#initial therapy

I hope your doctor didn’t just give you a list of 5 regimens to choose from without helping you decide. You’d get better advice from a high school graduate at Best Buy when you try to pick a TV! 

Atripla - No. It’s no longer recommended because of its toxicity. 

Complera - No. Why take Complera when you could take the new, improved version, Odefsey?.

Stribild - No. Why take Stribild when you could take the new, improved version, Genvoya? 

Genvoya - A good choice, as long as you’re not takingmedications that interact, including certain inhaled or nasal steroid spraysfor asthma or allergies, among others.

Odefsey - A good choice if (1) your viral load is below 100,000, (2) your CD4 count is above 200, (3) you don’t take medications for heartburn or ulcers, (3) you will be able to take your medications daily with a full meal,  and (4) you don’t intend to miss doses.

He didn’t mention two other excellent, recommended regimens, which in my mind are preferred in people who may sometimes miss doses.

Triumeq - A good single-table regimen for people with a negative HLA B*5701 test who don’t have multiple risk factors for heart disease.

The combination of Combivir and Viramune is not a standard regimen in the U.S., but you didn’t say where you were writing from—a critical piece of information that almost everyone leaves out. Nausea and fatigue are common side effects of the AZT in Combivir. 

In the U.S., four of the five recommended regimens include integrase inhibitors and the fifth is a protease inhibitor-based regimen. Neither Combivir nor Viramune is recommended anymore.