At the beginning of treatment, as the body gets used to the HIV medication, some people experience nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. If this happens, your HCP can prescribe medication for you to help reduce these symptoms. Other side effects may include those you’d see with many other medications, such as dry mouth or headache. Some of the older medications can cause kidney damage or bone loss, but most providers will try to avoid prescribing these if possible. They are generally only used if a person has multi-drug resistance, meaning that the strain of the virus is no longer responding to certain drugs. And if a person is taking the older medications, the doctor will monitor their kidney function and calcium levels closely.