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Poll

I have used, abused or have an addiction to the following...

Alcohol
Ecstasy
Food
Marijuana
Methamphetamine
Sex
Cocaine
Heroin
Prescription Drugs
Over-the-counter Drugs

Author Topic: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV  (Read 36077 times)

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Offline texasguy

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #50 on: February 28, 2007, 12:50:47 am »
Against my better judgment, I must post.  I've buried too many friends to let this just pass by.  Okay guys, maybe some percentage (5,10, 25,?) of you can do recreational drugs and be fine.  Great.  Have a nice life, sniff, snort, drink , or inject your way to happyville.  Truly, it is none of my business.  I'm no saint.  I've done some of the "casual" stuff along the way.  I was young once, and I made it through.  And yes, I know a lot of HIV guys, still partying, doing well.  Okay.  And I've had two neg guys drop dead on me this year from heart attacks.  So who is to say what's right?  I just don't know.

What I do think is that choices in life always have consequences.  And I don't think anyone should judge those choices too harshly.  You know what they say about glass houses.  Sometimes these arguments don't make sense to me.  Those who do certain things will, and those who do not won't.  And each side will justify their actions.  And we still will be HIV poz, living in that reality that we share, yet vastly different in lifestyle choices. 
8/12/2008    102        402      26.8
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Offline jkinatl2

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #51 on: February 28, 2007, 12:58:27 am »
My choices have had consequences. PCP.night sweats, pain in my muscles and bones, inability to achieve REM sleep, cancer, HPV, constant diarrhea, assorted other fun things that equate to a manageably terminal illness.

My drugs? more diarrhea, headaches, nausea, anemia, probably the CML, muscle and joint pain, fluelike symptoms.

So if I smoke the occasional joint, or make a margarita now and again, forgive me if I do not feel shame.

Spend some time looking through the eyes of those we seem so eager to judge. Those living in pain, in misery, in poverty, in the encroaching winter of our WAY too young lives.


Like Lily Tomlin said: We are all in this together, all alone.
"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline dtwpuck

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #52 on: February 28, 2007, 06:02:06 am »
It seems to me that we like to talk a lot about drugs, and pretty much say the same thing over and over.
There's the "wear it like a badge crowd" who seems to think that listing off their chemical dalliances is something to celebrate.   There's the morality crown who shakes their heads in dismay.  And there's the "done it and I'm over it" crowd.  I strikes me that the first crowd is a wee bit too vociferous in their defense of their choices, almost as if protesting too much.  It gets old. 

Yeah yeah yeah, it's all about moderation.  It's all about the ever so fine points of a definition of addiction.  It's all about my rights to put what I want into my body.  Most of the time I can agree intellectually with a lot of these points.  However, we seem to talk about and celebrate drug use so much that I am beginning to doubt the motivations of a "wear it like a badge crowd".  It's like a bunch of children caught stealing and then over-justifying their actions because they feel guilty about doing so.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #53 on: February 28, 2007, 06:15:55 am »
It seems to me that we like to talk a lot about drugs, and pretty much say the same thing over and over.
There's the "wear it like a badge crowd" who seems to think that listing off their chemical dalliances is something to celebrate.   There's the morality crown who shakes their heads in dismay.  And there's the "done it and I'm over it" crowd.  I strikes me that the first crowd is a wee bit too vociferous in their defense of their choices, almost as if protesting too much.  It gets old.

Yeah yeah yeah, it's all about moderation.  It's all about the ever so fine points of a definition of addiction.  It's all about my rights to put what I want into my body.  Most of the time I can agree intellectually with a lot of these points.  However, we seem to talk about and celebrate drug use so much that I am beginning to doubt the motivations of a "wear it like a badge crowd".  It's like a bunch of children caught stealing and then over-justifying their actions because they feel guilty about doing so.


So then it falls to you to say something new Puck. Please thrill us tired old addicts with your trenchant insight and astonishing acumen.

