Ipergay Study - Experiences And Exclusion Criteria

[Homunculus]

Hi,

 

the Ipergay study, which focuses on intermittent Prep and had been in the news last falls for dropping the placebo arm, is about to expand from the biggest cities in France plus Montreal in Quebec to "other european cities" including Cologne, and I have an appointment with a participating doctor to talk about enrollment. While many basics are covered by FAQs on the Internet, I would like to hear from people who already participate how their personal experiences with enrolling etc. have been so far, and as an extra - if they happen to know - to learn wether being on antidepressants and methylphenidat would exclude someone from participating. In the FAQ it only says "serious diseases".  

[frenchieboy]

Hi, I'm one of the first participants in the French arm of Ipergay (I've been in it for about three years).

Enrolling, etc., was really easy. I go every two months for the checkup, to get more pills, and talk with a doctor and social worker about risk, etc. They don't ask a lot of invasive questions and seem pretty open about drug use, etc. I would be surprised if being on antidepressants would mean you couldn't participate. I suspect they're mostly looking at your liver and kidney health, since that's the major risk for Truvada.

[Guest kazore]

very interesting frenchieboy. Can you tell us how often do you take the pills and how many? What kind of sex behavior do you have?

[frenchieboy]

Hi Kazore,

 

Just saw your question.

The protocol for the Ipergay trial is:

2 Truvadas at least 2 hours before sex

Then 1 Truvada every 24 hours

For 48 hours after last sexual contact

 

So let's assume I'm going to have sex only on Friday night. I'll take 2 pills Friday morning, 1 Saturday morning, 1 Sunday morning, then stop. 

 

If I'm going to have sex Friday night, Saturday, Monday night, and Tuesday night, I'll take 2 pills Friday morning, 1 every morning until Thursday.

 

So if you have sex pretty often, you take it every day. But if you stop having sex for a period of time, you stop the Truvada.

 

I'm in a relationship so I don't hook up a lot. At the beginning of the trial, I was single and very sexually active, 95% top, fucking probably 150 guys a year. I've never really bottomed and taken loads even on Truvada. I may start now that Truvada has been proven effective -- but until November, the Ipergay trial was double-blind with a placebo arm, so I couldn't be sure I was on Truvada or the placebo. They only gave everyone Truvada in November when they realized so many guys in the placebo arm were seroconverting.

 

I was comfortable with the risk of being a bareback top even if it was the placebo. And I'm rather uneasy about being a bareback bottom even on Truvada, because of the risk of hep C or HPV/warts/anal cancer.

 

So in the end I'll probably take Truvada with my boyfriend so that we can have some hot bareback orgies a few times a year.