Help, my body reacts to ARVS

Jun 12, 2007

Dear Doctor, <br>I started taking ARVs about three months ago, but stopped taking them after only three weeks because I was having severe abdominal pains and vomiting. When my doctor did some blood tests on me, I was told I had pancreatitis caused by ARVs. What shall I do because my CD4 count is no

Dear Doctor,
I started taking ARVs about three months ago, but stopped taking them after only three weeks because I was having severe abdominal pains and vomiting. When my doctor did some blood tests on me, I was told I had pancreatitis caused by ARVs. What shall I do because my CD4 count is now very low, yet the tests done for the last two months still show my pancreas is still affected. Can I resume taking ARVs?
Lillian

Dear Lillian,
The question you have raised is very important for every one starting on ARVs. This is because many side-effects can occur during this initiation phase as drugs interface with the body system and inflammation of the pancreas, also known as pancreatitis, is one of them. It is, therefore, very important that proper pre-Antiretroviral therapy (ART) counselling is done, where an HIV/AIDS counsellor discusses the possible side-effects of ARVs.

Secondly, when starting ARVs, one is normally given drugs for only two weeks, as a lead-in dose, to see how the body reacts to them. If side-effects are serious like what you got, the drugs have to be stopped because as you may know, the pancreas is a very vital organ responsible for producing digestive juices and insulin, which is very crucial in the metabolism of sugar in the body. Normally, the pancreas takes time to recover and a series of tests have to be done to ascertain this.

Meanwhile, ARVs have to be stopped to allow the healing process. When recovery is achieved, which will be shown by laboratory tests, ART will have to be re-introduced, but without the offending drug.

In the meantime, you should continue with septrin prophylaxis and the other basic care package of sleeping under an insecticide-treated mosquito net, maintaining hygiene and good nutrition through eating a balanced diet to avoid getting opportunistic infections since you are off ARVs.

Remember HIV/AIDS care is more than provision of ARVs. By preventing or treating opportunistic infections and practising positive living, one can live a fairly normal life and even delay being on ARVs.

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