PREP problem with STD
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PREP problem with STD
If you are on PREP and do bareback, then STD has chance.
How do you think of that?
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@paulflying said in PREP problem with STD:
PREP problem with STD
If you are on PREP and do bareback, then STD has chance.
How do you think of that?
PrEP is a defense against only 1 STD: HIV. That said, of the FOUR STD's that are not otherwise curable (the other being: HPV, Herpes, and Hep-B), only this one (HIV) is generally ALSO fatal if not detected and treated quickly.
Let me say at the onset of this reply: whether to take PrEP or NOT to, along with the separate decision whether to wear condoms during sex, or not to do so, is an intensely personal decision. A decision that should be made with the input and consultation of your own personal physician, and based on your own morals, beliefs, and risk acceptance.
What I write below is my own set of beliefs, and is shared as an example: one man's path... and not as an attempt to persuade or dissuade any one from coming to a different set of conclusions in their own path!
IMHO: A great deal of DAMAGE to the male sexual psyche was perpetrated in the 1980's and 1990's in the name of promoting "safe sex" - when, truth be told, sex has never - in the history of mankind - been truly SAFE.
The correct term, and the only one used by medical professionals, is (and always was) safer sex - as in: less risky vs. riskless.
As a result, a generation of men (and some women can be included as collateral damage) have been "raised" to believe that sex is unnaturally risky and downright dangerous! I can't count the number of younger men I've met who are essentially AFRAID (even TERRIFIED!) to have sex! (with or without condoms!)
I'm sorry, but if humanity had ALWAYS been this afraid of sex, then - as a species - we'd have died out a long, LONG TIME AGO!
Do the math: Nearly every one of the 7.7 BILLION people on this planet were put here because some pair of humans had sex - not just any sex, but they fucked! Assuming straight sex produces a pregnancy that goes full term only 1 in 20 times, that's 154 BILLION straight fucks alone in the past 75 years or so... add in the gay sex, and the sex with birth control, and there have likely been about half-a-TRILLION acts of fucking on this planet in the past 75 years! And that doesn't count the non-fucking kinds of sex!
Again: If sex was THAT dangerous, we (as a species) simply would not exist!
That doesn't mean we should go back to the 1970's "free love" era when we (especially we gay men) were fucking almost anyone who would let us! That kind of promiscuity really CAN be dangerous! But surely we - as sensible people - can understand that sex is a natural, instinctive act - even if we're gay! There is nothing "wrong or dirty" about it! It's as basically human as eating food and drinking liquids!
As you can imagine from my writing above, I take PrEP - to prevent HIV infection - because I prefer not to die of HIV (though it is a largely treatable disease today - thankfully!). I have had sex (recently) with an HIV+ person, who was on medication and was undetectable... and we didn't use condoms.
In my opinion, the safest people to have unprotected (condomless) sex with are the people on meds: HIV- on PrEP and HIV+ on HIV meds and are undetectable. These people are actively working to protect themselves and others from HIV, and because of their medication regimens, they routinely get tested for HIV - as well as other STDs.
Men who proclaim themselves HIV- but haven't been recently tested - and who are not using condoms - are playing Russian Roulette with their HIV status... they put themselves and others potentially at risk by not using condoms. Further, they play this "risk-game" essentially "trusting" that their partner is telling them (or even knows) the truth about their HIV (much less other STD) status.
Men who know that they are HIV+, and either are not on HIV medication, or haven't yet achieved "undetectable" status are putting others at real risk by not using condoms. There are some men out there who are perfectly willing to do this, and to LIE to their partners while doing so. I personally think lying about your HIV status is criminal... your mileage may vary.
As for the other (non-HIV) STD's, I take my chances... tho, I do take some precautions - like not hooking up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry who hits me up on Grindr or Tinder - but, when there is a genuine attraction, I have sex... without condoms usually, though I honor and respect the wishes of my partner should they prefer the use of condoms.
I want to re-iterate: the decision to NOT use condoms is my personal choice, and it is a decision made with the input of my doctor of choice.
If you'd have made a different decision, I respect that... but I no more want to convince you that my choice is right for you than I want to hear you try to convince me that your decision is right for me.
FINALLY: Before anyone goes there - this is totally NOT analogous to COVID-19; HIV is an STD, where COVID-19 is a highly communicable, aerosol spread disease. The only similarity is that they're both caused by viruses. That said, the common cold has more in common with COVID-19 than the HIV virus!
In closing:
I want to say again that I appreciate the differing beliefs and experiences of others - so long as they are shared, as I have shared here, as an example of what decision you made (and, perhaps why). But in any case, not as an attempt to persuade or dissuade others from making their own, informed decisions and choices. -
@paulflying said in PREP problem with STD:
PREP problem with STD
If you are on PREP and do bareback, then STD has chance.
How do you think of that?
In the UK, you get PREP prescription every 3 months, which means every 3 months you go the GUM clinic and get tested for STDs. So I find some comfort in that, as when speaking to people about PREP and they are not on it, they sometimes mention they know they are clean, but have never been tested for any STDs or visited a GUM clinic.
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@phoenix2021 said in PREP problem with STD:
@paulflying said in PREP problem with STD:
PREP problem with STD
If you are on PREP and do bareback, then STD has chance.
How do you think of that?
In the UK, you get PREP prescription every 3 months, which means every 3 months you go the GUM clinic and get tested for STDs. So I find some comfort in that, as when speaking to people about PREP and they are not on it, they sometimes mention they know they are clean, but have never been tested for any STDs or visited a GUM clinic.
That's an excellent point: people on PrEP have to visit the Dr (aka clinic) on a regular basis and undergo regular, routine testing - which includes a blanket of STD screenings in addition to HIV - which, if nothing else tells you that someone on PrEP is legitimately aware of their "sexual health"...
IMHO, people who say "they're clean" and haven't had an STD screening or an HIV test in over 6-months are self-delusional.... they don't know, and they couldn't know! HIV doesn't present SYMPTOMS for sometimes several years! All the while, you have it and you spread it!
In my own personal dating, I'd strongly prefer someone who is either on PrEP or who is poz-undetectible and on HIV meds to someone who is "just winging it"...
That's me - and I don't posit it as being for everyone - but, that's my thought process!
