Alcohol is a depressant that may make you feel sad and depressed especially now when you are trying to come to terms with your diagnosis and all the changes that are happening as a result of cancer. By focusing on the facts you can make an educated decision on whether you wish to drink alcohol especially during chemotherapy.

• Think about chemotherapy - remember that the cancer killing drugs are carried in the blood stream to the cancer cells where they go into action and kill cells.
• Once killed the dead cells (or toxins) are removed from the blood stream by the liver and kidneys.
• Therefore during treatment the liver and kidneys have to work really hard to clean the body of all harmful chemo toxins, so if you are drinking on top of this it makes their job much tougher.

If you drink at all you are affected by alcohol.

• If you feel like an occasional drink ask your doctor for advice re mixing drugs with alcohol.
• Use the units guide to monitor actual intake.
• Drink slowly, and avoid mixing drinks.
• Try low alcohol or alcohol free drinks.
• Try to take food with or before you drink.
• Don’t drive.