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Going Through Chemotherapy For Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Smoking Crystal Meth. How Bad Is That?

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Posted on Fri, 30 Aug 2013
Question: I have a friend who is going through Chemotherapy for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. He says everything is fine but I also think he might be smoking crystal meth, How bad is that for him?
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Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (31 minutes later)
Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX

there are no enough studies which can confirm relation between crystal meth and lymphoma but it is not advisable to use these drugs since it weakens immune system and will cause lower effectiveness of chemotherapy. So suggest him to stop it and if there are concerns about pain,anxiety or depression, he should use some official medicines which can be found on pharmacy.If you have questions I ll be glad to help. Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Follow up: Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (3 minutes later)
Thanks, I know he lies alot and I think he is depressed but he continues to tell me he is not smoking that much and he only smokes it for pain relief from chemo so he can continue to work.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (19 hours later)
Hi.
yes,they usually justify drug abuse by pain managment so we oftenly see patients who use marijuana and similar claiming that this is the only thing that helpful for their condition. But this is not true. There are various official painkillers and anxiolyticas with less side effects and better effectiveness. So he probbaly use it because of inability to face with disease which is understandable. The use of opioid strong analgetics is indicated only in terminal malignant disease and rarely in lymphomas so I don't think that meth can have medical use in his case. It really can only be harmful since it may cause serious immune and methabolic disorders. So try to explain him this. If you think that it has gone too far you should inform his doctor. I hope he will feel better.
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich

General Surgeon

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 13888 Questions

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Going Through Chemotherapy For Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Smoking Crystal Meth. How Bad Is That?

Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX

there are no enough studies which can confirm relation between crystal meth and lymphoma but it is not advisable to use these drugs since it weakens immune system and will cause lower effectiveness of chemotherapy. So suggest him to stop it and if there are concerns about pain,anxiety or depression, he should use some official medicines which can be found on pharmacy.If you have questions I ll be glad to help. Regards