Preventative therapy for HIV - Truvada?

[valeandude]

Question... is anyone currently taking Truvada for preventative treatment/therapy for HIV? Last I checked, the FDA approved a 6-month study to validate the most recent results, but it hadn't been approved for PREP use.

So has anyone convinced their doctor to prescribe it for PREP use?

[bluelover050]

Hi, I'm dutch. Maybe its not the answer on your question, but it has to do with it:

I got hiv dec 2006, fell ill in januari 2007 and got 15 months truvada starting may 2007. Then my status was good enough to stop med. The doctor told me it was a new treatment: getting recently infected and having a med for 15 month immediatly. Since then my CD4 is around 800 and my viral load is changing from 5400 till 91000. But meanwhile I'm free from med and feel pretty well. Sexually more than active, horny as hell as I was before 2007.

Recently I read an article in the dutch hiv magazine: tests proved quick med with truvada helps to slow down a definitif medication. There has been a test (with guys who had been infected recently) with three groups: one with a fake med, one with truvada vor 15 months and one with truvada for 6 months. The first group needed quicker a defintif medication then both other groups. Not a significant difference was found between both other groups. But their medication was slowed down. Without knowing I certainly was in the second group. And I'm glad I was!

[calrockxxx]

I took Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine) and Isentress (raltegravir) as part of a PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) study a number of years ago and clearly that didn't work out so well. I didn't experience any drug-related symptoms during the study (it lasted 6 months) and every monthly HIV test came back negative. I was having bareback sex the whole time with guys who I believed were either neg or undetectable. I tested positive about 6 months after the study ended. I thought I had a get out of jail free card after taking all those drugs, but that was just wishful thinking.

If you want to get the drugs to try to prevent yourself from getting HIV, check with your local HIV/AIDS services organization for a referral to someone who will prescribe PrEP. Keep in mind that these drugs probably aren't covered by your insurance, though, and according to articles I've read it would cost around $1,000 a month.

Pills are something you need to take every day for them to be effective. Condoms you just use when you have sex. If you're looking to prevent yourself from getting HIV, you may be better off buying a box of condoms than taking on a daily drug regimen for the rest of your life.

[rawTOP]

Personally, I think PrEP is a really bad idea. I wrote a blog post about all the problems I saw with it a while ago...

http://www.rawtop.com/blog/2009-09/prep-is-a-really-horrible-idea