low_tide - STDFORUM.NET

low_tide 3 weeks ago

It is real and it is in the CDC guidance now, from 2024. The short version is a dose of doxycycline taken within 72 hours after sex. The trials showed a large drop in syphilis and chlamydia and a smaller one for gonorrhoea, which fits with how much resistance there already is in gonorrhoea.

It is not offered to everyone. In the US guidance it is aimed at men who have sex with men and transgender women who have had a bacterial STI in the last year, and it is meant to be a conversation with a clinician rather than something you decide alone.

low_tide 4 weeks ago

Ask your clinician up front how long they would expect to keep going before rethinking the approach. Having a number to hold onto made the repeat appointments much easier to face.

low_tide 1 month ago

Whichever you choose, PrEP comes with a monitoring schedule, regular HIV testing and other checks. Ask what that schedule looks like before you start, because it is part of the commitment and people are sometimes surprised by it.

low_tide 1 month ago

Worth adding, because it is the bit that trips people up: having wart causing types does not rule out also having a high risk type. They are separate types and you can carry more than one at once.

A wart diagnosis is not a statement about your high risk status in either direction, which is exactly why screening is a separate programme rather than something the wart appointment covers. It is not that anyone is being cagey, it is two different questions.

low_tide 1 month ago

Practical wording, since drafting it is the part that takes people days.

Say what you tested positive for, say they should get checked, offer nothing else. No apology essay, no explanation of how you think it happened, and above all no guess about who gave it to whom. You do not know that and saying it out loud turns a health message into an accusation.

Send it and then put the phone down. You are not obliged to manage their reaction.

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