Antiretroviral Drugs

The antiretroviral drugs can help you reduce your viral load, combat infections, and enhance your overall quality of life. They can reduce your risk of HIV transmission, but if you use them wrongly, you can still pass HIV on to others. They aren’t an HIV cure.

NRT Inhibitors

• NRTIs force HIV to use incorrect versions of building blocks, preventing infected cells from producing new HIV.
  • Abacavir
  • Didanosine
  • Emtricitabine
  • Lamivudine
  • Stavudine
  • Tenofovir alafenamide
  • Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate
  • Zidovudine 

NNRT Inhibitors

They’re also known as “non-nukes.” NNRTIs bind to a particular protein, preventing the HIV virus from replicating.

• Cabotegravir
• Delavirdine
• Doravirine
• Efavirenz
• Etravirine
• Nevirapine
• Rilpivirine

Integrase Inhibitors

These prevent HIV from replicating by inhibiting a critical protein that permits the virus to insert its DNA into the DNA of healthy cells. Integrase strand transfer inhibitors are another name for them (INSTIs).

• Bictegravir
• Cabotegravir
• Dolutegravir
• Elvitegravir
• Raltegravir

These medications prevent HIV from entering healthy cells, unlike NRTIs, NNRTIs, PIs, and INSTIs, which function on infected cells.

• Enfuvirtide

Fixed Dose Combinations

Some drug companies combine many medications into a single pill to make them simpler to swallow, such as:

INSTI (integrase strand transfer inhibitor):

• Bictegravir + tenofovir alafenamide + emtricitabine
• Dolutegravir + abacavir + lamivudine
• Dolutegravir + rilpivirine
• Dolutegravir + lamivudine
• Elvitegravir + cobicistat + tenofovir alafenamide + emtricitabine
• Elvitegravir + cobicistat + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + emtricitabine

Based on protease inhibitors (PI):

• Atazanavir + cobicistat
• Darunavir + cobicistat
• Darunavir + cobicistat + tenofovir alafenamide + emtricitabine

NNRTI (non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor):

• Doravirine + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + lamivudine
• Efavirenz + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + emtricitabine
• Rilpivirine + tenofovir alafenamide + emtricitabine
• Rilpivirine + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + emtricitabine

NRTIs (nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors):

• Abacavir + lamivudine
• Abacavir + lamivudine + zidovudine
• Tenofovir alafenamide + emtricitabine
• Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + emtricitabine
• Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate + lamivudine
• Zidovudine + Lamivudine

Medication for PrEP

Pre-exposure prophylaxis is referred to as PrEP. That is, you take these drugs before HIV enters your organism (exposure) to help prevent yourself from infection (prophylaxis). These medications are effective, but they aren’t infallible; you must use them every day for the best results, and even then, they don’t always work. As a result, it’s advisable to take other measures to safeguard yourself when you can. If you have intercourse with somebody who may have HIV, for example, try to use a condom for added protection.

Care For HIV Symptoms

Maintaining the doctor-prescribed antiviral treatment regimen without missing any doses is the greatest method to keep HIV symptoms and consequences at bay. If you accomplish this, you will be able to:

• Boost your immune system.
• Reduce the risk of infection of any kind.
• Reduce your chances of contracting HIV that is “treatment-resistant.”
• Reduce your chances of infecting others with HIV.

If you have HIV, you’re more susceptible to contracting certain infections (the risk goes down if you take your HIV medications). These are some of them:

• Herpes and shingles are viral infections that are treated with rest and antiviral medications.
• Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
• Antifungal medications are used to treat fungal illnesses such as thrush and pneumocystis pneumonia.
• Infections caused by parasites, such as toxoplasmosis, may necessitate long-term treatment in HIV patients.

Consult a doctor if you’re not feeling well on your normal prescriptions or if you’re having difficulties remembering to take them. You may be able to change the types and quantities of your medications together to best address any signs or side effects.