On an unrelated matter, I love your tats. You'll make a stunning lamp shade. :-*

MtD

Offline Dachshund

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #54 on: February 28, 2007, 06:35:24 am »
Unless Quaaludes were a part of your repertoire...then you ain't nothin' but a pussy. A homo ain't a homo until he has survived a night of disco biscuits and debauchery. One night in 1978 I got so fucked up on Quaaludes I convinced my friends to take me to LAX, I flew to NYC with just the clothes on my back and $36. Talk about a party...I stayed there for two years.

I don't think it is possible to become a well rounded homo until you have gone through drug induced physical, emotional and moral bankruptcy...if you haven't, you ain't worth knowing.

Little Steve I will fit triple bypass into the conversation today. ;D

« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 06:38:13 am by Dachshund »

Offline dtwpuck

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #55 on: February 28, 2007, 06:44:19 am »

So then it falls to you to say something new Puck. Please thrill us tired old addicts with your trenchant insight and astonishing acumen.

On an unrelated matter, I love your tats. You'll make a stunning lamp shade. :-*

MtD

Did I just miss something or did you fall out of character?  "us" is a first person pronoun.
I sincerely doubt that there is anything trenchant about my insight and that it's even possible to astonish those who feel that jade is the only appropriate shade for a pair of sunglasses.

But thanks.  I match most outfits.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #56 on: February 28, 2007, 06:51:55 am »
Did I just miss something or did you fall out of character?  "us" is a first person pronoun.
I sincerely doubt that there is anything trenchant about my insight and that it's even possible to astonish those who feel that jade is the only appropriate shade for a pair of sunglasses.

But thanks.  I match most outfits.


Oh you callow youth! I think it's obvious you've missed a fair bit, but we old forums types make allowances.

Matty the Damned is a well known drug addict and disgraceful slave to the feel of the steel. ;)

MtD

Offline dtwpuck

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #57 on: February 28, 2007, 07:15:21 am »
Callow?   Youth?   I am neither young nor inexperienced.  Just tired of the broken record justifications that seem to come up in the discussion of drugs.    And being a long time forum member doesn't mean that the sun suddenly started to rise because of the superiority of your wisdom.  It means you have spent a whole lot of time in front of a computer screen.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #58 on: February 28, 2007, 07:26:51 am »
Callow?   Youth?   I am neither young nor inexperienced.  Just tired of the broken record justifications that seem to come up in the discussion of drugs.    And being a long time forum member doesn't mean that the sun suddenly started to rise because of the superiority of your wisdom.  It means you have spent a whole lot of time in front of a computer screen.

So then, Oh Great Knower of Things - eclipse Matty the Damned. Show him to be the pasty screen geek that you think he is with your substantial Life ExperienceTM.

MtD
(Who revealed all a long time ago)

Offline skeebo1969

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #59 on: February 28, 2007, 07:33:38 am »


  Does anyone here like spaghetti and meatballs?
I despise the song Love is in the Air, you should too.

Offline dtwpuck

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #60 on: February 28, 2007, 07:53:02 am »
Yes, Matty... Great patronizer cleverly desguised as affected wit, please regale me with exactly how your life experience is superior to anyone else's on this board.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #61 on: February 28, 2007, 08:05:25 am »
Yes, Matty... Great patronizer cleverly desguised as affected wit, please regale me with exactly how your life experience is superior to anyone else's on this board.

Sweetie, my life experience isn't superior, it's  just more interesting than yours.

Kissie,

MtD

Offline dtwpuck

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #62 on: February 28, 2007, 08:31:28 am »
I'll keep that in mind when I order your drool cups and pampers.
Floating through the void in the caress of two giant pink lobsters named Esmerelda and Keith.

Offline poet

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #63 on: February 28, 2007, 11:56:37 am »
With the usual eye on everyone else who reads posts but perhaps doesn't post him or herself, there is, for me, a big difference between the use of something, the abuse of something (especially if that person recognises that he or she is abusing something) and addiction.  It would be great to pull out of this thread why someone has used or uses something, what the attraction to it was, why someone stopped at the point of simply using, why someone, hopefully for a limited time, felt that he or she abused something and/or developed an addiction and was then able to stop use.  Why?  Because there are always those out there right on the edge, perhaps friends have access to something, are trying it themselves.  Best, Win (Who admits an addiction to caffeine in coffee.)
Winthrop Smith has published three collections of poetry: Ghetto: From The First Five; The Weigh-In: Collected Poems; Skin Check: New York Poems.  The last was published in December 2006.  He has a work-in-progress underway titled Starting Positions.

