What about the link between anti-virals and kidney issues?

From what I’ve gathered as long as you have no pre-existing kidney issues and have healthy kidney before stating AV’s the risks are very minimal and shouldn’t cause any issues. That’s why prior to starting AV’s you should always get bloodwork done to check if everything is good with your kidneys so you have a baseline and be rechecked every so often to be sure everything is going well once on the AV’s.

Everyone’s different when it comes to taking AV’s and there effectiveness. Some get relief after days, some take multiple months to finally find relief and for some the relief doesn’t come after months and months so they throw in the towel.

If you’re going to try the AV’s regardless of there effectiveness you should stay on them for at least 6 months from what I’ve read. For the first 6-8 weeks you should be on the highest dosage. I know for Valtrex it’s 1000 mg/1 gram 3 times a day, so 3000 mg a day. That’s the max dose. Once you find relief you can try lowering the dosage but if symptoms return you have to go back to the max dosage again.

Once you find relief and symptoms go away you shouldn’t stop taking them all together because the virus could flare and it’ll be harder the second time around to suppress and control it.

So in my opinion from what I’ve read, to be safe and give it a 100 percent shot of working. Take Valtrex 1000 mg/1 gram 3 times a day for 6-8 weeks and see where you’re at. In my case I’ve been taking at this does for 4-5 weeks and haven’t found relief yet. I’m planning on just staying at the max dose for 6 months and seeing what happens without messing with the dosage.

Also another thing to keep in mind is that if you are prescribe a generic brand of Valtrex make sure you avoid the maker/company “MYLAN” at all costs due to people having a low success rate and symptoms flaring form being switch to that brand. You’d want to get ahold of the brand “Northstar” or “Cadista” but most people have had the best success with “Northstar”. You can always request other brands at your pharmacy, that’s what I did. Hope this helps.

 

My dr did not see any issues for me. I have no pre existing kidney or liver issues. They are prescribed for shingles, cold sores etc. That said i am not cavalier about any medicine and dont take them a minute longer than necessary.

 

Just for a data bit, I've been on T/HCTZ (37.5/25) for ten years now and have had clean blood tests all along. I have had no kidney issues even though kidney disease runs in my family.