can a person with aids drink alchole while taking the aids coctail meds?!
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From: http://alcoholism.about.com/library/blnaa57.htm?iam=metaresults&terms=hiv
Alcohol and the Immune System
Alcohol can impair normal immune responses that protect the body from disease (6,7,8). Chronic alcohol consumption has been shown to reduce the number of infection-fighting white blood cells in laboratory animals (9,10,11) and in humans (12,13). Chronic alcohol ingestion or alcohol dependence can depress antibody production and other immune responses in animals (10,9) and in humans (14,15). Alcohol can suppress activities of certain immune system cells, called macrophages, that help keep the lungs free from infection (16,17). In addition, alcoholics appear to be more susceptible to bacterial infections and cancer than are nonalcoholics (18,19). Studies in animals and in humans indicate that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can decrease immune resistance in the offspring (20,21,22).
Alcohol's generally immunosuppressive effects could mean that 1) drinking may increase vulnerability to HIV infection among people exposed to the virus, and that 2) among people who are already HIV infected, alcohol-induced immunosuppression might add to HIV-induced immunosuppression, and speed the onset or exacerbate the pathology of AIDS-related illness. These are complex ideas and areas of intense investigation, but so far only a few studies have been published. Researchers have learned that alcohol can impair white blood cell responses to HIV (23). A provocative study that warrants replication found that a single drinking episode depressed certain immune responses of white blood cells taken from healthy volunteers (24). In addition, white blood cells isolated after this drinking episode were more susceptible to HIV infection than were cells isolated from subjects who did not drink, hinting that even occasional alcohol consumption may increase the likelihood of infection upon exposure to HIV. Whether alcohol use influences the progression of AIDS in persons already infected with HIV has bee n explored in a recent study of homosexual men (25). While these researchers found that neither alcohol nor other drugs seem to influence the progression of HIV infection or the development of AIDS, their results await confirmation. Clearly, more research is needed to understand alcohol's role in HIV infection and the course of ensuing disease.
Also see this site:
http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa57.htm
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I don't think that would be appropriate. Remember you shouldn't combine medications with alcohol. Alcohol wouldn't be good if it makes it hard for you to adhere to your hiv treatment regimen. Also, liver problems are some of the side effects of the hiv treatment and alcohol isn't exactly your liver's best friend.
Take care.
Were you listening? I would think your doctor would have explained all of that to you before starting U on the cocktail regime.
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