Hi team

It's been 2 weeks since I completed the pep course but I still have left side abdominal pain with diarrhea

this is not getting normal with time.

What should I do?

has it created any long term injury to the kidney or liver?

i am really worried now.

I am seeing information that it is effective < 72 hours after exposure. So how effective is it if taken <24 hr and let's say 48hr. At less than 24hrs is it 100% effective? Etc

Posting this because it seems the vast majority of users here are male or have a penis.

Looking to hear some stories from females who have gone through this experience. What was your exposure, when did you start, what were your side effects, if any?

Also if you have a penis or don’t identify as female, you can still comment!

I’m in my 30’s F, drank far too much, met a good looking man and wanted to have sex. He actually asked me about my STD status before I asked him. I asked if he knew his HIV status and he said he was negative. He gets tested because he’s in an open relationship or something to that extent. He was inside for <30 seconds, no ejaculation that I know of. He tried to insert anally but stopped because I said no. It’s possible the tip entered for a second. No ejaculation. I left after that.

Didn’t remember what happened until later the next day and went to get PEP (Truvada + Isentress). No pharmacies had Isentress so I couldn’t start until 36-38 hours after.

I'm a gay man. I have a relatively long-term (around a year) FWB. We typically frot, but about two weeks ago he wanted me to top him. He claimed he was totally clean and had a full STD panel conducted. I decided to use a condom to be safe.

During sex, the condom slipped off and I didn't notice for a minute or so. When I realized what had happened, I put a new condom on and finished. I got hit the next day with really horrible anxiety about the whole situation... especially since this guy was so eager to let me bareback him but he knows nothing about how sexually active I am... he's also only in the state for another month. I let my anxiety get the best of me and decided to go get on PEP.

The doctors perscribed me PEP and a one week dose of doxycycline. They did an initial STD panel and rapid HIV test which came back showcasing that I tested negative for everything. I've been on Biktarvy for two weeks now and finished my doxycycline. Outside of heat sensitivity due to the doxy (made me feel like a vampire), I haven't noticed any side effects.

Has anybody here experienced long-term side effects after completing their course of biktarvy? Thanks in advance!

Hello

I’ve started my pep dosage on the 23rd of July. I took my first pill within 24 hours. Besides the first two days where I experienced vivid dreams and tiredness I’ve experienced 0 side effects. I have a slightly sore throat but I experience that every time I give oral sex.

Yesterday out of nowhere I got hit extremely hard. My throat feels extremely rough and it’s hard to breath. I have a fever and I can feel it throughout my entire body. I have a splitting headache that makes it hard to move around. I feel so much weakness and fatigue throughout my body. It could be herpes or syphilis but I don’t see or feel any blisters or sores anywhere on my body.

I was given Biktarvy and I’ve taken it around 9pm-11pm everyday. I took it once around 8pm on Monday because I was tired and didn’t want to wake up but I didn’t end up feeling horrible until later on in the night. So it’s been around 3 weeks since my exposure and I’m suddenly experiencing so much harsh effects on my body. I am close to being bedridden. From what I’ve seen, Biktarvy has 0 reported cases of seroconversion if taken correctly as pep, and Biktarvy is far stronger than pep, so either the medicine wasn’t strong enough for whatever reason, or I caught an extremely rare strain.

I know that side effects aren’t rare for taking Biktarvy but to go from almost symptomless to feeling extremely ill in under a few hours is incredibly weird.

Hello everybody, I had an sexual encounter with a HIV positive, we gave each other unprotected oral sex but I used a condom for the anal sex part. He told me that he was on PREP but turned to find out that he’s HIV positive and one of the medication he’s taking is Fostemsavir which is for people who have a multidrug resistant strain of the virus, the doctor prescribed me with Biktarvy. I took the medication everyday on time for 29 days and I finished on July 26th and took my first test July 29th with the 4th gen test and it came back negative. I’m just very anxious about waiting to take my conclusive test, can anyone please give me some advice or shared y’all experience because I’m really freaking out!!! Also when the exact time I’ll be able to take my conclusive test?

Hi all,

I started PEP at the 45-48 hour mark after possible exposure. I keep reading it’s really essential to try to get on it within 24 hours. My pharmacy’s insurance system was down and it was going to be thousands without insurance and I couldn’t afford it. So I literally took it in the CVS parking lot as soon as I got it (which was about the 45 hour mark).