Offline Boo Radley

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #64 on: February 28, 2007, 12:43:31 pm »
I'm just wondering why "food" was included on the list

Food was my first addiction as a child and it was definitely an addiction, using a substance to cope with stress, depression, whatever.  Many people binge eat when they are unhappy or anxious or depressed, etc.  In 4th grade I gained so much weight in a matter of weeks I had no pants that fit and was too embarrassed to ask my parents to buy me new clothes.  I wore my shirts out to hide the broken zipper on the one pair I could barely squeeze my fat ass in.

Food can be as deadly as heavy drinking or drug use but it doesn't kill one in the same way.  Obesity is a big problem in the USA and many, but not all, people who binge eat are in emotional distress.  Overeating is also a psychological vicious circle because one feels self-conscious and ashamed about being overweight but eating is the only coping mechanism available.

In 9th grade I started taking a lot of LSD and lost a lot of weight in the same period.   I substituted acid for food.  When I became ill with chronic hep B in 2001 I began to use food once again as a way of coping with the depression engendered by my incapacitated state.   I'm still trying to lose weight gained in that time.

Boo
String up every aristocrat!
Out with the priests and let them live on their fat!





Everything I do, say, think, excrete, secrete, exude, ooze, or write © 2007 Sweet Old Boo, Inc.

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #65 on: February 28, 2007, 01:10:43 pm »
Like Boo said, I used to binge eat when I was young little sissy.  I know about the little tricks to try to disguise the weight gain.  I was so embarassed about my belly that I used to wear a coat all day- every day, and almost the whole school year through to try to mask it.  I mean serious binge eating here, folks.  There was a store at the top of my street.  The bus would drop us off there in the afternoon.  If I'd gotten picked on particularly harshly that day, it was not uncommon for me to finish off an entire large bag of Dorito's from the top of the street to home.  That's about an 11 or 12 house distance.  There might even be a candy bar tucked in the pocket for later after dinner.  The weight gain made me feel even worse about myself, so I'd eat even more to cope with that.

Not pretty, eh?
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline marc11864

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #66 on: February 28, 2007, 01:42:41 pm »
This is a completely useless exercise.

Is it? Doesn't that really depend on what the point of the thread is?  ;)

I think it is important now that we ask the relevant questions about how and why we chose/choose to use, or abuse these things. What brought us to these temptations. What tipped the scale for some of us toward abuse and addiction as opposed to just casual use? What kept or keeps others from crossing the line? How do you define when you have or will have "gone over the edge"?

We can certainly talk endlessly about what we have done or even what we have experienced. But I have a good idea that it is more important to ask ourselves why.

For me, the whole issue has always been about why. Why did I choose to inhale that first joint? Why did I run next door to the Dairy Queen every couple of hours when I was a kid for a pizza burger or a shake? Why did I decide after years of telling myself that I would never, ever stick a needle in my arm come to choose this method as my preferred way of an altered state? Especially having seen the consequences in many others?

I think all too often we get so caught up defending our own position that we overlook the relevance of what the other person has asked or is asking. In my own case, I need to better understand the choices that I've made in my life if I am going to grow. Or at least get past what has stymied me.  Many of the decisions that I've made have been spontaneous. But they did involve my making a choice.

Ask yourself, why did I...? If you want to answer here, I'm thrilled of course since your answer might help me to answer a similar question for myself. But, maybe just by asking yourself the question you'll come to reveal something that you overlooked about yourself and you'll find that maybe you no longer care to interact with that substance in the same way.  :)

I've always believed that at some point, I wouldn't need something to make me feel or maybe not feel different.
Let us cavort like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean.

Offline Bucko

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #67 on: February 28, 2007, 02:37:12 pm »
Hmmm, motovations, huh?

OK, I'll bite.

My first and foremost reason for exploring drugs was a desire to escape the abuse of my sadistic mother. It all seemed (and was) easier to cope with after a few beers or joints.

