HIV risk

[KevinShea]

Hello

Last night i had anal receptive sex (i was the bottom). The condom ended up breaking! He noticed it, pulled out and put a new one on. He did not ejaculate in me. Now I'm freaking out that i have HIV. The guy said hes HIV negative and was tested 2 weeks ago but im still freaking out.

Any advice?

[Jim Allen]

Hi

No reason to freak out but yes you had a risk. So testing would be advisable.
Guidelines are to test at 6 weeks past any incident and then at 13 weeks to confirm the result for HIV and test for easier to transmit STI's.

You could consider PEP, if you are considering PEP you should start taking this as soon as possible after exposure starting no later than 48-72 hours post exposure.

PEP in short is taking a short course of HIV meds, mostly 28 days to prevent HIV from infecting you,  It's up to you at the end of the day to decide to take PEP for this incident. You can read more about PEP and PrEP in my signature.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, every time, no exceptions.

Keep in mind that some sexual practices which may be described as ‘safe’ in terms of HIV transmission might still pose a risk for transmission of other STI's, so please do get fully tested regularly and at least yearly for all STI's including but not limited to HIV and test more frequently if unprotected intercourse occurs

Also note that it is possible to have an STI and show no signs or symptoms and the only way of knowing is by testing.

More information on HIV Basics, PEP, TaSP and Transmission can be found through the links in my signature to our POZ pages, this includes information on HIV Testing

Kind regards

Jim

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[KevinShea]

Thank you.

I went to an urgent care and they prescribed me truveda for 30 days. When I got home and looked up PEP, it says its usually Truevda in combination with a mix of other drugs. Should I go back and ask for something additional? The doctor said it wasnt necessary cause it was a low risk incident, but i'd rather be safe than sorry. Also, frankly, i have little confidence in the doctor, as she had to google it.

Any further advice would be awesome. Im just really worried about it

[Ptrk3]

Truvada is a combination of two antiretrovirals:

•Emtricitabine - an HIV medicine called a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI);

•Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate

http://www.thebody.com/content/art37775.html?ic=4002

Many HIV specialists prescribe Truvada alone as PEP.

Here's a recent POZ forum thread on this subject:

https://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=66145.0

[KevinShea]

Thanks for the reply.

I went to a local clinic and they echoed what you and the urgent care doctor said. However, i pressed them to also give me isentress as well and they complied.

In your experience how effective is PEP? I started the Truvada at 16 hours post exposure and the isentress at 34 hours. My concern is that since i was prescribed Truvada only first, im not taking both drugs at the same time. I take the isentress at 830 am and pm and the truvada at 530pm. is this ok?

thanks

[Ptrk3]

I have no (personal) experience with PEP.  I know only what the literature indicates, which is that PEP is enormously effective if the entire regimen is completed and the medication is taken as directed.  I would direct your specific question to a health care provider at the clinic which prescribed you the PEP regimen, since that constitutes medical advice and I am not a clinician.

Here's more about the efficacy of PEP:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4216036/