My Poz Doctor Is Anti-Prep

[Guest]

On 9/4/2021 at 1:17 PM, cyberdolphnow said:

Years later from 2016 to 2021 an alternative  thought: 

Perhaps your HIV POSITIVE Doctor wasn't against the medication of PREP but wanted you to get the HIV virus for yourself? 

I wouldn't be surprised if this doctor is a strain chaser.

[TallAussieBtm]

On 6/6/2016 at 11:06 AM, bootmandc said:

 

I go through spells with the dreams - maybe for a week, then none for 2 weeks.  Been like that on/for now for almost a year since I started Prep.  I was always a dreamer somewhat, but now dreams are truly fantastic .. I can still describe some days or weeks later.  It's like a trip on LSD or something must have been.  Not terror filled, but long and detailed, and crazy.  Poz friends always say it's the truveda in the Prep.

Dreams were definitely strong and weird. But went away after a few months (not weeks). In fact they were a big part of why I opted for long-term daily dose instead of event-based dosing, which was my original plan (ie two weeks before, through two weeks after the event was the thinking back then). Doctor indicated that the side effects might reappear each time I restarted PrEP. Not sure how I would fare on the new 2-1-1 intermittent approach. I'll stick to daily, I think. Six years, so far and no problems. 😃

[ErosWired]

All this whittering about strong dreams being a reason not to take a medication that can prevent a lifelong, incurable illness…HIV is a nightmare you can’t wake up from. There are lots of meds that have side effects, but we take them anyway because they do what we need them to do and we just have to choose which sucks less.

It’s been seven years since the question was first asked, seven years in which men have been taking PrEP and not suffering any major problems as a result - which isn’t really all that surprising since the FDA wouldn’t let it be prescribed unless it had been demonstrated to be safe and effective.

Should anyone have a similar experience today with a physician as the OP had back when the topic was started, I would advise him to find another doctor at once. There’s no longer sufficient medical reason to advise a patient a known history of risk to forego prophylaxis, unless the patient has a specific contraindicating condition.

And these comments about the doctor being a gifter, or wanting the OP to become infected, are beyond ludicrous. No doctor who meant a syllable of his oath promotes disease.

[Barebacker831]

On 5/9/2016 at 12:19 PM, rawfuckr said:

 

It's not happening to me, but I've heard a couple of friends on PrEP explicitely mention their new vivid dreams. It can't be a coincidence.

My friend who is poz and taking meds said one of the first types of meds he was prescribed gave him really vivid and intense dreams

[Jockandthongguy]

The same happened to me, years and years ago. None of my recent meds have caused more vivid dreams. Neither has my husband’s PrEP use for him.

[Bbikercub]

On 5/9/2016 at 12:21 PM, bearbandit said:

Your doctor's right in that we don't know the full range of side effects yet, but it will be many years before we do (long term survivors are only now discovering the side/long term effects of earlier drugs) and other drugs will be used in preference for PrEP by that time. Things are looking good with cabotegravir from what I've heard, though it's a long way from prescription, so don't get excited about it!

 

Surprisingly one thing discovered in the American trials and use of truvada in HIV- men is something that I've been screaming blue murder about for years: I don't care what the doctors say, but the emtricitabine component is capable of causing CNS effects, specifically it can alter dreams. Many HIV- men have reported in increase in dreaming and in trippy dreams that sound like efavirenz dreams, which has resulted in some doctors actually believing HIV+ guys about their bizarre dreams.

 

I already had vivid dreams as a side effect of citalopram, so I wouldn't have noticed. Only side effect I've noticed is when I first started taking them (and again after lockdown when I started again) is that I got diarrhoea for a couple of weeks.

All good now.