Smoking, drinking, love and more
As we grow up we all want to try new things, as well as having to deal with changes that are happening to our bodies. You can do the same stuff as people who don’t have diabetes; you just need to look after your diabetes as well. Remember to let your friends know you have diabetes and when you’re out and about wear some form of personal and diabetes ID; just in case something unexpected happens. We do not recommend or advocate drinking, smoking or taking illegal drugs. Remember that smoking, alcohol and illegal drugs are harmful for anyone (and taking drugs is breaking the law) so you should not feel pressured to do these things just because the people around you are.
Smoking
If you smoke but want to give up, speak to your diabetes team or your local doctor as lots of help is available
Top Tips
- Smoking is unhealthy because it speeds up the chances of cancers, heart disease and lung diseases
- Smoking has unpleasant side effects like making you smell, coloring your teeth and ruining your skin
- For people around you, passive smoking is awful and can be dangerous (especially for children)
- Smoking is expensive
- Smoking is ADDICTIVE, so it’s far better not to start!
- Don’t smoke just because the people around you are – like with drinking alcohol and taking drugs, no one should make you feel pressured into doing something you do not want to do
- Nicotine in cigarettes makes insulin work more slowly and it doesn’t work normally so the blood glucose level is likely to be higher
- Nicotine and other chemicals have bad effects on blood vessels. So smoking seriously increases the risks of getting all the horrible blood vessel complications of diabetes (like in the eyes, heart, kidneys etc.)