![]() However, most people who take poppers won't go to a counseling center because they don't see themselves as drugs users. Should drug counseling centers be offering more education about poppers? Their ignorance has no limit in these cases. There are patients who know the value of their HIV therapy, but don't know about the effect of the other drugs they're taking. Many in the scene don't care about thee matters anyways. It seems like a lot of users don't know about these symptoms. We can assume now that 30-50% of gay men in Berlin use poppers, so perhaps if the combination was as dangerous as we thought we would have seen a lot more deaths. This is because Viagra blocks an enzyme in the body, which is intensified the poppers. When taken in combination with Viagra, there can be a potential massive drop in blood pressure, leading to a heart attack. What are some others risks that can occur when taking poppers with other drugs? I've tried to establish a correlation but at this point I can't be sure that the medication creates a problem. There could be some cross-reactions that cause a different effect when taking poppers. I tried to set up a correlation between the two but the data is not clear enough that one could say: ' This drug combined with poppers causes this problem.' It's possible that some patients who are on antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection might be affected more than others. It's considered possible that these drugs can cause different effects of poppers. But they all are on well working antiretroviral therapies. Many of my patients we are talking about are older and HIV positive. I've been active in ophthalmology for 30 years and the composition of poppers have never changed as much as they have in the last six to eight years.Ĭould there be other co-factors causing the visual impairments when combined with poppers use? Poppers have existed for 50 years in medicine, mainly in the form of amyl nitrite. But there is no proof really that this is worse than others-only theories and speculations. I've seen the most cases of symptoms with people using the Jungle Juice brand. Nobody knows exactly what is in them.Īre there certain brands of poppers that are more dangerous than others? These new substances are produced in basement laboratories and are not certified according to government standards. If you're going to take them, you should try to not take the new substances that are not so insanely strong they'll make your lips and fingers turn blue. There are also about 50 different variations of poppers on the market now, all with very different compounds. If possible, you should just not take poppers, because I have seen periods of improvements with my patients who stop using. Also there are so few cases at the moment that there isn't a scientific study yet for us to use. There is no rational therapy for it yet because the mechanism for which it occurs has yet to be established. ![]() ![]() Medical questions relating to drugs and sex can often be understood in some way because they are able to bring upon a visible change in one's behavior. Nevertheless, it remains a relatively unknown disease among eye doctors.ĭo you think lack of awareness is causing greater risk then? Patients are becoming more attentive to the symptoms, so maybe more doctors are hearing about it and reporting it. The amount of cases has remained the same over the last four to five years. Would you say there are actually more cases than before? Reports of vision problems caused by consumption of poppers have increased recently. But I have had patients who can no longer work because they couldn't focus on their screen. There have been some individual cases, though it's rare. How exactly this happens we don't know yet. It probably has to do with a reaction in the metabolism of your photo receptors and the cells in your eyes that perceive light. In layman's term, how exactly can poppers harm your vision? Only about 10-20% of the cases had severe disabilities in their sight. Most people who came in only had a little bit of trouble with their vision. What was the severity of most of these cases like? Kaulen: I had the first cases around eight or nine years ago. Kaulen, when did your patients first describe problems with their vision after using poppers? Dr. The majority of the patients he treats are male. To learn more about the risks behind taking poppers, we contacted a Berlin-based doctor by the name of Peter Kaulen who currently works as an optometrist in the Licterfelde-West area of the city.
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