Are There Any Treatments For Hiv

Apple Cider Vinegar Supplements Distilled Water

2 User Reviews

I have been HIV positive for three years now. The doctors have been pushing me to start anti-viral drug therapy. I have resisted since my T-cells have remained over 700 and viral around 60,000. I have never felt healthier. I work out 6 days a week, grow my own organic veggies, sleep 8 hours a night, do not smoke or do drugs, and drink very little booze. With the help of internet research, I drink two raw organic apple cider vinegar drinks a day, take Selenium, alot of mult-vitamins/minerals and drink only distilled water. This has worked for me, perhaps this will help some of you.

Apple Cider Vinegar, Supplements, Distilled Water

I too have been positive for 3 years… Back when I first tested positive the docs wanted me to start on the meds urgently, however I didn’t see the point in taking extremely toxic medication on 09/17/2009

Warning

I am dying from AIDS. I was healthy with it since 1993. Then 4 months ago I began to drink lemon juice. This activated the virus mycoplasma and my skin began to turn purple. You can live with hiv for a long time if you stay away from citric acid, this is how it grows.

All these cures are toxic and useless.

Eat chicken soup and stay away from citrus and sugar fruit and you will be healthy. But it is the lemon juice that caused my body to break down. I would stay away from Vitamin C also, acidifies the body, no matter what they say. I am living proof.

What Hiv Medicines Are Included In An Hiv Treatment Regimen

There are many HIV medicines available for HIV treatment regimens. The HIV medicines are grouped into seven drug classes according to how they fight HIV.

The choice of an HIV treatment regimen depends on a person’s individual needs. When choosing an HIV treatment regimen, people with HIV and their health care providers consider many factors, including possible side effects of HIV medicines and potential drug interactions.

What Is Hiv Treatment

HIV treatment involves taking medicines that slow the progression of the virus in your body. HIV is a type of virus called a retrovirus, and the combination of drugs used to treat it is called antiretroviral therapy . ART is recommended for all people living with HIV, regardless of how long theyve had the virus or how healthy they are. ART must be taken every day, exactly as your health care provider prescribes.

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What Should People Know About Taking Hiv Medicines

Taking HIV medicines keeps people with HIV healthy and prevents HIV transmission. Taking HIV medicines every day and exactly as prescribed also reduces the risk of drug resistance.

But sometimes, HIV medicines can cause side effects. Most side effects from HIV medicines are manageable, but a few can be serious. Overall, the benefits of HIV medicines far outweigh the risk of side effects. In addition, newer HIV medicines cause fewer side effects than medicines used in the past. As HIV treatment continues to improve, people are less likely to have side effects from their HIV medicines.

HIV medicines can interact with other HIV medicines in an HIV treatment regimen or with other medicines a person is taking. Health care providers carefully consider potential drug interactions before recommending an HIV treatment regimen.

Which Medications Can Be Taken By Injection

The first complete HIV treatment provided by long-acting injections is a combination of two medications. Cabotegravir belongs to the same class of medication integrase inhibitors as the widely used HIV medication dolutegravir. The second medication is called rilpivirine and is already used for HIV treatment in tablet form. It is from a class of drugs known as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors .

In Europe, the brand name for injectable cabotegravir is Vocabria, while the brand name for injectable rilpivirine is Rekambys. In North America and Australia, the two drugs are packaged together, with the brand name of Cabenuva.

Cabotegravir and rilpivirine can be taken either once a month or every two months. For more information on this, see How frequent are the injections? on this page.

Pharmaceutical companies are researching other long-acting medications. See the last question on this page for more information.

You can find out more about cabotegravir and rilpivirine in our factsheet and in our detailed page in the A-Z of antiretroviral medications.

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Are The Injections Better Than Tablets

No, their efficacy is comparable. The cabotegravir and rilpivirine injectable regimen was approved by drug regulators based on the results of three randomised control trials:

• The first study involved people who hadnt taken HIV treatment before. All started with daily pills for around four and a half months . Half then continued with daily pills, while half switched to monthly injections.
• The second study recruited people who were already taking HIV treatment and had an undetectable viral load. Half continued with their daily pills, while half switched to monthly injections.
• As a follow-on from the second study, the third study compared injections once a month with injections once every two months.

regimen

A combination of medications and the way it is taken.

Each of the studies assessed the success of treatment in terms of how many people had an undetectable viral load after just under a year. Pooling the results of the three studies, this was the case for 94% of people given the injections. The first two studies found that the monthly injections were as effective as daily pills. Similarly, the third study found that injections every two months were non-inferior to monthly injections.

Visit the A-Z of antiretroviral medications to find out more about these research studies.

Side Effects And Costs

Side effects of antiretroviral therapy vary and may include nausea, headache, and dizziness. These symptoms are often temporary and disappear with time.

Serious side effects can include swelling of the mouth and tongue and liver or kidney damage. If side effects are severe, the medications can be adjusted.

Costs for antiretroviral therapy vary according to geographic location and type of insurance coverage. Some pharmaceutical companies have assistance programs to help lower the cost.

To develop AIDS, a person has to have contracted HIV. But having HIV doesnt necessarily mean that someone will develop AIDS.

