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When your doctor first puts you on HIV medicine, the goal is to reduce the amount of virus in your body. When the HIV level in blood is undetectable you can't transmit HIV to others. But sometimes, the drugs that the doctor prescribes don't work for your body.

Taking HIV medicine every day is hard, especially if it doesn't make you feel good afterwards or if certain foods or other medicine that you take make the medicine less effective. Other reasons that to take your medicine include:

• Memory or mental health issues

• Using drugs

• Experiencing homelessness

• Taking lots of pills

• Not being able to get to the clinic or pharmacy

• Not being able to pay for the medicine

There might be other reasons, too, like the type of HIV virus you have or if you have certain changes in the HIV virus in your blood though time (called "mutations").

But your medicine might stop working properly if you don't take it every day. If your body stops responding to your medicine, it may mean that you've developed "resistance." The only way to know if your treatment is working is to go to your clinic visits. The doctor will test your blood to see if your HIV medicine is working.

If the doctor finds that you still have too much virus in your blood, they will test your blood again with a different kind of test to try to understand why your body doesn't respond to this kind of HIV medicine.

If you need to be switched to a different HIV medicine, . For example, you might take a different medicine, or more pills per day. It's very important that you keep your clinic appointments after your doctor switches your medicine. They will be testing your blood and watching very closely to see if the medicine is helping you, especially during the first 3 months after you switch.

The best ways to make sure resistance doesn't develop is to keep taking your HIV medicine every day, keep your clinic appointments, and talk to your doctor about any concerns you have. Remember, your doctor's job is to get you the best medicine to treat the virus in your body.

Read previous installments in this series:

For Your Patients: Knowing Your Risk for HIV

For Your Patients: The ABCs of HIV Medication

For Your Patients: What 'U=U' Means for You ... and Your Partner

For Your Patients: Who Needs PrEP? You Need PrEP

"Medical Journeys" is a set of clinical resources reviewed by physicians, meant for the medical team as well as the patients they serve. Each episode of this journey through a disease state contains both a physician guide and a downloadable/printable patient resource. "Medical Journeys" chart a path each step of the way for physicians and patients and provide continual resources and support, as the caregiver team navigates the course of a disease.