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Thanks for all the comments. Yes, I realize my reaction may have been neurotic. Like PozAlready said, the issue was ignorance. I didn't know what my risk was. But this article is really about how a scared, uninformed guy needing advice and help obtaining PEP is instead treated abysmally and given the runaround. I'm sure many other people have been treated just the way I was, and that is not okay at all. The way the medical system deals with PEP needs to change right now, for everyone's sake.
Louis Jordan's difficulty in accessing PEP is all too familiar. If you're available to help with a project to create a website with PEP resources, please get in touch with me. SeanS "a" poz.com. Thanks
My My. So many critics here. Can anyone say, with certainty and honesty, what you really would have done if this happened to you? Some would panic. Some would not. But what happened happened and yes, I can see how this situation could be frightening to someone. What I don't see is how disparaging someone for their reaction is going to make a difference.
Nothing is 100% safe but if was top and in the absense of trama to his penis or the presence of blood, stastically we know his changes of transmission is approximately 1 in 500. I think this is a little nuerotic since he wasn't even sure his sex partner was positive. I think I would have tried to have the partner test first using a quick oral method before even considering PEP. There is a 72 hour window for starting PEP although optimal is 12-24 hrs.
I read the first part of this and it just irritated me. Why didn't you just get tested first is beyond my comprehension. The big question I have...did you use a good lubricant? I see lot's of porn and they are rarely using lube at all. DUH! Condoms will break w/o lube. The anus can tear and bleed. Been poz since at least 1986 and healthy as a horse. Only one time a condom broke...using spit instead of lube. Not bad for 24 yrs of boinkin'.
Wow. I think the real issue is ignorance here. Ignorance and fear. Louis Jordan should have gone into the bathroom, washed himself with soap and then gotten tested for STDs. If he came up negative for gonorrhea and clamydia, his chances of contracting HIV would be negligible. HIV is killed dead with soap, and unless he has open sores, or a tear on his penis, he could probably take a piss, wash his privates, and go. It's only with additional STDs that would open up the possibility of getting HIV.
$1250.00 is not extortion, but the $3500.00 I pay for Atripla is. Lucky I have insurance. They are jerks, but I have to wonder why you did not go to a clinic in the gay community. Finally, It figures a doctor would say "pay up" Fitzgibbons... what happened to "first do no harm" so much for the oath. My doctors and clinicians are nothing like you have described they actually referred me to the local clinics before incurring any costs. Unfortunately I am POZ, but I have great doctors so I'll be ok
1angrygrrrrl
I'm horrified on so many levels. First by the (lack of) treatment you received at the hospital. As I'm sure you now know, your risk of exposure was fairly low. Not zero, but low. They should have explained that to you, if not at the hospital then at the clinic. Second, the 'pick one from each column' is bordering on criminal imho. There are reasons to use certain medications (known resistance to medications, side effects, costs to be borne by the patient, etc.). As a non-expert, you were in no
February 21, 2018 • NYC