Stribild... Any opinions? Experience?

[wood]

Stribild is the new "Quad pill", so called because it contains four different drugs. Atripla contains two of those drugs (FTC and tenofovir). Complera I know little about but know people who are using it successfully.

I am undetectable and my CD4 is 1140.

Something's obviously working! I've hit zero as viral load, but I've never been above CD4 880.

I have to say that those numbers are truly impressive, especially in light of how long you have been infected and where you have came from in terms of numbers before.

I dont have any info for the OP, but if thats what your doctor recommends I would go for it. They seem to have steered you in the correct direction so far.

[bearbandit]

Hate to tell you this but the sentence about CD4 1140 has inserted itself from another post - my zenith reading on CD4 remains at 880, which is still 11x my nadir. I'm apparently taking credit for someone else's CD4 (If I quote I tend to italicise and bold). Sorry - just me being pedantic...

[wood]

Hate to tell you this but the sentence about CD4 1140 has inserted itself from another post - my zenith reading on CD4 remains at 880, which is still 11x my nadir. I'm apparently taking credit for someone else's CD4 (If I quote I tend to italicise and bold). Sorry - just me being pedantic...

880 is still damn good. I know of a few long term survivors and many struggle to keep CD4 counts in 4-500 range, even on modern therapy. They are okay and healthy, but the infection in the early days just wrecked their bodies enough that their immune system has never fully recovered.

[bearbandit]

I'm back to the the 400-500 range now and it's taken nearly seven years to get this far - the 880 happened just before my partner died: I didn't feel up to being fully adherent so I thought it safer to come off all meds than take them haphazardly. Nowadays I'd visit a friend every day to make sure they took they took their drugs properly: complete adherence really is that important.

[SFGemini]

I was first diagnosed positive 9 months ago. Test came back that I had a viral load of about 3000 with a CD4 count of 650. I chose Stribild because of the convenience. I work a normal day job and want to have my wits with me at all times. My viral load dropped to undetectable within a month. Maybe less since my follow up test was a month later. I've been on Stribild for 9 months now and still going on strong. I like it because it is only one tablet a day. Although you do need to take it with food, something as little as a banana will do. Luckily I do have health insurance from my employer. Without it, I may not be able to have any choice. It is so unfortunate and sad for those without health insurance who must wait until HIV turns into AIDS before receiving treatment.