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Ask the Experts about General Treatment Strategies
Tagamet for Warts & Crix for HIV
May 26, 1998
I guess where I'm from, there's not much known about Tagamet for anal warts (yeah, the stomach acid stuff) except that it's been known to help some people with "warts". My infectious disease doctor asked a dermatologist about it and prescribed for me 150mg (1 a day). I can get 200mg over the counter. I had read that some have been prescribed 800mg per day and effectively got rid of the symptoms of "warts". In my disappointment, I took it upon myself to take 800mg a day (two 200mg doses a day)...as a last resort because I've already tried about everything else including surgery) to clear this up. Since I also take Crixivan, will Tagamet screw things up? Is this a stupid thing to do?
Response from Dr. Cohen
You are right - there is a little information from years ago to suggest that Tagamet could help control warts. The studies were done as I understand it mainly in kids, and were certainly not done in persons who also had HIV infection. And there are mixed reports of success - but at least some of the time it appears to work. So it is safe. And there should be no important interaction between Crixivan and tagamet - the latter does decrease stomach acid. And while crixivan needs a relatively empty stomach for absorption, there is no known problem with absorption in people who take any of the stomach acid meds. Food is the problem for that drug - not stomach acid.
But there are some newer options for warts, other than controlling HIV itself. The newest is a cream called imiquimod - or Aldara. It has been approved for use in persons with anal warts - and we have been using it with successful results. You don't mention what else you have tried, but hopefully that is one option that you have not yet tried and maybe it'll help...
good luck.
CC
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