TL; DR: be careful with who has access to your list of medicines.

I am in my late 40s, and had a colonoscopy done a few months ago. Because it involves general anesthesia, you had to have someone with you as a minder and to drive you home afterwards. Because mine was scheduled hideously early in the morning, my wife and I asked for my moms help and gave her a choice of logistics: either my wife would accompany me to the colonoscopy while my mom took care of getting our kids to school, or my mom would take me and my wife would get the kids. My mom chose the latter.

The procedure itself was fine.

A few months later, I went to help my mom with some stuff around her house, and I guess since this was the first time I didn’t have the family with me, she broached the subject: the paperwork she had been given (I guess during discharge? I don’t remember specifics) listed my current medications. While probably not being nosy, she noticed my Truvada prescription on the list and knew it was HIV-related.

Basically she approached with concerns that I had and am in treatment for HIV. Her brother / my uncle died from AIDS in the 80s, so naturally this was a big scare for her. I had to explain to her that, no, I don’t have HIV: I am regularly tested, and that Truvada is for preventing HIV rather than treating it. More questions ensued, not least of which being why I am trying to prevent HIV if I’m in a longterm marriage.

And that, dear readers, is what lead me to coming out to my mom as both bisexual and actively non-monogamous. I hadn’t ever planned on telling her that I have sex with other men, let alone that my wife knows and is fine with it, but here we are nonetheless.

Things turned out fine, but: be thoughtful about what your medicines may disclose.