Treatment and prevention of HIV

When you’re managing HIV, treatment is very important. You will find yourself having to take daily HIV medication, which is designed to help your health be as normal as possible. HIV medication is designed to prevent the HIV cells from infecting more T cells. HIV medication comes in a combination of daily pills designed to boost the immune system. While there is no cure yet, HIV treatment makes living with the disease much more tolerable.

Daily medication

When you have HIV, treatment through daily medication is something that any doctor will recommend for you. The pills you are prescribed are designed to boost the immune system, since HIV seriously damages it. With HIV, you are susceptible to other illnesses, like flu or colds, and they will be much worse. The medications that an HIV specialist will prescribe to you as HIV treatment will prevent HIV cells from further hijacking healthy T cells in the hopes of containing the disease and keeping your immune system as healthy as possible.

The medications for HIV treatment fall into two main categories: HIV treatment that disables the protein required for the HIV cells to take over the T cells and HIV treatment that mimicks proteins and tricks the HIV cells into replicating on them instead of the real T cells. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors disable the proteins and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors create faux-proteins. There are also integrase inhibitors, which disable proteins necessary for duplication, and protease inhibitors, which prevent the HIV cells from even entering the healthy proteins.

It’s important to take this daily HIV medication as prescribed because it will help to contain the disease as much as possible. Since there is no cure, emphasis is placed on treatment and prevention. An HIV specialist will stress to you the importance of healthy living and taking your HIV medication as scheduled. Your HIV medication has been prescribed specifically for you by an HIV specialist after your appointment and HIV screening has been done. HIV screening will tell you your T-cell count, among other things, which is important when prescribing HIV medication. HIV treatment is customized to you, depending on how far along the disease is.

You should never change your HIV medication on your own. An HIV specialist has spent years studying the disease and knows what medication works best. Certain doses have been prescribed for a reason and you should defer to the expertise of an HIV specialist before doing anything. An HIV specialist will keep meticulous record of your T-cell count and how your body is reacting to the HIV medication.

If you feel like you’re experiencing side effects from the HIV medication that are affecting your ability to take part in daily activities, talk to your HIV specialist about trying different HIV treatment medication. Other medications may work better for you, but that final decision should be made by an HIV specialist.

• What is HIV?Read More
• Finding an HIV specialistRead More
• Treatment and prevention of HIVRead More