Usually, less than 10% of patients experience any PrEP side effects. For those who do experience side effects from PrEP, they tend to naturally go away within 1-2 weeks.
Potential short-term side effects include nausea, headaches, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Potential (and rare) long-term side effects include a decrease in kidney function, liver function, and bone density.
It's important to regularly get tested at a lab every 3 months while on PrEP to confirm these uncommon long-term effects are not taking place.
Do you live in Canada and want to get on PrEP? We explain the costs, financial assistance programs & prescription options in the following PrEP city guides:
Some of the possible short-term side effects associated with PrEP medicine (and PEP) include nausea, headaches, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Trials show that these side effects impact between 1% and 10% of people on PrEP, and that they are generally mild and clear up on their own within a week or two.
If you are worried about side effects from Truvada as a form of PrEP, you may want to consider Descovy for PrEP, which has a slightly lower report of side effects.
If you’re experiencing persistent symptoms after a couple of weeks, contact your healthcare provider.
In a small number of people, PrEP has resulted in a decrease in kidney function, liver function, and bone density.
Fortunately, even in these cases, toxicity levels did not increase the patient’s risk of kidney or liver failure, or bone fracturing, and these changes were reversed after they stopped taking PrEP.
Regular lab testing every three months while on PrEP is incredibly important to make sure that PrEP is being tolerated well and not negatively impacting overall health.
An individual can develop a resistance to the drugs in PrEP if they are HIV positive and unaware of their status. Developing a resistance to these drugs can limit a person’s future treatment options should they need them.
The risk of developing drug resistance has been shown to be low for those who were HIV negative prior to taking PrEP, but it is possible to develop resistance if the individual becomes HIV positive while on PrEP.
PrEP failure is very rare when taken as prescribed and regular testing is completed. In order to reduce the risk of developing resistance, regular HIV testing is necessary. In any case where a person using PrEP contracts HIV, PrEP needs to be discontinued as soon as possible.
If HIV is contracted during pregnancy or while chestfeeding, there is a higher risk of transmitting HIV to the newborn. Fortunately, daily PrEP use is safe for both the parent and the baby while pregnant and chestfeeding.
Although there have not been any clinical trials specifically evaluating the efficacy and safety of PrEP during pregnancy, multiple studies in various cisgender populations have shown that the consistent, correct use of oral PrEP is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission. Thousands of pregnant cisgender women living with HIV have used the drugs (TDF and FTC) found in PrEP as part of their treatment, and research on pregnant cisgender women using TDF in the treatment of hepatitis B has found that the use of these medications is generally safe for these women and fetal development.
Studies have shown that there is no increased risk of birth defects, preterm delivery, or low birth weight associated with the use of TDF during pregnancy and lactation. However, limited evidence has found that infants born of mothers on TDF may have lower bone density.
It is important, despite data suggesting that PrEP is safe to take during pregnancy and chestfeeding, to attend regular clinical follow-ups to monitor the health of the mother and infant.
Most of the commonly used medications and recreational drugs are not known to interact with PrEP, but there are some. Of the drugs and supplements that do interact with PrEP, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are the most commonly used and should be avoided if possible. If pain-relief medication is needed, acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) should be taken instead of ibuprofen (brand name Advil), acetylsalicylic acid (brand name Aspirin), or naproxen (brand name Aleve) if possible.
It is important to let your clinician know about any medications, supplements, or recreational drugs that you are taking to ensure that any potential drug interactions are considered before going on PrEP.
PrEP can be used by people of all genders as PrEP components do not interact with hormones that some trans people choose to take; however, studies including trans people are few and sparse.
There is some evidence that feminizing hormones taken by some trans women can lower the amount of PrEP drugs in the body by a small amount, although drug levels still remain high enough to protect against HIV. Because of this potential interaction it is recommended that trans women take PrEP daily rather than PrEP on-demand. Trans men who have frontal / vaginal sex should also take PrEP daily because daily dosing is needed to keep drug levels high in the front hole or vagina. There is currently no evidence showing how well PrEP works for people who have undergone gender affirming surgeries.
Studies on the effectiveness of PrEP in trans men are underway, but, due to ongoing transphobia and trans erasure, this population has been excluded from studies of PrEP effectiveness to date. When it comes to HIV risk, anyone who has sex with men who have sex with men (i.e. gay, bisexual, and queer men) may be at higher HIV risk.
There is no reason to believe that PrEP is not highly effective when taken consistently and correctly by trans men. As with anyone on PrEP, the drug must reach sufficient concentrations before it’s effective in preventing HIV. That does not necessarily rely on your gender, but rather on what kind of sex you’re having. The drugs in PrEP take about 21 days to reach maximum levels in vaginal tissues compared to 7 days for rectal tissues.
The anti-HIV drugs in PrEP (emtricitabine and tenofovir) stop the HIV virus from replicating inside of your bloodstream. For example, if you find yourself exposed to HIV during sex without a condom, but have correctly been taking your PrEP as prescribed, your protection level should be high enough to prevent you from getting HIV 99% of the time.
Less than 10% of patients experience side effects from taking PrEP. For those experiencing side effects, they tend to naturally go away within 1-2 weeks.
Descovy as PrEP may be an option for you if you’re worried about potential side effects in your kidney and bones.
Nausea: Some PrEP users have found that taking the tablet during a meal or soon after can reduce nausea.
Headaches: In order to help reduce the odds of this condition being misattributed to PrEP, make sure you’re intaking the recommended levels of water & getting enough sleep. If you experience headaches after starting PrEP that are severe and persist, you should communicate this to your healthcare provider.
Diarrhea: If this symptom occurs, it should subside in around 3-4 weeks. Some patients on PrEP have found this occurs less if the tablet is taken with a meal. If the severity continues to increase then you should contact your healthcare provider.
When taken correctly PrEP protects against HIV 99% of the time. External condoms have been recorded to have failure rates up to 6.5% of the time, meaning that a low estimate would place condom protection against HIV at 93.5%. This means that PrEP can be considered to be more effective at protecting against HIV, on occasion, when taken as prescribed
That being said, PrEP protects against other STIs 0% of the time, meaning a condom is recommended to be used in addition to PrEP to ensure you’re preventing other STIs like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis.
The price of PrEP as medicine differs depending on the province or territory you reside in. In some provinces, the provincial government covers the cost of PrEP for eligible residents, and in others, the price of PrEP may only be covered by provincial programs for some residents.
Without insurance, the price of generic PrEP can be around $250 for one month.
Fortunately, Freddie offers financial assistance for PrEP with our Compassionate Care and Bridging Programs to increase patient accessibility! Nobody should have to pay for HIV prevention.
The cost of PrEP depends on which Province you reside in Canada. In Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, 90% of Freddie patients get their PrEP free. Check out our resource that goes through the cost of PrEP for every Canadian province.
