Health : When a Doctor Assume That Your Are Poz Because of Truvada
We’re hearing more stories from people who take PrEP about medical staff sometimes treating them as though they’re on HIV treatment because they take Truvada. This has happened in emergency rooms, hospital admittance and doctor’s offices. Some medical providers, when they see or hear “Truvada” as a medication you’re taking, may assume you’re HIV-positive.
One concern is the accuracy of your medical records. Another is making sure medical staff fully understand your current health and the reasons for taking the medicines you take. Treating you as if you have HIV may influence their decisions in ways that don’t actually apply to you. They may assume you don’t “need” STD testing when, as a PrEP user, you should be checked at least every 3 months.
So what to do if you’re in a situation like this?
- It’s an educational moment for you and medical staff.
Be an advocate for PrEP! Hopefully you have enough time to educate them quickly. New developments in health care take some time to reach everyone in the medical field. So it’s very possible that your doctor or nurse practitioner or emergency room physician doesn’t know about it. Keep the following resources memorized or written down in case you need them later.
- Refer medical staff to one or both of these resources.
Medical staff trust medical resources that inform them on care and treatment. As a patient, telling them about PrEP may not be enough, so these two resources should help.
National PrEPline
Only medical staff should use this service. It’s available from 11am to 6pm EST.
These are clear guidelines on proper screening, blood work and prescription.
Lastly, if you have questions about PrEP, call Project Inform’s PrEP consumer line at 800-822-7422. Messages will be returned.
Is this truly a thing? Seems highly unlikely that any medical staff would alter any form of treatment, regardless of status. Worst case scenario, if they did assume you were positive, would be they would ask what your last CD4 counts were.
This sounds like a few hyper defensive guys complaining. Being positive myself, I can tell you first hand that no Dr. except for my primary, has asked or assumed my status before treatment.
Unless you are positive with dangerously low CD4 counts, treatment is exactly the same as a negative person.
Absolutely. The author of the article sounds foolish And ignorant. Its 2016. Or so i thought. Maybe Its a simple bait And click. Adam 4 adam isnt known for journalistic excellence
I do not believe what you are saying. It doesn’t sound right that they make guesses like that. they treat and then diagnose
I haven’t been in such a situation but due to self-deceit and the lack of trust, many men use Truvada as a scapegoat just to get a date. Knowing damn well they are already positive. This is their excuse to have raw sex. I’ve heard it all: “I’m HIV friendly” “I am not positive but I play anyway with positive, safely” until the clothes come off. Which is why I think it is always important to know who you’re fucking. “GET TO KNOW PEOPLE. People don’t like to conversate…bull. If we don’t conversate, deals off.I know this is way off subject from the topic. But what I really wanted to say is that Basically “they’re saying Truvada is a cure for HIV. Here prevention and cure can be used synonymously when it comes to someone who doesn’t have HIV. I don’t know about this. This seems fishy. . Perhaps its just a ploy to make(rid) more people(the undesirables as it were) positive. They already have the entire HIV cure..why don’t they go ahead and release it. PS-(they know more HIV negative people will start having unprotected sex with positive people.) If they can do this, why the hell haven’t they completely cured the older STDs? Aren’t they smarter than they were 50 years ago? HIV is a baby disease..hmmm.. something aint right here. Just my thoughts
I think medical staff should be educated on this without the patient having to educate them. They are there to be professional and should be in every way. Medical staff in all areas need to educate themselves constantly. I work in the medical dept. of a state agency and i see so many unknowledgable nurses who act as if they are god/entitlement and know everything.
FYI…most healthcare professionals I encounter ask two questions viral load and cd4. I am undetectable and have a normal cd4 that’s the end of the conversation. The don’t treat me any differently, no special precautions, no special treatments, nothing. I get treated just like everyone else. I know u were trying to make the point about the resources but making up a story about medical professionals treating undetectable poz guys differently than everybody else just doesn’t happen in California.
THey probably SHOULD, since around 95% of these “PRePsters” out there will NOT use a rubber, and they’ll eventually poz up anyway. The stats tell the tale, but, just like in 1980 when some of us KNEW there was something to this “gay cancer” that had something to do with buttsex, they’ll just keep doing it….especially the “entitlement generation” (Millennials) who will not only want free meds from the taxpayers, but also a trophy for being a moron.
