- What You Need to Know About HIV
- HIV Treatment
- Handling the Side Effects of HIV Meds
- Talking about HIV
- HIV Meds and Heart Health
- HIV Meds and Heartburn
- HIV Meds and Lipids
- Questions to Ask Your Doctor
- Tips to Work With Your Healthcare Team
HIV Meds and Heartburn
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INVIRASE Works With Heartburn Medicines ] [ Thinking About the Long Term ]
[ Glossary of Terms ]
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Are you taking over-the-counter or prescription medicines to treat heartburn or upset stomach?
Stomach problems like heartburn and GERD ( gastroesophageal reflux disease) are issues for everyone. There are many possible causes of heartburn and GERD, including stress, drinking alcohol or caffeine, or certain foods. For women, heartburn is a common experience during pregnancy—about half of all pregnant women have heartburn at some point during pregnancy. 1
You may expect stomach-related side effects from HIV meds simply because you have to swallow pills every day. It won’t surprise you that 2/3 of people taking HIV meds will seek treatment for stomach-related problems at some point. 2 Among people taking HIV meds:
- 62% report heartburn 2
- 30% report GERD 2
- 13% report new ulcers 2
- 56% use over-the-counter drugs to treat stomach problems 3
- 39% use both over-the-counter and prescription drugs 2
It is important to know that over-the-counter and prescription medicines that treat problems like heartburn and GERD can change how the body takes in (absorbs) some HIV meds. This kind of drug-drug interaction can lower the amount of an HIV med in your body, causing it not to work and leading to resistance—which means the loss of that HIV med as a treatment option.
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Invirase Works With Heartburn Medicines
Know Your Options:
- Unboosted INVIRASE is not negatively affected by some medicines that treat heartburn and upset stomach (H2 antagonists like Zantac®)
- The amount of INVIRASE that gets into your body (drug levels) is not negatively affected by other kinds of antacids—proton pump inhibitiors (or PPIs, like the medicine in Prilosec®)—that are taken for chronic heartburn and acid reflux disease (also known as GERD) 4
- Levels of INVIRASE do not decrease when taken with either of these kinds of commonly used over-the-counter or prescription antacids
Other protease inhibitors have a negative drug-drug interaction with heartburn and GERD medicines. This interaction lowers the amount of some protease inhibitors in the bloodstream.
- If an HIV med doesn’t get into your bloodstream in the right amount, it can't fight the virus effectively
- The virus can start to make more copies of itself and mutate (change) if drug levels of an HIV med are lower than what is needed to fight the virus
- Resistance to that HIV med will happen over time and you can lose that HIV med as a treatment option
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You are living with HIV and want to think about your long-term plans and goals—including your long-term fight against HIV. Knowing all of your treatment options and knowing what questions to ask your doctor can help you better manage your HIV treatment. Actively taking part in your own healthcare can make a difference in your well-being.
It is important that you tell your doctor about any over-the-counter or prescription medicines you are taking—including those that are for heartburn or GERD. Some HIV meds require that you take medicine to treat stomach problems at a different time than when you take your HIV med—as much as 12 hours apart. You need to know if you have to change your medicine schedule to avoid serious drug interactions—or if you have options so you don’t have to worry about changing your routine.
Talk with your doctor to see if your current HIV meds are negatively affected by over-the-counter or prescription medicines for heartburn or other stomach-related problems, and ask if you need to change your medicine schedule to avoid serious drug interactions.
You may have other HIV med choices that are just as powerful—like boosted INVIRASE—but don’t have this drug-drug interaction and the added complication of having to worry about spacing your HIV meds and your heartburn or GERD medicines.
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Heartburn is pain that starts in your chest (behind your breastbone) and rises up into your throat, usually after eating. Heartburn is also the most common symptom of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
GERD is “backflow” (regurgitation) of stomach acid into the esophagus—the part of your digestive tract that connects the back of the throat to the stomach.
Zantac is a registered trademark of GlaxoSmithKline.
Prilosec is a registered trademark of Proctor & Gamble.
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This information does not include everything you may need to know about HIV and does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider.
