Importance of Not Missing Medications When HIV Positive

Though HIV infection must be treated when it begins to compromise the immune system, it is still possible for treatments to fail and necessitate new treatment combinations. The most common cause of treatment failure is viral resistance due to missed medication doses.

Pre-Treatment Counselling

• Pre-treatment counselling is required before HIV treatment regimens can begin. The discussion with the counselor will include the importance of adherence to HIV medications as well as lifestyle choices, dietary concerns and potential interactions with existing medicines.

Adherence

• Not missing HIV medications is important because each missed dose can increase the chances of the virus becoming resistant to the drugs that are being used to treat it.

Reasons for Missed Medications

• Reasons for missing medications can include forgetting to take the medicine, being overwhelmed by the stress of caring for a spouse or family member who also has the disease, or fatigue caused by the virus itself. Family and work responsibilities can also make it easy to forget to take medications.

Treatment Failure

• When a medication for HIV ceases to be effective in slowing or stopping the spread of the virus, this is known as treatment failure. Poor adherence can allow the virus a chance to mutate so that current medications no longer have any effect on the virus cells.

Options

• When an HIV-positive individual becomes resistant to an HIV medication, he often becomes resistant to similar medications that fall into the same class. New treatment waves must be started that contain entirely different medicines in an attempt to control the virus.