I agree Teak. I really want to volunteer to help people with HIV. I can't imagine how most people can afford these antiviral drugs. I know they are expensive. I sure appreciate all the great work you do and wish you continued good health. I hope that one day soon we can eradicate HIV and in particular help those who are afflicted with it now.
Yes you wasted your money and put your health at risk for no reason what so ever.
Just wanted everyone to know that on Friday I got my test results back and was negative. Woohooo. I think the stress of it all caught up to me and on Saturday I slept half the day away. I learned a valuable and expensive lesson out of all of this. I will be extra careful who I get involved with, but also I will be more careful in terms of the medical advice I seek from doctors. In the end given my fear, I went ahead and took the PEP, I can see why lots of people probably do this when in fact they might not need to.
Thanks again to all.
Thank you both for the reply diver58 and zamzam4. I think I was extra worried because I've had a persistent sore throat and a feeling of mucus in the back of my throat for almost 3 months now. Given the fact that i had given unprotected oral i thought it could be the worst case due to that. They did test for throat gonorrhea and strep at 4 weeks and that was negative also. My sore throat is probably due to anxiety and persistent heartburn that I deal with.
I think if anything I'm at blame for convincing the doctor to give me PEP. I called the PEP hotline, then had him on the phone with the doctor at the clinic. He wouldn't have suggested it for the oral, but maybe for the fingering.
It was very expensive around $1200 for a month supply. While on it I also had the expense of monitoring kidney and liver function with blood tests at the beginning and 2 and 4 weeks. Geez, I am guessing this whole debacle will cost me over $2,000 by the end, plus major time googling and stress and anxiety.
Thanks again all and have a great weekend!
PEP was totally unwarranted in this situation and its a shame your provider didn't realise this. nPEP is pretty strong stuff and should not be given out for no risk situations, which is what yours is.
I understand that you must have got a fright when he revealed his status to you but regardless of him being HIV positive or not you were never at a risk of tranmission in the activities you describe.
Do I think you will be ok? Yes, I absolutely do. Your test result will be negative. When somebody has actually had a risk (you haven't) for a conclusive result you must add on an extra 4 weeks beacuse of the nPEP.
You did nothing that you need to worry about. You fear, I suspect, has been compounded by a pysician who clearly is not knowledgeable about the tranmission routes of HIV giving you nPEP. You do not need to test out to 6 months.
When you collect your negative result, and you will, try and move on from this and realise that you were never actually at risk.
I am sorry you have had such a hard time and it disappoints me greatly to hear that you have not been advised correctly by a doctor xx
You are OK and you will get a negative report once again. Reason is, you were never exposed to the risk, because there was no unprotected penetration involved. In my opinion, your PEP was un necessary as your contact does not qualify for a PEP.
Three month test is final and conclusive, forget 6 month mark. It is not for you