Start Having Side Effects After Taking Truvada For A Few Months?

[Guest kazore]

Hello,

I've been on prep since september everything went ok until a few weeks ago.

I started to have mild diarea(softer stools) in june, then in july some mild nausea especially on the morning. Now for almost two weeks I feel extremely tired and sleepy with sometimes headache or foggy brain and mild muscle pain.

I tried to go to bed earlier but still feel tired.

I was wandering if it is possible to start having Truvada side effects after taking for a long time?

What do you think?

[tallbtm]

Doesn't seem likely. The small number of guys who have any PrEP side effects have them in the first couple weeks. Go see your doctor. There's lots of other things that could be causing your symptoms. Get it checked out. Better to know than just worry.

[mort]

Doesn't seem likely. The small number of guys who have any PrEP side effects have them in the first couple weeks. Go see your doctor. There's lots of other things that could be causing your symptoms. Get it checked out. Better to know than just worry.

 

That is not true PrEP can do a lot of long term damage I was on it for a 3-4 months and ended up in the hospital and I know of some people who are having serious health issues now that was on in for few years.

 

You should be getting tests if you have a good doctor every 3 months this stuff can really do damage to liver/kidneys so they need to keep on top of checking them.

 

The other symptoms are common ones it may be in your case you have a a bit of a bug but just go see your doctor they will know what to do.

[bearbandit]

While it's true that truvada (the only drug currently licensed for use as PrEP) can cause damage, you have to look at it in perspective. The symptoms kazore describes aren't consistent with any side effect I've heard about from truvada: however there are a number of different medical conditions that could be the cause of these symptoms, so to kazore I'd say check things out with your doctor.

Side effects from truvada are several orders of magnitude greater in people who are using it for treatment rather than prevention (ie people who have HIV). The general rule is that side effects, if they are going to happen, will most likely happen in the first few weeks. However, there is a problem with truvada in that long term use can result in toxicity which is precisely why the protocols for PrEP include liver and kidney function testing every three to six months. If you're on PrEP and not getting these tests at least twice a year, your doctor is an idiot and is playing with your life. Find another doctor.

The kind of toxicity we're talking about here is a gradual process and needs an exceptionally bad prescribing doctor not to notice them. I was unfortunate enough to have such a doctor: after seven or eight years of therapeutic truvada I had enough kidney damage that it almost proved fatal. However, the damage done to me was, because of my HIV infection, much greater than would be seen in someone using truvada as PrEP, and for that reason, as well as the rarity of the effects I still unhesitatingly recommend truvada both for treatment and prevention, with the sole proviso that the appropriate blood tests are done at least twice a year.

The damage I experienced from the drug is reckoned to affect 1 person in 100,000 per year. Stack that up against the danger of every day activities like travelling on/in a motor vehicle, crossing the road, changing a light-bulb and, without wishing to trivialise anyone's bad experience of truvada (least of all my own), we each do far riskier things each and every day as a matter of course.

[Guest kazore]

I don't think what I felt was because of truvada. I suspect soft stool was because of some vitamins and herbs I was taken. tiredness is an efffect of lack of sleep. maybe I wake up during the night because I snore too loud.

[Scottyrim]

Mmm I would like to say I have no side effects but I think I do.

I have cramps often like after Gastro and my legs get tired very quickly.

I intend to see my doctor as soon as I get back to my home ( Aus) as I am in Europe at the moment.

On the other hand as I know and believe this is side affects from Truvada and I have been on it for 4 and a half weeks .

They happened within a couple of days,seem to stop then come back again.

I am not overly worried as I take pills to stop the cramp and and I will see a doctor as soon as I get back.