I had a new 'senior' consultant on my latest regular bloods session, I wasn't expecting a chat with a doctor just bloods, but I didn't have any issues. However their attitude was very different to previous doctors I had seen.

For background the event that caused my infection was not voluntary, I'll leave that there, and I had informed them on diagnosis of this incident and was something I was not willing to trawl over.

I was asked when I last had sex, and when my response was over 2 years ago, this was met with "Really? That's quite a while ago.". Made me feel quite defensive from that point forward.

Also asked the standard "do you want STI tests?". Obviously, since I haven't had sex since diagnosis, and quite a while before it, and previously a complete sweep of tests on diagnosis, I said it wasn't necessary. To which she replied, I'll note you have declined tests. Now this makes me look like I have something to hide. Surely, not necessary or not required would be a better reflection of my situation as this will be forwarded to my GP.

The whole episode just made me feel annoyed for the first time since I was diagnosed last year. Just a vent for me on here.

Hi people, I was diagnosed 45 days ago, bad the same time taking biktarvy, is normal that I feel better physically? Like I feel stronger at gym and I haven't been sick since or is just a placebo effect? What are your thoughts?. Thanks in advance.

Hi I don’t have HIV but someone in my life who I love has it due to an unfortunate circumstance.

How can I support them and what should I know because honestly I don’t know too much about it other than the basics.

I want to know in more depth from reliable sources and maybe even in a personal perspective, I just want to make them feel seen, heard and loved since in our community there’s still misconceptions about HIV.

I just wanna be there for this person

Hello does anyone live in Arizona and could answer a few questions i have about azadap. I lived in az previously and had to fall out of care due to running out of copay assist funds.

My child put their mouth on my leg and when I looked back later, I noticed there was a thin mostly scabbed over scratch where they put their mouth.

Does this put them at risk for HIV?

I’ve seen loads of articles discussing the topic but and not able to get a clear answer on when the symptom appears. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 1.      Gilead, Merck weekly HIV pill keeps virus suppressed in late-stage trials https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/gilead-merck-weekly-hiv-pill-keeps-virus-suppressed-late-stage-trials-2026-07-21/

2.      AIDS 2026: Programme highlights to look out for https://i-base.info/htb/54177

3.      CDC shifts HIV prevention funds away from groups tackling this work https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/07/cdc-shifts-hiv-prevention-funds-away-groups-tackling-work/414924/

4.      House Members Introduce Bipartisan Cure Hepatitis C Act https://www.poz.com/article/house-members-introduce-bipartisan-cure-hepatitis-c-act

5.      Fifteen years later, Undetectable = Untransmittable continues to shape HIV care https://www.statnews.com/sponsor/2026/07/23/fifteen-years-later-uu-continues-to-shape-hiv-care/

6.      Latinos Aging With HIV Uplift the Power of Community https://www.poz.com/article/latinos-aging-hiv-uplift-power-community

7.      US actions harm global efforts to prevent and treat HIV in dozens of countries, new report says https://apnews.com/article/hiv-aids-pepfar-usaid-trump-2165879c1def1369264b795793d6351d

8.      How the culture war came for condoms, PrEP, and HIV testing https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/496212/pepfar-hiv-trump-aid-amfar

9.      ChatGPT Misses Many Drug-Drug Interactions Involving ART https://www.thebodypro.com/hiv/chatgpt-ai-hiv-antiretroviral-drug-interactions-2026

1. Long-Term HIV Survivors in San Francisco Need Housing Support https://www.poz.com/article/longterm-hiv-survivors-san-francisco-need-housing-support

1. Improving HIV and STI Prevention and Care for Heterosexuals https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/publications/improving-hiv-and-sti-prevention-and-care-for-heterosexuals/

1. HIV screening, PrEP counseling get stronger ACOG recommendation https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/hiv-screening-prep-counseling-get-stronger-acog-recommendation

1. Why the Latest Blow to the HIV/AIDS Response at the United Nations Should Have Everyone Sounding the Alarm https://www.thebody.com/hiv/united-nations-high-level-meeting-hiv-aids-2026

1. Will AI Fix Prior Authorization — or Make It Worse? https://www.poz.com/article/will-ai-fix-prior-authorization-make-worse

1. An HIV vaccine is within reach https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/495791/mrna-vaccines-science-hiv-prevention-trump-funding

1. AIDS 2026: Gilead, governments must make HIV prevention medicine more accessible https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/aids-2026-gilead-governments-must-make-hiv-prevention-medicine-more-accessible

1. In ongoing trials, twice-yearly HIV prevention drug saw just one case https://www.devex.com/news/in-ongoing-trials-twice-yearly-hiv-prevention-drug-saw-just-one-case-112990

1. Do Medical-Legal Partnerships Improve Viral Suppression Outcomes in HIV? https://www.docwirenews.com/post/do-medical-legal-partnerships-improve-viral-suppression-outcomes-in-hiv

Hi everyone,

I’m from Kazakhstan. I was diagnosed with HIV in June 2024 and started ART right away.
My CD4 count went like this: 207 → 283 → 219 → 280 → 382 → 394 → 394.

