A week during on PrEP was a struggle – the side effects were making me lethargic, brought me all week nausea, lost gym strength and libido, and the worse, it brought back glimpses of depression I experienced post breakup. After 10 days, I was getting used to the sides until I received a call from LoveYourSelf to visit the clinic immediately. I shrugged and didn’t think about it a lot knowing that it was due to my HIV PCR result.
Last weekend, I went to the clinic and I was informed that my PCR came back with <34 copies/ml. Mind that this is a very sensitive and a quantitative test, so being a statistician, I know that this could be a result of a false-positive because the test is highly sensitive. I was also asked to take a break from taking Tenofovir until the new result comes in.
So, that day, I took another rapid antigen test and my blood was sent for another PCR test. So, I have to wait for another week or so or until the results are available. The 2nd antigen test was non-reactive, so I was relieved from thinking that my first antigen was invalid due to clinical dormancy period.
This weekend, my confirmatory qualitative PCR test was released – “Target not detected”. My PrEP counselor said that according to the principal investigators, I could have been exposed to HIV infection previously but the replication was unsuccessful. Given that due to my high risk sexual behavior previously, it is not highly unlikely that this could have happen but they never mentioned that it could also be a false-positive.
Anyway, I am back to the regimen. Here ye side effects again!
FoxyReign 