Maybe keep it in your pants?
I had this happen to me a couple times. Once in admitting before a surgery. It took like 15 minutes for her to comprehend. “So you had hiv but you don’t anymore?” was even a question lmao! My regular pcp as well took a minute to comprehend I am taking as a preventative. Education comes at you daily so always be willing to learn.
That is because Truvada IS a medicine used for the treatment for HIV. And not used with condoms, but instead of condoms merely treats and eleminates, in almost every case, any HIV that gets in your system, but that IS the very purpose. Preventive treatment is still treatment. I doubt doctors and nurses who have years of school need education from people so confused about safe sex that they won’t bother with a condom. But, you know, keep spreading misinformation and kill the younger generation if it helps you get laid. What do you care, anyway.
So, in an urgent situation, is a medical staff to ignore select protocols because someone is taking Truvada and presume they are HIV negative when there are HIV positive individuals who also take the medication?
PrEP is not 100% effective in preventing HIV and is ineffective against STDs. Let’s presume “Dirk” is engaging in unsafe sexual practices with multiple partners and taking Truvada. The medical staff ought to approach his history, physical exam, work-up, diagnoses, treatment, counseling and follow-up as they would for any individual at high risk for HIV.
Keep in mind, medications used for prophylaxis do not cure. They suppress the disease to a lower level to prevent an undesirable event, ie rash, contagion, etc. Who knows when one may sero-convert?
What happens if u have a 5 month stribild interruption due to health insurance issues.. I was on med for one year after this interruption. How long can I live without it and would I become undetectable again if I start medication.
Thank you for response
Have your doc run an HIV-1 genotype test. This will tell you if you are resistant to any antiretroviral medications.
Any doctor who thinks ur poz and getting adequate treatment with just 2 NRTIs should not be practicing medicine!
I don’t see the issue. One, Health Care professionals in the US (I’m a nurse) do not treat people who are HIV+ different than anyone else: We use standard precaution (gloves) just as we do with any patient who is not known to have contact, droplet or airborne infections. Two, Truvada IS HIV medication, but when used as a prophylactic it is referred to as PreP (Pre-exposure prophylactic) To clarify, TRUVADA is a prescription medicine used in 2 different ways:
To treat HIV-1 infection in people who weigh at least 35 kg (77 lbs). When used for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, TRUVADA is always used together with other HIV-1 medicines.
To help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection when used together with safer sex practices. This use is only for adults who are at a high risk of getting HIV-1. This includes HIV-negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex, and male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 and the other does not.
Keep in mind that the two active ingredients in Truvada, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, are HIV-1 medications and that it is common for someone in the medical field who is not an infectious disease specialist to jump to the conclusion that their patient is taking it to control HIV infection.
Enzo, that is exactly what I told Project Inform, but they informed me that they EDUCATE doctors every day, so I thought that posting this article was necessary 🙂
Again, Dave: Maybe it is different in Canada? Not that current medical staff read updated information all that often: Many of the nurses I work with have never even heard of the PreP concept. However, they are informed enough not to think they can contract HIV from a poz patient other than during a needle stick, which is something we do our best to avoid with any patient.
Enzo, Project Inform is in USA. And they told me that it happens all the time that PrEP users say that they were treated differently because their doctor were not aware what was PrEP but they knew what Truvada was. I guess in big center like LA or NYC, ATL, SF, etc, all doctors are aware, but imagine in deep Alaska. Anyways, I hope this post will help a few 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
It’s a profound mental, cultural and social shift to acknowledge that people living with HIV who are undetectable cannot transmit HIV with or without condoms to HIV negative partners.
Most of the information online about HIV transmission risk is based on outdated research and is influenced by agency or funding restraints and politics which perpetuate sex-negativity, HIV-related stigma and discrimination, particularly against people with HIV.
I myself have had this very situation, I got bit by a spider and it got very painfully infected and I ended up in the emergency room. When the er doctor came in the first thing he asked me was other than being hiv positive, is there anything else I need to know prior to treating you. I explained I wasn’t hiv positive and took Truvada as a preventative to hiv. I dont know if it effected what antibiotics he prescribed or not. I do know what he prescribed wasnt effective and my infectious disease dr on follow up visit changed my medication and it soon healed up.