What To Expect

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

So going in on Wednesday for my PrEP appointment. For those who have been through this process, what should I expect? Obviously HIV, STD, and Hepatitis test. What other tests? What questions will be asked? Will I be given the prescription that day or will I have to come back in a few weeks? Thanks

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

So my appointment was moved up a day due to the pending holiday. They called me late yesterday to tell me and I called them back today and was told the doctor wanted to see me ASAP. Not sure why it was so important, but I moved things around my schedule to make it work today.

 

Simple appointment. If you have ever checked out the sticky in this forum, you will see a PDF that has some questions the doctor is suppose to ask, and mine asked pretty much those questions. Do you have sex. Is it with men or women or both. One partner or multiple partners. Is it always protected (condom). Is one or more of your partners HIV+? Are you the insertive or receptive sexual partner?

 

After answering the questions the doctor agreed I was a prime candidate for PrEP treatment. Doctor also asked about my last HIV test. I am doing mail order prescription since I can get a 90 day supply for a $75 deductible. This blew my doctor away, as some of those seen at that office are paying over $200 per month. I gave them my forms to fax in the prescription and the Gilead co-pay assistance card to cover my co-pay. Doctor ordered me to the lab to do blood work for an HIV test and liver tests. I guess I kind of expected STD tests also, but those were not done. Doctor had me schedule an appointment for a re-test of HIV and liver in 3 months.

 

That was it. I guess I should expect the pills within a few days.

[wood]

good! have fun! most people dont have side effects but if you do they almost always subside. 

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

I hope I have no side effects. That's the part that scares me. Also the loss in bone density and liver damage.

 

I'm waiting on the mailman to deliver the pills right now.

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

Pills have been delivered. For some reason they didn't use the Gilead Co-pay card, so have to find out why.

 

First dose has been taken. Will update on side effects and such as time goes on.

[backpackguy]

Congats Travel, been on PrEP for 8 months now with no side effects. Repeated all the blood tests a few months back and will repeat them again in a couple of weeks. Everything is good!! Take your PrEP daily (extremely important) for the next couple of weeks and then let your inner pig run free...cocks and cum,,,Mmmmmmmmm.....   

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

I hate that I didn't have a list of questions for my doctor. I have all these questions now and have to rely on the internet for answers. Lucky Gilead's site is a good source for information.

1. When should I take the pill?
2. Should I take food with it?
3. How long before my Truveda levels are high enough for protection?
4. What other drugs, over the counter or prescription should I avoid?

I did get a call earlier from my doctor office to report that all blood work looked great and all my HIV tests were neg.

[wood]

I hate that I didn't have a list of questions for my doctor. I have all these questions now and have to rely on the internet for answers. Lucky Gilead's site is a good source for information.

1. When should I take the pill?
2. Should I take food with it?
3. How long before my Truveda levels are high enough for protection?
4. What other drugs, over the counter or prescription should I avoid?

I did get a call earlier from my doctor office to report that all blood work looked great and all my HIV tests were neg.

 

1) take it whenever you feel like it, but you want to try to take it at roughly the same time each day.  Don't freak out if you happen to take it 8 hours later one day, but its just a general rule of thumb. 

 

2) Truvada does't require food, if you get an upset stomach taking medication you may want to try it with food. 

 

3) 7 days provide sufficient time for the medication to get to the areas of your body where you may become infected (rectal tissue, etc) 

 

4) http://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/emtricitabine-tenofovir,truvada.html

[Guest TravelGuy4Bareback]

So after 5 days of taking PrEP, I have had few side effects if any. I did notice that I do have some tiredness about 2-3 hours after taking my daily dose. Also some very light nausea and heart burn. No strange dreams or any noticeable effects. Really been pretty easy on me so far.

[bearbandit]

HIV- guys tend to have a much easier time of it with truvada than poz guys. Remember that the patient information insert was almost certainly written for PwHIV rather than HIV- guys.

Both drugs in truvada have exceptionally long halflives within the body, so don't worry if you do miss a dose, but at the same time, don't make a habit of it. On a side note the technical term for women who forget to take contraceptive pills is "mother"...

As wood says, taking your truvada with a meal would help with the GI effects, as slowing its absorption down a little isn't going to make much of a difference once it's got to all the places it's meant to be. The tiredness could simply be the relief of tension - maybe you've been subconsciously worrying about remembering to take it. Why not buy a week's pillbox? That way you'd be able to see at a glance whether or not you'd taken it.

Odd dreams is a fairly newly recognised side effect of the emtricitabine component (in the UK a user group of PwHIV, myself included) took it on ourselves to research the issue. Score one for patient power! The dreams are pretty rare amongst PwHIV and given truvada's much lower side effect profile in HIV- guys it's not something worth considering. If you have the occasional nightmare remember Sigmund Freud: "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"

Things are obviously going well - hope they continue in that direction!

[Guest ff-whole]

wish I could get it here on my Island in the caribbean...

[sexxxpigg]

I have been on it for 2.5 months now. The only side effect I have had is I am tired all the time. I cant seem to get enough sleep. Tha feeling lines up to the time frame of when i started taking it. Hoping as I stay on it that subsides, but some days I could fall asleep at my desk. 8:00 PM is a late night for me lately.  Trying to get as much sleep as I can.

[tallbtm]

Sexxpigg:  I hope you get better too but it's worth telling your doctor about the tiredness and asking. There could be something else going on you haven't thought about. Examples: a vitamin B deficiency, lousy iron levels, all kinds of other stuff that's easy to fix. The vitamin B thing happened to a close friend -- totally unrelated to PrEP, since he wasn't on it then. Don't be afraid to bring it up.

 

For me, the only side effect was some looser bowel movements for the first 3 days (but that may have been a diet-related coincidence). Since then, no side effects at all except for way less worry about sex.

 

My partner, like most guys, had absolutely zero side effects when he started PrEP.

[Guest CD4bb]

I received the script the day I went back for my follow-up lab appt. Free and on the spot. Too easy.

No physical side effects over a month, but here's a side effect I have, GUILT.

I feel guilty when I tell a person who is positive that I am on Prep. I really try to avoid it. 

sorry

[rawfuckr]

I received the script the day I went back for my follow-up lab appt. Free and on the spot. Too easy.

No physical side effects over a month, but here's a side effect I have, GUILT.

I feel guilty when I tell a person who is positive that I am on Prep. I really try to avoid it. 

sorry

 

Most poz folks I know are liking PrEP. It makes it easier for everyone involved. They know that if you are on PrEP and they are undectectable, they can't infect you. The same the other way. Also PrEP coming online is having all sorts of other positive side effects, like fighting HIV stigma. Guys on PrEP take an antiviral every day the same way a poz guy does. It just evens the field.