Positive ME - Healthy You

Adherence

What is adherence?
Adherence is following your doctor’s instructions regarding your treatment. It means taking your meds as prescribed, going to your appointments, having your labs drawn regularly. Adherence can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be impossible.

Why adhere?
Taking your anti-HIV meds is important to decrease your viral load and prevent resistance.

When your body doesn’t get a steady supply of your prescribed drug, it’s likely to become resistant to the drug. This means when you miss a dose or don’t a dose at the same time every day, your drugs might stop fighting your HIV.

Adherence is important to slow down the reproduction of the virus and keep you alive and healthy.

How best to adhere?
Adherence is not always easy, but it is possible.

With many medications and different dosing instructions, adherence can be challenging. Side effects of drugs and trying to live your regular life can make adherence difficult.

The first step to proper adherence is talking with your health care provider. Talk to your doctor about your life — your schedule, side effects, general physical and mental health, and your overall commitment to beginning treatment.

You may need to establish a system of reminders. Try these:

notes beside your bed or fridge,

a pill box separated by days of the week,

alarms, or

a good friend who’s supporting you.

“I was told at the beginning that it was very important to adhere to my HIV med regimen precisely. When I first started on it, my daughter would call me everyday at med time to help remind me. After awhile it just became second nature. After 4 years of this I never miss by more than a half hour at most. By my counts and the fact that I am still on my first regimen I know that adherence has made a major difference to my health (my HIV doc confirms this) “On time, every time”, is my motto.”