Guest guest Posted April 27, 2010 Report Share Posted April 27, 2010 Hello all! I have been taking ARV's for many years, then decided to stop them in late January of this year. I had gone on drug holidays before, once for about a year, and another time for about a year and a half. After the doing the drug holidays and returning for treatment, the doctors I dealt with were amazed that my counts didn't change very much during the holidays. My philosophy has always been that the ARV's can be of benefit to people with HIV (and lifesaving in severe cases), but know of the documented toxicity of the drugs, therefore some people benefitting from drug holidays. Well, I have been on continuous ARV therapy for about 7 years, until I stopped this January. My viral load during that whole period of time was always undetectable, and CD4 fluctuated between 500-1090. It was usually in the 600-800 range. The count of 1090 was from Dec. 2009, and although the validity of CD4 counts is questionable, you can't help but be happy about it. I thought the high CD4 was mostly due to the supplements I take - Selenium, Q10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Chlorella and Spirulina. Well today I got my results from last week's test and CD4 is 352 (hasn't been that low in many years), and viral load is now 165,000 (never been above 50,000). Do you believe this is just my body's reaction to stopping the ARV's, or should I be worried about these counts? I have heard that your counts can drop somewhat after stopping the meds, but isn't this a little drastic? Sorry for the length of this post, but would really appreciate any and all opinions. Peace, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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