Question
Can I used Lamzid (AZT/3TC) to reduce the risk of infection?
28 June 2011. Related: All topics, HIV reinfection (superinfection), HIV transmission.
I’m dating a person who is HIV positive and I’m HIV negative. Is it good for me to use Aspen’s Lamzid when we have sex?
Will it cause a problem as time goes on.
Answer
Please do NOT use Lamzid in this way.
Firstly, there is no evidence that it will protect you from catching HIV.
Secondly, there are risks from you taking these meds. If you have hepatitis B or catch hepatitis B taking the 3TC in Lamzid could cause liver problems if you are stopping and starting the drug. If you were unlucky enough to catch HIV, your use of Lamzid is likely to make you resistant to 3TC which could then affect both you and your partners future treatment options (if you passed that resistance back to your partner).
Is your partner on treatment? If and when this happens, this reduce the risk of transmitting HIV.
Using a condom is still the most effective way to do this though.
My doctor gave me a seven day course of aspen lamzid after condom bust.is it enough as i hear on thd forum ppl talk about 28 days course. If that is the case how soon can i have sex with my wife who i do not use a cd with. Please respond urgently
It is fine to have sex while taking HIV meds as PEP to reduce the risk of infection.
But if your doctor thinks you may have been recently infected, it will be important to use condoms with your boyfriend. This is until you find out if things are okay.
In the first weeks after infection someone is very infectious.
I had sex with my ex boyfriend and the condom blasted and i was bleeding so the next day we went to a Dr who presicrepd Aspen lamizd nd norlevo pills for me so my curent boyfriend wants us to have sex so i am afraid it wil complicate the medication procedure any help on what i should do
You are not going to catch HIV because you are using condoms. Condoms also protect very well against nearly all other STIs. They are not so good at protecting against HPV (a virus linked to warts) or herpes because sometimes the parts of the skin are affected that are not covered by the condom.
Lamzid contains two HIV drugs – AZT and 3TC.
It is not approved to use as a daily pill to protect against HIV. It is used in some countries (but not in the UK) as part of a monthly treatment after a high risk exposure to reduce the chance of infection.
These drugs are not safe to routinely take unless they are prescribed by a doctor, and are not needed in the circumstance you describe.
I can’t comment on the ulcer but this is something you should show to a doctor. It might be coincidence or it might be related.
My parner is HIV positive and I am HIV negative, ever since we started going i have been going for blood test every four months, we have been going out for almost two years now and i have been using condom whenever we have sex, sometimes after kissing her idevelop mouth ulcers but not too much and after few days it fades away. should i be concern about this? what is the risk of me getting STI’s even though using a condom? should conisder taking Lamzid as a means of extra protection?
It sounds like you have just been lucky so far.
See this post for similar questions.
And this link for info on the reduced risk of transmission when someone is on treatment.
Ma partner is hiv positive( he found out in 2008) and i tested negative over the yrs then we had a baby in 2009 n i tested negative still he’s taking aspen lamzid and effavirenz we 1nce had an unprotected sex..can i b infected
Thank you very much Rebecca, point taken !!
After a course of PEP you need to wait 28 days before testing for HIV. This is because PEP can delay infection. You should avoid having unprotected sex again with your wife until after this point, because you will not know your HIV status until then. It is not too late to stop having unprotected sex. Not every exposure results in infection and if you are positive you will not necessarily have passed the infection to your wife, but this could happen following any unprotected sex.
Thank you Rebecca for your response, I did have an HIV test last year October where I tested negative, however now that I have already had unprotected sex with my wife while on PEP, I assume it is too late to change or stop, and just have wait for 3 months after this exposure to have another test. My main concern is that, if the other partner that I was exposed with is positive, does this mean my wife is also infected even though I took the PEP drugs very early on time after exposure?