The second was boredom. Growing up in the 70s cultural wasteland of nothingness there was little else to do. And before anyone suggests cracking a book, I did that. I sailed through High School with high honors, despite my drug use.

Auntie Doxie hit brilliantly on the third reason. Doing drugs was a rite of passage when I moved out on my own into the city (Boston, a vastly different place then from now) in 1978 at the age of 18. I didn't know anyone who did not do drugs. BTW- this was different from peer pressure. I was never pressured into experimenting with drugs, and I certainly never chose to associate exclusively with the drug-addled. It simply was, in a way anyone who was not there would find incomprehensible today.

Fourth: I enjoyed the sensations and experiences I had when indulging in drugs.

Why did I stop? Two reasons come to mind.

I had a flashback while on MDMA of a near-death experience I'd had (unrelated to drugs). It freaked me the fuck right out.

My very best friend during my early 20s sold drugs to pay for his addiction to speed. He was found murdered in his apartment on Beacon Hill. I had already begun distancing myself from him, but it was a horrific blow.

I also found that reaching for a stable career and drug use were somewhat incompatable. As I required money in order to survive, I made the decision that survival trumped fun and gave it a rest.

Brent
(Who speaks the truth as much as he can)

/edited for an odd spelling problem/
 
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 03:28:26 pm by Bucko »
Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

Blathering on AIDSmeds since 2005, provocative from birth

Offline Boo Radley

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #68 on: February 28, 2007, 03:01:41 pm »
It seems to me that we like to talk a lot about ______________, and pretty much say the same thing over and over.

Isn't the above sentence true with many if not most other topics?  We humans are doomed to repeat, and argue about, the same views, values, beliefs, opinions, whatever that we have held for many years.  It's part of the human condition.   

I think this thread has been interesting despite the, uh, animosity displayed in some posts.  Luckily I, for once, am not part of the problem.   In fact, it seems almost unilateral...

Boo

String up every aristocrat!
Out with the priests and let them live on their fat!





Everything I do, say, think, excrete, secrete, exude, ooze, or write © 2007 Sweet Old Boo, Inc.

Offline Ihavehope

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #69 on: February 28, 2007, 03:30:37 pm »
say no to drugs and alcohol and even alot of foood. Just look at courtney love


Infected: April 2005
12/6/06 - Diagnosed HIV positive
12/19/06 - CD4 = 240  22% VL = 26,300
1/4/07 - CD4 = 200 16% VL = ?
2/9/07 = Started Kaletra/Truvada
3/13/07 = CD4 = 386 22% VL ?

Offline aupointillimite

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #70 on: February 28, 2007, 04:22:05 pm »
God, I wanna be just like her.

"What gives her the right to treat people like that, Mum?"
"She's thin!"
Your tastebuds can't repel flavor of this magnitude!

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #71 on: February 28, 2007, 04:27:16 pm »
HA!  That top pic of Coutney is THE BEST EV-AH!  I'll have what she had, thanks.

Sidenote:  Hope, how many times a day do you change your avatar?  Just curious.  It's almost never the same for any length of time.  Just curious.

EDITIED FOR:


I must REALLY have an addictive personality.  The very title of this thread keeps beckoning me back again and again. 
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline Ihavehope

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #72 on: February 28, 2007, 04:31:54 pm »
HA!  That top pic of Coutney is THE BEST EV-AH!  I'll have what she had, thanks.

Sidenote:  Hope, how many times a day do you change your avatar?  Just curious.  It's almost never the same for any length of time.  Just curious.

EDITIED FOR:


I must REALLY have an addictive personality.  The very title of this thread keeps beckoning me back again and again. 

i try to do it once a day but sometimes I get to bored at work I start browsing through people's blog's and websites and if I catch a striking picture I make it my avatar. I think I may have ADHD. I may have to talk to my therapist about this tonight.
Infected: April 2005
12/6/06 - Diagnosed HIV positive
12/19/06 - CD4 = 240  22% VL = 26,300
1/4/07 - CD4 = 200 16% VL = ?
2/9/07 = Started Kaletra/Truvada
3/13/07 = CD4 = 386 22% VL ?

