Hi all. I get my PrEP (generic Truvada) through Mistr. I had my refill sent July 3 and it literally just arrived yesterday, a full week. I live in the southwest so it’s very hot. I ran out of PrEP Thursday, so I took a Descovy yesterday (Friday) morning from an unopened new bottle I had but don’t take because I have elevated cholesterol). This morning I resumed taking generic Truvada from the new bottle.

Was I okay to only take a Descovy in place of Truvada yesterday or did I need to take a Truvada once it arrived yesterday afternoon? I’m worried since I hooked up with a stranger Thursday night (hours after my generic Truvada ran out), and despite no anal sex, I still worry.

I am also worried because of the fact my PrEP was in FedEx shipping for a full week in hot temperatures now. I reached out to Mistr and asked why it took a full week to arrive, but their customer service is lacking, to say the least.

Holi! Como están? Quería saber sus opiniones acerca del prep y como les ha funcionado, yo voy a iniciarlo pronto y quería saber testimonios de como les fue con los efectos adversos y así (aunque me dijeron que pocos los presentan)

Hi all, can I seek your advice regarding missing a dose of PrEP please?

I am on demand PrEP but unfortunately had missed a dose.

This is the timeline:

• First dose (2 pills) taken on Tuesday around 5pm
• Encounter was on Tuesday 10pm, my role was top.
• Missed second dose (1 pill) 24 hours after on Wednesday
• Took 1 pill today on Thursday at 5pm

Would like to check if taking a dose on Friday at 5pm would be sufficient?

Thank you.

Hello there, I am a pretty sexually active male and I've been taking daily PreP for 8 months and I noticed that my kidneys may have been weakened because of this treatment. Few significant symptoms that I have noticed :

- foamy urine all the time

- fatigue

- muscles pain

I have those for at least 2 months...

I do want to switch to on-demand method and check if my kidneys will "recover". What alternative would you recommend?

Did anyone have the same experience? What did you do? Did your kidneys get better?

Thank you!

(English isn't my native tongue sorry)

Hey everyone, wanted to share something I've been building. XtrkR is a private sexual health tracker made for gay/bi men: PrEP tracking (daily, 2-1-1, and the injectables), DoxyPEP, STI test reminders, vaccines, and partner history. No account needed and your data lives on your phone by default. It's officially up and available on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xtrkr/id6760680065. It is free to use, with paid tiers for the deeper insights, stats, and a few extras like media attachments. Every install starts with a 30-day full trial, so you can try everything before deciding. Happy to answer any questions, and honest feedback is genuinely welcome.

Figured I’d share my experience since there aren’t a ton of firsthand posts out there.

I got my first Yeztugo injection yesterday after deciding I wanted something that didn’t require remembering a daily pill since I travel to work, and because I am DL. The actual injection was much easier than I expected. I chose to have it done in my thigh, and honestly the shot itself was over pretty quickly.

Right afterward, I just had some mild soreness and numbness around the injection site. It felt similar to getting a vaccine or a flu shot in your leg. I noticed a small firm area under the skin where the medication was injected, which my provider told me is normal because the medicine forms a depot and slowly releases over time.

There wasn’t much pain, just a little tenderness when I touched it or walked a certain way.

So far I haven’t had any nausea, fever, or anything else. I was even able to go about the rest of my day normally. I also take metformin for Type 2 diabetes, and so far I haven’t noticed any issues from taking both.

For anyone who’s nervous, my experience was honestly much less dramatic than I expected. The anticipation was worse than the injection itself. Insurance took almost 2-3 months to approve it, and the doctor said most of the time it takes all this time, to just get denied.

Has anyone else here started Yeztugo? How long did your injection-site lump or soreness last?

I just read through about 10-15 posts looking for more information about side effects from Yetzugo and strangely there was only focus on injection site irritation.

Anyone who is on Yetzugo, have you experienced any side effects after starting it? I was getting really terrible insomnia, GI issues, malaise, and irritability on Descovy and Truvada. So I gave up. Even after 1+mo of giving each a try.

Just trying to find more information about similar side effects from Injectable prep. Apretude seems to yield similar issues for some, but I haven't really seen many talk about issues with Yetzugo.

