Abacavir: What Should I Discuss With My Healthcare Provider Before Taking Abacavir

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What should I discuss with my healthcare provider before taking abacavir?

Do not take abacavir if you have ever had an allergic reaction to it, or to any medicine that contains abacavir, such as Epzicom or Trizivir. Once you have had an allergic reaction to abacavir, you must never use it again.

Abacavir may cause lactic acidosis (the build up of lactic acid in the body). Lactic acidosis can start slowly and gradually get worse. Symptoms include unusual muscle pain and weakness, trouble breathing, fast or uneven heart rate, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and numbness or cold feeling in your arms or legs. Contact your doctor at once if you have any of these symptoms, even if they are only mild. Early signs of lactic acidosis generally get worse over time and this condition can be fatal.

Abacavir can also cause severe or life-threatening effects on the liver. Call your doctor at once if you have any of these liver symptoms while taking abacavir: nausea, stomach pain, loss of appetite, low fever, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes).

Do not use abacavir if you have moderate or severe liver disease, or if you are also taking any other medication that contains abacavir, such as Epzicom, or Trizivir.

Before taking abacavir, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, or if you have:

• liver disease; or
• if you have used a medicine similar to abacavir in the past, such as didanosine (Videx), lamivudine (Combivir, Epzicom, Trizivir), stavudine (Zerit), tenofovir (Viread), zalcitabine (Hivid), or zidovudine (Retrovir).

If you have any of these conditions, you may not be able to use abacavir, or you may need a dosage adjustment or special tests during treatment.

FDA pregnancy category C. This medication may be harmful to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment.

HIV can be passed to the baby if the mother is not properly treated during pregnancy. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment. Take all of your HIV medicines as directed to control your infection while you are pregnant.

Your name may need to be listed on an antiviral pregnancy registry when you start using abacavir. The purpose of this registry is to track the outcome of the pregnancy and delivery to evaluate whether abacavir had any effect on the baby.

You should not breast-feed while you are using abacavir. Women with HIV or AIDS should not breast-feed at all. Even if your baby is born without HIV, you may still pass the virus to the baby in your breast milk.

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Last updated:	April 19, 2007