yo i’m from BC, Canada and i take Truvada and have a monthly/tri-monthly prescription.
if you didnt know like i did until last January of this year, BC recently approved Truvada! so you can totally get them for free! if you’re interested and live like in Metro Vancouver, Canada then keep reading! (i’m not sure if the info i provide will apply to the rest of BC and USA but i’ll share it anyway for those belonging to my intended demographic)
anyway, ask your family doctor about PrEP and if they don’t know about it, you can print out the form from here http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca/publications/centre-documents/pre-exposure-prophylaxis-prep-enrolment-prescription-request-form .
so yeah, once you give that PrEP form to your family doctor, they will know what to do so they can do all the paperwork and give you a lab requisition form to get your blood work done. since you have to be tested first before they prescribe PrEP to you. the good thing is there are a decent number of LifeLabs around where you can get tested or you can ask the front desk of your family doctor to give you an address of the nearest labs in your area.
once you’ve done your bloodwork, it should take more or less a week or 2 weeks for the results to come in and once they’re in, you will most likely receive a phone call from St Paul’s Hospital/Pharmacy in Vancouver for them to confirm how you would like your prescriptions to get to you. if you’re in Vancouver, you can drop by the pharmacy to pick up your prescription. but if you’re like me who happens to live an hour away from the city, you can certainly have them delivered to your family doctor’s clinic!! they will instruct you on how to get these done but from what i recall, they asked for the family doctor to fax an official request
when that’s done, your doctor would schedule a follow-up appointment for you to pick up the prescription once they have arrived. they will give you a 3-week sample first because they wanna make sure that it’s not affecting your system badly (it shouldnt but you know it’s just protocol)
after that, you may have to get tested again before you can get your next prescription but everything goes smooth-sailing from here since you can ask your doctor to have a tri-monthly prescription! you will have to get tested every 3 months though but LifeLabs can give you a card for it so you can just come in every 3 months and won’t have to ask your doctor for a recquisition form. when everything is fine after 3 months, i believe you can ask your doctor for a bi-annual prescription too cause i recall my doctor saying that could be an option.
when it comes to taking it, you can refer to the suggestions above from prev comments! i do either of the two too!
being on Truvada or PrEP has definitely been one of the best decisions i’ve made. it’s really an added protection and makes you more confident to have sex. and it’s FREE and covered by your MSP so seriously, if you’re a BC Gay like me, definitely get on it!
areudirty
andulkaphoto
romaincrisis
annaxmalina
