Drugs, Alcohol and Substance Misuse
Drugs and alcohol make managing your health difficult
There are many factors that can compromise the cardiovascular system, one of them being substance misuse, which includes both drugs and alcohol.
How drugs affect the heart
Illegal drugs and so-called ‘Legal Highs’ can have dangerous effects on your heart and body. If you’re on medication, drugs can interact with these and cause damage. Here are just a few of the problems you may have from common drug groups.
Drugs that cause the effect |
Effects on the heart |
|
Increased heart rate and blood pressure causing irregular heartbeats, heart attacks and strokes |
|---|---|
|
Reduced heart rate and blood pressure, slowing your breathing and possibly stopping your heart |
|
Pulmonary oedema (when fluid flows back into your lungs causing extreme shortness of breath) |
|
Endocarditis (a life-threatening heart condition caused by injecting drugs) |
|
Increased risk of irregular heart beats and black-outs |
|
Increased risk of heart disease |
Legal highs can also cause many of the effects described above. Just because they’re not illegal doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous. All drugs have many other side effects and affect everybody differently.
Tackling a drug or alcohol problem
Using alcohol or drugs can sometimes be used as a way of coping, but this can be harmful and more damaging in the long run. If you or someone you know is having problems with alcohol or drugs, getting help and information is the first step to making changes.
Discuss your medication and your alcohol/drug problem with a healthcare professional. They can review your medicine and offer advice.
Taking small steps towards cutting down may be best for you, and there’s lots of online advice that covers ways to do that. So if you feel you can manage your problem, or don’t want to tell anyone about it, you can get good online advice from:
Tackling the issues that may be making you drink or use drugs is perhaps where you want to start. The NHS also has a great series of self-help therapy guides covering managing stress and anxiety, getting better sleep or coping with a low mood or lack of confidence.
Some people find that they are not able to tackle their alcohol or drug problems themselves and need more specialist advice. There are services in all boroughs that provide this that you can self-refer to or your GP can direct you to.
