Risky sex and injection practices

There also appears to be an interaction between adopting risky sexual behaviours and engaging in risky injection behaviours. More often than not, once an IDU couple has adopted unsafe sexual practices the partners are more likely to share injection equipment because this behaviour is perceived to be of a similar magnitude of risk or because it is already too late
Sharing injection equipment is far riskier than engaging in unsafe sex in terms of contracting hepatitis C virus

You May Have Problems Managing Sex, Drugs and Alcohol If You Haveâ?¦

Had regrets about sex â??the morning afterâ?? because you drank or used drugs â??the night beforeâ??
Suspected you might be pregnant â?? or actually became pregnant because drugs or alcohol made you careless about contraception
Become sexually involved with people you would not choose as partners if you had not been drinking or using drugs
Been unable to remember what happened â??the night beforeâ??
Been unable to perform sexually or to enjoy sex after drinking or using drugs

People Can Leave Behind a High Risk Life Style

Continue with alcohol and drug treatment and build your relapse prevention plan
Ensure you and your sexual partner get a full screen for STDs
Get knowledgeable about STD transmission
Get knowledgeable about the forms of protection and their limitations

Stopping Using and Sex

Stopping using can be a confusing time for sexual relationships
Sexual desires can return very strongly
You can mistake return of sexual feelings and desire for love or relationship intimacy
You can suddenly think â??this is the person for youâ??
The new partner or yourself can have sexually transmitted diseases that are not showing symptoms
Or the reverse, you may realize you have to address your feelings and sex history before being able to engage in sexual relations now that your feelings and emotions are no longer numbed by drugs or alcohol

Guidelines For Safer Sex

Use of either alcohol or drugs can impair your decision-making ability and make you very vulnerable to acquiring a sexually transmitted infection
Some people only feel comfortable in social situations if they are using alcohol or drugs
Others cloud their judgment by drinking or using drugs and end up doing things they would not have done if they were not intoxicated

You must decide when itâ??s right for you to have sex and not allow yourself to be pressured by a partner or peers or media
Abstinence is recommended when one or both partners are being treated for sexually transmitted infection

Testing for sexually transmitted infections will allow both you and your partner to know if either one of you is infected with STDs and to deal with it before you become intimate

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 11th, 2005 at 11:58 am and is filed under Drug Addiction, Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.