Quitting Smoking

[Tarheel]

I guess for now all we can do is try to keep this thread alive. Maybe someone will find a pearl of wisdom somewhere in it.

Chuck

[oldbuckster]

Nah Chuck, wasting our words here.......YOU EITHER WANT TO QUIT OR YOU DON'T !!!!!!!!! Don't wait untill the Doctor tells you to, or have your first heart attack.....Too Late.........What a great country we have, we help the Big Tobacco Companies get richer, and kill us too....It's a country of choices, what a country...EH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should probably let this thread die....................a slow death like cigarettes..................

[Guest Anonymous]

The best time to quit smoking is right now. It get easier as time goes by.

[nocr]

Quitting that habit is tough. My dad struggled, but he's okay now. So I'm sure you can do it!

________________

Ursula

McIntosh MX135 Audio/Video Control Center - Download the MX135 Audio/Video Control Center Catalog by McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.

[Tarheel]

Congratulations to your father[Y]......... and welcome to the forum. Don't be a stranger.

Chuck

[ibanezhater]

All I know about quitting smoking is this: stay out of bars!

I was about 5 months without a cigarette, and one day at a bar, drunk and happy, I asked my buddy for a Camel. Then another. Then another. Then I was at the machine, pumping in quarters. Cigarettes are wonderful when you're drunk, and that drunken reasoning, "Oh, tomorrow I will quit again," did not work for me.

That was about 3 years ago, and I am puffing away ever since.

Good luck to all y'all trying to quit!

--Mike in NE PA

[Travis In Austin]

All I know about quitting smoking is this: stay out of bars!

I was about 5 months without a cigarette, and one day at a bar, drunk and happy, I asked my buddy for a Camel. Then another. Then another. Then I was at the machine, pumping in quarters. Cigarettes are wonderful when you're drunk, and that drunken reasoning, "Oh, tomorrow I will quit again," did not work for me.

That was about 3 years ago, and I am puffing away ever since.

Good luck to all y'all trying to quit!

--Mike in NE PA

Mike,

A few of us are going quit on Friday, midnight, of Memorial Day Weekend, you should joing us. (Notice I did not say "try" to quit).

Hope you consider it.

Travis

[tommyboy]

I say we do it on a Monday. I don't work weekends, so last time I "quit" it was easier starting on Monday. I guess it depends how busy you are at work though. We're pretty busy at my work, so starting Monday morning keeps your mind off of it while at work at least. I'm always just sitting around watching movies, playing with Jr, etc.

[Klipschguy]

Any smokers out there realize how much radiation they are exposing their lungs to? My brother was shocked and pissed off when he found out about the radiation damage he had been doing to his lungs. I'm glad he quit (about 4 years ago). Polonium 210 is a nasty substance. Anyone recall the Russian agent that was poisoned with this toxic compound?

http://www.lenntech.com/Periodic-chart-elements/Po-en.htm

[oscarsear]

Any smokers out there realize how much radiation they are exposing their lungs to?  My brother was shocked and pissed off when he found out about the radiation damage he had been doing to his lungs.  I'm glad he quit (about 4 years ago). Polonium 210 is a nasty substance.  Anyone recall the Russian agent that was poisoned with this toxic compound?

http://www.lenntech.com/Periodic-chart-elements/Po-en.htm

 

That is correct.  Tobacco picks up radiation from 2 sources.  1st it garners some of the naturally occurring radon gas that is emitted from the earth.  2nd high phospate fertilizers evolve into polonium 210 the radioactive substance used in th recent poisoning of the Russian spy.  Instead of the common place beta particle emission read by geiger counters polonium 210 sheds alpha particles that are much more toxic.  As this occurs during the growth of tobacco it is in all forms of tobacco products.  The amount of radioactive exposure for a pack-a-day smoker over a years time is considered equivalent to 1000 chest xrays (some say less, some say more).  This is considered by many the trigger source for various the forms of cancer associated with tobacco products.

