POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Living With HIV => Topic started by: UK_SL on December 01, 2009, 03:57:18 pm
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I was diagnosed 8 weeks ago and have been on the meds for nearly 6 weeks now - before I was diagnosed I enjoyed a drink or 3 the same as everyone else, infact I probably did drink too much.
Since I've been on the meds I've had a couple glasses of wine and the nest day have felt really dodgy - like I had a really bad hangover. I was just wandering if anyone else has had any problems with alcohol on the meds because I do enjoy a drink, I find it relaxes me but I'm being put off it completly because I've felt so ill the next day.
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Hi UK,
I'm on Combivir+Sustiva for about 9 weeks now. On the first weeks I couldn't drink anything either, I'd get really dizzy after just a glass of wine. I went to a party this past Saturday and had two long sake drinks plus a beer, and felt OK both during the party and the morning after. I did take it slowly, and had lots of water between drinks, and ate some too. I guess it takes some time for your liver to get used to processing the meds. Also, sustiva by itself can make you groggy the morning after, but it also gets better with time.
Bottom line: I think it gets back to normal eventually, but definitely take it easy in the beginning.
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Roger
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I've been on meds for over 16 years. If I feel like getting shit-faced I do it, but I don't drink that often. Certainly whenever I go out for a nice dinner I have a 2-3 drinks. The only thing I've noticed is that on some med combos I got a flushed reaction from what I assume are the sulfites found in wine. I generally don't drink beer because it seems to bloat me and I don't like that feeling with lots of meds in my tummy, and keep in mind I throw back about 30 pills a day.
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drinking is a pleasure and it does relax the system but there are other ways too - exercise, meditation, sex, and pills. I found that a perscription for anti anxiety pills prevents drinking just to unwind and saves it for the pleasure alone.
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hi uk.
i'm not on meds yet so can't comment, but did want to say that it's great that you are responding so well. it's amazing that just 4 weeks ago, you had a cd4 of 8. congrats. maybe hold off on the drinking until your body bounces back?...there will be plenty of time to tie one on :D
max
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Sweetums,
My dinner isn't dinner without a vodka martini first--two olives, preferably jalapeno-stuffed, please. Up, and stirred, not shaken. Served in an appropriate stemmed container. And if it's been a particularly rough day, especially if the houseboys have been naughty again, perhaps two (martinis, not houseboys).
No problems. Liver is fine. Been doing it for longer than most of you have been alive, I believe.
It's one of the few pleasures I still retain.
Mr. Fossil
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Generally I smoke (Pot) and I recently indulged in a few drinks during the past holiday... I love Rose Kennedys (Cape Cods) to some... but, I just really do not care to drink alcohol as in the past... it does not mix well in my tummy!
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I like a drink but have cut down alot since last year when pos and last month on meds. I drink 2 or 3 small beers or wines a day on average somedays nothing but on a saturday get a bit merry . Alcohol doesnt interact with hiv meds but to much drink you could forget your meds and be to hard on the liver.With your present numbers i would wait a while its early days and your doing very well be patient.
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I have a drink of wine or beer at home a couple of times a week, and maybe about 3 drinks at an occasional party. Before I started HIV meds in 1995, I used to drink much more socially, and didn't have much of a hangover. In the past 10 years, I will get a headache and feel tired the next day if I have more than 3 drinks. I make sure that I drink a glass of water between beers or glasses of wine. That helps prevent headaches, but I'm still tired the next day. My mother and older sister got headaches after drinking, so some of it's genetic, but I definitely think it's the HIV meds. Even pot affects me differently than it used to- I get restless and my muscles ache, so I only smoke occasionally at a social gathering. I'm on 6 HIV antivirals plus 2 anti-depressants, and I think they all can alter or increase intoxicant effects.
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i think the same thing happes to me since i started meds,i am not a drinker perse,have never been drunk all my life,but i have a bottle of beer maybe once in a while,just last weekend, i had to drink about four bottles of heneiken,that is the only beer i drink, later on i took my meds,believe me, i was knocked out for two days, i felt funny weird and completly out of sort.i related this to my doc and she told me that hiv meds dont mix well with alcohol.she said that having a glass of wine from time to time wont do any harm though but she advised me to avoid it completely if i can.
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I have been on meds since 1994. At first I had combivir+kaletra.....if I had a drink of wine, even with dinner, the following day I felt someone was battering at my head with a hammer. I have never had a hangover in my life, as dont drink that much. Now I am on Atripla, and its my stomach that seems to pay the price. Friends of ours are party animals and go out every weekend and get wasted with alcohol and have no effects - so think its personal......but what our friends do cannot be good for your liver, on top of your life saving meds!!
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I've learned to listen to my body and modify my behaviors to maximize my energy (and feeling as close to the old normal as I can). If doing something like drinking alcohol makes me feel unwell, then I usually stop it. I know I'm a wimp. A real man would drink anyway, and not let the meds dictate any of my behavior.
Also I've found that drinking non-alcohol beers and wines in social settings still makes me feel connected to people, but doesn't make me feel sick the next day.
I guess it's all about finding your own balance and limits based on self experimentaion, and deciding what's important for you, without letting the disease, the meds, or other people, rule you.
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My personal experience is that alcohol on top of my HIV meds gives me a terrible headache the next day. The "stay in bed with the covers over your head and not move for 8 hours" kind of a headache. So even though I used to love to go for drinks with friends, now I stick to club soda or diet coke.
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I love a cold beer in the summer but I have cut down a lot and I think it has only worked for my advantage!
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I have the same reaction. I used to drink alot of wine, but now since Im on the meds more than one glass makes me feel really hung over- and not the next day, within a couple of hours. I still sometimes have that desire to have a glass with friends or dinner, but its not worth feeling so crappy afterwards. I must say I miss it a little. I used to de-stress after a rough day with a couple glasses of wine but I have to accept that things have changed.
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It depends on the medicine. Alcohol was ok with Combivir+Kaletra but it's not ok with Kivexa(Epzicom)+Kaletra because alcohol can make abacavir side effects more severe, and I don't fancy a sudden heart attack in my 28th year lol.