2 minute read
Cigarettes, alcohol and drugs
When you’re a teenager you may well come across cigarettes, alcohol and drugs for the first time. Be careful as they can be very harmful to your health and wellbeing.
Not only is it illegal to smoke under 16, to drink under 18 and to take illegal drugs at any age, it is also extremely damaging to your health, and may make your arthritis much worse. Don’t be afraid to say no, and stand up for yourself and your health! However, if you are using any of these substances it is extremely important that you tell your transition team in confidence. They need to know so they can best treat your JIA.
Smoking can cause loads of major health problems including cancer, heart disease and infertility. Two recent studies from Sweden have also found that smoking is a major risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis and may prevent TNF inhibitors, which are used to treat the disease, from working effectively. If you do smoke the sooner you give up the easier it will be. There is lots of help out there to quit. For more information on the thousands of chemicals found in cigarettes, the effects of smoking and help on quitting, visit www.quit.ie
Smoking
We have a big drinking culture in Ireland but this doesn’t stop it from being really bad for our health. Alcohol can damage your brain, heart, stomach, reproductive organs and nerves, and lead us to partake in inappropriate or risky behaviour. Alcohol makes your liver more sensitive to the effect of methotrexate and there is a danger of damaging your liver if you drink too much alcohol while on methotrexate. Your doctor or nurse may advise no alcohol at all but, in reality, many young people do drink alcohol without apparent side-effects to their liver. A sensible compromise is a maximum of 4 units per week. A unit is half a pint of ‘ordinary’ strength lager, cider or beer, or a single measure of 35ml of spirits, but the units vary a lot between different alcoholic drinks, so ask your nurse or doctor for advice. Don’t binge drink, it is not wise to drink all 4 units at one time within the week, pace yourself. Remember less alcohol is more money, energy and control.
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Drugs are addictive and can kill you. The drugs prescribed by your doctor are used to treat your disease, they have been fully tested and are taken in the correct doses. But illegal drugs (or the ‘legal highs’ that could be found in ‘head shops’) are not regulated. They can contain all manner of dangerous substances from rat poison in ecstasy to ground glass in marijuana. In fact, many of these drugs are so new that we don’t know yet what effect they will have on people in the long term. Like alcohol, using illegal drugs can lead us to partake in inappropriate or risky behaviour, which inevitably cause us harm. For more information on using cigarettes, alcohol and drugs check out spunout.ie or
drugs.ie
You can harm yourself by misusing drugs.
