How many times can you come off PrEP and start again

[concerned1]

How many times can you stop and then re-start PrEP with it still being safe/providing good protection against the virus?

If you take daily PrEP for say a month, then stop for a couple weeks, then start again and you last say a few weeks, then come off again and start again after a few weeks for about a month.....obviously you're not protected during the time you're off it, but each time when you go back on, are you just as protected against HIV as you were when new on PrEP?

Someone told me it's fine, otherwise event-based dosing wouldn't be ok.

I'm just looking for clarity.

[boy4you]

I tried that  regimen and it did not work for me as I’m Poz now. 

[concerned1]

7 minutes ago, boy4you said:

I tried that  regimen and it did not work for me as I’m Poz now. 

So it is not safe to be on for a short while/long while, then come off and have a break , then start again and be on it for a while , then come off again - repeating this sort of a cycle maybe three or four times a year or whatever?

Each time you re-start taking the PrEP after each break, the drug loses effectiveness?

Are you certain you didn't get pozzed during fun you had when off the PrEP, during the intermittent time between when you came off and started back on it?

Or are you pretty sure that you got pozzed after you had been back on PrEP one of the times you went back on it?

Edited January 29, 2020 by concerned1

[boy4you]

Once on PrEP you stay on it  unless you want to become Poz. 

 

This is is my opinion there are four ways to be with barebacking 

1 You take PrEP and don’t become Poz 

2 You don’t take PrEP and you will become Poz  

3 You become Poz and don’t take meds  

4  You become Poz and you take meds to be  undetectable  

 

 

 

[concerned1]

I was under the impression that when you're on the drug, it provides extremely good protection. No matter how many times you've stopped and started back on. If you're on it, you're protected. But it seems this is not so. You can't have breaks from taking the drug?

So if someone started taking daily PrEP as a newbie, they'd really have to take it daily for the rest of their life if they wish to remain neg? If they take breaks from PrEP, the PrEP has lost effectiveness each time they start taking it again, so they can still get pozzed even while on PrEP ?

[concerned1]

9 minutes ago, boy4you said:

Once on PrEP you stay on it  unless you want to become Poz. 

 

This is is my opinion there are four ways to be with barebacking 

1 You take PrEP and don’t become Poz 

2 You don’t take PrEP and you will become Poz  

3 You become Poz and don’t take meds  

4  You become Poz and you take meds to be  undetectable  

 

 

 

But I'm not talking about not taking PrEP and therefore becoming infected while not on PrEP. I'm talking about if you've stopped taking it, and you start taking it again, once you been taking it again for the amount of time said to be required for full protection (7 days?) are you still as protected as the last time you were on the drug before you stopped? You're telling me no?

And also was asking how many times you can stop taking it and then start taking it again and still be protected well after having started.

I'm not asking anything about fucking raw while you're off the PrEP , as I know that is likely to get you pozzed up.

Edited January 29, 2020 by concerned1

[boy4you]

No long term study has been done on PrEP as we do know some of the side effects it has will have on the body. We know it takes a week or more of taking PrEP to protect you. If you want to go off for a week PrEP  will not be as  effective   

[smokey1121]

boy4u how was mal

[concerned1]

No, I'm not talking about fucking raw a certain amount of time after you've come off, I'm talking about when you go back on it after having been off. Once you've waited the full week to get full protection in your system, and you start having bareback fun with guys again, is the PrEP still going to protect you as well as it would have done the previous time you were on it before you came off?

My understanding of what you're saying is no, each time stopped and then started again, the PrEP won't work as well - that you have to stick to taking it every day forever, basically, if you want to be fully protected?

[concerned1]

I'm not talking about fucking someone BB a couple days or so after you've come off daily PrEP, thinking you might be okay to fuck raw because you think there might still be enough PrEP in your system to give adequate protection. That's not what I;m asking about but I think that's what you think I am asking.

Edited January 29, 2020 by concerned1

[concerned1]

Just got back from the clinic (Mortimer market clinic in London) to pick up my next 3 months supply of PrEP and I have my answer to this question:

I can stop and start PrEP as many times as I like, as long as I don't have bareback sex during the intermittent periods in between stopping and starting, whenever I am on the PrEP my protection against HIV is always the same.

 

[bihairy]

1 hour ago, concerned1 said:

Just got back from the clinic (Mortimer market clinic in London) to pick up my next 3 months supply of PrEP and I have my answer to this question:

I can stop and start PrEP as many times as I like, as long as I don't have bareback sex during the intermittent periods in between stopping and starting, whenever I am on the PrEP my protection against HIV is always the same.

 

it takes 7 days for PrEP to be fully protective. Each time you start and stop you need 7 days on it to be effective again.

[Guest takingdeepanal]

7 hours ago, concerned1 said:

No, I'm not talking about fucking raw a certain amount of time after you've come off, I'm talking about when you go back on it after having been off. Once you've waited the full week to get full protection in your system, and you start having bareback fun with guys again, is the PrEP still going to protect you as well as it would have done the previous time you were on it before you came off?

My understanding of what you're saying is no, each time stopped and then started again, the PrEP won't work as well - that you have to stick to taking it every day forever, basically, if you want to be fully protected?

 

7 hours ago, concerned1 said:

I'm not talking about fucking someone BB a couple days or so after you've come off daily PrEP, thinking you might be okay to fuck raw because you think there might still be enough PrEP in your system to give adequate protection. That's not what I;m asking about but I think that's what you think I am asking.

I spoke to a doctor about pretty much exactly this matter the last time I went for my HIV tests. She said that it wasn't essential to be on it every day of your life after the first dose. Just make sure that you take it every day for a week before you BB - then every day for a month after.

[fillmyholeftl]

8 hours ago, concerned1 said:

No, I'm not talking about fucking raw a certain amount of time after you've come off, I'm talking about when you go back on it after having been off. Once you've waited the full week to get full protection in your system, and you start having bareback fun with guys again, is the PrEP still going to protect you as well as it would have done the previous time you were on it before you came off?

My understanding of what you're saying is no, each time stopped and then started again, the PrEP won't work as well - that you have to stick to taking it every day forever, basically, if you want to be fully protected?

As long as you wait the 7 days, PrEP is just as effective as it was the first time you took it. ~99%.  As long as you stay HIV-, (get checked at the suggested 3 month intervals) you do not develop any "resistance" to the medication. 

Does this answer your question?

[BootmanLA]

I think "takingdeepanal"'s medical source hit on another key point: you not only have to have been ON PrEP for at least seven days before you're protected well against exposure; you have to stay on it for a while AFTER exposure, to prevent infection. So you can't stop taking it as soon as you stop having bareback sex, without the possibility that your last act or two might still infect you.