Making decisions about therapies
January 2007 View PDF En
español
The basis for making decisions
Regardless of the therapy you consider, the same basic principals
for making decisions can be used, including:
- Choose a healthcare provider or doctor who is experienced with
the treatment of HIV disease and with the types of therapy you
are interested in pursuing.
- Learn about the different types of doctor/patient relationships;
determine how you want to interact with your doctor and develop
the right relationship. Discuss your decision-making process style
of relationship with your healthcare provider.
- Get informed! Learn about your health condition(s) and possible
treatment options.
- What does the research show? Consider sources of information
that give you objective information about various treatments
and strategies. Project Inform offers this kind of information
free-of-charge through a toll-free hotline, printed documents,
public meetings and via a website.
- Explore, examine and challenge your beliefs about therapy.
- What has been the experience of friends and people you trust?
- Does your healthcare provider or doctor have opinions about
particular drugs, combinations, or strategies? What does your
provider recommend and why?
- Talk to your doctor before you start therapy (regardless of
what that therapy is) and come to mutual agreements about:
- When to start therapy
- What overall treatment strategy you will pursue
- How to monitor whether or not a therapy is working for you
- How to monitor (and manage) for side effects of therapy
- When to switch therapy and how you plan to sequence the available
therapies
- Under what conditions you might choose to stop therapy
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