1. Take Your HIV Medicine On Time and Every Day Educator name: Developed by: Lydia Barakat, MD, Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury, CT. 2008.

2. How do your HIV medicines work? the medicines get absorbed into your body through your stomach. When you take your medicine,

3. The medicines run to the T-Cell to stop the HIV virus from multiplying. = medicine bottle

4. Why is it important for you to take your medicines on time? Each time you take your medicine, the medicine enters your blood and reaches a certain level. You need a certain level of medicine in your body to keep the virus from multiplying. When you stop your medicines, there is no medicine in your blood to fight the virus.

5. Key To Success Take your medicines on time and every day.

6. How Do You Know Your HIV Medicines Are Working? The HIV viral load is the amount of HIV virus in your blood. Your Viral load (VL) will go down over time until it can’t be seen or is undetectable (un de tect able). These T-cells or helper cells in your blood will go up over time. You need a certain amount of helper cells to keep your immune system strong.

7. Low Viral Load and High T-Cell Count is a very good result. On the other hand, High Viral Load and Low T-Cell count is not a good result.

8. Remember: Developed by: Lydia Barakat, MD, Waterbury Hospital, Waterbury, CT. 2008.

9. Your Viral Load (VL) and T-Cell Count Attach 1.Patient’s VL/T-cell graph 2.Patient’s medication schedule