Prep

[bottombottoy]

I know, just go to the doc... 

but,

Are there any reliable sources to get the medication from without a prescription? 

 

[wood]

Yes, but its illegal and irresponsible to do so.  Additionally you NEED to get regular screenings when on PrEP.  Just go to your doctor if you want it.  

[bearbandit]

A bit of googling will find you pharmacies ready to sell it, but as wood says, the quarterly screening accompanying "real" PrEP are essential, so much so that they're part of the entire package.

If, due to plain bad luck or low adherence, you manage to seroconvert, you'd be taking a partial regimen which could easily end in resistance to the drugs, making future drug choices more difficult and introducing a resistant strain of HIV into the pool. This is why every quarterly screening includes an HIV test: to make sure this isn't happening.

Also, although truvada is heavy on the liver and the kidneys, if detected early enough the problems can be reversed. If you want examples of the damage that can be done see some of my posts from the middle part of 2012: admittedly I was taking tenofovir therapeutically, and HIV- men seem to have a greater defence against the damage that can happen, but I wouldn't wish a tenth of my experiences on anyone. It was an extreme reaction, but one you can get to without proper monitoring: I was basically dementing, going blind, lost a quarter of my body weight, and when I think of 2012 I still have to work to separate the hallucinations from the facts. In some many cases, I've lost the truth of what happened and can only remember the hallucinations. I still can't walk properly, thirty months later, because of osteopenia: my skeleton is about fifteen years old than I am. The truly awful thing for me was that I could, at least in part, still communicate through a keyboard.

Okay, that's an extreme and unlikely case, but if you're taking truvada bought on internet without your health being monitored, it's what you're risking, and of course, lesser effects, none of them comfortable, even more so. Yes, it's a subject I harp on about, though I fully support the idea of PrEP with proper monitoring. I came within days of death because of incompetent medics who didn't understand the implications of my blood results. That's why you need to get PrEP via a doctor who knows, or is at least will to learn, how to administer it.

[wood]

A bit of googling will find you pharmacies ready to sell it, but as wood says, the quarterly screening accompanying "real" PrEP are essential, so much so that they're part of the entire package.

If, due to plain bad luck or low adherence, you manage to seroconvert, you'd be taking a partial regimen which could easily end in resistance to the drugs, making future drug choices more difficult and introducing a resistant strain of HIV into the pool. This is why every quarterly screening includes an HIV test: to make sure this isn't happening.

Also, although truvada is heavy on the liver and the kidneys, if detected early enough the problems can be reversed. If you want examples of the damage that can be done see some of my posts from the middle part of 2012: 

 

exactly.  Truvada is Tenofovir and Emtricitabine, and those two medications are in ALOT of drug cocktails.  If you become HIV+ which on self administered PrEP, you could be at risk for severe resistance to some of the most tolerated and effective HIV drugs.  

 

Its not worth it, just find a doctor to perscribe it to you. 

[Guest JizzDumpWI]

I know, just go to the doc... 

but,

Are there any reliable sources to get the medication from without a prescription?

What is your motivation to be "off scrip"? You might be able to order Indian 'equivalent' but without proper testing and screening you might put yourself at worse risk than HIV? So... Why?