Offline aupointillimite

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #73 on: February 28, 2007, 04:35:07 pm »
I must REALLY have an addictive personality.  The very title of this thread keeps beckoning me back again and again. 

I keep hoping that some of the things mentioned in the title will mysteriously appear if I click on it.

Needless to say... I've been clicking on it so much, my mouse is worn out.
Your tastebuds can't repel flavor of this magnitude!

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #74 on: February 28, 2007, 04:48:17 pm »
I keep hoping that some of the things mentioned in the title will mysteriously appear if I click on it.

Needless to say... I've been clicking on it so much, my mouse is worn out.

Oh, Benj!  I knew you would understand!  It's like when you are really hungry late at night, but the fridge is totally bare.  How you keep going back and opening the door, halfway convincing yourself that you have somehow managed to overlook a burger or some seasoned tater tots on every previous attempt.
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline aupointillimite

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #75 on: February 28, 2007, 04:52:16 pm »
Oh, Benj!  I knew you would understand!  It's like when you are really hungry late at night, but the fridge is totally bare.  How you keep going back and opening the door, halfway convincing yourself that you have somehow managed to overlook a burger or some seasoned tater tots on every previous attempt.

Or like when you're combing the same area of the carpet over and over looking for coke rocks.

Not like I've been there or anything.   ::)

Dignity!
Your tastebuds can't repel flavor of this magnitude!

Offline Dachshund

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #76 on: February 28, 2007, 04:54:22 pm »
Oh, Benj!  I knew you would understand!  It's like when you are really hungry late at night, but the fridge is totally bare.  How you keep going back and opening the door, halfway convincing yourself that you have somehow managed to overlook a burger or some seasoned tater tots on every previous attempt.

Or if you're Jeffrey Dahmer...someone's kidney?

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #77 on: February 28, 2007, 04:56:27 pm »
Or like when you're combing the same area of the carpet over and over looking for coke rocks.

Not like I've been there or anything.   ::)

Dignity!

Wanna cheap way for a full evening of fun?  Go get some cat litter and spill it on the floor- then call over some crackheads you might know.  Especially any that may have been particularly evil to you.  Once they arrive, casually make mention how you had about $60-80 worth of rock crumble in your hands and fall to the floor....how somewhere amid all that litter is some prime rock that may never be found.

Then sit back and enjoy!
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline aupointillimite

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #78 on: February 28, 2007, 04:58:02 pm »
Or if you're Jeffrey Dahmer...someone's kidney?

Oh my God!  Thanks for reminding me!
Your tastebuds can't repel flavor of this magnitude!

Offline Ihavehope

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #79 on: February 28, 2007, 05:00:20 pm »
Thunder you are fierce. LOL, the rocks in the kitty litter is funny and so true.
Infected: April 2005
12/6/06 - Diagnosed HIV positive
12/19/06 - CD4 = 240  22% VL = 26,300
1/4/07 - CD4 = 200 16% VL = ?
2/9/07 = Started Kaletra/Truvada
3/13/07 = CD4 = 386 22% VL ?

Offline Dachshund

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #80 on: February 28, 2007, 05:01:55 pm »
Oh my God!  Thanks for reminding me!


May I suggest a simple bechamel?

Offline edfu

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #81 on: February 28, 2007, 05:10:54 pm »
Sorry, Marc, but I don't understand what the point of this thread is.  To combine "use" with "abuse" and "have an addiction to" in one investigatory question does not show or prove anything, because, as I tried to point out above, to "use" and "have an addiction to" are simply not the same thing, nor are they remotely related.    

Definitions are vital to what you are trying to do, I believe, but I don't believe you've provided them.  Either ask who has "used," or ask who has "abused," and define what you mean by "abuse." You can't combine them in one poll.  To provide yet another example to the ones I listed above:  If I've "used" Ecstasy once, is that "abuse," and if it isn't, how do I make the differentation in the way you set up the poll?

Furthermore, "have an addiction to" means different things to different people.  Just take sex:  Some people think if they have sex seven times a week with seven different people, they are "addicted."  But others would vehemently deny that there is even any such thing as sex "addiction."  

