Treatment | Living with HIV | HIV Basics | HIV/AIDS

Tell your health care provider right away if you’re having trouble sticking to your plan. Together you can identify the reasons you’re skipping HIV treatment and decide how to address those reasons.

Talk to your health care provider about problems taking your HIV treatment.

• Problems taking pills. This can make staying on this type of HIV treatment challenging. Your health care provider can offer tips for addressing these problems, including switching to an injectable HIV treatment option.

• Side effects. Nausea or diarrhea can make a person not want to continue their HIV treatment. There are medicines or other support, like nutritional counseling, to make sure you’re getting important nutrients. This can help with the most common side effects.
• HIV treatment fatigue. Some people find that sticking to their HIV treatment plan becomes harder over time. Make it a point to talk to your health care provider about staying on your plan.
• A busy schedule. Work or travel away from home can make it easy to forget to take pills or miss a shot. It may be possible to keep extra pills at work or in your car. But talk to your health care provider first as extreme temperatures can affect some medicine.

Talk to your health care provider if you miss doses of your HIV treatment.

• Missing a dose of pills. In most cases, you can take your pills as soon as you realize you missed a dose. Then take the next dose at your usually scheduled time (unless your pharmacist or health care provider has told you otherwise).
• Missing a shot. If you missed an appointment for your shot, talk to your health care provider about receiving your next shot.

• Missing doses. Talk to your health care provider or pharmacist about ways to help you remember your HIV treatment. Your health care provider may even decide to change your treatment to fit your needs and life situation.

Find help for mental health or substance use disorders.

• Being sick or depressed. How you feel mentally and physically can affect your ability to stick to your HIV treatment plan. Your health care provider, social worker, or case manager can refer you to a mental health provider or local support group.
• Substance use (drug or alcohol). If substance use is interfering with your ability to keep yourself healthy, it may be time to find help.
• If you need help finding substance use disorder treatment or mental health services, use SAMHSA’s Treatment Locator.

Join a support group or ask your family and friends for support. They can help you stick to your treatment plan.