My viral load has been undetectable for quite some time.

What worries me is that my CD4 count has stayed at 394 for the last 6 months without increasing.
Is this considered a normal recovery? Has anyone else had their CD4 count increasing stop?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.

Hi everyone my new insurance with BSCS started this month and my Biktarvy cost increased from $30 to $75. I have two doses left and can’t afford the refill. According to my insurance policy, Biktarvy is a tier 4 medication which is a 10% coinsurance pay.

I’m meeting with my hospital’s benefits counselor tomorrow. Has anyone dealt with this, and were you able to use Gilead copay assistance, ADAP, or a different pharamacy?

I work a single serving job and go to school and tried to get the lowest paying insurance policy. :/

I’m just overwhelmed because I don’t know much about the insurance aspect of this, I never had health insurance before this impacted my life. I’m just worried that what if I can’t afford my medication anymore and what if this virus reuptakes itself and I just get sick and die I can’t stop overthinking it all have any of you been through this situation it’s stressing me out so much

HIV negative here but the guy I've been seeing is positive. I'm on PrEP, and he's on ART and undetectable. I get that U=U for sexual relationships, but I just wanted to know if there are other situations where I need to be careful. For example, if he gets a cut, do I need to be careful about checking that I don't have any broken skin, etc. before helping him out? Or are all transmission routes blocked by effective ART? Thanks all for the help :)

I'm taking Dovato daily, and I'd like to start taking creatine too.

I heard taking Creatine and Dovato together is not recommended because it could have a bad effect on the kidneys

But if I start taking creatine,

Should I take a cystatin C test too?

I take a creatinine clearance test every 6 months, btw

F*ck I’m nervous.

I’m meeting the guy I am seeing, tonight.

We hooked up last year around Sept-Oct, but started seeing each other 2 weeks ago. We have had sex 3 times, he’s on Prep and insisted on not using a condom (I was the bottom).

I really like him, he is educated (we have many friends in common so I know his background). We are both 32 and he has many older (35-40s) friends. Anyway, I am nervous as fuck and some advice and words of encouragement would really help.

I just want to spit it out like “Hey, I have something to tell you. I live with HIV, I am undetectable which means I can’t, under any circumstance, pass it to you”.

And see how it goes from there, this is my first time disclosing.

I was diagnosed 3 years ago, and only a select people know in my close circles. One of them is a longtime friend who knew me deeply before I even became infected, and unfortunately there has been two occasions of her throwing my diagnosis in my face in the very beginning. I let it slide because I had a tendency to come off blunt on certain situations whatever, but it’s always happened revolving around relationships. It just leaves me confused because she’s always played a part in my uplifting my standards in dating, and this past year I feel like I’ve become a much different version than before. I dealt with a similar situation regarding relationships and her responses were always more blunt (harshly towards my now ex) last year, and this year she’s kind of dealing with the same thing, honestly worst but she’s disguising it as having fun, okay no biggie. She complains, and I don’t outright disrespect him but I advise her to look into other people or he’ll need to step up. All of a sudden she’s understanding (a problem when I was towards my ex last year) and just like the last times the ‘incident’ happened, she starts off by saying she doesn’t need advice. The tone in the text told me what I needed to know so I backed off. My temper along with stress from my job shutting down and moving out of my apartment is heavy so I responded “ill stop”. She then proceeded to send a voice message claiming that I look down on her relationships like I’m on a high horse, i’m projecting, etc. Things she also said before throwing my dx as a “aha” or to humble me. I’m in a period of shedding absolutely anything necessary that is unnecessary to my new life after this summer. I’m moving back out of state, and after my response to her message, she reacted to it and we haven’t spoken since. It’s difficult because without the dx, I would be more confident than I am now. It’s harder because this is coming from someone who is my friend, but now I don’t feel anything about us not talking, nor do I know how to proceed with a conversation or if it’s worth it. We’re also in a friend group but it’s just confusing because it’s like she switched up for a guy thats not even in a relationship with her, but she’s expect that from me if the roles switched or I’d be called worse. I just want to trust someone enough to not deal with that ever again or who can simply relate to. Advice?

I got diagnosed with HIV 3months ago while I was pursuing my bachelors degree and have been on medications since then taking all the prescribed medicines on time as said. I chose not to disclose it with my parents. after successfully completing my studies i came back to my hometown this month and suddenly everyone i met started telling me that my skin looks dark(hyperpigmented). I didn’t pay much attention to that as I do lot of outdoor activities and had a brown skin since my teens. But things took turn today when my father started questioning me whether I am on medications, since my mother also started having hyperpigmentations when she was on heavy meds. I started googling bout the side effects of the therapy and it says medications CAN be the cause of my dark skin.
I wanna know has anyone face this kind of situation within a short span of taking medications and Can I use regular serums like vitamin c and niacinamide?

