HIV ART SIDE EFFECTS

HIV's Antiretroviral Treatment or known as ART or HAART, is a life-saving treatment of without which the vast majority of people with HIV will succumb to AIDS within a few months to years. Unfortunately, these medications don't tend to be easy on the body, given the wide range of cells they need to affect and sensitive areas of the body such as the central nervous system and brain.

Often, ART is accompanied by an overall lower quality of life, which for some, like me, was unbearable. From insomnia to gastrointestinal disturbances like diarrhea or constipation, decalcification of joints, abnormal muscle cramps, brain fog, depression, and the list goes on. It felt like every day was as unpredictable or unbearable as the last. With the markedly diminished quality of life, everything took a hit, from personal finances to personal relations. Even more unfortunate was the fact that none of the physicians who attended me had, in the best of cases, no idea of how to diminish these side effects or resorted to more medications like Ritalin or Zolpidem with known flawed and addictive profiles and in the worst cases, dismissed them as something that was "in your head"