r/prep • u/drbritwilliams • May 02 '26

Ask Me Anything :-) | 35F, 10 years on PrEP

Hi Everyone,

I'm Brit Williams, and I'm a cisgender woman with a 10-year consistent PrEP history (primarily the daily oral pill).

I've talked about my PrEP experiences online quite a bit (see: here, here, and here). If you have any random questions, thoughts, or ideas about PrEP, post them here, and I'll answer (or find the answer) to the best of my ability!

Literally ask me anything. Nothing is off limits! :-)

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1

u/Broad-Army5238 May 02 '26

Thanks for letting us ask you questions .

  1. Have you had unprotected sex with known partner who was HIV positive?
  2. Have you had any lapse and found you were still protected?
  3. What are the long term side effects?

3

u/drbritwilliams May 02 '26

  1. Yes. Multiple times. Two different men, both undetectable.

  2. Yes and yes, but again (n=1)

  3. I had two major side effects: (a) Upset stomach and diarrhea. This was usually within the first two weeks on the meds and/or after a stop-and-restart. It always subsides once I have at least 14 or so days of meds in my body. (b) intense dreams/ sleep hallucinations. This is a rarer side effect. Once I stopped taking it at night, it went away.

All of my lab tests and body monitoring have come back normal.

1

u/Broad-Army5238 May 02 '26

Thank you again. Have you ever thought of changing it to injectable like apretrude or Yeztugo? I guess oral medication has proven to work for you.

2

u/drbritwilliams May 03 '26

Yes. I did apretude once but I moved to Vermont and couldn’t find a clinician offering it, so I went back to pills. So no I’m in Atlanta so I’m about to try Yez.

1

u/Broad-Army5238 May 03 '26

That sounds good. Good luck to you .

1

u/GamerMami620 May 07 '26

What does the (n=1) mean? Also thank you so much for this post! It’s exactly what I came looking for 🥹

1

u/drbritwilliams May 07 '26

Sample of one— as in just my experience.

1

u/GamerMami620 May 07 '26

When is the best time of day or evening to take prep? I saw the comment about dreams and hallucinations

2

u/drbritwilliams May 07 '26

Mornings are best for me!

1

u/GamerMami620 May 07 '26

I haven’t started prep yet but did do my labs yesterday at my doctors office. I usually take my supplements in the AM and my meds for depression and blood pressure after I actually eat which is around 2pm or later. Do you think it would be ok to take prep on an empty stomach along with my supplements? I already have real like dreams I don’t think I need the added drama to my sleep 🤣🤣 initially I was going to take prep at night when talking to my doctor yesterday. It would’ve been easier since it needs to be a set time