Sex, drugs and recreation

Sex, drugs and recreation

Your pharmacist should be able to answer questions about how your HIV medications react with other medications and party drugs.

Some guys use party drugs when they have sex – or have sex when they are using party drugs. Other guys have strong negative views about party drugs and won’t go anywhere near them. Party drugs are sometimes called “recreational” drugs.

Party drugs can affect your health, especially if you take party drugs often or take large doses of them. Party drugs can change the effect of HIV medications. And HIV medications can change the way your body reacts to party drugs. Here are some things to be aware of:

• Protease inhibitors (a type of HIV medication) can really increase the concentration of party drugs in your body. This means that the same amount of party drugs can have a much bigger effect on you.
• Drinking alcohol can increase the level of the HIV medication abacavir (Ziagen) in your body.
• If you are taking ddI (Videx), drinking alcohol increases your risk of developing a dangerous swelling of your pancreas.

If you are not sure what HIV medications you are taking, check with your doctor or pharmacist. Your pharmacist should be able to answer questions about how your HIV medications react with other medications and party drugs.