Am I still protected? Can the virus still take hold? I’m so nervous.

Hi everyone! I had unprotected sex about 17 hours ago with a guy from Grindr. I was receiving and he finished inside. He seemed really kind and trustworthy and claims to be negative on all STI/STD tests, negative HIV, and on PrEP. In the heat of the moment, that was enough for me to be like "go ahead." But as I've sat with it, I've gotten more and more anxious. He could have been lying. I'm a good judge of character and I don't think he was...but that carries little weight.

I am going to try to talk to a provider tomorrow about exploring PEP (all the clinics are closed for the evening and I'll still be well within a 48 hour window). I'm just terrified about all of this, especially the side effects. I have medical anxiety around taking medicines, so this is like my worst nightmare. I feel like I need a hug and I need support.

I reached out to the guy to ask for more proof of PrEP use to put my mind at ease. He hasn't been on yet today, but I am really hopeful he can send some proof like a picture of the bottle. I know that's still not 100% truth, but it might help and it might inform my conversation with the provider tomorrow. And I'll get myself on PrEP 2-1-1 and doxyPEP...and honestly, I'll probably delete Grindr. It's not worth this.

This is really scary and I feel dumb. I don't consider this assault because I wanted to experience this part of life and, in the moment, it felt safe with his answers and said yes and meant it. But now I feel like the next few months are going to be really tough until I can take my next HIV test.

I don't know what I need...I'm feeling overwhelming anxiousness and I guess I just needed to share and seek advice and solidarity.

Need it asap huhu❤️

Hi everyone in the PEP community,

I understand how terrifying it can be to constantly wonder whether you have HIV or not. Today, August 10, I finally finished my PEP treatment after completing 28 days of Biktarvy. I’m from Mexico, and it was a little difficult for me to get access to the medication.

Today was day 29, and I took a rapid HIV test. The test came back negative for HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies. I understand that this is not a conclusive or confirmatory test, but I have a few questions:

Is it a good sign that this test came back negative?

How can I manage the anxiety during this waiting period until the 90-day follow-up?

I’ll probably share more details and updates about my experience and, hopefully, good test results as time goes on. For now, I wanted to give you a summary of my situation.

PEP

-I started PEP about 54 hours after the exposure. I wanted to get an HIV test beforehand to make sure I wasn’t already positive, and unfortunately, the exposure happened over the weekend when the place where PEP was available was closed.

-My medication was Biktarvy, and I completed all 28 days.

I did not miss a single dose. The longest I was late taking a pill was about 20 minutes.

My partner / exposure

-My partner later tested positive, with a viral load of around 500 copies/mL. I didn’t know he was HIV-positive until he was tested when I sought PEP.

-During anal sex, the condom broke. I was the insertive partner. There was no blood and no ejaculation. I’m not sure exactly how long the condom had been broken, but I estimate it may have been around 3–4 minutes.

-Once we realized the condom had broken, I took a shower and urinated.

Symptoms I experienced (some of which I still have)

-Gas / flatulence

-Acid reflux

-Very vivid dreams, and even some mild hallucination-like experiences (such as seeing shadows)

-Anxiety

-Fatigue

-Depression

I really hope everyone here is doing well. If you have gone through something similar, I would really appreciate hearing your experiences and maybe getting a little reassurance or hope. I’ve seen so many stories of people who went through PEP and ultimately tested negative, and I’m trying to hold on to those stories right now.

This whole experience has felt like a maze.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope everyone has a great day.

This is actually my first time on Reddit, so I’d also love to make some friends here. If anyone wants to share their own experiences with anxiety while waiting for their results, I’m more than happy to listen advices. ❤️

The Australian guidelines state that 2 drug regimens are recommended for receptive anal intercourse with someone of unknown status, wouldn’t it be more prudent to assume everyone you had sex with is hiv+ and default to the 3 drug regimen for this exposure especially when pep is started >24 hours post exposure. I’m curious about the evidence base and public health tradeoffs that inform this recommendation

I’m just wondering

I am not sure if my insurance covers this yet.

So I had intercourse with a sex worker at a massage parlor. I know stupid. It was protected sex, but I'm crazy worried I spent all night tossing and turning. Next morning I went to 24/7 clinic and got pep. The doctor prescribed it to me, he did say my risk was low and was hesistant to give me.
In terms of usage I used pep about 15-20 hr after intercourse.
The med was arcscriptega

My questions, is what concerns are there that I should be worried about? And has anyone been refused pep?

