PrEP and anti-depressants?

Dr. Demetre: I’m on anti-depressants, but I’m worried that PrEP will make my meds less effective or vice-a-versa.
Dr. David: Got questions about PrEP? #AskTheHIVDoc has all the answers.
Dr. Demetre: Your mental well-being is key to preventing HIV. Bottom line is, if you need anti-depressants, stay on them, it makes a difference. From the perspective of drug interactions, anti-depressants don’t interact with the drug that we use for pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP. Stay on both. If your mood is good, if you are dealing with some of the mental health issues, depression, anxiety, whatever it is, if you’re taking that medicine it’s going to support a plan for you to prevent HIV and PrEP may be a part of it. Your anti-depressants won’t reduce the effectiveness of PrEP, and PrEP won’t reduce the effectiveness of your anti-depressants. So, rock on, keep on going with both, take care of your mental health, and prevent HIV by taking PrEP.

Your mental health matters! And Dr. Demetre delivers some good news – PrEP and antidepressants can work together just fine. Gilead, the drug manufacturer of Truvada (PrEP’s brand name), does not list any antidepressants as having potential interactions with PrEP.

If you have questions about combining any medications with PrEP, as always, talk with your healthcare provider.

Click here for more information on PrEP.

 

#AskTheHIVDoc is a video series from Greater Than HIV featuring top HIV doctors providing answers to commonly-asked questions about HIV prevention, testing and treatment.

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