Trizivir® (AZT, 3TC and Abacavir)
Who should take this?
People who have anemia or liver or kidney disorders or who weigh less than 88 pounds should not take Trizivir.
Trizivir is sometimes given to healthcare workers or others who are accidentally exposed to HIV infection during the course of their work.
Women who are or who plan to become pregnant should talk to their doctors before taking Trizivir. Trizivir may be harmful to an unborn baby. Because HIV infection can be passed from an infected mother to her child through breast milk, it is recommended that HIV-positive mothers do not breast-feed their babies.
How is it taken? / Dosage
Trizivir comes in a tablet and is taken by mouth twice a day.
It is important to take Trizivir exactly as the doctor directs. This makes it as effective as possible against HIV. It also helps prevent drug resistance or interactions with other drugs that a person may be taking.
If a dose is missed, it should be taken right away. If it is close to time to take the next dose, then the missed dose should just be skipped and the regular schedule of doses followed.
Side Effects
Along with its beneficial effects in fighting HIV, Trizivir can cause side effects. These include:
- Chills
- Cough
- Depression
- Diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Loss of appetite
- Stuffy nose
- Trouble sleeping
- Upset stomach
- Vomiting
Sometimes some people become extra sensitive to Trizivir or develop an allergy. If any of the following symptoms occur, a person taking Trizivir should call a doctor right away:
- Fever
- Muscle pain
- Numbness, tingling, or burning in the fingers or toes
- Rash
- Stomach pain
- Upset stomach (in children)
- Vomiting (in children)
Trizivir can cause lactic acidosis and an enlarged liver. Signs of this include fatigue, nausea with vomiting, pain in the abdomen, weight loss, shortness of breath, muscle weakness and yellowing of the skin or eyes. If these symptoms happen, a doctor should be contacted right away.
Some patients on Trizivir have developed blood problems, characterized by fatigue, pale skin, sore throat, fever or chills. If these symptoms occur, a doctor should be contacted right away.
Sometimes people taking Trizivir experience a redistribution of body fat (lipodystrophy). When this happens, fat may build up on the belly, breasts and back of the neck and go away from the arms and legs.
Drug Interactions
Sometimes drugs taken together have effects that neither has when taken alone. Because anti-HIV drugs are usually taken along with other anti-HIV drugs or antibiotics, it’s important to be aware of the possibility of a drug interaction.
Just because drugs interact doesn’t mean the drugs should be stopped. The doctor may need to adjust the doses to balance the effects. It may also mean changing some of the drugs a person with HIV takes or what time they take those drugs. Sometimes more frequent screening tests are needed to monitor how the drugs are affecting the body’s organs.
It is very important that a person with HIV tell his or her doctors and pharmacists all the drugs, vitamins, herbal products and other supplements that he or she is taking. When taking Trizivir, it is particularly important to tell your doctor if you are taking:
- Antibiotics such as chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin®)
- Anti-fungal drugs such as amphotericin B or flucytosine (Ancobon®)
- Anti-hepatitis drugs such as interferon (Intron A® or Roferon-A®)
- Anti-HIV drugs such as abacavir (Ziagen®), didanosine (Videx®) lamivudine (Epivir®), stavudine (Zerit®) or zidovudine (Retrovir®)
- Antiviral drugs such as ganciclovir (Cytovene®) or ribavirin (Virazole®), which is used to treat viral pneumonia
- Cancer fighting drugs such as antineoplastics (cancer medicine) and doxorubicin (Adriamycin®)
- Clozapine (Clozaril®), a drug used to treat schizophrenia
- Colchicine, a drug used to treat gout
- Eflornithine (Ornidyl®), a drug used to prevent the growth of unwanted hair on the face of women
- Kidney transplant medications such as azathioprine (Imuran®), which is used to prevent rejection after a kidney transplant.
Resistance
HIV can adapt and change (mutate). When this happens, drugs that once were effective against HIV no longer are. The virus has found a way to grow even when the drug is taken properly. The sign of resistance is an HIV viral load that doesn’t drop.
When a resistance builds up against Trizivir, it may mean there will be a resistance to other nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
The best way to prevent drug resistance is to take antiretroviral drugs regularly as the doctor has prescribed. This will make opportunistic infections less likely. It will also improve quality and length of life.
