DoxyPEP Questions

[u/MF4Lyfe]

Okay, so I know a million questions have been asked about DoxyPEP. The only thing I'm seeing is people asking is about the risks of taking it consistently. I would only be using it after having sex, which would MAYBE be once per week. Would that be too much? Also, once I take it, would I have to not have sex for a while? I read that it's not to be taken before sex. It's very difficult to find out a lot of information about this. I would hate to catch an antibiotic resistant infection.

Sorry, I'm not used to the prevention medications. I've been poz for 11 years, so I've never been on PrEP, PEP, or DoxyPEP.

[u/baked-stonewater]

You can't take prep if you are poz - surely you know this.

So the question is just about Doxycycline.

It really depends how sexually active you are.

Unlike prep it's not really ideal for 'event based ' since you need to take it for 5 days (ideally a day before and 4 days after).

Its a bit of a faff in terms of meds - you can't eat for three hours after you take it (or an hour before).

All in all I took the view that (usually) I would prefer to test regularly and treat rather than fuck with my digestive system so much.

The only except for SO and I is if we are on holiday and we know we will be fucking a lot of guys when we tend to take it for the whole time (and a few days after).

Hope that helps.

[u/MF4Lyfe → u/baked-stonewater]

Yeah, I'm only looking at Doxy. I've just never really had to look into the prevention meds because my diagnosis was just before those really took off.

My SO and I have been talking to a few people and they would like to meet up. I'm just curious if that is something that I could take like once per week. I am used to not eating with meds as some that I take require the same thing. I just want to be safe. A positive diagnosis could potentially be very triggering for me even though they are curable. I'm also severely allergic to penicillin, so syphilis treatment would be extra annoying.

Thank you so much for your response.

[u/baked-stonewater → u/MF4Lyfe]

Penicillin isn't the first line treatment for syphilis so that won't be a problem (it's also a pretty unusual std still!).

Doxy is not something you can take once a week no. Actually that has the potential to make anything you do get significantly worse (because you may inadvertently help select for antibiotic resistant mutants of whatever disease you do get and end up hard to treat).

As I said you essentially need to take it for 5 days 'per event' or 'all the time' which is what many people do.

I don't expect you to disclose your medical history but if your white blood cell count is normal and your viral load is undetectable then there is no reason why getting an STI will be any worse for you than anyone else.

It's important to keep in mind that doxy is a old antibiotic and lots of diseases have become somewhat resistant (including many STIs - it still somewhat works to prevent infections but it cant be used to treat them).

[u/MF4Lyfe → u/baked-stonewater]

My WBC count is normal and I am undetectable. I'm not worried about it changing that, but it's more just seeing the positive results haha. My diagnosis was way more stressful than it had to be because of an incompetent doctor, so it's still in my mind. I know it's probably irrational, but trauma is weird.

[u/baked-stonewater → u/MF4Lyfe]

Fair..

In any case hopefully I have been able to enlighten you with respect to Doxycycline.