HIV drug should become available to negative people

[Nakura Chambers]

Surely that's up to the people who take it to make that descision, no?

I actually agree with Erin on this (and that scares me). If they want to take HIV drugs, then let them consult with their doctor on the risks and get a prescription just like someone who has HIV/AIDs.

[Rukh]

Google PreP side affects

"Some people in clinical studies of PrEP had early side effects such as an upset stomach or loss of appetite, but these were mild and usually went away within the first month. Some people also had a mild headache. No serious side effects were observed. You should tell your healthcare provider if these or other symptoms become severe or do not go away."

Yeah people should take it if they want.

[tcrichard]

Again, what's the side effect? Seems like that would determine if its bad or not.

Generally side effects are mild. Headache, nausea, sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. They usually go away within a few weeks of starting. Long-term side effects potentially include kidney damage and bone density problems, but then generally go away once someone stops taking it.

[Darsithis]

I think the key point is in the article itself:



Also, just one more thing:



Based on your comments I assume you live with HIV yourself, so out of all people you should know better that in many cases it has little to do with 'being smart'.
Yes, there are a lot of people who are reckless nutjobs. There are also a lot of people who either got infected by accident or who made a foolish mistake once in their lives.

That's just the UK. They've been talking about this here in America, too, and it's not $360 a person.

Again, what's the side effect? Seems like that would determine if its bad or not.

It depends on the medication. Truvada mostly can cause liver or kidney damage, but it's not for sure and it's pretty rare. Most of the time it's upset stomachs and vivid, unusual dreams.

I find it kinda funny that Truvada had the vivid dreams but now the Complera I switched to has the insomnia. HIV medications seem to like to mess with our heads at night.

[Calfredd]

It depends on the medication. Truvada mostly can cause liver or kidney damage, but it's not for sure and it's pretty rare. Most of the time it's upset stomachs and vivid, unusual dreams.

I find it kinda funny that Truvada had the vivid dreams but now the Complera I switched to has the insomnia. HIV medications seem to like to mess with our heads at night.

I think he meant this new medication which people have said so far the effects aren't too bad and doesn't sound like they'll screw with your head at night.

[apepi]

Is having safe sex so hard?

[Calfredd]

Is having safe sex so hard?

Must...resist...

No it's more like a lazy thing unless you were after having children.

[Rukh]

Is having safe sex so hard?

It can be. The urge to get jiggy hits when you least expect!

[Deleted]

Not when it's my tax dollars helping to subsidize it. My insurance covers my medications but they ran anywhere from $1500 each, a month (Truvada) to $2400 (Complera). Someone has to eat that bill for the people who would start taking this medication for no other reason than just to "prevent" something they could prevent by being smart.

It's the same issue with antibiotics. We're pumping our culture full of them in the name of prevention and breeding strains of super bugs. Now we want to do it with HIV. Let's get a vaccine, not a life-long medication.

The same can be said for a lot of things though. If you start excluding certain medication or treatments because people made bad descisions or whatever, where do you stop? Sure, it's an expensive and needless way to engage in risky behaviour, but like what about getting malaria jabs or pills or something when you go on holiday? "If you don't want to get malaria, don't go to such risky places" or not setting broken bones because "if you don't want to break your leg, don't engage in such risky sports like skateboarding" ... or not buying and giving out free condoms because "if you don't want to get pregnant, don't engage in such risky activities like sex".

It's the kind of argument that you can take and apply to virtually anything and there isn't a clear place to draw a line and say "anything more risky, or more expensive than X is not okay, but anything under that is fine we'll cover it". I do get what you're saying, but for the same reason that not handing out condoms in the hope it will stop people having sex is pointless - people are going to fuck and make bad descisions and so on regardless. If you don't offer them stuff like that, it's only going to make it worse.

[apepi]

Must...resist...

No it's more like a lazy thing unless you were after having children.

Just because you can't have children doesn't mean you don't have to protect yourself. I think a part of it is because men tend to care less abut their health maybe?

[Acelius]

I'm generally not supportive of taking drugs as a preemptive measure when you can avoid the disease by simply wearing a condom.