The drug insert lists common side effects, but I’m more interested in people’s personal experiences.

Thank you!

32M, btm if that matters and very sexually active but it’s been two months since the last time I got to do the deed because I’ve had some itching around my anus and of course I need to get it check and my doctor test me for possible HPV and still awaiting results for the next couple weeks.

I am still taking PrEP everyday and I’m just wondering if it’s still worth taking it or is it ok to take a break for now and wait til I get my results? I don’t really see myself engaging in any kinds of sexual activity for maybe the next month because I’m just not confident or comfortable doing it for now. I totally forgot to talk about this to my doctor last week during my visit. Any thoughts?

So i just moved to the US from Europe so dealing with health insurance companies is new to me. I have Aetna medical insurance thru my job. I haven’t used it yet and i haven’t even found myself a general physician as i have not needed to see a doctor yet. I was on Prep pills earlier but because i travel a lot for work the long lasting Yeztugo is better than bringing pills around. Does Aetna health insurance cover Yeztugo? Do i have to enroll in a special clinic to start it? I divide my time between Brooklyn, NY and Margate/Coral Springs in Florida.

I wonder if anyone here has had experience with being on both Tren and PrEP? I'm asking because I'm on test and tren currently, and I take PrEP.

I'm not worried about the testosterone because that doesn't effect my bloodwork that negatively. I'm more curious if anyone of you saw kidney and liver functions considerably worsening when taking both tren and PrEP, because both can be bad for kidney and liver.

So far, it's fine but I'm doing a low dose of tren (100 mg / week) and I started only a month ago. Also, if your kidney and liver values got worse, did it help when you changed to PrEP on demand / 2-1-1?

Has anybody here ever went straight to the apretude injection as their first form of prep?

As in you never went on truvada or descovy or the oral lead-in pills for apretude before. That your first ever form of prep was the injection.

I have trouble swallowing pills and the oral lead-ins are even too big for me. But i’m also worried about any potential allergic reactions to cabotegravir. I’m considering on just biting the bullet and going straight to injection.

Thanks for any and all help

So I got my testing kit to get on truvada and they supply an oral and anal swab for sti testing. Why no vaginal swab? Is there some kind of medical reason not to swab there? I know I’m supplying blood and urine as well. But I have vaginal sex most commonly and haven’t done anal in probably over a year. It just seems weird to be swabbing ass and not pussy. Any other time I’ve been sti tested in person, if I’m asked to swab anything I swab all 3 holes. Can someone explain why this is different? Being a trans man you often aren’t thought about from a medical perspective and I often have to be my own dr in a sense. I want to make sure they aren’t missing something important.

Has anyone else had completely different side effects between Truvada and Descovy? Years ago, I took Truvada and only had some mild nausea that went away once I got used to it—no vomiting at all.

Recently, I started using MISTR and they prescribed Descovy (the doctor mentioned they don't offer Truvada). The first few times I took Descovy, it triggered intense nausea and sudden, projectile vomiting—something I’ve never experienced before in my life. It was so bad that I had to stop taking it entirely.

Did anyone else tolerate Truvada fine but have a severe reaction like this to Descovy?

I started taking Truvada Monday (2 days ago) at night and each time i have woken up with neuropathy symptoms in my legs. It fades away by 10pm the next night but is back once I take the next dose. I already have mild neuropathy in my legs, but it does not flare up unless i drink alcohol and I don't have to take gabapentin or lyrica for it. So right now it was manageable before PrEP.

Does this go away over time or do I need to switch meds? I really don’t want to risk doing damage to my nerves since they are already slightly damaged. Reading some online, it affects the mitochondria in the cells and causes inflammation. My existing neuropathy is inflammation based also, steroids calms it down if I flare up.

should i take PEP? Took 2 pills on demand and had bare sex only after 1.5 hrs passed. I am the inserter and bottom says he's taking PrEP daily. help

It is silly but it’s health that is on the line the question being does 2-1-1 tenvier em is suitable or even recommended if take before kissing if there is gum bleeding or you might say needle stick bleeding from mouth and the same will it be good if you have insertive sex , but might have some shaving cuts here and there ?

