Apretude more of a hassle than I expected

[iosam]

I am switching back to descovy, and thought I'd share my thoughts somewhere about it. I was on Apretude for almost a year I think, and switching back to descovy now.

Going in, my expectation was that not needing to take a daily pill would make things a lot easier / simpler for me. However, I found the opposite to be the case. Yes, I felt protected without having to have a habit of taking daily PrEP, but there were hidden difficulties with Apretude I didn't expect.

The first headache with Apretude is that it's much more heavily regulated / locked down as a medication for some reason. This makes actually getting the dose each time more of a headache in a few ways:

• More questions and scrutiny from healthcare providers
• Medication has to be administered by a healthcare provider, not at home
• Test results for the injection need to be taken no more than one week before the injection, a somewhat tight window
• As a result, you need to find time for two separate appointments at a healthcare provider one week apart
• The healthcare appointment for the injection itself is a bit of a hassle. Healthcare providers are required to assess labs, ask questions, and then finally retrieve the injection that's in a secured container elsewhere before being able to administer it, overall this just takes time

The next headache were the minor but not insignificant side effects from the injection that I do not experience from daily PrEP. The apretude medication for me caused fatigue / aches / feverishness for a few days after the injection. Depending on the person administering the injection, too, there can be some soreness as the needle is not small itself.

Overall, if you can't be bothered taking daily PrEP it's a good option. For me I do think daily PrEP is better. Ideally, I'll switch to some other medication that would only need to be taken once every six months to a year if it becomes available, or even better get a vaccine one day.

[polyglutton]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Iker80]

Injections aren't really a thing where I live but I keep hearing they're great. So your experience is good to hear. I had imagine you just go for your regular STD testing and they give you an injection and that's it until next time, but I guess you never imagine the annoying parts of something. Hopefully it will get easier in the future.

[LKMike]

I just started a new thread on this, but after stopping apretude I started getting blisters anyplace below my waist and on my arms. They have gotten fewer as the year since I stopped has passed. Only have two active, open painful blisters at the moment. I can't categorically blame the aptitude, but it looks guilty!

[foryouruse]

On 10/27/2025 at 12:20 PM, LKMike said:

I just started a new thread on this, but after stopping apretude I started getting blisters anyplace below my waist and on my arms. They have gotten fewer as the year since I stopped has passed. Only have two active, open painful blisters at the moment. I can't categorically blame the aptitude, but it looks guilty!

What’s the new thread called?

[PozToxVersPig]

On 9/4/2025 at 3:27 PM, iosam said:

I am switching back to descovy, and thought I'd share my thoughts somewhere about it. I was on Apretude for almost a year I think, and switching back to descovy now.

Going in, my expectation was that not needing to take a daily pill would make things a lot easier / simpler for me. However, I found the opposite to be the case. Yes, I felt protected without having to have a habit of taking daily PrEP, but there were hidden difficulties with Apretude I didn't expect.

The first headache with Apretude is that it's much more heavily regulated / locked down as a medication for some reason. This makes actually getting the dose each time more of a headache in a few ways:

• More questions and scrutiny from healthcare providers
• Medication has to be administered by a healthcare provider, not at home
• Test results for the injection need to be taken no more than one week before the injection, a somewhat tight window
• As a result, you need to find time for two separate appointments at a healthcare provider one week apart
• The healthcare appointment for the injection itself is a bit of a hassle. Healthcare providers are required to assess labs, ask questions, and then finally retrieve the injection that's in a secured container elsewhere before being able to administer it, overall this just takes time

The next headache were the minor but not insignificant side effects from the injection that I do not experience from daily PrEP. The apretude medication for me caused fatigue / aches / feverishness for a few days after the injection. Depending on the person administering the injection, too, there can be some soreness as the needle is not small itself.

Overall, if you can't be bothered taking daily PrEP it's a good option. For me I do think daily PrEP is better. Ideally, I'll switch to some other medication that would only need to be taken once every six months to a year if it becomes available, or even better get a vaccine one day.

@iosam I'm sorry that you had this experience, though hopefully in the past now.  I'm poz and switched from a very well tolerated Odefsey daily pill to once every other month double shots of Cabenuva.  For similar reasons to you, I thought only having to get the shots every other month would improve things - especially since Odefsey needs to be taken in the morning (to avoid sleeplessness issues at night) and with a "fatty meal." 

I didn't experience any medical provider issues - they were great and handled all of the paperwork and approvals.

My issues were:  each ass check gets one of the two medicines in Cabenuva.  For 4 or more days after, my ass was so sore that I couldn't put pressure on it at all, had to pull myself up from a seated position, etc. 

And then the day after the injections and for at least 4-5 days after, sleeplessness, fatigue, aches and pains all over my body, headaches.  It was like having the flu - relatively low grade but significant enough that I took a few sick days and was noticeably lethargic and bedridden.  

The subsequent two medicines we tried after that I had different but not insignificant reactions to, hence why I'm taking a break.  

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[TaKinGDeePanal]

The on-demand PrEP routine works as well:

2 pills 2-24 hours before

1 pill that day

1 pill the day after

Mind you, you have to plan your fucks.

[think before following links] https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/endinghiv/Pages/public.aspx