How long after PEP will the medication be completely out of my system

Feb 4, 2010

Thank you for your amazing website!

Upon successful completion on the 28th day of PEP (and stopping all my potent PEP medication) how long does it take the body to completely "get rid of" all the toxic medicine from my blood stream?

When can I expect the nasty side-effects from 4 weeks of PEP to finally wear off?

How long before my blood, kidney, liver function, etc return to normal "pre-PEP" levels?

And since I'm supposed to get tested at 8 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months...is there any harm in just waiting the full 6 months and then getting tested ONCE (rather than putting myself through the anxiety of 3 HIV tests)?

Thank you!

Response from Dr. Young

Hello; thanks for your post and comments.

The precise answer to your question depends on which drugs you were prescribed.

In general, most HIV medications are gone from the body in 2-4 days after the last dose. As for body functions, one can hope that you had no significant toxicities after your 28 day (or 1 month) treatment. Should you have toxicities (or abnormal function), this should definitely be monitored by your healthcare professional.

As for follow up testing, one could wait the full 6 months, but I find that this tends to raise the anxiety meter. We typically test at 1,3 and 6 months.

Best of health to you, BY