[meagain]

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[oldenough]

I really admire you people who are going to try to quit. If it does'nt work out for you maybe you will consider a few more options for keeping this world a healthier place, also some of you vocal non-smokers could help. Think every morning as you leave your house in that big ole SUV as the sole passenger. Think every time you play that round of golf on that lush fairway about the run-off from all the pesticides and fertilizers that are now draining into the groundwater. Think about......Think about..... Think about....You know, and i know, that smokers are an easy target, but aint nothin gonna change. I am sorely tired of hearing this crap, it does'nt matter one iota to this universe or even to your locale what a few smokers do, either to themselves, or what little damage they do to others indirectly.In comparison to what everyone else is doing with out any consequence, or being made out to be a social pariah, smokers are a pretty insignificant bunch in the big scheme of things. Hey this is just my rant, but please, please show me the error of my reasoning if you can. Also quit smoking if you can, but just give a thought to the total crap that you have bought into, the stats are a crock of $#!T, my Grandfather died at the age of 84, because he was a smoker according to his doctor, seems to me he just got to his time. Get your eyes back on the ball. There are a lot easier things to do without, for smokers and non-smokers alike and i'm sure that most of them would have a bigger and swifter impact. Anyways thanks for indulging me, now i must get back to my Scotch and cigar and worry about less urgent things, tomorrow might just be my last day, who knows?.....EH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tommyboy]

Alright, wish me luck. It's Monday morning, and I've decided to take the quitters path. In england, we have to have a ration card to buy cigarettes, and I just shredded mine. I have no smokes in the house. No one at work smokes, so that will help me out also. I figure I've quit once, I can do it again.

No more smoking for me!

[Tarheel]

Best of luck Tommyboy. Pulling for you all the way. Should you get the urge to pick one up.....write us a line updating your progress instead.

Chuck

[oscarsear]

Oldenough....  My grandfather died at a resonably old age as well.  His death was also very much related to a lifetime smoking habit.  Last week my wife who is an RN case manager admitted a patient in her early 50's with multiple health issues.  She has end stage emphysema.  Her oxygen saturation level at rest is in the middle 80% range.  That may sound acceptable but if you understand the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve you would know it is quite poor.  I've dealt with serious tobacco related lung disease in people in their 40's.  The individual ability to accommodate the toxins dealt the body by tobacco does vary.  Yet the statistics you poo poo are quite real.  As scary as lung cancer is I've seen it welcomed by those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  They just want to die to escape the daily horror found with barely being able to breath and they know the cancer will take them quickly.  How pervasive oldenough asks?  All of you in any city, in any country reach for your telephone directories.  Access the yellow business pages and look up home durable medical equipment vendors.  There you find each vendor offering "medical oxygen and respiratory supplies".  Each and every vendor will have them.  That's how pervasive.

Here's a way to get a small taste of COPD.  Do this only if you're healthy.  We all know that we breath in and out.  That's called tidal breathing and we think nothing of it.  We can forcefully exhale more air and we can forcefully inhale more air.  Take in a larger breath and do not exhale all of it.  Start each subsequent normal tidal breath on top of that little amount you've retained.  Do that for as long as you can or want.  It won't be easy.  It's a lot more work than your normal breathing pattern.  In a very small way it mimics how emphysematous people have to breath.  I will explain.

