| Author | Subject: Smoking |
| Highness | Posted At 23:24:27 11/09/2001 I have been on dialysis since January 2001 and I'm 27 years old. I'm a smoker of ciggarettes and marijuana. I know that these are bad for my health, but how bad is it on my already failed kidneys? And out of the two which is the worst? I do plan on stopping because someone told me that I won't be able to have my name added to the transplant list if I'm smoking. Is that true?? Any comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!!! ~Highness~ |
| Beth Witten | Re: Smoking (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 10:57:55 11/12/2001 Today physicians recommend that anyone who smokes should stop to protect their bodies from the negative effects of chemicals. Smoking cigarettes has been linked to development of kidney disease and even kidney cancer. Smoking either cigarettes or marijuana places you at higher risk of several different kinds of cancer in addition to kidney, such as lung, head and neck cancer, respiratory infections, high blood pressure, stroke, and even changes in your immune system. There is evidence that supports that if you smoke both cigarettes and marijuana, your risk is increased. If you are interested in getting on a transplant list, you should know that many transplant programs will not transplant anyone who smokes either cigarettes or marijuana. You should ask the transplant coordinator at the facility that would perform a kidney transplant for you what lifestyle behaviors affect transplant candidacy. For more information about cigarettes and mortality: www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/health_consequences/mortali.htm For more information about the risks of smoking marijuana: www.nida.nih.gov. If you are interested in learning more about quitting smoking, you can find information from the Surgeon General at www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/default.htm. Good luck! |
| Highness | Re: Smoking (Currently 1 replies) Posted At 17:39:02 11/13/2001 Thank you for the suggested links. I'll check them out, i'll need all the help I can get. |
| Jeff | Re: Smoking (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 12:24:46 08/15/2002 Everyone knows that smoking cigarettes is very harmful, but there are some benefits from marijuana. First, don't over do it, it contains some things that you don't want in your body. Next, it's illegal!! and could keep you from getting transplanted or receiving certain benefits. On the other hand, it can make you not feel as sick and help you forget about your disease for a while. If you decide to try marijuana for medicinal purposes, be prepared to face being stereotyped as a stoner, so you'll have to keep it a secret. Try a small dose, @one-two puffs at first, wait for about fifteen minutes to measure your result, adjust dosage accordingly. They sell small pipes that will only hold one-two puffs about 1/10 gram. Try that about once or twice a day. It's not too much, but enough to help. |
| Beth Witten | Re: Smoking (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 11:53:42 08/20/2002 Like Jeff points out, cigarette smoking is potentially harmful. Research has shown that marijuana smoking is potentially harmful as well. As Jeff points out, smoking marijuana can restrict a patient's access to transplant, and can lead to legal problems that can limit options for employment and even cause a user to be incarcerated. Although you can try to keep marijuana use a secret, blood and urine tests can show if you're using. Jeff suggests that you can use marijuana to help you forget your disease. However, choosing to avoid coping with your illness by using marijuana or other recreational drugs can be counterproductive. Instead of dropping out, learn what you can so you can take an active role in your treatment, stay as strong and healthy as possible, and keep active and involved in your family, community, and in life. Doing so will help you control depression that people can experience when they have any chronic illness. Life Options has developed an interactive educational web site called Kidney School (www.kidneyschool.org) to help people seek answers to questions, maintain a positive attitude, and take action to participate in care and decisions around care. One of the Kidney School modules addresses depression and provides tips we hope will be help people deal more positively with kidney disease. |
| MIssy | Re: Smoking (Currently 0 replies) Posted At 14:41:03 10/21/2002 LIsten you need to stop your kindey is getting bad the more you smoke marijuana and smoking cirgreats. So just try to stop maybe there is hope for you!!!! |