flying high

[stratosphere]

Hey guys,  just wanted to say hello there and thanks for a great site!  I am an occasional lurker here and fairly new to this disease,  having been diagnosed just over 2 years ago.  I have been on meds,  sustiva and truvada for a little over a year and i have good numbers and overall good health.

I do have a couple of questions,  both of which i have discussed with my ID but would like opinions from you all who have lived with this for some time.

First questions are regarding the meds,  without going into too much detail i have trouble swallowing the meds.  What works for me is to sort of crunch them up a bit before swallowing the pieces.  Does anyone else do this or have any similar suggestions.  For some psychological reason i cannot swallow something unless i have tricked my mind into thinking i have chewed it.  The meds really do the trick though,  my numbers are pretty good and they started to work almost immediately.

I should add that i take my meds religiously at 8PM every night,  never have missed a dose!  Nice dreams though. 

Keeping that in mind,  i also have a rewarding but stressful job.  Probably once or twice a month i will go out with friends and have a few drinks.  This is a great stress-reliever,  to sort of "wash away the work"  or whatever.  Usually i do this a couple of hours after the meds are taken,  and when i say "a few drinks i do mean quite a few".  This being the holiday season i find myself wondering if i should even be drinking at all.  I know one of my meds says not to have more than 3 drinks per day,  which i don't drink on a daily basis period except for as stated before once or twice a month.  Its just that when i do drink i can tell you i have a heck of a lot more than "3 drinks".  I will leave it there...I'm talking beer though not the hard stuff.  No drugs,  nothing like that either.

I guess what I'm getting at is how would you all say this will affect my liver?  Given that i do exceed the recommended limit occasionally and i do not swallow my meds whole but slightly broken down?  My doc has said that this really shouldn't be a problem,  though of course he discourages "excessive drinking" and encourages clean living.  My labs are good as stated before and my liver is fine so far.

I greatly appreciate your input and i must say i have learned a lot from this site from all of the reading i have done thus far.

Cheers

[gvolts5]

How strange that I'm the first to reply.  I guess everyone is busy with holiday activities.

We can't crush some meds to take them, it ruins the way they work and could lead to highly problematic results.  Someone else can explain in more detail.

Liquor does cause physiological and psychological harm in some cases.  I'd look into it.

John

[Tucsonwoody]

Hello Strato - good to hear your numbers are pretty good now.

As I am even much newer to the positive life then you I am not sure I have the answers to your questions, but just this last week during a visit with my ID doctor I asked about drinking over the holidays - she said that it's okay for me to have 1 or 2 glasses of wine, beer or shots with no problem.  I am taking Atripla and a few other things though so of course she may have given me that amount as safe due to the other meds as well.

As for taking the pills, I know some pills are supposed to be taken whole and not broken up, but haven't looked yours up to know if chewing them is a problem or not - since they seem to be working without major problems - guess not, but maybe if they are not supposed to broken up they would work even better?

During a recent stay in the hospital I had to take pills on a regular basis for the first time in my life.  I thought the best way was to kinda toss my head back as I swallowed to help them go down, but one of the nurses said that I should try looking towards the floor a little bit while I swallowed and for me at least, that made it a lot easier.  And with the large size of some of these pills - every little thing that makes them easier to take helps.

Here is a link to the Columbia University website with some suggestions that might help you - I just looked at it myself and noticed that one of the recommendations is the one about looking down - so good to know.  http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1985.html

Anyway - hope you find a solution that works best for you....at least until they put all these meds on patches!

Kevin

[stratosphere]

I thank you both for your replies,  and the link.

When i first mentioned to my ID about my fear of swallowing he suggested i meet with a counselor,  then he talked with the pill rep and they actually told him it would be okay to do as I'm doing.  I'm not so sure what that means for long term since he may have figured i would eventually overcome my fears.  I may,  but haven't yet.  I have always had this fear of swallowing pills and tried to go the chewable route on everything from daily vitamins to whatever else.  I know i sort of feel guilty even talking about this since i only take 2 pills a day and some people take 30.  While in the military,  basic training to be exact,  i almost choked to death while trying to eat a meal in the typical 5 minutes they allowed us to eat.  For that reason to this day I'm a slow eater and also i don't eat in military chow halls.  LOL.  I guess you could say thats a bit more than a typical "gag reflex",  more psychological. 

Anyway thanks for your help.  I will bring this up to my doc again next visit to see what he thinks.  They do seem to be working great and my ID has been ecstatic about that so i hope we aren't overlooking anything in the meantime.

[Tucsonwoody]

Hey Strato - it's me again

The geek in me wouldn't leave me alone till I looked up your meds to see if there were any warning against chewing them - and after taking a look at a couple of sites - didn't see any warnings against that.

But as always - check with your doctor like you intend to do and keep those numbers getting better and better!

Kevin

[stratosphere]

Hey Strato - it's me again

The geek in me wouldn't leave me alone till I looked up your meds to see if there were any warning against chewing them - and after taking a look at a couple of sites - didn't see any warnings against that.

But as always - check with your doctor like you intend to do and keep those numbers getting better and better!

Kevin

Thank you,  oddly enough i hadn't been to their website before until tonight,  just read various literature.  But after reading your earlier reply i decided too and didn't see any specific warnings either. 

