Busy Week, But Still On Track

[T-Plus 19 Days.]

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I last posted! What a week it's been, too; between work, starting another semester of grad school, and adulting the crap out of my day to day chores and stuff, I haven't had a lot of time to post. I have been keeping up with my adherence thoough. Check it out:

Keepin' on track.

Bam! Okay, so the "monthly" adherence bit is a little misleading, since I started PrEP on January 12th, but still, even with a super busy week, I've managed to keep on track with my daily dose every single day so far. Being this busy has made me pretty thankful for that emergency pill bottle I put together, though! I refilled it twice this week; four out of the last five days I've taken my Truvada away away from home, whether at class, at work, or out with a friend. In class, I talked to my professor in advance, and just let her know that I had a medication I have to take at 7pm each day. She was totally fine with it, and I was able to take my pill in class on a break she offered right around dosing time (you can see it there on Thursday, in the picture above). So, pretty proud of myself for keeping on schedule. 

The funny thing is, getting myself organized around taking my PrEP every day has helped my adherence to my Lisinopril (a blood pressure medication) tremendously. Maybe it's just that the app is making me more aware of my dosing times, but I think there's more to it than that; I think that the motivation I've had to get and stay on PrEP has encouraged me to be more engaged with my health overall. It's a good feeling. So is having a consistent, guaranteed appointment for HIV/STI testing and labs - I've always been a fan of knowing about my health... and TERRIBLE at scheduling... so having something mandatory and predictable is fantastic.

Hey, and my side effects are just about completely gone! I gotta say, it was kinda crummy those first couple weeks, building up protection but not feeling good enough to, um, use  that protection. Look, I know what you're thinking, I can hear the "Truvada whore" comments starting to bubble up, but I'm being honest here; I want to get laid. Um, duh. Not crazy, run-to-the-bathhouse and f*ck ten guys kinda laid, but something. And it sucks not feeling like it. But two weeks worth of feeling a little off is nothing compared to the alternative. So, I'm not complaining.

Cheers, friends.