Looking after yourself

‘Harm reduction’ is a phrase that gets used a lot these days in drug and alcohol services. Many people speak about ‘harm reduction’ in quite a limited sense: keeping safe while you are using drugs by practising safe sex or not exchanging needles, if you inject. At Coolmine, we believe that the harm reduction approach can go much further. We call this approach, ‘looking after yourself’.If you are using drugs or drinking a lot, we would want you to consider not only your physical well-being but also your mental well-being.

Here is a short approach to making sure you look after yourself:

1. Make sure that you eat at least once a day so that your body does not suffer from malnourishment. This way, you can help to ensure that you do not suffer from physical illnesses such as colds, flu or pneumonia.

2. If you are having sex, use a condom to not only protect yourself from getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) but also to protect your partner(s) from the same.

3. If you inject, make sure that you do not share needles or other works as they can transmit life-threatening diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. There are details of where you can make needle exchanges in the links section of this website.

4. See your GP on a regular basis or visit A&E at the hospital. Regular health check-ups will help you stay healthy. If you decide that you want to explore coming off drugs, your GP will be able to put you in touch with a range of free services.

5. A safe environment – make sure that you do not put yourself in harm’s way by hanging out in areas where you could be physically attacked.

6. Make sure you have a roof over your head at night – it’s an obvious statement but it’s important that, if you are homeless, you seek overnight accommodation in a shelter. There is information about where to find accommodation in the links section of this website.

7. Avoid mixing drugs. All drugs carry risks. But mixing them can make things a lot more dangerous:

• tranquillisers + alcohol: ‘Downer’ drugs like this slow down your heart rate and breathing. Combining the two can make the effect even stronger.
• heroin + tranquillisers or alcohol: Overdose is much more likely when these drugs are combined.
• heroin + cocaine: Known as a ‘speedball’, this can be deadly.
• stimulants (like cocaine, Ecstasy, speed) + alcohol: These both put pressure on the heart, increasing the risk of heart attack.
• stimulants + stimulants: Sometimes the effects don’t kick in straight away so people take something else. This can increase the risk of dehydration and put added strain on the heart.
• ecstasy + cannabis: Sometimes people take cannabis to take the edge off an Ecstasy trip. But instead of calming you down, it could make you anxious and paranoid.

8. Pace yourself – it can take a while for substances to kick in. To avoid an overdose keep track of the amount you’re using. There’s no such thing as a safe amount to take. With some drugs like cocaine and heroin, your tolerance can build up very quickly, so you need more and more to get the same high. After a break, your tolerance goes down. It’s easy to take too much.

9. Get some sleep! Drugs can have a powerful effect on sleep patterns. You need sleep to let the body repair tissues and vital systems that enable your body and mind to function properly. Sedative drugs such as heroin, Valium, sleeping pills and alcohol may reduce the time it takes to get to sleep but they often disrupt sleep later in the night. They can also cause serious problems with getting to sleep (and staying asleep) when you stop taking them. Regular use of sedative drugs (often taken in an attempt to get to sleep) is a major cause of sleep problems.

10. Talk to someone every day. You need to try to deal with any emotional issues you may be carrying around with you so that you can feel calm and safe. Sharing your problems might mean that you will be less likely to get overwhelmed and take a lot of drugs at a crisis point in your life, and so risk an overdose which could be fatal. Even if you don’t want to come off drugs, there are services available where you can talk about your problems on a one-to-one basis in a confidential environment. Details of where to seek help is available on the links section of this website.