I received several messages from a “sir” and I use this in quotations because just because you refer to yourself AS one doesn’t mean crap. I don’t know who you are, where you are from or what community you belong to. He went on a rant about PrEP and that I need to be recommending that and that I have HIV issues.. YOU bet your ass I have HIV issues. I lost all my freakin friends to the disease. He then went on to judge me and my posts and the fact that I didn’t update the posts to include PrEP.
Well HERE WE GO. I am a FIRM believer in PrEP as a tool in the arsenal against HIV. I HIGHLY recommend it. IF you are having bareback sex you should be on PrEP…PERIOD. Many of you have heard the term Truvada whore, Well I call myself a PrEP pusher. You KNOW you aren’t using condoms EVERY SINGLE TIME. Most gay men don’t and the studies are out there proving they don’t. YOU NEED TO BE ON PrEP..YOU NEED TO BE ON PrEP… IF you are HIV positive you are hopefully adhering to your medication regimen. If you are HIV negative you NEED TO BE ON PrEP. I cant make this any clearer for you.
With that being said, PrEP will NOT however prevent the other 35 Sexually Transmitted Infections. IT ONLY works for HIV, NOTHING ELSE. If you are going to engage in bareback sex you can STILL get one of the other STI’s. There is no cure for Herpes or Genital warts once you get them although there IS a vaccine now THAT YOU SHOULD CONSIDER GETTING for warts. The “sir” who commented on PrEP didn’t even mention ANY other infection you could get. His attention was totally focused on HIV. Since I wanted to write a post answering his concerns, I wanted to give the bigger picture of the other nasties that are out there. Recently there has been a discovery of new strains of HIV in the Caribbean that are not responding to meds very well. I do NOT know what this means if you are on PrEP and are exposed to one of those specific strains. In addition there are now antibiotic resistant strains of Syphilis and Gonorrhea. The “sir” made no mention of this either in his comments. Then he had the balls to tell me that I needed therapy..been there done that…and STILL doing that. I think that he needs some therapy also because to focus on ONE STI out of 36 is foolish! You may prevent your comrades, “sir” from getting HIV BUT you are EXPOSING them with your ignorance by NOT addressing the other 35. TO my brothers out there…BE AWARE, GET INFORMATION, IF you are positive, GET INTO CARE and STICK to treatment. IF you are Negative, GET ON PrEP but be AWARE that you can STILL get ANY OTHER Sexually Transmitted Infections. PrEP is NOT a “Cure” for HIV; its a tool in an ever growing arsenal of ways to prevent you from getting infected. Condoms are NOT foolproof. THEY BREAK. PrEP when taken AS DIRECTED will PREVENT HIV 99% OR MORE of the time but again, IT WILL NOT PREVENT ANY OTHER OF THE 35 Sexually Transmitted Infections. Again; BE INFORMED, READ, ASK QUESTIONS!