Drugs & Side Effects

Not surprisingly, the more drugs you are taking, the more side effects you may have. Finding out which drug is causing a particular side effect can be hard if you are on several medications. To help your doctor track down the cause of side effects, there are three very important things you can do.

First, pay attention to what is happening in your body. The more aware you are of when you first experienced a symptom, the easier it will be to learn what is causing it. Many people also write down the date they first began taking a new drug. This makes it easier to link the beginning of a particular side effect with the addition of a new drug to your treatment.

Second, talk to your doctor! It's amazing how often people don't tell their doctor that they are having problems. But your doctor can't help you with a problem if you never mention it.

Third, educate yourself about the possible side effects that can occur with the drugs you are taking. Although doctors are usually careful to tell you about the most common and most serious side effects associated with a drug, they may not mention some of the less frequent side effects. Some patients keep a small drug reference book or medical dictionary on hand so they can check their symptoms against the side effects of medications they are taking.

Meds Run My Life

Am I the Only One Who Feels Like My Meds Run My Life?

There is no getting around the fact that being on multiple-drug regimens can seriously limit the way you live your life. One of the most frustrating things is that it determines when and what you can eat.

Also, carrying around a lot of drugs or taking IV medications often makes eating at restaurants, having dinner with friends, or traveling away from home seem like major projects.

Although some patients can stop taking certain preventive medications if their CD4+ cells increase enough, not much can be done to reduce the number of drugs that most people with HIV are taking. However, there are things you can do to limit the ways in which your meds interfere with having a normal life.

Anemia and Meds

Why Am I So Tired All the Time?

Medications to treat HIV and related infections often cause fatigue or tiredness. But if you are always tired, it also may be because you have anemia. People with anemia do not have enough red blood cells, which contain the hemoglobin needed to carry oxygen to the tissues of the body. Low levels of oxygen result in fatigue and little energy.

About 80% of people with HIV have some degree of anemia during the course of their disease. There are many reasons why anemia is so common in HIV-infected people. HIV itself can cause anemia. In addition, antiretrovirals, chemotherapy, and many other drugs used to treat people with HIV can reduce the number of red blood cells in the body. For example, AZT is a major cause of anemia in people receiving this drug.

Severe anemia can be life threatening. But even mild-to-moderate anemia can rob a person of energy and make it hard to have a normal life.