PEP VS PREP(HIV Prevention pills)

pep stands for post exposure

prophylaxis pep refers to taking

emergency medicines

after you've been exposed to hiv pep can

help prevent you from getting hiv

if you start it within 72 hours or three

days

after being exposed to hiv otherwise

it's not

effective

if you think you've been exposed to hiv

during sex

we're sexually assaulted

or shared needles with someone who has

hiv

pep may be right for you the sooner you

start pep

the better it works every hour matters

it's important to start the medication

before the virus takes hold of your

system

if you think you need pep contact your

doctor or visit a local

health center or an emergency room as

soon as you can

and if pep seems like a good option you

can get a prescription for it

pep isn't just a one-time pill it's many

pills

over many weeks you take anti-hiv

medicines

one to two times a day for at least four

weeks

there can be side effects of pep like

stomach aches and tiredness

but pep side effects aren't dangerous

and can be treated

pep lowers your chances of becoming hiv

positive by a lot

but there's no guarantee that pep will

work

your doctor or nurse can help you decide

if pep is right for you

they'll talk with you about what

happened

when it happened and who it happened

with to help you figure out if pep is a

good option for you

pep isn't meant to be used often it's

only used in case of emergencies

for ongoing hiv prevention continue to

use protection

like condoms and dental dams along with

prep if you'd like more information

you can ask a doctor or nurse about prep

which is a daily pill that can help you

prevent hiv

if it makes sense for you you can start

prep

immediately after finishing pep without

stopping

in between

pep is covered by most insurance plans

but for those who are

uninsured or underinsured and live in

massachusetts

the hiv drug assistance program or hgap

can be used to pay for pep so if you

need help paying for pep

you can take advantage of using the hiv

drug assistance program

want to learn more about pep or prep

check out my other articles

Moving on to what Prep is;

people are talking about prep but what

is it and what does it do prep means

pre-exposure prophylaxis and it's the

use of medication to protect someone

from getting HIV this is important

because HIV continues to be a worldwide

health crisis in the US alone there's an

estimated 1.2 million people living with

HIV and many of them do not know they're

infected about 50,000 people become

infected with HIV in the US every year

there are lots of ways to stay safe from

HIV and using condoms has been the main

strategy for years prep is a new HIV

prevention strategy that was approved by

the US Food and Drug Administration in

2012 and it's one of the first HIV

prevention strategies that can be used

by women and men on their own without

depending on their partner several

research studies have found that prep is

safe to use and effective at preventing

HIV infection people in these studies

who took prep consistently once a day

reduced their risk of getting HIV by

over 90 percent while those who did not

take prep or not protected lots of new

information has come out about prep but

we still have a lot to learn

we know that daily dosing one prep pill

a day every day gives very high levels

of protection in both men and women for

people whose only risk for HIV is from

anal sex protection could still be high

even if you occasionally miss a dose

because high levels of prep concentrate

in the rectum levels of prep in the

vagina may be more sensitive to miss

doses research is looking at prep

regiments that are less than daily but

right now the recommendation is still

one dose every day for anyone using prep

studies are also being done to determine

whether there are any interactions

between prep and hormone therapy prep

does not reduce the effectiveness of

birth control and prep is unlikely to

affect hormones used by transgender

people most of the information about

prep has come from studies of men who

have sex with men and heterosexual

couples in which one partner has HIV and

the other does not

there will be new studies for prep with

transgender people and for

using prep during pregnancy how does

prep work let's take a look at how prep

helps prevent HIV infection in your body

your body's protected by special cells

in your immune system called cd4 T cells

these cells normally help keep you

healthy when you're exposed to a germ or

virus but when HIV enters your body it

hunts down these T cells attacks them

and uses them to make copies of itself

at a very high rate as many as several

billion copies per day these new copies

of the virus go out into the body and

find even more t-cells to take over

using them to make even more copies the

immune system just can't keep up with

the virus to stop it from making all

those copies and that results in HIV

infection

now let's rewind and see what would

happen inside your body if you were

exposed to HIV I'll take you prep

imagine that you start taking prep once

a day your body digests the pills and

the medication starts building up

protection for your t-cells because of

the way prep works it builds up faster

in the rectum then in the vagina so

let's say you've been taking prep daily

for a few weeks and then you're exposed

to HIV as before HIV tries to attack

your t-cells but this time because

you've been taking prep it doesn't

succeed it tries to take over the cells

to make those copies of itself but it

can't because those cells are protected

the result no HIV infection how should

you take prep prep comes as a pill that

should be taken once every day because

prep gets used up by your body if you

don't continue to take it every day

your cells will lose that protection you

control how much benefit you get from

prep and that ranges from no protection

at all to very high levels of protection

prep works best only when you take it

regularly once each day taking extra

pills will not provide you with extra

protection and it could make you sick

prep has been shown to be safe and

effective but as with all medications

there are things you need to know prep

is not a cure for HIV and prep is not a

vaccine against HIV even taking prep

every day will not protect you from

other sti's like herpes gonorrhea and

syphilis prep does not prevent pregnancy

but it probably won't cause harm during

pregnancy or breastfeeding either

there are studies going on right now

looking at using prep to safely conceive

with an hiv-positive partner and to

provide protection throughout pregnancy

if you do get pregnant or want to get

pregnant or breastfeeding prep talk to

your provider about it some people may

experience an upset stomach when first

taking prep until their body gets used

to it prep should only be used if you're

HIV negative HIV positive people need

more than just one medication to control

the virus that's why anyone starting

prep must

first get an HIV test to make sure they

don't have HIV and they need to get

tested regularly for as long as they're

taking prep and if they've taken a break

from prep they must get tested before

starting again prep is not perfect

HIV is a complicated virus in some rare

forms may be able to get around the

medicine in prep but it's believed that

this is extremely uncommon bottom line

prep is safe and it works very well when

taken consistently if you do choose to

take prep remember how it protects your

T cells from HIV and be sure to take it

once a day every day to take control of

your sexual health how do you qualify

for prep prep is an option for anyone

who is HIV negative has normal kidney

functioning and is willing to see a

provider every three months for HIV

testing and STI screening

how much does prep costs many different

factors affect the cost of prep but it

can be affordable

don't let the expense stop you from

asking about prep and finding out what

it would cost for you where can you find

out more about prep the best thing you

can do is to talk to a healthcare

provider in addition you can find links

and other resources online at what is

prep org