Sex on drugs can enhance or deflate your chances of a sexy encounter. Drugs can increase sexual desire in your mind and body, or simply make it easier to overcome that initial nervousness.
If you've had risky, unsafe or unsatisfying sex on drugs, don't bury your head in the sand. We may shrug our shoulders or feel guilty, but neither is likely to help us think it through for next time, and both can end up an excuse. Note which drugs turn you on or off. The key to safety is to reduce the risk. Learn how drugs affect how you feel sexually, and adjust accordingly.
Stop and think. Ask yourself how your body feels. Is the buzz from lust or drugs? Don't forget to check out your partner's feelings.
Whether you're fucking, fingering, fisting or sucking, in SM play or outdoors frolics, lesbian, gay, straight and bisexual, experimenting with new friends or with your regular lover - the rules still apply:
Always carry your own condoms, lube, gloves, dams, etc. You cannot rely on the venue to have an everlasting stock. Sexual safety is a must, whatever your HIV status is. Safer sex also protects against sexually transmitted infections.
If you are tripping or very stoned then although sex may seem like a pleasant prospect, the reality can be a mixture of confusion and doubt. Never allow yourself to be pushed into situations in which you feel uncomfortable. If you feel tired or unsure, then say so and ask to stop.
Recreational drug use will dehydrate your body. This can result in a lack of natural lubrication. Whether you are having lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual sex, genital friction burns still hurt, so remember to use more lube!
Respect those choosing to be drug free - our drug use is our own choice.
Recovery
Recovering from excessive drink, drugs, sex and parties can prove to be a miserable let-down. Reality and daylight bring headache, come-down and the slow realisation that you've blown, snorted and swallowed next month's wages in the name of pleasure. The handy hints below will help you survive this cruel twist of fate, and provide your face with a smile:
Drink non-alcoholic fluids and eat something nutritious before you go to sleep. By doing this you will help your body regain some of the energy it has lost.
Natural sleep is the only sleep that is going to give your body the rest it needs. Taking sleeping tablets or downers such as Temazepam, Valium or Rohypnol will only leave your body more stacked with drugs than is necessary.
Drugs, especially when mixed, will exhaust your brain so avoid any emotional stress (especially discussions about relationships and household bills - these subjects, and others, can wait until your nerves are less ragged). This is important as your brain is the centre of your come-down, and will appreciate the rest.
The half that was left over (the clubber's equivalent of the hair of the dog) may initially stop that sinking feeling, but it's only putting off the inevitable. As Cinderella found out, parties cannot last forever, and sooner or later you will have to come down. By taking more drugs or alcohol you are only going to make the eventual comedown worse.
Bananas and chocolate are reckoned by some to be good as brain food, if you have been taking E.
Mind and Body
It doesn't matter whether you are a new, an occasional or an accustomed drug user. If you take them, to get the best out of your party, you need to take care of your mind and body before, during and after using drugs.
The large amount of energy that your body needs to survive the long hours on the dancefloor ultimately comes from you and not the drugs or alcohol you have taken.
A good rest before you go out will boost your energy levels. Try and keep to a balanced diet.
Work out your own personal intake before you go out - and stick to it. By doing this you will retain control over the evening, your health and your wallet. Don't push yourself, or others. One more may be too much.
If you are depressed, fed up or generally under the weather due to illness or flu, it is probably not a good idea to make your situation worse by taking drugs. An additional comedown and/or hangover will not make things any better.
Drink non-alcoholic fluids to flush the toxins from your liver.
Hepatitis A, B and C all impair liver function and will interfere with combination therapies. These are serious illnesses! Don't share snorting tubes and/or injecting materials. Hep A & B can be sexually transmitted (including by rimming) so you can protect yourself by practising safer sex. Vaccines are available for both A and B - as yet Hep C has no vaccine, so protect yourself from all blood to blood contact.
When injecting steroids and other injectables, like speed or heroin, the rule is: one user - one needle - one works.
Posithiv Wisdom
When partying, take your HIV medication with you. Proof of prescription should ease any problems with doorstaff. It is easy to forget time when you are off your face or pissed, so note the time that you'll need your medication, and arrange a meeting/chill out break with friends.
If you are HIV positive, your body already has increased food needs. Drugs often destroy more than usual amounts of nutrients. You can boost your recovery with a variety of tried and tested nutritional and mineral boosters, the most basic is chewable vitamin C. If you wish to take supplements, take them with food, not instead of. Complementary medicines also offer an effective boost to health.
There are some known possible ineractions between recreational and HIV/AIDS treatment drugs. With these, liver and kidney health is the key. Here are a few:
RITONAVIR is known to have possible interactions, which may cause an increase in the strength of Amphetamines, Ecstasy, Methadone, Rohypnol and Anabolic Steroids. Valium (Diazepam) is thought to dangerously increase in strength, so it's probably best to avoid it. With Ritonavir, Heroin and Temazepam's stength is reduced Ð so if you don't get the hit you require, increase your dose gradually.
INDINAVIR is known to cause kidney stones. Any dehydrating drug will only aggrevate this situation.
If on protease treatments (especially Ritonavir), avoid speed and E for the first six weeks after starting treatment. Then reduce your recreational drug dose by half, less if using Ecstasy (no more than half an E to start) or speed.
If starting new medication, try to avoid/or cut down stimulants and alcohol Ð wait and see how your body adjusts.
Let your doctor know of your recreational use. If you are on protease inhibitors/other medications, and you feel that you cannot avoid drugs, don't break your treatment for fear of interactions. There is simply no substitute for a sound knowledge of how drugs work on your body and always practising harm reduction to avoid potential side-effects.
For more information, contact: National Drugs Helpline 0800 776600 or National AIDS Helpline 0800 567 123.