And if you're interested in learning "how or why we choose to use or abuse,"  answering your poll will not provide any answers.
"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Mankind can never be free until the last brick in the last church falls on the head of the last priest."--Voltaire

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #82 on: February 28, 2007, 05:14:22 pm »
Oh, wow.  He's expanded the poll choices.


And I still have more than those listed.


Editied to say:  I'd toss in Viagra and the rest of that pill group into the mix if it were my poll.

Good times.  Good times.
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #83 on: February 28, 2007, 05:14:28 pm »
I think with drugs it's all about knowing your limits.  I live with someone who is an ex serious heroin addict and i've seen the daily battle he faces so it's something I wouldn't go near.  I've seen another mate have a very bad almost life threatening panic attack after a speed bender so I haven't touched it since.  Saying all this some of the best nights of my life have been on various drugs but I always try to stick to what I know I can handle!  Borrowing a quote from Bill Hicks:

“I’ve had great times on drugs. Never killed anyone, never hurt anyone, never raped anyone, never lost a home, job, wife, or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry”.

While we are on the subject of drugs has anyone has magic mushrooms recently?  They've made them pretty hard to get hold of over here we used to have a 24-hour 'shroom service' it was fantastic!

Chris
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline Ihavehope

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #84 on: February 28, 2007, 05:23:30 pm »
i am addicted to this
Infected: April 2005
12/6/06 - Diagnosed HIV positive
12/19/06 - CD4 = 240  22% VL = 26,300
1/4/07 - CD4 = 200 16% VL = ?
2/9/07 = Started Kaletra/Truvada
3/13/07 = CD4 = 386 22% VL ?

Offline edfu

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #85 on: February 28, 2007, 06:11:20 pm »
Hope, does that make you a McConagay addict, a pec addict, a hairless-body addict, or a sex addict?  Or all of the above?
"No one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."--Albert Camus, "The Plague"

"Mankind can never be free until the last brick in the last church falls on the head of the last priest."--Voltaire

Offline jkinatl2

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #86 on: February 28, 2007, 06:21:01 pm »

  Borrowing a quote from Bill Hicks:

?I?ve had great times on drugs. Never killed anyone, never hurt anyone, never raped anyone, never lost a home, job, wife, or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry?.


Love me some Bill Hicks. And what did him in? Smoking related cancer. A legal drug. I agree with almost all of his viewpoints, and find him as funny and relevant today as he was 15 years ago.

"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline poet

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #87 on: February 28, 2007, 06:23:43 pm »
Marc has tried twice.  I have tried.  Brent nailed it in his post.  I agree that each poster would need to define what he or she means by 'use' or 'abuse' or 'addicted to.'  Win
Winthrop Smith has published three collections of poetry: Ghetto: From The First Five; The Weigh-In: Collected Poems; Skin Check: New York Poems.  The last was published in December 2006.  He has a work-in-progress underway titled Starting Positions.

Offline marc11864

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #88 on: February 28, 2007, 06:28:06 pm »
...And if you're interested in learning "how or why we choose to use or abuse," answering your poll will not provide any answers.

I've never said that I was attempting to provide anything from the answers in the poll. Obviously with the technology in place here on aidsmeds.com it is all but unlikely that a truly scientific poll can be administered. It's mostly just a means to an end. That end being my primary focus of the thread which was threefold;

  • First, to enable me to contribute to the discussion of "behavioral" issues related to substances and acts that have the potential to be abused.
  • Second, to incorporate more people into some general discourse about the topic in such a way that allows each individual to further examine his or her own behaviors and actions.
  • And third, to better understand participants own feelings towards drug use and abuse.

There are many things that I am making assumptions about regarding this issue not the least of which is that anyone participating in the discussion is HIV positive for example. As you noted we each define use, abuse and addiction according to our own standards at any given time and according to whom we are attaching those words. I believe that the more that we actually do discuss it, the more we have the potential to stop placing values on these words and can find a way to arrest abuse and addiction. What we've done so far does not seem to have worked.

I'd have to say to the end of the above, the poll is doing what it is supposed to be doing. Encouraging participation in the thread to gain more insight about behaviors related to abuse and addiction issues.

...Editied to say:  I'd toss in Viagra and the rest of that pill group into the mix if it were my poll.Good times.  Good times.

