What attention should be paid to treatment with anti-HIV drugs?

For a patient who has to take medication, adherence to treatment will bring about a high therapeutic effect, but for HIV / AIDS-infected people, this compliance also prevents HIV, preventing drug resistance and single Comprehensive maintenance of health for patients.

The purpose of antiretroviral therapy (ARV) is to inhibit viral replication and to minimize viral load in the blood ; Restoring immune function, reducing the risk of opportunistic infections; Improve quality of life and significantly reduce mortality in HIV-infected people .

Antiretroviral therapy is mainly outpatient and is indicated when the patient has clinical criteria, and / or tests and proves to be ready for treatment.

When to take ARV treatment?

When taking a patient into ARV treatment, the doctor must rely on the patient's clinical stage and CD4 cell count. According to the Ministry of Health 'Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of HIV / AIDS , if there is a CD4 test, specify ARV treatment when:

• People with HIV infection in clinical stage 4 (with symptoms such as losing weight over 10% of body weight with prolonged fever over 1 month or diarrhea lasting more than 1 month for unknown reasons; pneumonia, Herpes infection Chronic in the lips, mouth, genital organs ., esophageal Candida infection .) does not depend on the number of CD4 cells.
• People with HIV infection in stage 3 (unexplained weight loss over 10% of body weight, unexplained diarrhea lasting more than 1 month; unexplained fever in each episode or continuously lasting more than 1 month; recurrent oral candidiasis .) with CD4
• People with HIV infection in clinical stage 1 and 2 with CD43.

If CD4 testing is not available, ART should be indicated when HIV infected people are in clinical stage 3.4.

Adherence to treatment is the number one requirement for ARV treatment.

Note when taking medicine

When HIV-infected people are treated with ARV drugs, they must apply preventive measures to infect others. For those on ART when the immune status has not been restored, it is necessary to continue prophylactic treatment of opportunistic infections.

Because HIV has a high rate of multiplication and mutation, patients need to strictly adhere to treatment. That is to use the right dose, on time and regularly every day. The patient must set for himself an hour to take certain medicine.

The schedule for taking medicine will be easy to implement if it can be integrated into the daily operation schedule . You can set an alarm or a mobile phone to remind you to take medicine or a family support person to remind you to take medicine. Drugs taken twice a day should be taken 12 hours apart. Drugs taken 3 times a day must be taken 8 hours / time.

If non-compliance (meaning that doses are not used regularly, in sufficient doses and on time) will lead to low blood levels of the drug, mutations of HIV will develop resistance. Treatment will fail.

In case the patient discovers that he / she forgot to take the medication on schedule, he / she must immediately take the missed dose. Next calculate the next scheduled daily dose as usual. If the next dose is less than 4 hours, do not take the next dose according to the old schedule but wait more than 4 hours to take it. If you forget more than 2 doses in a week, the patient must tell the treating doctor for instructions.

Side effects of anti-HIV drugs

When using antiretroviral drugs (ARV), patients may experience side effects caused by drugs. Some common side effects are:

• Nausea: To limit this side effect, the patient may take the medicine during or immediately after a meal or take anti-emetic medication 30 minutes before taking ARV.
• Diarrhea: If patients take medicine, they feel diarrhea and need to assess the level of diarrhea and associated symptoms. When diarrhea needs to take oresol to rehydrate, electrolytes. If severe need for perfusion or may need to use anti-diarrhea drugs to limit temporary diarrhea.
• Headache: In the case of a headache, patients may use common pain relievers such as paracetamol to relieve headache.
• Abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort: For this phenomenon, patients need to monitor carefully. In case of continuous pain, it is necessary to go to a medical facility where the medicine is provided to be treated, even if it has to replace other drugs or change treatment regimens.
• Rash and itching: Like other medications, ARV can cause allergies. Lightly, there are scattered red rash, itching . Remedy by: taking more antihistamines. However, if severe allergies can be life-threatening, stop the medication immediately and treat it aggressively at qualified medical centers.
• Anemia: Some antiretroviral drugs that have bone marrow suppressant effect make the bone marrow less likely to produce red blood cells, causing anemia with signs of dizziness and dizziness. Usually appear after 4-6 weeks or may appear after several months of ARV treatment. You can supplement vitamin B12, iron tablets, folic . to remedy this situation.
• Sleep disorders, or nightmares when sleeping: For patients with this symptom should be taken at night, before going to bed. These symptoms usually do not last long. Can use tranquilizers, supportive drugs to sleep better.
• Peripheral neuropathy: Patients often present with peripheral sensory disorders, mainly in the extremities, manifest numbness, burning or pain. If severe, it makes people difficult to walk, feeling many places. Usually occurs in the 6th month of treatment. Can use high dose B vitamins, if heavy must replace drugs.

In addition, the drug can be toxic to the liver, kidneys, lipodystrophy (with manifestations of fat accumulation in the chest, abdomen, back, nape; atrophy of fat tissue in the arms, legs, buttocks, cheeks . .).

Because antiretroviral drugs have many side effects, so in the course of taking drugs if there are any abnormal signs, patients should immediately notify the treating doctor for proper management.