Friday, November 7, 2014

Truvada Shaming

I was having dinner with a group of friends this week, and told them I was going on Truvada. Of the five people there, including me, two were physicians. Imagine my surprise when their reactions were, "Why are you doing that?" and "What are you doing that you need to take it?" I explained that my primary care physician recommends it for all his sexually active negative patients, but that didn't seem to appease them. I told them I was surprised that they weren't applauding me for being responsible and for taking steps to further protect myself and others. I'm deeply disappointed in them, and quite a bit offended. Any comments?

11 comments:

  1. I'm disappointed, too, but maybe not too surprised. I wonder if the reaction would have been different if they had not had an "audience" of others to judge what they said. It is no different than all those men proclaiming to the world that they have "safe sex only" on the hook up site--and the first message they write to me is all about how they hope I will fuck them raw and seed them...

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    1. Yeah, that's a good point. One of my very out poz buds actually did congratulate me and tell me that those other dudes were a bunch of prissy prudes.

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    2. Yeah, a bit of groupthink going on there, probably. I could understand if the discussion turned to side effects or drug resistance or something like that but it does suck that it instead went down the line of questioning and shaming sexual behavior.

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    3. Congratulations! You are more than doing the right thing, the socially responsible thing, the thing many of us wish we could have done years ago for ourselves before it was too late. I applaud you!

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  2. I agree with you and would have been and am disappointed in the reactions , especially the two doctors. It sounds like they were automatically equating your deciding to go on PrEP with you being promiscuous and careless about your sex life and health which is a shame, it should be quite the opposite. Your adding a means of protecting yourself from getting HIV and getting tested and checked out by your doctor regularly now too as a result. That is a hell of a lot better than someone who identifies as HIV- but sometimes barebacks and has not been tested in a few years, and is sure they are still neg so they don't bother getting tested. It's those guys that are spreading HIV.

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  3. I think I would be livid and probably unfriend them. Seriously, what kind of question is "What are you doing that you need to take it?". I doubt they were not referring to any side effects of Truvada but rather criticise your sexual behavior. It's this kind of stuff that can make me so angry!

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  4. Still haven't received my meds yet; insurance company is dragging its feet.

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  5. I'm sorry; but are you in Dallas? If so, I'm not surprised at their reactions.

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  6. Hey there, can I add an amen to the voices above. Your friends are really crazy!!

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  7. I'm kinda with the doctors, sorry. The meds are toxic, strong and very expensive. I know there is insurance out there but it just doesn't make sense to me. Long term effects ? Resistance to that particular combo if the prep failed for some reason.... I don't know... Just my 1/2 a cent worth.

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