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The oral options approved recently may change this picture over the next few years. For now, the injection is the thing with the track record, which is why they are not negotiating about it.

The trade off is that the slower treatments tend to have lower recurrence afterwards than the fast destructive ones. So the waiting is buying you something.

The practical argument is simpler than the immunological one. If he is untreated and you continue as normal, you get them back, and then you are both doing this again in a fortnight.

The standard advice is no sex until both of you have finished treatment and symptoms have resolved. It sounds fussy and this is exactly why it exists.

Make sure the clinic has the earlier result. If it was done elsewhere they may not, and without it you default to unknown duration and a longer course.

What I would not do is let a few days become a few months. The reason the offer exists is that the gap between diagnosis and treatment is where people disappear.

Mine is a heavy dragging ache rather than shooting. Same pattern, same side, and it is now my most reliable signal to start episodic treatment.

It is a real licensed treatment in a number of countries, made from green tea extract, and it is not the same thing as drinking tea or buying a supplement.

Reported clearance rates are broadly comparable to the other topical options and recurrence afterwards has looked lower in some studies, which is why it appears on clinic lists.

Tell the clinic what you took and when. It changes how they read a negative result and it may change whether they want to retest you later.

What I did was mention it lightly in the context of talking about screening and vaccination rather than as an announcement. It landed completely differently from the conversation I had rehearsed.

Ask the HIV clinic specifically rather than a general service, because the general age cut offs are what a non specialist will quote at you.