Medication

Over the past few years medications and other treatments for HIV have continued to improve the health of people who have HIV. People are feeling better and living longer than ever before. We also now have evidence that reducing viral load through medications can also greatly reduce the chances of transmitting the virus to sexual partners.

However, the benefits of treatment only come when HIV positive people get into treatment and stick with it.

What is TREATMENT ADHERENCE?

Treatment adherence means following your HIV treatment regimen (plan) closely every day—taking the correct dose, at the correct time and exactly as prescribed.

Following your HIV treatment plan allows the medications to reduce the amount of HIV in your body. Skipping medications gives the HIV virus the chance to multiply.
Staying consistent with your HIV medications helps prevent drug resistance. Drug resistance happens when the HIV virus mutates (changes form) and becomes harder for the drugs to fight.

Why is treatment adherence
sometimes hard?

Sticking to an HIV treatment plan can be difficult for several reasons:

Difficulty taking medications (such as trouble swallowing pills)
Side effects from medications (for example, nausea or diarrhea)
A busy schedule, shift work or travel away from home that makes it easy to forget to take pills
Being sick or depressed
Alcohol or drug use

How does antiretroviral treatment (ART) fight HIV?

The HIV virus infects cells of your immune system and destroys their ability to fight disease. HIV medications prevent the virus from multiplying and keeps HIV levels low. This allows the body's immune cells to do their job of keeping you healthy.

Does antiretroviral treatment decrease the risk of spreading HIV?

ART may greatly reduce the likelihood of sexual transmission. Studies that included mostly heterosexual HIV discordant couples (one partner is HIV-infected and the other is not) have shown that ART can reduce the risk of sexually transmitting HIV to others by over 90%.

What does “undetectable” mean?

Having an undetectable viral load does not mean that there is no virus in the body. Rather, it means that the amount of virus is so low that the test cannot detect it. ART does not completely eliminate HIV once someone is infected.

Does treatment adherence mean I no longer need to use condoms?

HIV Medications help many to lower the levels of virus in their blood (viral load) to undetectable levels, and they may also decrease the chance of infecting others through sex. However, there is still a risk of infecting a partner, which is why condoms are still important for stopping HIV.

Write your medication schedule down or use e-mail and text reminders to make sure you do not forget.
Put your medication in a weekly pillbox so you can keep track of what you have taken.
Some pharmacies will put your medications in individual packets or pillboxes.
Use alarms on your cell phone or watch to alert you it is time to take your meds.
Make a habit of taking your medications at the same time each day.

Condoms

We all know that condoms provide a barrier that prevents passing HIV from one person to another. Condoms and HIV treatment together provide the best protection.

How effective are condoms?

Studies involving HIV discordant couples concluded that consistent use of condoms lead to big reductions in HIV infection. Condoms also reduce the risk of getting other STDs, including chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea and syphilis.

It is important to remember that condoms only work if you use them, and that you have to use them correctly. There is lots of information online about how to use condoms. Take the time to become a condom expert – it will keep you and your partners safe and make it easy for you to use condoms without taking away from your pleasure.

What else can reduce the
risk of spreading HIV?

You can choose to put off having sex. You may want to wait until you are more confident in your ability to protect yourself and your future partners.

You can avoid having the type of sex that has the highest risk of transmitting HIV. If you do not have anal or vaginal intercourse (fucking) the risk of infecting someone is very low. Lots of people enjoy sex without intercourse.

Some HIV positive people decide they only want to have sexual relationships with other people who are HIV positive. If you choose this strategy you should still consider including condoms.

Never sharing needles for injecting drugs or hormones.

RESPECT

Taking care of yourself and the people in your life is a sign of love and respect. Having self-respect means that you make choices that keep you happy and healthy. Nobody can tell you how to live your life. You have to figure that out for yourself. However, there is plenty of evidence showing that when you build your own self-esteem and have compassion for others, your health and well-being improves.

You also need to respect HIV because it is a serious disease that could kill you and hurt other people. Managing the virus keeps you in charge. Ignoring HIV will create problems that can threaten your life or cause you physical and emotional pain.

Treating your HIV is about more
than just pills

Overall treatment of your HIV can encompass many things that impact your mind, body and soul. Your healthcare providers have a medical plan for you, but there are life-enhancing behaviors you can add to your treatment plan to increase overall wellness and support your adherence to care.

Mind: reading, arts and crafts, museums, travel, discussion groups, counseling
Body: gym, biking, massage, yoga, running, long walks
Soul: family, friends, worship, meditation, volunteering, helping others

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