I'm going to bring it up again next month at my checkup.  You know as much as i hate needles if they ever came up with a way to inject this stuff i would rather do that than have to swallow pills,  but then again if they ever got that far advanced with the medicine the entire landscape of treatment would be changed and we might be looking at vaccines instead of regimens.

Take care!   

[Eldon]

Yes, I AM Supporting You!

Hey Stratosphere...

You seem to have it all worked out over there in your neck of the woods. Yes, it is unfortunate that HIV is part of this. However, it is how you approach it and that is what matters the most.

In my own way, I wish to extend to you a WARM WELCOME here at the AM forums. Here you will find the encouragement, acceptance, communication, understanding, support, some cries, some laughter, and many of your questions relating to HIV/AIDS answered.

Truly, it is a diffcult health situation to accept. However, it is strongly recommended that you Deal rather than Dwell on what has occurred. This will help tremendously to cope with what has occurred with your health.

The Handshake Of Reassurance

We have a great group of Real People who will listen as well as answer you. We are here to Encourage, Learn, and HELP one another as we all walk on our journey in this life.

With the consideration of implementing a Positive Mental Attitude, it will also assist you on your journey in this life as well as having a Positive Impact on your immune system and your overall health.

In fact, through your Positive Mental Attitude, it will HELP you to push forward through ALL of the obstacles on your path that you are now walking on.

Talking and sharing our experiences with other people helps us see that we are not the only ones with problems. Feel free to come and vent with whatever is on your mind from time-to-time and to interact with the other members.

Often the act of writing and the ability to “SEE” your feelings leads to therapeutic insights and solutions..

In the interim, you may want to start taking a multi-vitamin, and some Omega 3, because it is all up to YOU where YOU want to be.

Exercise at least three times per week for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, as this will do you good to help keep that unnecessary stress away.

"Don't You Dare Give Up, Don't You Dare Give In... Because It Is ALL Within YOU To WIN!"

[poet]

Hi and welcome.  As for crunching or crushing or otherwise affecting the protective coat on the meds. as posted and from my mental health training, you should/can only do it with your hcp/pharmacist's ok.  The drugs are designed with a coating, in a capsule, etc. so that they break down at a certain point.  Try the options already posted.  You can ask him/her about using applesauce to put them in as well.  There was an earlier thread about alcohol and meds.  In brief, your liver will tell you if it is not happy with your drinking (in my experience).  Everything, drugs, beer, get processed by it.  Try to get labs each time to pinpoint whether anything is showing numbers of concern.  Best, Win

[marco23]

Since everything's okay...don't worry!
Keep flying high!

[Oceanbeach]

Hi Strat,

When I started meds, ten years ago,  I was taking 30 pills every day.  From this experience, I have developed a dislike for water.  I am only taking 4 pills day now.  Sustiva, Viread, and Trizivir (2).  On a bad night, I can add a 5 mg Requip for RLS relief.  I always do this without liquid. 

I was in a relationship a while back, we went out every Friday and Saturday, plus a lot of parties.  I drank a lot during those years and suddenly stopped after I changed addresses.  Through all of it and currently, I have maintained an average of 500 T-cells, non-detectablr VL.  I don't think the adult beverages affected my numbers that much.

I'm sorry but, did you say you were on Sustiva?  That is a "can make you drowsy" pill, I take a 500 mg at bedtime.  It was part of my afternoon routine but ID doc said to switch back to nightime,  I hoped to stop the weird dreams so I was taking mine at Noon.   When I am drinking Scotch, I usually have a water back/rocks.  Have the best day
Michael 

[Oceanbeach]

When I was put on Lipitor for Cholesterol, there was a warning about grapefruit from the doctor and on the bottles.  Don't remember the details but it was serious and I think warned of death?  I do not drink "Salty Dogs".  Have the best day
Michael

[stratosphere]

Eldon,  i just wanted to follow up your reply.  I don't know what Omega 3 is?  I do take a name brand Multi-vitamin daily + an extra vitamin C.  Right now i do work out 3 times per week with weights and i walk at least a mile per day.  The exercise and work out is an addiction in itself.  In addition to all of the healthy beneits i also wish to stay fit for my younger,  better half. 

Poet,  i hear you on the labs.  I don't have specifics but every lab thus far my doc has said the liver enzymes were fine.  He knows i drink (beer only) once in a while.  I didn't sugarcoat it either,  i told him i have been known to close bars before even though i rarely do that.  And "oh BTW doc when i drink i also might have a smoke"....that's when i got the stern lecture of "clean living" etc.  But i know he is right.  Perhaps i should limit my intake more. 

I have always heard good smart people say its better to leave wanting more than to overstay your welcome.  I suppose that could be applied toward watering holes as well.  My body would surely agree the next day.

Sonoma-  yes I'm on the sustiva & truvada regimen,  taken both in the evening at 8pm sharp.  I love the dreams,  more vivid than real life at times.  Sometimes i wake up in the morning and reality is less realistic than the dream i was just having.  I try to wake up again even though I'm awake.  Weird.  I'm glad your numbers are good and your down to much fewer pills now.

Take care and Bless you all.