Medicines that can be prescribed for HIV work in a number of different ways. For this reason, you will normally be asked to take a combination of different medicines together what is known as a 'cocktail'.
These medicines are designed to prevent the virus from reproducing in the body, that reduces the amount of virus in your blood. By doing this the immune system has a chance to recover. These medicines also stop the virus from changing when it reproduces. The ultimate aim of treatment is to reduce the amount of virus in the blood to very low levels.
It is usual take three medicines together, often combined into one or two pills taken once or twice daily. This is known as antiretroviral therapy, combination therapy. Taking medicines on time, every time is essential with medicines used to treat HIV infection as this is the best way of slowing down the virus.

There are several types of medicine that can be used. Combination therapies usually contain medicines from at least two different classes of drugs. Your doctor will work with you to choose the medicines that suit you best.

If you have side-effects from the medicine you are prescribed, it's important to talk to your doctor, or the health care professional who prescribed your medicine. Don't just stop taking it.

You may develop side-effects in the first few months after you start your treatment. These usually get better after a few weeks so it is worth doing your best to persevere. Some of the side effects you may have are that you may feel sick or be sick. You might have diarrhoea or wind (flatulence) and feel tired and have aching muscles or have a rash. Your sleep might be disturbed or you may have nightmares or feel dizzy.

These side-effects at the start of therapy may be very mild, and usually will improve as your body gets used to the medicine.

Medicines can increase the amount of fat in your blood, which can increase your risk of heart disease. Certain medicines affect the kidneys or liver in some people.

If you have any side-effects during your treatment, your doctor or nurse will discuss the options for treatment or change to a new combination of HIV medicines.

Another very important thing to note about HIV is how to prevent it. The message has been trumpeted for long enough, but it is true that the risk of getting, or passing on, the HIV infection is dramatically reduced by using a condom during sex. Wearing a condom can't completely eliminate the risk of HIV infection. Reducing the number of partners you have does reduce your overall risk of infection. You may wish to get regular checks for sexually transmitted infections if you do change partners, particularly.
There are also emergency drug treatments for partners when a condom breaks an these drugs reduce their risk of being infected.
If you take intravenous drugs or inject medicines, don't share injection equipment and always use a fresh needle.