They are the ones that can envelop and conform to the phenomenal phenomenon of the parties chemsex. The exterior capa, which we have intermittent sex and drug sessions, is a tantrum that eclipses the root of the problem and corrects the quicksand of the surface. However, we do not know much about it, we will find a set of factors – from the VIH’s stigma to internal homophobia – that explain why this practice has turned into a public health problem.
The term, of British origin, surge of the union between the words chem y sex, es decir, drogas y sexo. Nothing new is being said that, since classical Greece, references are made to the use of psychoactive substances in a sexual context. Pero el chemsex has a characteristic consumption pattern, both in the type of sustainability as in the profile of users and in the development of sexual encounters, which the winner practices risks that favor a mayor transmission probability of VIH and other infections (infections ITS), as it is a different problem than psychoemocionales ya complicaciones para la salud. Methanefetamines, mephedrone, poppers o GHB / GBL are the most consumed in the chemsex, but also ecstasy, ketamine or cocaine, all potentiators of the inhibition and which reduce the perception of risk.
The profile of users, mainly gay men, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men (grouped together with the GBO signs), is especially vulnerable to the risks and days associated with their practice. Another factor that adds to the problem is the proliferation of mobile applications that are used to search for sexual partners in order to prevent them from going viral as they conduct themselves. All of them are in one type of sexual feast – in a habitual group, but also in threes, in pairs… – which can be prolonged during days and in which they easily deviate from what is associated with the prevention and follow-up of the hello.
Deepen the cliché more
The experts have a challenge to disproportionate proportions. ‘I know that he chemsex is predominantly urban, most frequent in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in popular tourist destinations between the gays like Torremolinos, Sitges, Ibiza or Valencia “, explains Jorge Garrido, director of Apoyo Positivo, association dedicated to the promotion and assistance of the salud y muy centrada en VIH y otras ITS. But it is very difficult to converge its magnitude because it moves in the clandestine circuits of illegal and in the opacity of applications with geolocation. To get an approximation no where else to draw inquiries. The most recent, EMIS-2017 (European survey online among men who have sex with men, and in which 10,652 residents in Spain participate) reveals that, of those who have had sexual relations in the previous 12 months, 14.1% have practiced chemsex in this period, and the 7.6% in the last four weeks. The bag is lifted in some subgroups, like the men with VIH or the women covering or paying for sex change.
Is the photograph of a cliché. But our radiography has so many visible causes as invisible signs of the phenomenon. “Applications proportionate intermediates, availability and accessibility to drugs and paraphernalia, but are not the cause,” Garrido points out. Fueron the associations, recuerda, las primeras en darse cuenta del vira que estaban experimentas las juergas de sexo og drug. “While we are living with the sexual consumption of these substances, which are punctual, end up being converted into a culture of the ocean, and will be permeable within the gay, bisexual and gay men who have sex with men, which is expanding ”.
“We detect a significantly higher number of patients with a history of abuse, accusing them of their orientation or sexual identity,” explained Jorge Garrido of Positive Support
There are times when there has been an emotional and mental health problem. “We call it attention that is not treated, in principle, of conflicting profiles: eran youths of median age, between 30 and 40 years, with a level of study… No eran groups at risk of social exclusion”, Garrido details. It is worth noting that the levy is on the rise in this spiral of self-destructive consumption: “To make a deeper intervention, we detect a poor emotional management. We find a significantly significant number of patients with a history of abuse, such as their orientation or sexual identity ”. And it also appears the phobias: “We live a toxic masculinity, consequence of the cual we encounter in the proposals GBO an homophobia internal y, in the infected by VIH, a latent serophobia. Hooi traumas no management, a no acceptance of sexuality. If the culture of recovery is restored, then what can appear feminine, is considered the plume ”.
No prevention or protection
Habla Garrido de autodestrucción. As a specialist in infectious diseases, Dr. Pablo Ryan, from the University of Infant Leonor Hospital (Madrid), has a diary of the clinical consequences of chemsex. “Every time we meet ITS and ETS, all of them are subject to reduced perception of risk. Drugs and a sensation of euphoria and invulnerability ”. At the same time, as a whole, there is a paradox that VIH infection control that promotes antiretroviral treatments has provided a precautionary measure: “Treatments work very well and patients do not transmit them; in addition, the users of chemsex que no tienen VIH tienen a su disposition of the PrEP (prophylaxis pre-exposition), so that you know that you are not going to infect. Asia, it reduces prevention and protection, and the preservative practically does not work ”, says Ryan uit. The consequence is a huge increase in other sexually transmitted diseases, such as gonorrhea and syphilis. “Tampoco helps some of these drugs to be consumed through parenteral [es decir, no digestiva, como puede ser la intravenosa]. It’s called slamsex, which favors the transmission of infections more ”, added.
Following in the specific context of VIH, there exists in the medical community a special pre-trial in this way in which some antiretroviral treatment agents can interact with certain drugs used in the chemsex. The information is limited – logically, there are no clinical clinics for patients such as antiretroviral agents and drugs – but it is known that some antiretroviral agents modify the form in which the drugs are metabolized, which can provoke an increase in their toxicity. Asimismo, from the GTT (ONGD dedicated to elaborating information on VIH treatment and the side from the community perspective) advierten: VIH infection. Y, if a drug or substance increases the concentrations of a drug of the VIH, it could increase the risk of developing secondary effects associated with pharmacy ”.
Además, las drogas, en particular en el ambito del chemsex, can have a negative influence on adherence to antiretroviral therapy. This adherence loss, according to the study Clinical impact of ‘chemsex’ in people with VIH, can be produced by distinct motives: by an abnormal perception of the importance of the drug; by an alteration of the patron saint; due to the impossibility of engaging in tener problems with mastication and delusion, or because some antiretroviral drugs need to be taken with comedy and these drugs can reduce appetite. The most powerful impact has been achieved by very intensive consumers, which could increase the frequency of tomato loss and, therefore, compromise the efficiency of treatment.
Pero the clinical consequences, coincide with the experts, of more all and envuelven especially the sphere of mental health. “Many of these people are part of a vulnerability prevalent that they are most likely to have a problematic consumption with these drugs”, explains doctor Ryan, and Jorge Garrido the corrobora: “The chemsex has been associated with sleep deprivation, suicides, addictions, mental health problems, sexual aggression … But it has had a negative impact on professional and effective social life ”. Following EMIS-2017, 5.9% of participants present a degree of severity and / or depression and 21.4% have suicidal ideation and some moment during the last weeks of the survey.
A data reduction strategy
The truck does not have to deal with a public health problem. This is what he meant for the cities of Madrid and Barcelona, which included the chemsex within its municipal plans of additions. “All of them are involved,” advised Dr. Ryan. “Medicines should be proactive and promote our patients’ use of drugs. And we can say that the drug is bad, that we do not have it, we want to have a strategy to reduce death; within this strategy, in which we advise to prevent ITS from avoiding the loss of control, we ensure that we do not use it in vain, because we have seen that there are major psychopathological symptoms, such as paranoia, suicidal ideation or psychosis.
Jorge Garrido, from Poyo Positivo, concluded: “I see what is happening with the sexual consumption of more substances by the GBO collective. See how we manage our sexuality and our erotica, how we relate emotionally. It is the assignment of the teacher ”.