Dealing with PEP

[hopelondon]

I had a short exposure to someone who could or could not have been HIV positive.

I went to the doctors about 48 hours afterwards and started my PEP dosage in the evening.

Yesterday was my second day and I had awful sickness in the night. I took anti-sickness/nausea tablets but I just kept vomiting them back up. Finally I took 1 at about 6am and it kind of helped, although I still feel terrible.

The thing is, I'm only 19 and living at home with my parents and there is no way I can tell them what I'm taking/what I did. So I need to prevent them from hearing or seeing my sickness as much as I possibly can.

Does anybody have any tips to stop the sickness? I can deal with the other side effects. Maybe there's a forum/support community I can join to speak to others on PEP?

Thanks.

[RainLover71]

What exposure?And what do you mean by--could be positive?Do you know this for a fact?

[hopelondon]

Thanks for your reply :)

I used baby oil (duh I'm so stupid) for both receptive and insertive anal sex. Two of the condoms broke and there was blood on one of them. I'm pretty sure the condoms I used as the insertive were the broken ones, but even so there's still some risk. I'd like to think my partner was not HIV positive, but what I mean by that is you never know. Don't 1/4 of people live with it without knowing?

The clinic I went to thought that PEP was the best option for me.

Obviously I'm relieved there seems to be a solution that will *hopefully* keep me safe from HIV, but I didn't expect PEP to be as uncomfortable as this.

Will my sickness die down or do I have it for the full 28 days? Cause if it's the latter, it's gonna look very suspicious to my family.

[Teak]

If you used condoms and they didn't fail even after using baby oil you wouldn't have an exposure.

[RainLover71]

Did the condoms break or not?

[hopelondon]

Teak and RainLover,

My condoms DID break. In total we used 4 - 2 broke - and it was due to me using baby oil. I'm fairly confident that the condoms I used whilst being 'top' 'insertive' were the ones that broke, and not when I was receptive. But still, I've read it's possible either way, albeit less risk as insertive.

I appreciate your risk assessments and you do an amazing job here, but my doctor (who according to his colleagues, is head of many of the HIV organisations in the UK), thought there was enough risk to put me on PEP.

Obviously to stop taking it is not an option, I just hate the nausea and sickness and was wondering if anybody had any tips to either prevent this or improve it a bit.

Thanks again for you replies.

[Teak]

What medication did they put you on?

[hopelondon]

P.S that comment about my doctor seemed so rude! Obviously I trust your opinions, I just mean that as he said there was a risk I'm assuming there was one :)

[Teak]

Who commented about your doctor?

[RainLover71]

You can test 6 weeks after your last dose of nPEP & then follow up at 3 months for a final test.nPEP is known to make people sick whilst on it.All the best.

[Teak]

There is no reason what so ever to take a test 6 weeks after your last dose. Get your 3 month post completion test and it will be conclusive.

[hopelondon]

@Teak, it was the nurse who took my blood and gave me my Hepatitis injection. He is a traveling consultant or something and only does 2 days at the practice. I don't know, you'd probably know more about it than me.

I'm taking Kaletra, Truvada and Loperamide for the sickness. Is there any way I could combat this sickness apart from Loperamide? I feel rotten.

@RainLover71, thanks very much for your help. I will do the tests they want me to do and I will definitely test after 3 months.

[hopelondon]

CORRECTION: I am taking 'Domperidone' for the sickness, not Loperamide.

[RainLover71]

Take the tests at the appropriate times--all the best.

[Teak]

Take it right before bed time so you can sleep through the side effects. I couldn't take Kaletra due to adverse side effects. You may have to have them prescribe you a different protease inhibitor

[hopelondon]

I did take it before bed, and I was woken up for 3 hours with vomiting.

If I had to change to another pill (I have another appointment tomorrow), will that affect the PEP or are there a number of pills that work?

What is a protease inhibitor?

Thanks Teak

[Teak]

PIs block the protease enzyme and prevent the cell from producing new viruses.