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Smoking is a risk to everyone's health. Smoking can cause cancer, heart disease and lung disease. Additionally, smokers may have prolonged respiratory infections because of the effect of smoke on the lungs. Transplant recipients who smoked before transplant are strongly encouraged to continue not smoking. (You will need to quit smoking before you can be transplanted.) Since nicotine is broken down or metabolized by the liver, there is a possibility that some medications, particularly tacrolimus and cyclosporine, may not be metabolized well and that levels of these medications may be lower in smokers.
Your transplant coordinator or social worker can help you find local support groups to help you stop smoking. The University Hospital offers information and classes on how to quit smoking. For a free brochure or to sign-up for the "Win by Quitting" program, call 513-585-CARE.
If you are interested in using any medications to help you stop smoking, such as the NicoDerm® patch, discuss this first with your coordinator to make sure it will not react with any of your other medications. |
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Alcohol is metabolized, or broken down, in the liver. Drinking any type of alcoholic beverages can harm your liver. Many of your medications are metabolized by the liver and with the additional stress of breaking down alcohol as well, liver cells may be destroyed.
If you have had a problem with alcohol in the past, this was probably discussed at your transplant evaluation. You may have had to attend counseling sessions or you may have been enrolled in a rehabilitation program before you received a liver transplant. It is important that you continue counseling as you recover from transplant surgery to avoid any possible injury to your healthy liver through alcohol use.
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Drug Use
Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, LSD, and Ecstasy are toxic chemicals that are harmful to the liver as well as other organ systems. These toxic drugs will harm the sensitive liver and interfere with the break down or metabolism of your transplant medications. The illegal use of drugs is not tolerated by any transplant center. If you have had problems with illegal drugs in the past or are concerned you may not want to use them again, discuss this issue with your transplant coordinator, social worker, or counselor. Help is available through counseling and support programs.
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