[tcrichard]

I'm generally not supportive of taking drugs as a preemptive measure when you can avoid the disease by simply wearing a condom.

What do you think about prescription birth control?

[Deleted]

I'm generally not supportive of taking drugs as a preemptive measure when you can avoid the disease by simply wearing a condom.

I don't think anyone is, but at the same time, just like teen pregnancy, it's better for everyone if the numbers drop, you know? Especially with something like this... the fewer people that have HIV, the less likely you are to catch it yourself one day, so...

[Puck]

You mean I can have natural non rubbered gay sex like god didn't intend just by taking a pill?

Well hand them over!

[Independent voter]

I personally find anal the same with or without condoms but then I find it equally boring... I also prefer fucking with condoms for other reasons

Oh? What is about anal you find boring?

[Deleted]

Oh? What is about anal you find boring?

It could be one of those things like uhhh... Well as jesus says "it's better to give than to recieve" and like, I'm not sure if, with his disability, he would be able to?

[Puck]

It could be one of those things like uhhh... Well as jesus says "it's better to give than to recieve" and like, I'm not sure if, with his disability, he would be able to?

My theory is that Adam is a hipster gay who is too good for anal and does more sophisticated sexual activities like ear sex.

[Lenonis]

There is simple fundamental logic for things like this. In general, preventive care like a pill to avoid a disease is almost always cheaper in the long run than treating the disease itself.

People shouldn't be opposed to treatments like this. If people are going to be reckless and stupid they will be reckless and stupid regardless -- this just provides an added layer of protection. Just because someone has to wear a seat belt doesn't mean they are going to be more prone to drag racing than they were before.

Yes, there will be the odd exception here and there, but a course of treatment in a large population shouldn't be determined by the exceptions.

The unfortunate reality about PreP is that it will only be effective for a few years...maybe a decade if we get lucky. Someone, somewhere is going to treat it like Plan B and just take it sporadically, allowing the virus to mutate into a resistant form that then replaces the current strain, rendering PreP significantly less effective.

[Deleted]

The unfortunate reality about PreP is that it will only be effective for a few years...maybe a decade if we get lucky. Someone, somewhere is going to treat it like Plan B and just take it sporadically, allowing the virus to mutate into a resistant form that then replaces the current strain, rendering PreP significantly less effective.

Aye but like, HIV is... Well. It's a really, really, really shit disease. Like, it spreads so much because people just have a lot of sex, but apparently your chances of ACTUALLY catching it are... quite low, you know, if you've slept with someone who has it just the one time or whatever. Obviously it does happen but it's not like some of these things that are wicked commincable and like everyone is going to get it just by sniffing your junk through your jeans or something. It's only such a horror show because at this point so many people in the world have it, and you can live so long with it so you can spread it around for many years before you die, possibly without even knowing. But stuff like this... It's like playing starcraft. If you can only win games with a 6pool or like proxy zealots or something, you might win a bunch of games on ladder, but it's pretty counterable by doing certain pretty easy things, and I kind of feel that way about HIV. Anything you can do to just reduce the numbers of people who have it / catch it / whatever, even if it's just for a few years, you're directly countering HIV's only strat, you know? It's not like, I dunno, the flu or something, where you're like "okay tons of people are catching it through... droplets or something from sneezes this year so we'll issue a ton of masks to everyone and that'll cut down the numbers, but then next year flu comes back with a new build and this time it's not making people sneeze so much maybe but it's all of a sudden really communicable through... I dunno saliva or something so your masks are all useless cause everyone starts catching it from making out too much

[Lenonis]

but apparently your chances of ACTUALLY catching it are... quite low

Imma gonna just stop you here before you went on your starcraft tangent that I couldn't follow.

But yes, HIV is actually fairly difficult to contract. There are a number of things that increase your risk factors. And then there are the 5% or so of the population that is immune because they are lacking some "insert medical jargon here" that doesn't allow the virus to take.

There is some hope, not only in a cure, but also in getting the disease so manageable that it spreads slower and slower. Many people on HIV medication reduce the effect of the virus to the point they aren't likely to spread it to another.