Question
Should I have eaten when taking PEP?
20 January 2023. Related: Adherence, All topics, PEP/PEPSE.
I didn’t take Emtricitabin/Tenofovir and Isentress with food for the first 11 days of PEP after exposure to HIV. Am I in big trouble or is it not that important? I would normally eat around an hour after taking the medication and wasn’t aware I needed to actually have a meal with it. Now I’m terrified it won’t have worked.
Answer
Hi, how are you?
You do not need to eat with this PEP regimen. You can take this course of PEP with or without food. Food will not change how effective this treatment is.
Josh.
Hi Nick, missing the food advice for a couple of doses means that drug levels were lowere fat those times. Overall, this is unlikely to make much difference to the efficacy of PEP. There are no food restrictions on PEP.
I’m on PEP: tenofovir with emtricitabine & darunavir with ritanovir. I didn’t take food with them for 2-3 doses. Is there going to be a problem. Also, can I eat cake/cream pastries along with this medication?
Hi Joe, PEP is more likely to work the earlier you take it. There won’t be any real difference between 70, 71 and 72 hours though.
Please see this link for more info:
https://i-base.info/qa/factsheets/pep-faq
A person started PEP after 70 hours but before 72 hours of exposure. To be precise, in the 71st hour. Will the efficacy be reduced due to this?