It’s important to speak with your HIV doctor, your end-of-life healthcare team, and anyone else supporting you before you decide what to do about your HIV medicine.
They’ll be able to explain the pros and cons, and can give you advice based on your personal situation.
Reviewing your medicine towards the end of life
During the last months, weeks and days of life, your doctor should regularly review medicines you take. They should check whether the medicines are still helping your overall wellbeing, or taking it is making you uncomfortable.
Stopping HIV medicine too early might cause you to become more ill (see below). So it’s important that you and your doctor decide together what’s best for you.
If your usual medicine becomes hard to take
You might not be able to take your usual HIV medicine. For example, if you usually take tablets but find them hard to swallow, you can ask your HIV doctor if there are other options, like having an injection or crushing and taking them with water.
HIV medicines and end of life medicines
HIV medicines can interact with other medicines. This is when taking two or more medicines at the same time can have a bad effect. This might include worse side effects or the medicine no longer working properly.
Your HIV doctor and end-of-life healthcare team should work together to make sure your medicines don’t interact. If you do have any side effects, they can help to keep you comfortable.
If you stop taking HIV medicine
If you stop HIV medicine, the amount of the virus in your blood (your viral load) usually increases within a few weeks.
An increased viral load makes you more likely to get infections or other illnesses. This could make you feel more unwell, and might mean you need other medicines or care to make sure you stay comfortable.
It’s important to speak with your HIV doctor and end-of-life healthcare team to understand their opinion based on your medical history and the stage of your illness.
You can also talk to them about your wishes and find out what they could do to support you, if you did become more ill.
End of life care
End of life care is treatment, care and support for people who are thought to be in the last year of life. Read more about End of life care
Telling health and social care professionals that you have HIV
You don’t have to tell anyone that you are living with HIV. This includes health and social care professionals caring for you towards the end of your life. Read more about Telling health and social care professionals that you have HIV