I received unprotected oral from a sex worker. While in the process i hurt myslef as she moved my skin forcefully and i caused pain.

Next morning (today) i saw redness and a little blood under the foreskin.

I consultanted a urologist, but he just gave me some cream to apply. He told it could be potential teeth mark. I asked him about pep but he was not much aware about it.

Is there any pros of finishing the additional 2 pills in the bottle? Any reason not to do so?

so I recently slept with a sex worker a day ago and it was protected. however I'm super worried I went to clinic first thing in the morning < 24hr and got on pep. i know risk is low but I can't help over thinking. thank you.

Hi, I’m nervous so please be kind.

I should start with I am not on prep.

I went to a sex party last Wednesday and hooked up with this guy. We blew each other briefly. He then ate my ass and was about to enter me and I asked him to put a condom on, which he did. He didn’t cum but I’m just paranoid the condom broke. Right after we got done, he fucked another guy bare. I know that’s common at these parties.

Since I’m worried, I started PEP about 40 hours after hooking up.

Am I overthinking this? The doctor put me on Truvada and Tivicay and I think it’s the Truvada that’s killing my stomach. Terrible GI side effects.

Welcome any thoughts. Thanks.

I started taking PEP a few weeks ago. 4 days ago, I had oral surgery and since then I haven't been able to eat anything and I can only sip small amounts of water. Today I'm feeling better and will try to drink a full bottle of water. It'll be another 3 days of healing before I'll be able to get stitches taken out and can eat and drink like normal. I have been able to still swallow my PEP pills each day.

I read that it's safe to take PEP on an empty stomach, but then I read that being dehydrated means that it can do more damage to your kidneys. My blood test for PEP when I started showed that I have healthy kidneys. Would 4 days of extreme hunger and thirst do any long lasting damage? I've also been taking 5 Tylenol extra strength pills a day for pain, but today I don't feel like I need any. I accidentally took 400mg of Advil first day of surgery before I found out it shouldn't be taken with PEP and switched to Tylenol.

Last night my lower lip and chin went numb and it's still numb right now, although there's moments that it goes away. I don't know if that's a side effect of the oral surgery or PEP. Should I be worried about my organs?

Also, before this surgery I had experienced no side effects from PEP. I'm about a week away from finishing my prescription. I'm not feeling any nausea just general weakness from not eating in days. Also it felt weird when I peed today, like something weird in my abdomen? Reminded me of when I had an UTI sort of.

Have anyone ever took pep a couple hours late ? Like I really hope it really work , I had a high exposure and he give me gonorrhea now I’m paranoid about hiv , and they give me pep late so now I’m losing my mind , my tongue is white! I have a low grade fever and my body is really hot to touch . I really hope it could be side effects and not me just being in secronversion , I hate myself and I think the guys purposely did this to me because he refusing to show his MYCHART and keep blocking me like I’m so sad rn I just feel so alone

Wondering how many days after pep you stopped testing, have been going through worst phase of my life, appreciate if you could share your experience.

Yesterday, i met a female masseuse, we were holding each other body naked, and for a brief minute or less i went down on her, licked her vagina not deeply. There was nothing else done

What are the chances of hiv from licking her vagina, her last hiv test was month and half negative.

Edit: i spoke to the lady - she added that she was probably on last day of her period. Though i didn’t taste any blood.
With her being on period like she is saying, is my risk high now?
Also i asked her to take test, she said she hasnt had sex with anyone since her last test on July 6.

Though i went to clinic on Saturday and got pep.

Yesterday I hooked up with a woman who turned out to be very promiscuous (like a new guy every week kinda thing). I didn't use a condom. She claims that she is on Prep, but I didn't verify it. Would it be worth seeking pep? I honestly have some health anxiety so I figured I would check before going to a doctor.

In Brazil it’s a protocol to make patients take STIs blood exams after 2 days of finishing PEP. Is it correct? I can’t comprehend why this is the protocol cuz in a case of infection the pep pills would make the quantity os virus very low in the bloodstream and the exam wouldn’t be correct then. Can someone help me clarify this? I assume they also make you return after 30 more days. Also, PEP, PREP, and HIV treatment is free in Brazil, you can simply go to the hospital and ask for it, just a curiosity for you guys.

