Adherence to Antiretroviral therapy, My personal experience

Adherence to anti-retro-viral treatment (ART) is taking the correct prescribed dose on the schedule specified.  In most cases, ART requires nearly perfect adherence to suppress the virus fully and prevent drug resistance. Adherence to anti-retro-viral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV infection is critical for treatment success and HIV prevention. 

For close to five years, i was supposed to be on cotrimoxazole (septrin) since my CD4 count was still stable.My first ever CD4 count result was 927. Back then, i was not as informed as now and therefore thought being on ARVs is a shame and a burden at the same time. 

I would  receive my dosage every time i attended clinic. For the beginning, i took the drugs consistently until i started experiencing over growth of the yeast Candida, which caused thrush. I would go back to clinic and all the time they prescribed medication for yeast infection. It reached a point i got tired and i stopped the septrin altogether. However, i did not report this to my clinic and they continued giving me the septrins but i would get home and keep them in a drawer and act like i was taking them. I did this for long until i transferred to my current comprehensive care clinic. Here, i refused to accept septrin again and hence was prescribed for dapson. On taking dapson for about two months, i experienced the same side effects and i stopped. 

It was until the month of November 2010 that my CD4 count was found to be 278 which is below the WHO recommended 350. I was given a month to decide whether i was ready for a life time commitment(ARVs). After one month i was not ready, nor was i even after two months. The scare of side effects as was always narrated by my fellow ladies in support groups deterred my decision. I finally resolved that in the new year i would make the decision to start.

On Valentines 2011, i woke up early to go receive my first dose of ARVs. A week earlier i had attended adherence and nutrition sessions as a preparation measure for this major decision i had made in my life. The first night i took zidolam, i did not sleep; I waited for the famous side effects. 

Its on my third day that i started feeling nausea-tic, dizziness and lack of appetite.

My ARVS &Septrin

I went through these for nine months. My neighbors who thought i was pregnant waited in vain for my stomach to bulge. I was later changed from zidolam to a combination of tenofovir, lamivudine and nevi-rapine. I am better nowadays though more often than not i suffer nausea.

The journey has not been easy. Every valentines day when every one else is celebrating love, i celebrate a triumph, another year of sacrifice and commitment to ART. Every nine am and pm, i have to pop my tabs. I hate the ugly and sizeable blue one. Hey and by the way i now take septrin. Its now two years and counting. I have a very large mirror to monitor my body just in-case these drugs may affect my shape like they have done to many other women by causing lipodistrophy.

As long as am in my house, am timely. Once i travel, its trouble. I so often forget. My phone alarm however is an every time reminder that i need to pop.

So far so good and the journey continues........