Cases of HIV progress through three stages:

• stage 1:acute stage, the first few weeks after transmission
• stage 2: clinical latency, or chronic stage
• stage 3: AIDS

As HIV lowers the CD4 cell count, the immune system weakens. A typical adults CD4 count is 500 to 1,500 per cubic millimeter. A person with a count below 200 is considered to have AIDS.

How quickly a case of HIV progresses through the chronic stage varies significantly from person to person. Without treatment, it can last up to a decade before advancing to AIDS. With treatment, it can last indefinitely.

Theres currently no cure for HIV, but it can be managed. People with HIV often have a near-normal lifespan with early treatment with antiretroviral therapy.

Also, treatment can typically help manage opportunistic infections.

HIV and AIDS are related, but theyre not the same thing.

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Will Other Injectable Medications Be Available In The Future

Developing new long-acting medications is currently a major focus of pharmaceutical companies research. As many of the daily pills for HIV treatment are highly effective and well tolerated, creating simpler treatment options is seen as the main way to make progress. Various companies are trying to develop intramuscular injections, subcutaneous injections, infusions, implants, patches and pills.

This process is not smooth, with many potential products failing for one reason or another. For example, several clinical trials of islatravir, which had been considered to be one of the most promising new antiretrovirals, were halted in December 2021 due to declines in immune system cells in some people taking the medication. It had been hoped that islatravir could be given as a weekly or monthly pill, or as an implant lasting a year.

The new agent lenacapavir also shows promise. It is a capsid inhibitor that is being trialled as subcutaneous injection in the belly, once every six months. Initial results in people with extensive drug resistance are encouraging, and there are also early results from people using the drug as part of their first HIV treatment. However, for treatment every six months to become a reality, researchers will need to find a second medication which also only needs to be taken every few months.

Other medications in development include leronlimab and UB-421 .

Alternative Therapies And Natural Treatments

There is a range of natural treatments a person can try to ease HIV symptoms and medication side effects and to make them feel better, overall.

Many people do experience positive results from using these therapies. However, there is little research into their safety and effectiveness, and they are not a substitute for medical treatment.

Alternative treatments include:

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Box 2 Key Research Goals To Be Addressed In The Next 5 Years

Understanding HIV reservoirs

• Define the level of antigen expression needed to enable recognition of infected cells by immunotherapies

• Develop gene-editing strategies that target the provirus

• Develop strategies for sustained production in vivo of antiviral antibodies

• Leverage advances in other biomedical fields to develop safer and more scalable approaches

Pediatric remission and cure

• Characterize the establishment, persistence, and potential for preventing or reversing HIV latency in infants and children on ART

• Develop assays to monitor and identify biomarkers to predict the efficacy of HIV-1 cure therapeutics

• Test HIV immunotherapies and other strategies in infants and children

Social, behavioral, and ethical aspects of cure

• Expand community/stakeholder engagement and capacity building

• Develop HIV cure research with equity, representation, and scalability considerations

• Establish standards for the safe conduct of clinical research

• Integrate social, behavioral, and ethics research as part of HIV cure trials

• Build capacity for basic discovery research and clinical trials in high-burden, resource-limited settings

What Are The Types Of Hiv/aids Medicines

There are several different types of HIV/AIDS medicines. Some work by blocking or changing enzymes that HIV needs to make copies of itself. This prevents HIV from copying itself, which reduces the amount of HIV in the body. Several medicines do this:

• Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors block an enzyme called reverse transcriptase
• Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors bind to and later change reverse transcriptase
• Integrase inhibitors block an enzyme called integrase
• Protease inhibitors block an enzyme called protease

Some HIV/AIDS medicines interfere with HIV’s ability to infect CD4 immune system cells:

• Fusion inhibitors block HIV from entering the cells
• CCR5 antagonists and post-attachment inhibitors block different molecules on the CD4 cells. To infect a cell, HIV has to bind to two types of molecules on the cell’s surface. Blocking either of these molecules prevents HIV from entering the cells.
• Attachment inhibitors bind to a specific protein on the outer surface of HIV. This prevents HIV from entering the cell.

In some cases, people take more than one medicine:

• Pharmacokinetic enhancers boost the effectiveness of certain HIV/AIDS medicines. A pharmacokinetic enhancer slows the breakdown of the other medicine. This allows that medicine to stay in the body longer at a higher concentration.
• Multidrug combinations include a combination of two or more different HIV/AIDS medicines

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How Do Hiv/aids Medicines Work

HIV/AIDS medicines reduce the amount of HIV in your body, which helps by:

• Giving your immune system a chance to recover. Even though there is still some HIV in your body, your immune system should be strong enough to fight off infections and certain HIV-related cancers.
• Reducing the risk that you will spread HIV to others

Treatments To Prevent Hiv Transmission

There are also preventive HIV treatments, including:

• Postexposure prophylaxis, or PEP: A person who may have been exposed to HIV can take this medication within 72 hours to help prevent transmission.
• Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP: HIV-negative people who have a high risk of exposure to the virus can take this type of medication daily.
• Preventing transmission during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding: Certain HIV medications can protect the growing fetus, and a doctor may administer medication after birth. Having a cesarean delivery and not breastfeeding can also help prevent HIV transmission.