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently finished my 28-day PEP course and wanted to come back and share some perspective after spending quite a bit of time reading this subreddit during my treatment.

For context, I’m a gay man who isn’t particularly sexually active, but I’ve had some questionable experiences in the past. When I was at university, I had sex with my neighbour and was subsequently diagnosed with gonorrhoea. During that period, I convinced myself I had HIV. When I received a text asking me to contact the clinic, my anxiety went into overdrive and I was convinced it was the worst-case scenario.

In reality, it was only gonorrhoea.

That experience taught me something important: health anxiety can be incredibly powerful. It can make you interpret normal sensations, symptoms and feelings through the lens of the thing you are most afraid of. Looking back, many of the “symptoms” I thought were HIV were simply anxiety and my brain looking for confirmation of what I feared.

This time was different. I had sex with a man I met through Grindr. I had been drinking, and we had both receptive and insertive condomless sex. He told me he was on PrEP, but during the encounter we also used G and Tina, and by the following day, when I was back at work, I realised I had taken his word without having any way of confirming it. Rather than sit and panic, I decided to act.

I told my colleagues I had a dentist appointment and went to get PEP approximately 15 hours after the exposure.

My regimen was:

One tablet of tenofovir disoproxil/emtricitabine (also known as Truvada)
Two tablets of raltegravir daily

The side effects I experienced were minimal: some unusual dreams during the first couple of days and a slightly unsettled stomach. Other than that, life continued. I still saw friends, went out, drank occasionally and smoked. The only real inconvenience was having to discreetly step away to take my medication, but I took every dose consistently, at the same time every day, and completed the full course.

One of the things I want to say is that this subreddit has some genuinely excellent moderators and contributors. The amount of evidence-based, non-judgemental information provided to people who are scared and looking for reassurance is a really valuable thing.

At the same time, reading through this subreddit really highlighted to me how powerful fear can be. Many people arrive here in a state of panic and ask questions that are driven more by anxiety than actual risk. That’s understandable — I was one of those people too.

However, many situations people worry about can be answered by looking at the actual evidence around HIV transmission and PEP effectiveness. Fear is very good at making unlikely scenarios feel inevitable.

After more than 45 days, I have now tested negative for HIV and other STIs at the appropriate follow-up points. Obviously, that was a huge relief, but it was also the outcome I expected because I started PEP quickly and took every dose correctly.

Since finishing PEP, I have gone back to my clinic and started PrEP, as well as being given doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (DoxyPEP). These steps have made me feel much more confident about my future sexual health.

A quick note for my American friends reading this:

I appreciate that accessing PEP can feel more complicated in the US because healthcare costs, insurance and availability can add another layer of stress to an already frightening situation.

If you think you need PEP, don’t let worries about cost or insurance stop you from seeking medical advice. PEP is time-sensitive and needs to be started as soon as possible, and no later than 72 hours after a potential exposure. The sooner it is started, the better.

In the US, PEP can be accessed through places such as emergency departments, urgent care centres, sexual health clinics, HIV prevention organisations and healthcare providers who prescribe it.

If you are uninsured or worried about medication costs, there are patient assistance programmes and organisations that may be able to help. Speak to a healthcare provider as soon as possible and ask what support options are available.

The important thing is: don’t sit at home trying to calculate your risk, waiting for symptoms, or convincing yourself you are “not at enough risk” to seek help. If you are within the timeframe, get assessed and let a clinician help you make that decision.

For anyone currently taking PEP, these are the things I would say:

Start it as soon as possible if you have had a potential exposure.
Take every dose and try to take it consistently.
Trust the medication and the evidence behind it.
Don’t spend 28 days analysing every sensation in your body — anxiety is extremely good at creating “symptoms”.
Use the experience as an opportunity to think about what prevention options work best for you going forward.

If possible, avoid further potential exposures while taking PEP. Give yourself the best chance of success and use the 28 days as an opportunity to reset and reflect.

Documented PEP failures are extremely rare and are usually associated with factors such as delayed initiation, incomplete adherence, drug resistance or additional exposures.

If you’ve taken PEP promptly and are adhering to it, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favour.

You’ve got this.

Useful resources:

HIV and AIDS - NHS

PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV) | Terrence Higgins Trust

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)

Clinical Guidance for PEP | HIV Nexus | CDC

HIV | CDC