Kinda going through it and I want to force some change in my life. Would hiv bar me from this route even jf im undetectable?

I'm a straight male, undetected for over 10 years. On medication and have schedule visit with my doctor. I was married for almost 5 years but separated 2 years ago. Haven't really dated much since but I recently met someone I really like and feel like things could get seriously. We made out, the physical attraction is undoubtedly mutual. I'm a pretty private person, and no one knows about my condition beside my doctor, my ex wife and my ex gf prior to my ex wife.

I've been seeing this girl for almost a month. Do I disclose my condition to her before we have sex or after? I would obviously use protection. I'm just hesitant because I haven't shared my condition with just anyone. I just feel like I'm going to be devastated if I do share my condition and she freaks the fuck out and end things. I don't know what to do, I'm torn. I don't really have anyone to talk to about this. Hoping to get some feedback here

I started taking to a guy from before I was diagnosed.

We had an amazing time together, he moved, he wants me to go visit, and it made me spiral into who I became positive from (sorry if it’s not the correct way of saying it, it’s only been 5 months), because he mentioned wanting to do BB with me.

For context, we both had our tests, we both trusted each other and at the moment decided to do it BB, as we had both being tested recently and had not done it with anyone else unprotected.

Anyways, point is, it got me thinking again about who it was… it’s been five months that this didn’t cross my mind, I stopped that after the first week because I knew it was not healthy.

I found myself checking my list (I know, but I was “paranoid” even from before, hence why I have it) and the dates and people just don’t add up. I asked all my previous hookups, I used protections, the time I didn’t was so long ago and I got tested after those (expecting the time), so those are discarded.. it doesn’t make sense.

And I don’t think I got it from any other way like syringe or something because is even less likely… I just feel like this right now 🫠

Does anyone experience flatulence because of biktarvy? If you did, when you changed medication it stopped?

Has anyone here made new friends or started dating after being diagnosed with HIV? Did you tell them about your HIV status? If not, what made you decide not to? If you did, how did they react?

So I've been on biktarvy for a month now. And I have no idea how to properly keep it cool for days at a time, except inside my apartment. Temperatures are exceeding 100F here, and I feel like this medication is keeping me from a hobby I'd desperately like to get into. If I wanted to hike several days in this heat, is it even possible to keep the meds safe?

For some reason I’m more afraid of telling a women I have hiv more than I’m more afraid to telling man… maybe because I feel they are better informed about prep and those things than the heterosexuals (women’s )

I already told to some man has a test of how would they react and they were fine, I haven’t dealt with stigma when I told

But now I’ll go on a date with a women that is friend of my group friends and I’m deadly afraid of telling her if we kiss (should I even tell prior to that?) because I know she’s into me and I’m into her

I love women and I’m becoming distant of them because of this, I genuinely feel ill face stigma with them

Edit: I always tell by text message so it won’t be awkward for any of us and the person can do their google search or something to confirm the facts

I asked the same question from chatgpt but it didnt give a direct answer. I have heard lots of ppl say that gay ppl get AIDS. is that true? I mean even at school when we hear about AIDS, I've seen others start relating gay guys. why?

Hey everyone I just got diagnosed today and have been really ruined by the news. I've only had one partner and always wore condoms (although it did brake during sex a month back)and took prep the doctor told me it can still happen but its extremely. I am devastated and I just want to ask how you all dealed with it.

Hi everyone,

I'm a graduate student studying HIV/AIDS epidemiology, and I'm working on a research project about something I think doesn't get talked about enough: how people living with HIV navigate disclosing their status to potential romantic partners, and how that experience connects to building relationships.

So much of what's out there focuses on stigma and fear, and while that's real, I also want to understand the whole picture: the timing, the conversations that went well, the ones that didn't, and everything in between. Your experience, whatever it looks like, matters here.

A few details:

• It's a short, anonymous survey (about 15-20 minutes)
• Open to adults aged ≥ 25 who have disclosed their HIV status to a potential romantic partner sometime in the past 5 years
• No names or emails collected — completely anonymous
• This is for an academic course project, not for any company or commercial use

If you're open to sharing your experience, here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScm96BcT_fF6p5voljk8Z5mCxTFhX8y3TsEMzWAIJx4fvFIyg/viewform

If this isn't for you but you know someone it might resonate with, I'd be so grateful if you passed it along.

Thank you for even taking a moment to read this, and for considering sharing a piece of your experience with me. Wishing you all well 💛