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Is There A Vaccine For Hiv

Currently, there are no vaccines to prevent or treat HIV. Research and testing on experimental vaccines are ongoing, but none are close to being approved for general use.

HIV is a complicated virus. It mutates rapidly and is often able to fend off immune system responses. Only a small number of people who have HIV develop broadly neutralizing antibodies, the kind of antibodies that can respond to a range of HIV strains.

The first HIV vaccine efficacy study in 7 years was underway in South Africa in 2016. The experimental vaccine is an updated version of one used in a 2009 trial that took place in Thailand.

A 3.5-year follow-up after vaccination showed the vaccine was 31.2 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission.

The study involves 5,400 men and women from South Africa. In 2016 in South Africa, about contracted HIV. The results of the study are expected in 2021.

Other late-stage, multinational vaccine clinical trials are also currently underway.

Other research into an HIV vaccine is also ongoing.

While theres still no vaccine to prevent HIV, people with HIV can benefit from other vaccines to prevent HIV-related illnesses. Here are the CDC recommendations:

• pneumonia:

Treatment Reduces The Amount Of Hiv In The Blood

• The amount of HIV in the blood is called viral load.
• Taking your HIV medicine as prescribed will help keep your viral load low and your CD4 cell count high.
• HIV medicine can make the viral load very low . Viral suppression is defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.
• HIV medicine can make the viral load so low that a test cant detect it .
• If your viral load goes down after starting HIV treatment, that means treatment is working. Continue to take your medicine as prescribed.
• If you skip your medications, even now and then, you are giving HIV the chance to multiply rapidly. This could weaken your immune system, and you could become sick.
• Getting and keeping an undetectable viral load is the best way to stay healthy and protect others.

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Satisfying Patient Needs: The Evolving Challenge

Dr Kimberly Smith, Head of Research and Development at ViiV Healthcare, explained that as treatments have developed, so have patients expectations and needs: the bar is set higher and higher because the medicines are increasingly effective and well tolerated, especially with the introduction of two-drug regimens. Patients, she said, are still hoping that a cure will be developed but in the meantime their needs have evolved. According to Smith, where single-pill regimens were once a major unmet need, with multiple single-tablet regimens now on the market, the needs of patients have changed: people now want to be able to not have to think about living with HIV every day.

This, she said, is the premise upon which long-acting therapies have entered the market: People want to have the privacy that comes with not having medicines in their home or not needing to travel with them. What long-acting therapy does is to take away that daily reminder of their disease. The first long-acting cART regimen for HIV Janssens Rekambys and ViiVs Vocabria injection was approved for once monthly dosing in the US in January 2021 and EU in December 2020, the EU has also approved the two-month dosing regimen.6

though it is unlikely a cure for HIV will be developed in the next ten years, the industry should be dosing patients with less frequency

About The Michigan Medicine Hiv

In 1995, in response to the AIDS epidemic, Michigan Medicine established the HIV-AIDS Treatment Program . The HIV-AIDS Treatment Program offers both primary and specialized care to HIV-positive individuals. Investigational treatments are also available for interested and qualifying patients.

We provide complete care for the whole person through a multi-focused team approach that incorporates physical health care, mental health care, and psychosocial support. Our HATP team is made up of specialists who are solely dedicated to providing care for people living with HIV and AIDS including infectious diseases physicians, a psychiatrist, social workers, medical case managers, a nurse, medical assistants, and a dietician.

See What to Expect below to learn more about our approach.

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Eat Healthy Foods To Maintain Good Nutrition

A healthy diet can help keep your immune system strong. Foods such as fish, beans, and nuts contain protein, which can help you build muscle. Getting enough protein is especially important if youre underweight, notes the UCSF Center for HIV Information, as are calories from carbohydrates and healthy fats. Consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables can provide essential vitamins and minerals and also keep you feeling full. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services , maintaining a healthy weight with the right diet can also help you absorb HIV medications. People with a weakened immune system need to pay close attention to food safety too, in order to prevent foodborne infections that can be more difficult to fight off, says the HHS.

Elite Controllers Can Cure Themselves Of Hiv Without Any Medical Treatment Bombshell Research Claims

Extraordinary breakthrough research has indicated that a small group of HIV-infected people, dubbed elite controllers, have the power to rid themselves of the virus without any medical help.

Numerous previous studies, carried out over the course of several years, had found that a very small number of the 38 million people infected with the dreaded virus were able to suppress it without any treatment.

The remarkable new finding has found that an even smaller subset of elite controllers appear to be able to eliminate HIV from their bodies entirely without taking medicine at all.

The discovery is astonishing because HIV is a lifelong condition for which there is no medical cure. In the vast majority of cases, sufferers require daily antiretroviral therapy to control the virus and stop the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome .

What happens with these individuals, whom we call elite controllers, may shed light on a HIV-1 cure and also help us understand how a person with HIV might control virus and avoid HIV-associated comorbidities, explained veteran HIV researcher, Keith Hoots, who is the director of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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