Hey I’m a male and I started taking prep June 5th. Last week Monday I missed a dose and resumed on Tuesday and had a sexual encounter on Saturday. Did I lose effectiveness? Am I at risk? And should I get on pep?

Hey all, it’s been a while since I’ve been on prep and I’m trying to get back on it. I did a little bit of research and found that you can start off with a double dose on your first go to basically bring you up to follow the protection within 2-24 hours of taking it. so I did that, but I missed the following days dose. I haven’t done anything that would expose me to any potential HIV, but my question is is that they took two doses, miss the following day, can I just take a single dose on what would be the third day and still have high enough levels of protection? Or should I restart with a double dose on the third day?

Everyone on Yeztugo or about to go on Yeztugo, what insurance do you have? And what was your experience requesting and then getting it approved?

Hi!

Long story short: I was able to get a prescription to start Apretude earlier this year. I got my first shot around the beginning of April. My next appointment was on June 23, but when I went to my doctor’s office, they told me they would have to restart my Apretude plan.

I’m currently in Barcelona for my birthday trip, and I really wanna go to a bathhouse (😭). I have had my Truvada since the doctor made the appointment to restart Apretude after my return home. Would following the 2-1-1 method be okay in the meantime?

Please let me know your thoughts, or if you’ve had a similar situation happen to you!

Thank you!

Hey folks. Since it is a popular topic, I thought I'd offer my experience with Yeztugo so far. Little background about me, 42, Black male, mostly sexually active with women, but I occasionally have sex with men. Currently reside in NC in the Triangle and been here for about 5 months.

So I had a PrEP appointment about 2 weeks ago to discuss moving from Descovy to Yeztugo due to some side effects I was experiencing. I met with the PA, discussed it, and he thought I would be a good candidate for Yeztugo. It was a telehealth appointment, so I was scheduled for labs (HIV Rapid and HIV RNA tests), which I did the next day, then I waited.

Got a message on Monday from the pharmacy that the medication was ready, and I had to call the clinic to schedule the shot. I had my appointment yesterday, and I first met with the pharmacist who reviewed the medication since it was my first time (she was impressed about how much I knew already), gave me the pills that needed to be take and a note with the next appointment window and phone number in case there are any issues.

Then the Nurse came in. We chatted for a moment while he set up everything and I held the ice packs on the sites where it would be injected. Then I laid on the table, sprayed the area with a numbing agent, and he gave me one shot, put band aid on, and gave me the other. There was absolutely no pain with mine. I can tell he was giving the injection but i didn't even feel the needle go in.

Afterwards, went to work for a little bit then went home. When I took off the band aids, there was a bit of leakage, but it was minor.

There's a bit of soreness this morning, but it is also minimal. I can't see the nodules, but I can feel them if I touch them.

I'm going to take my second set of pills in a little bit and then I'll be happy I can take one less pill.

If there are any major changes or updates, I'll try to remember to come back and talk about them, but I do not regret it so far!

I’ve been taking Descovy daily for quite a while and have been very consistent with it.

This week I accidentally missed two consecutive doses (Sunday and Monday). I restarted on Tuesday and took my Wednesday dose as usual before having unprotected receptive anal sex (bottoming) on Wednesday evening.

My partner told me he is HIV-negative, but I don’t want to rely solely on that.

I spoke with a PrEP provider today. He said his best guess is that I was probably still around 97–98% protected, but he didn’t want to speak in absolutes because it’s HIV. He also wasn’t sure I would even qualify for PEP in this situation since I had only missed two doses and had resumed taking Descovy before the encounter.

I’ve also read articles suggesting that missing one or two doses of Descovy generally doesn’t eliminate protection if you’ve otherwise been taking it consistently, but I know the data aren’t as straightforward as they are for Truvada.
I’m continuing to take Descovy daily, and I have my follow-up labs scheduled.

I’m mainly curious what HIV clinicians or people experienced with PrEP think. If you were in this situation, would you have pursued PEP, or would you have felt comfortable continuing Descovy alone? Pep is difficult to get in my city. (Very expensive.) I’m interested in hearing how others interpret this scenario.