Emtriva - emtricitabine - FTC

Emtricitabine is one of the most potent and best tolerated antiviral drugs.  It is generally easy to take.

The usual dose is 200 mg once a day.  It may be taken with or without food.

You should not adjust or change the dosing of this medication without the advice of your healthcare provider or someone who is experienced with antiviral medications.

If you miss more than one dose, look at the reasons why you missed them and come up with a plan to avoid it in the future.  For example, if you fell asleep too early, take the medicine earlier in the evening, with your later meal, set an alarm, or have someone appointed to wake you up for your medicine.  

I would strongly recommend using weekly pill boxes and arrange all of your doses a week in advance.  Buy a small pill box so that you can carry a dose or two of your medicines with you in case you are away from home.

Most people take tenofovir without any side effects.  

The package insert for most drugs including tenofovir is often overwhelming and scary with perhaps an overemphasis on side effects.  We have summarized the important and more common problems below.

Possible rare side effects include mild nausea (that usually gets better,) headache, muscle aches, liver problems, kidney problems, or problems with blood cells.

If your your kidneys are weak, or you are taking other medications that weaken the kidneys, your healthcare provider may need to adjust the dose.

Usually you will see a healthcare provider and have blood drawn in the first 2-4 weeks to look for the good effects of tenofovir as well as any side effects.

All drugs of this class can cause or contribute to abnormal fat redistribution characterized by thinning of the face, arms, or legs.  In most cases this would be also accompanied by elevated cholesterol levels, elevated triglyceride levels, and perhaps a tendency to develop diabetes.  Emtricitabine does not seem to cause these problems very often.

Rarely, a build-up of (lactic) acid may occur due to taking medications of this type.  Persons taking multiple nukes (NRTIs), those taking d4T (stavudine, Zerit), those on the combination of d4T (stavudine, Zerit) and ddI (didanosine, Videx), and those persons with hepatitis C are the most likely to encounter this rare, but potentially fatal problem.  The symptoms are vague but troublesome: nausea, vomiting, muscle aches, weakness, turning yellow with jaundice, and just feeling plain bad.  Emtricitabine appears to cause these problems very, very rarely.