As World AIDS Day looms on 1 December, some of the UK’s top HIV experts talk about a range of issues close to home. Ian Thomas, publisher of Positive Nation magazine and himself positive, explains how it is all too easy to end up swapping an E for HIV and other pills you might not really want!

My boast used to be that I could do five Es on a Friday followed by seven on a Saturday and a half on a Sunday, washed down with a couple of valium - to come down nicely.

Do I miss it now I’m hovering around forty? Well, the honest answer is 'Yes - sometimes!' But do I miss the mid-week emotional rollercoaster? The threat of sexually transmitted infections and the panic waiting for my next clinic results? Definitely not!

Unfortunately, the problem with a lot of Class A drugs, like a bellyful of booze, is that they can turn the most respectable and straight-laced man into a wanton, sex-crazed nympho!

Going out and getting off your head every weekend with a thousand other gay men dancing and cruising around the bar in the same state may seem like fun. But when you pick up the 'man of your dreams' and are lying there with him, out of your head, how safe is your sex?

I’ve never met a gay man yet who has admitted to having unsafe sex. I never knowingly did. However, I am - along with an ever-increasing number of gay men - HIV+.

There are fairly obvious sexual health implications when you are having so much sex with so many people. There’s a demonstrable correlation between having higher numbers of sexual partners and a greater likelihood of contracting HIV and other STIs.

Logically, the more people you have sex with, the chances are one of them will have an infection. And it doesn’t take the mind of Einstein to work out that, if you have unprotected sex, there’s an increased risk of exposure to those infections.

Likewise, if you already have an STI or HIV and are having sex with many men, the greater chance you will pass on that infection - particularly if you’re driven to having riskier types of sex, perhaps under the influence of drink or drugs. And you may even pick up some extra infections yourself, whilst you’re at it, for good measure!

I’m not saying don’t do drink and drugs and I’m not saying cut the fun! But take it from me (an old-ish hand) that the pills I have to take now - at the same time, everyday, for the rest of my life - aren’t half as much fun as my Es appeared to be on a Friday or Saturday night.

Positive Nation is the national HIV and sexual health mag. Find out more at www.positivenation.co.uk.

World AIDS Day: 1 December
For more about World AIDS Day and HIV/AIDS, plus awareness and fundraising events in your area visit www.worldaidsday.org.

Useful Links

AIDS Map, www.aidsmap.com
Crusaid, www.crusaid.org.uk
GMFA, www.gmfa.org.uk
HIV i-Base, www.i-base.info
HIV Scotland, www.hivscotland.org.uk
Living Well, www.livingwelluk.com
National AIDS Trust, www.nat.org.uk
Positively Women, www.positivelywomen.org.uk
Stop AIDS Campaign, www.stopaidscampaign.org.uk
Terrence Higgins Trust, www.tht.org.uk
THT: HIV and AIDS, www.tht.org.uk/informationresources/hivandaids
World AIDS Day, www.worldaidsday.org