Sometimes it makes sense not to tell your partner, or someone else about your PrEP use if you think they’ll be violent towards you or have another reaction that would be hard to handle. If you don’t want to tell them, that’s your choice, but it’s good to think about how to keep your PrEP use a secret.
Here are some tips that other young people have used:
- Keep pills in places your partner, or loved ones will not look, such as a handbag, a keychain with storage, or with pads and tampons.
- Ask a neighbor or a nearby friend to keep the pills, although this can make it challenging to remember to take them every day.
- Store a few doses in an unmarked container (ensure that this container is not clear plastic because the sun can damage medication).
- If your partner or loved one watches you closely, think of a reason why you are going to the clinic. You could tell them you’re going to the clinic for another medical condition). You can also tell them you are taking this medication for another reason such as pregnancy prevention or menstrual cramps.
- Think about ways to explain any PrEP side effects you may have.
- When your partner, or loved one leaves the house, you can take a PrEP pill for that day out of the pill bottle or pill box and put it in tissue in their pocket or handbag to take at the scheduled time (it should be taken at roughly the same time each day). Taking it from the tissue can be easier if your partner, or loved one, is home when it is time to take it. However, if you still think this may put you at too much risk, you can take PrEP while your partner, or loved one, is out of the house even if that means their taking it at a slightly different time each day
Want to start or go back to the quiz that will help you see which areas in your relationship need improvement? Click here!
Sharing that you are using PrEP can be difficult because you don’t always know how the other person is going to react. In this video, Thando and Lungi show us how disclosing that you are on PrEP can be a challenge.
Find out more about PrEP here.
Curious about possible side effects you can experience while using PrEP? Check this out.
Check out these frequently-asked questions about PrEP.
