Partying post medication

Someone brought up an interesting topic the other day on my twitter account @sgpozsterboy. He asked what were some of the changes or things to look out for after starting meds.

Prior to starting meds, I was preparing myself mentally to let go a lot of my late night partying and drinking. My closest friends will recall numerous "MY LAST PARTY" I organised as D-Day approached. Then I discovered that actually there were few drug interactions with my medication. That being said, I still felt the need to take care of my liver and kidneys because I need them to work for me for as long as possible. You may not know, while people do not die from AIDS anymore, people do die from other possible side effects like hepatic (liver) toxicity or renal (kidney) toxicity from the medication.

So here's what I always do. I take my medication either 4 hours before midnight or at most 4 hours after midnight. (Midnight being the time I always take my medication). The idea is to maintain the serum concentration in the blood to surpress the virus. There is no empirical data to support why I chose 4 hours but I reckoned that since the recommendation if you missed a dose is to take the dose immediately OR to skip the dose if the timing is near to the next dose already, then serum concentration would not have dropped to drastically to the virus to return.

I also watch the amount of things I take it while partying. No longer do I go on binges and endless amount of alcohol. Partly also because I do not want to return home and miss my dose of medication. Worse still, having my precious liver work on with the alcohol and medication at the same time.

As life changed much after medication? I feel that it has definitely taken a turn for the better. I am no longer tired like I always was before. Mentally I feel more optimistic and while partying, I feel more in control. Thankfully I have a small group of friends whom I club with regularly. They watch out for me and warn me if I'm going overboard with the drinks (which can be quite a damper sometimes).