iosam Posted 12 hours ago Report Posted 12 hours ago 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. 1 1 Quote
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