Your relationship with the hospital care team-particularly your HIV specialist-as well as your primary care physician in the community, must be based on trust, open communication, and access to as much information as possible, in order to make shared decisions about the best treatment approach for you. For this reason, it's essential to choose a doctor you feel comfortable with.
The antiretroviral treatments currently available in Israel are of high quality, diverse, and comprehensive, offering various options in terms of how and when medications are taken. In the vast majority of cases, these effective treatments will achieve the desired health outcomes, allowing the focus to shift toward quality of life. That’s why it’s important to choose a treatment plan that best suits your unique needs—considering factors such as method and frequency of intake, minimizing side effects, and how the treatment fits into your daily life.
In parallel to the information your doctor gathers from you in order to "tailor" the most suitable medication regimen, it’s important that you play an active role during your appointments and ask any questions that matter to you. For example:
What are the available medications to start treatment with, and what are the pros and cons of each?
How might each medication affect your daily routine, and what are the most common side effects?
What can be done to reduce the impact of potential side effects?
Do any of the medications interact with other drugs you’re taking, or with non-prescription substances (such as steroids, alcohol, or recreational drugs)?
What symptoms should you watch out for, and which ones are not cause for concern?
What lab tests are needed, and what do they measure?
How can you avoid other health risks?
What should you do to prevent transmission of the virus to others?
In addition to these questions, you can let your doctor know which side effects are particularly difficult for you, and what time of day you’d prefer to take your medication. It’s also important to discuss your eating habits—such as when you typically eat a large meal or if you eat late at night—since nutrition can directly impact how certain medications are absorbed and what side effects you may experience.
Given how well you know yourself, share any challenges you anticipate facing during treatment, including concerns about having pill containers at home that might inadvertently reveal your HIV status. Even details that may seem irrelevant to you at first glance can offer your HIV doctor valuable insight to help fine-tune your treatment plan.-