The medical treatments to fight HIV/AIDS were limited during most of the history of the epidemic, marked by many deaths. Since the 1990’s, the development of a number of anti-retrovirals, while not constituting a cure, has contributed to better health for many. For others living with HIV/AIDS, the side-effects of these medications have put these treatments into question. This article explores, from interviews of men and women living with HIV/AIDS in Montreal, the contradictory representations, oscillating between scepticism and hope, around the use of these medications.