIV AIDS Drug Treatment Effectiveness

• 1

  Get medication and other treatment for HIV and AIDS in order to maximize the effectiveness of your immune system in fighting against the virus. Your viral load helps you track this effectiveness, and your goal should be to keep your viral load as low as you can.

• 2

  Ask your doctor to help you learn how to use the viral load test to measure the activity of HIV in your bloodstream and track how quickly or slowly the virus is multiplying.

• 3

  Learn how to use your T-cell count to monitor the strength or suppression of your immune system. The more active the virus in your system, generally speaking, the more your T-cells will be destroyed and your T-cell count will be reduced.

• 4

  Test your viral load regularly every three months, including whenever you have blood drawn to measure T-cells or other standard laboratory tests.

• 5

  Ask for a second test to double-check your viral load if it changes significantly. Error results are not uncommon.

Identify AIDS HIV Drug Resistance

• 6

  Talk with your doctor about the possibility that you are developing resistance to your HIV drug treatment, regardless of other symptoms, if you are taking your medication properly and your viral load count begins to increase significantly.

• 7

  Ask your doctor to try to identify which, if any, of your drug treatments are beginning to encounter resistance and to lose effectiveness by conducting one or more resistance tests.