Frequently asked questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. What happens if I don't get a good response to the treatment?
A. If you become more ill or your treatment continues to fail then you can change to whatever treatment is felt to be best for you.
Q. Where did these ideas come from?
A. Doctors in clinics have been seeing more and more people who have been experiencing problems with resistance and drug failure. They were unsure what the best way to treat these people was and came up with the ideas in this study.
Q. Can I stay off treatment for longer than 3 months?
A. Yes, if you are doing well (in terms of CD4 count, Viral Load, no illnesses, etc.) the period off treatment can be varied.
Q. Who chooses the actual drugs, will I get a voice in this?
A. The choice of drugs you take are decided by you and your doctor. OPTIMA only decides the treatment group, so if you are randomised to treatment group 1 you can take any drugs as long as you only have a combination of four or less anti-HIV drugs. Your doctor's choice will be guided by the resistance test taken when you join the study.
Q. I am worried I will get the idea that is proven to be the worst one?
A. This is a possibility, however, all the treatment ideas being looked at in this study are valid ways of treating people whose current treatment is failing. The study will find out if one is any better than the others, it is possible that they will all be found to be as good as each other. If during a study one idea is found to be dramatically better than any another, it is usual for this to be made public and everyone is then given the opportunity to change to this treatment.
Q. What happens if I get randomised to a group that I don't like?
A. The OPTIONS in OPTIMA substudy has been introduced to give you the chance to choose part of your treatment whilst helping to answer the important question posed by this study. If you are not happy to be in each of the treatment groups in the OPTION you choose then this is not a study for you.
Q. Will taking part in this study prevent me getting new drugs?
A. The organisers of this study will not prevent you joining other studies and are working with drug companies to ensure you have access to new drugs,the choice of drugs is up to you and your doctor. However some trials of new drugs will not allow you to be in other studies. You always have the right to withdraw from a study and you might decide that at some point in the future this would be your best option to access a new trial drug.
If you have questions that have not been answered by this page you can talk with i-Base who are an independent organisation (details on the links page); or your clinic doctor.