Adherence: Keeping up with your meds

May 2008     View PDF     En español

Staying on a treatment regimen is difficult under the best of conditions. Even doctors and nurses find it difficult to take a simple course of antibiotics as directed. Taking HIV therapy sometimes requires a person to take a dozen or more pills a day, with specific timing and diet restrictions. Then, when a person also uses drugs for other infections, the total daily pill count can soar. Keeping up with your meds alone becomes a major activity. So it’s little wonder that people have trouble keeping up with the program. Therefore, adhering to your HIV therapy means taking an honest and objective view of your life and daily activities.