Emphysema erodes away lung tissue.  Normal lungs collapse when the chest wall is breached.  They are elastic and when exposed to the atmosphere they will recoil or collapse.  Emphysematous lungs lose that elasticity because they've lost lung tissue.  With the lungs less elastic the rib cage pulls them outward over expanding them (AKA barrel chest).  That shifts the breathing volumes.  The volume of air left in the lungs at the end of exhalation is greatly increased and not easily exhaled.  The normal tidal breathing volumes now take place on top of over inflated lungs (as you demonstrated above). The mechanical cost of breathing goes through the roof.  Worse still is that the amount of each breath that actually exchanges gases with blood is greatly diminished.  Much if the lung tissue that was destroyed was that lung tissue that contained the capillary beds used for gas exchange.  They are gone.  Some of the destroyed lung tissue was used to support the airways that conduct air.  When a breath is taken in those airways remain open due to negative pressure.  When the person exhales those airways close down because they have lost support structure.  Exhalation becomes protracted as the air is slowly passed through collapsed tubes.  Exhalation now requires the use of muscles where usually (you and I) it is passive (because our lungs are still elastic).  This is where the term "chronic obstructive lung disease" comes from.  Recall how short of breath you get at the end of a wind sprint.  You pushed yourself to the extreme, used all your reserves and incurred a tremendous oxygen debt.  You stand stooped over and you deeply pant...and you recuperate.  Imagine walking across the room you now occupy and suffering the same exquisite level of exhaustion and breathlessness.  Then imagine that you do not recuperate with 3 or 4 minutes of industrious panting.  It takes you 1/2 hour to regain the semblance of normalcy you started with.  You cannot pant because panting takes more work than the relief you should get from it.   You will sit and rest your arms on anything and for 1/2 hour you will slowly regain your breath.  You will have to support your arms because you're going to use some of the musculature they require for breathing. ......and it is only going to get worse.

Oldenough...  It is a sad #ss deal and nothing to take lightly.  It is an urgency that people need to understand and embrace.  

[garymd]

My wife and I are going to try Chantix as soon as my prescription arrives. She already has hers but will wait for me. With us it's all or nothing. If one of us cracks, it's all over. We have neighbors who have been smoking 2-3 packs/day for 40 years and are on week 7 of Chantix. It's working great for them.

My problem, other than enjoying the hell out of smoking, is having the Dr. ask if I was a runner the last time I had a stress test/chest xray. Not what you should tell a smoker. Also, my grandfather smoked a pipe (inhaling) for over 60 years and lived to 95 with no related health problems. Both great excuses to keep smoking.

[Tarheel]

Good luck to you and your wife. When you quit for good I know you will find a lot of benefits as a non smoker that will outweigh the enjoyment you attribute to smoking. There will always be the exception to the rule....everyone has their story of friends or relatives who live to 90 after smoking many years....but for each of these stories there are numerous lives cut short or lived in agony. Oscar has spoken most eloquently as a health care professional who has seen the effects first hand. Please reread his threads.

Again.....good luck to you both.

Chuck

[stormin]

Good luck everyone who is trying to quit. I wish you all the best of luck. Each day away from the habit for me is just another day I feel more free. The sad part of the story for myself is that my wife continues the habit. I try not to push her into what I have accomplished. But it is very hard to watch her continue smoking. We will be celebrating our 24th anniversary in another month and I hope we are able to double it.

Gary, I wish you and your wife the best of luck trying to quit together.

Good luck Tommyboy, You can do it.

[oldenough]

Yes i agree, smokin' aint good fer yer. Nor are most of the things that we all do day in and day out. If you want to take up anti smoking as a cause good for you. The non smoking do gooder lobby should look within and ask what they can do to help, you want me to stop blowing my smoke, then you stop blowing yours, mine just happens to come from a little white stick that's stuck in my mouth. The greater damage is being done by those enormous belching great sticks that protude from the facilities that provide us ALL with the luxuries we ALL desire, but of course we can't pick on that as a cause, WHY? because the guilt befalls ALL of us, Now that would'nt be much fun would it?. Any way i gotta run, the wife wants me to burn a gallon of petroleum just to pick up a pack of cigarettes from the corner store. (i'm gonna sell my Lincoln Navigator and get a Toyota Prius).

[tommyboy]

Well day 1 down. It sucked, but honestly not as bad as I thought it would. I just tried to stay busy all day at work, then when I came home, did a bunch of stuff around the house. Hopefully today will be a little easier!