Prescription drug.  ;)

And how come not one person yet has mentioned my ommision of cigarettes? ;)

P.S. I've been off 'em for a month now. When do I start getting my "congratulations" and "way-to-goes"? :P
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 07:01:28 pm by marc11864 »
Let us cavort like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean.

Offline thunter34

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #89 on: February 28, 2007, 06:32:50 pm »
Ah, I see.  Among the newer additions.  My bad.
AIDS isn't for sissies.

Offline GSOgymrat

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #90 on: February 28, 2007, 06:33:05 pm »
None of the above for me.

I have never drank a can of beer, smoked a cigarette, touched an illegal drug or abused prescription medications. I don't have food issues. As far as sex, yes I'm gay I've had a lot of sex in the past but it's never been a problem, and no I didn't get HIV from being "promiscuous".

I've never been one of the cool kids.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 06:34:50 pm by GSOgymrat »

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #91 on: February 28, 2007, 06:39:28 pm »
I have never drank a can of beer, smoked a cigarette, touched an illegal drug or abused prescription medications.

You are missing out!  I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you actually get HIV then?
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline GSOgymrat

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #92 on: February 28, 2007, 06:43:44 pm »
Short answer is I got it from getting into a long term relationship (my current one), letting my guard down and not using a condom once. Just like pregnancy it only takes once. I never had a slip up with casual sex.

Offline marc11864

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #93 on: February 28, 2007, 06:58:39 pm »
Short answer is I got it from getting into a long term relationship (my current one), letting my guard down and not using a condom once. Just like pregnancy it only takes once. I never had a slip up with casual sex.

I sure as heck hope that you are out there telling your story. Especially to todays youth!   :'(
Let us cavort like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean.

Offline Sky

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #94 on: February 28, 2007, 11:57:58 pm »
God when I was younger the drug handbook A - X were my favs lol.
Poz since 2003.

Offline allopathicholistic

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #95 on: March 01, 2007, 11:33:21 pm »
Sober sex is great sex and I wish I knew that in my 20's. Now I know your body is a temple. Give it good things and it will treat you right

Edited: Give it good things and it will treat you right, generally speaking
« Last Edit: March 02, 2007, 08:10:12 am by allopathicholistic »

Offline jyngfilm

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #96 on: March 02, 2007, 10:43:01 pm »
never had a problem with drugs...just policemen
~jordon
>currently lisnen' to "fat sweaty betty"   'god
munchausen by proxy is not an out in my case

Offline twofires

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #97 on: March 02, 2007, 10:54:30 pm »
A NEW STUDY in the journal Neurology is being hailed as unassailable proof that marijuana is a valuable medicine

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/01/marijuana_as_wonder_drug/?p1=email_to_a_friend

The study, from the University of California at San Francisco, found smoked marijuana to be effective at relieving the extreme pain of a debilitating condition known as peripheral neuropathy. It was a study of HIV patients, but a similar type of pain caused by damage to nerves afflicts people with many other illnesses including diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Neuropathic pain is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs. Even powerful and addictive narcotics like morphine and OxyContin often provide little relief. This study leaves no doubt that marijuana can safely ease this type of pain.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2007, 10:56:22 pm by twofires »
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline twofires

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #98 on: March 03, 2007, 01:18:59 am »
never had a problem with drugs...just policemen

when peolple ask me if I learned my lesson (I sold 1000 hits of LSD and got a 5 year federal prison sentence) I proudly proclaim:

YES! I have indeed learned my lesson!

I will never sell my drugs to a cop again!
Who was it wrote; Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up?
-Roger Waters

Offline Gilles

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Re: Alcohol, Crystal, Ecstasy, Food, Pot, Sex and HIV
« Reply #99 on: March 04, 2007, 10:56:03 am »
This poll is slightly misleading and would give innacurate results "I have used, abused or have an addiction to the following... "....

For example, I am sure that every single person have used "food" so I don't know why its even on the list.

Or maybe you have tried/used alcohol or cocaine once but this does not necessarily amount to abuse, so not sure what it tries to achieve.

« Last Edit: March 04, 2007, 12:01:03 pm by Mr.Scruff »

 


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