Depression and HIV

October 2003     View PDF     En español
Reprinted from www.aidsmeds.com, US

Can other medical problems or medications cause symptoms of depression?

Yes. This is one of the reasons that your psychiatrist needs to take a careful history. For example, HIV-positive men can have low testosterone levels which may cause decreased energy, loss of sexual desire and feelings of depression. You can determine your testosterone level with a simple blood test, and should receive testosterone replacement if your level is abnormally low.

Sustiva, an drug used to treat HIV, can cause a variety of psychological side effects. If your depression coincides with starting Sustiva and becomes severe or lasts more than a few weeks, you should consider switching to another anti-HIV drug to see if the depression improves.

In advanced symptomatic HIV disease, a number of opportunistic infections (OIs) as well as HIV itself can affect the brain so as to produce symptoms of depression. Antidepressant medication may still be indicated, but the underlying problem should be diagnosed first and treated if possible.