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Category: complications

Side Effects - a Better Quality of Life

posted: 22/12/2010

cover of the booklet HIV and your qulaity of life; a guide to side effects and complications, December 2010 editioni-Base, the HIV treatment information organisation, have produced a new issue of their guide to HIV treatment, side effects and complications.

The guide should help you get better medical care and improved health. It should help you feel more in control of your treatment, and, most importantly, to get a better quality of life.
It has been written by people who are HIV-positive, who have used many of these treatments and had many of the side effects.
 

“Everyone worries about side effects before they start a new treatment.
I have changed treatment four times since 1996. This has always been related to side effects or because new research has shown I can change the dose.
Every time, my quality of life improved more than I expected, even switching from twice-daily to once-daily.
It always takes me a while to change, even when I know that other drugs could be better.
As the benefits from treatment are hopefully going to keep me alive for many years, I want to make sure I am on a combination that is effective, easy to take and tolerable–and that gives me the best quality-of-life.”

Read the guide online

Order a free printed copy

Download the pdf version 1.2 Mb
 

The guide has information on how to talk to your doctor about side effects. There are sections on each of the major side effects and medical and alternative treatments are included.
 

What's new?

This is the fifth edition of the guide HIV and your quality of life:  a guide to side effects and other complications, issued this December.
 

  • It has been updated to include side effects of the latest drugs.
  • There is less information on side effects of drugs that are now rarely used in the printed book, but all the details are still online. T-20, lactic acidosis, indinavir, d4T and abacavir hypersensitivity reactions are online, not in print.
  • More information on long-term complications. These make a big difference to the best quality of life. For example, there are sections on bone and heart problems.
  • There’s a new section on HIV and ageing, because this an essential part of living well with HIV.
  • The guide includes comprehensive references in the online version. There are hyperlinks to over 250 documents. These include: the product information for each drug; UK, European and US treatment and management guidelines; and related studies that focus on safety and tolerability of drugs. Whenever possible we selected references that provide free full text access online.

Feedback and comments

i-Base welcome feedback and comments and you can tell them what you think in their online survey.
 

 


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