Fw: Lipids & Antivirals

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Hi Rich,Several comments on the responses so far:I wanted to offer a word of caution

about one of the posts... if you decide to use a statin again and take CoQ10 to alleviate muscle pains, keep an eye on your liver functions tests! (LFT's = AST, ALT, AlkPhos, Bilirubin) It is hard to find mention of it, but CoQ10 can cause elevations in these functions, especially the

transaminases (ALT & AST), which can indicate injury to a liver already stressed by antivirals. The regimen you mention of Viread, Isentress and Invirase sounds VERY odd to me... Invirase is not frequently used at this point, being an older PI with very limited

bio-availibility, and should ALWAYS be prescribed with a ritonovir (Norvir) "boost" of 100mg. Also, the Invirase/Ritonavir combo carries a risk of cardiac autonomic neuropathy and would be inadvisable in your case. Are you sure that's the med you're on? If so, that is likely the source of the continuing lipid problems...both Viread nor Isentress are considered "lipid friendly", while the older PI's are not. As said, modifying your diet is the first place to start! Regular exercise (with the advice of your doc, considering your cardiac issues) would be helpful as well.To modify your regimen again, ideally, yes, you would have both a pheno- and geno-type resistance assay, but these are only done if your viral load is above 1000... If that is not the case, you and your doc would have to be guided by past tests and your history of exposure to other antivirals. You might consider intelence,

another lipid-friendly med (at least as far as we know at this point).Hope this helps!!Namaste!!Mike Hello everybody, I was wondering if anybody could

suggest HIV treatment that would reduce lipid elevations.

I was on Kaletra several years back (guessing 2004 to 2009). I believe my cholesterol/ triglycerides/ etc. were normal until I got put on Kaletra, then in Aug 2007 I had a heart attack. It was then discovered my cholesterol/ etc. was 250+. I was put on statins after my quad bypass, continued on Kaletra for another 2 years. I learned later on that Kaletra was notorious for causing heart attacks, and was removed from that therapy and put on Viread, Isentress and Inverase. I still have issues with lipid levels and cannot take statins. Several months ago I started having horrible body/muscle pain and stopped my statin for

about 4 months and immediately feeling better, but my cholesterol was way up again, went on statins again with folic acid but again horrible muscle aches. Now I'm off once again. Longer story longer, any suggestions on HIV therapy? Will I need a geno/phenotype test? I go thru

the VA for my treatment.

Lastly, I put a layer of fat on my body I never had, and it doesn't feel

good. It's kind of a saggy fat, I always had about 11% body fat, now it's about 24%.

Any input/suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Rich