Okay, I started my drug therapy in March. I had a viral load of over 100,000. Well, in June, my viral load was 777. My doctor seemed surprised that it was not below 50 yet. She said that she wanted to wait three months to do more blood work and if it was not down below 50 that we may have to switch regimens. She admits that it would be a stab in the dark because drug resistance testing can not be done if your viral load is not at least a thousand.
Okay, so three months will be the first week of October. I am not certain that I want to switch therapies if I go in there and I am still not at 50. If it is going down, that's a good sign, right?
So, does anyone know if it just takes some people longer for their viral load to go down.
Also, if anybody knows of a board which doctors read, please let me know so I can get some medical advice, too.
I have gotten accustomed to my regimen and the side effects. I don't want to switch, especially if we don't know why my body is resisting and I am still feeling healthy and well.
well i am sure that the whole "stab in the dark" things did NOT make you feel any better! it seems to me that your viral load was detected durring your inital infection stage? the 100,000 number? and in 3 months for it to drop to 777 i think is very encouraging. can you give me a little more information to go by? are you normally healthy? do you smoke? what meds are you on exactly. i will do some looking around for you and see what i can come up with. i can't give you other web sites as it is against the rules here, but i will try to help as much as i can.
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Married October 02
DS Caden Grey June 03
DS Morgan Keenan March 05
C-Section Aug 1st 08 with baby BOY #3
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for your help. I am normally healthy. Months before I started my therapy, I had an anal fistulonomy. It's not totally healed yet, so that could be a factor. I don't smoke, but I do drink the occasional margarita.
I am on Combivir and Kaletra. Kaletra has to be refrigerated and there were a couple of times, I left it in the car and the gel caps stuck together, but they were still in tact, so I don't know if that diluted the potency.
I take my pills at 6am M-F and around 4 M-F. On the weekends, it is around 9am and 4-5pm.
You're right about the stab in the dark. If my viral load is not 50 or below, I don't want to switch, I just want to keep trying.
well, i would read on the Kaletra and see if it says to store it at a particular temp. i know that there are some meds that i give my horses that if it heats up it looses the molecular structure and it's crap after that. (i am not comparing you to horses )
can you explain why the doc wants you on this regimine? or what they would want to switch you to?
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Married October 02
DS Caden Grey June 03
DS Morgan Keenan March 05
C-Section Aug 1st 08 with baby BOY #3
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
The present regimen I am on, according to the doctor, is the first line of defense given my body type, present health conditions, etc. I am not sure what she would want me to switch to. I am a nurse friend who is positive and she is advocating that I do not switch if I am not below 50. My CD4 count is over 500 (I forget right now the exact number), so that's pretty good.
I think I would be willing to give it three more months. It just does not seem to make much sense of switching to a regimen when this one is working (though not as quickly as the doctor suspects it should).
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