Does Quitting smoking, Help or hurt you?

[Vincent]

Well I have one more health based post for this hear forum. The reason I ask is most places I go to online, the participants are either kids or just plain stupid. Here is a lot different.

My Mother has smoked for 32 years, and her mother for 56. Both are in decent health, I mean they are not Olympic swimmer ors tri-athletes but they are disease free and really never have to see the doctor. They have smoked for so many years, but when they head to the Doctors, Their doctors are always amazed that they have smoked for so long. Many are supervised because there lungs are in pristine condition. Me and My mother have the same doctor and Her lungs are better than mine. I know it sounds insane but its true. My grandfathers, both had lung cancer and most of the men get sick, but generally live long and healthy lives.

In general all of the Irish women in my family smoke, and have since they were teens. The ones who keep smoking live very long, average is around 89. My Great grandmother lived to 103 ad smoked and drank hard liquor everyday since she was around 15. Thogh all the women & men who have stopped and have tried to stop smoking have all died from cancers and other horrible diseases. They die while the ones who keep smoking like much longer.

I then started to ask my mothers friends and I asked her to ask around at work and it seems everybody had the same story. When I asked her about her patients, she immediately told me that she knows a lot more people die from quitting rather than continuing. If you have smoked your entire life, it is better to keep going rather than quitting, as if you quit you are more likely to have medical complications.

I then asked a few doctors, and they could not explain themselves.





I have always wanted my mother to stop smoking, but I am kinda scarred and she is also. I have a pretty large family and all of the people who have quit in my lifetime are dead and everybody who still smokes is alive.


What do you guys think?

[Jordan]

Right, and seat belts kill more people than they save too.

[Chucula]

I know of one guy, a friend of my dad, who smoked and got cancer. After getting cancer, he quit. Certainly there are exceptions and some people live very unhealthy lifestyles for a very long time. Smoking is undeniably unhealthy.

To answer your question about quitting being dangerous, I would say it is just a matter of coping. If the quitter never finds a way to relax, they end up with a lot of stress that could shorten lifespan. When stressed, I think most if not all defensive bodily functions weaken and you can get sick very easily.

This could be why some smokers live so long--their bodies are so relaxed that they do not incur the damage of stress as much as others. But there are much better ways to relax and anyone who thinks smoking is good is very mistaken.

But I am not a doctor.

[The Deacon]

I smoked for over forty years. This coming Monday it will be three years since I quit. If I had not quit, I'd probably have been dead within a few months, at most, because I was starting to cough blood. I don't preach to anyone that they should quit, but I don't advocate that anyone who does not smoke should take it up either.

My considered opinion is that, alll other factors being equal, smoking will shorten your life. It does not "cause" any disease, but it increases the probablility that someone inclined to certain types of cancer will develop them, and decreases the age at which someone who is inclined toward heart disease, atererial disease, or emphysema, will develop them. How much they will shorten it varies considerably, since "all other factors" are NEVER equal. Family history obviously enters into it, if both your parents and their siblings died of lung cancer at an early age, then you'd be a total idiot, or have a death wish, to start smoking. For those with no family history of cancer, and none of early heart disease, the risks are considerably lower.

But, even in the best case scenario, it is an expensive addiction that is becoming more socially unacceptable each year. The number of places, outside of ones home, where it is legal to smoke grows smaller every year. So, if you are not already hooked, the most sensible thing to do is not to start because quitting is a *****. Trust me on that, after **** near three years and in spite of why I quit, there are still moments where, if a cigarette was available, I'd light it.

[yablanowitz]

The only way to be certain is to smoke for all your life once, then go back in time and quit halfway through, then go back in time again and never smoke and see which life lasts the longest.

Every person is a unique case. What works for one person may not work for another.

I quit first hand smoking about thirty years ago. I'm still trying to quit second hand smoking, but I keep running out of ammo.

[Fred Sanford]

Vincent,

My dad is still alive and he smoked Camel non-filters from about age 14 until he was about 57 (43 years). He quit about 7 years ago or so. He feels better, and he is not sick as much. Of course my dad works construction so he's always been in good shape. My dad still has a nice set of guns and has never been fat either. Heck my dad can still do one-armed pushups.

I smoked for 5 years and I quit over 10 years ago. Same with my sister.

I think it helps TONS!

[tglahn17]

Hi, everyone,

This is a fascinating post. As the 16th century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus said, dose makes the venom. I started smoking when I was 28. I'm 41 now. I smoke about a pack a week. I have no intentions of quitting. My two or three daily cigarettes are very rich and enjoyable times. As Robin Williams said in Dead Again, you're either a smoker or a non-smoker. Figure out which one you are, and be it. Later,

[arnon]

As House the crazy doctor said cigarets smoking don't kill. Its the guilt of smoking that kills you.. :D :D

[zenheretic]

If there was any evidence that stopping smoking kills, you can bet your bottom dollar the tobacco companiew would have shown the world.

Smoking makes every disease easier to get, and longer in duration/harder to heal/cure.

If you live with your mom and she smokes, and your family history is lung disease for the males, she might not be killing herself as much as she is killing you. (I don't know if you live with her...)

[Dr. Snubnose]

more people die from the food they eat and the water they drink....Doc :D

[J Smith]

It helped me.Haven't smoked for about 4 years now.

[EarthDog]

more people die from the food they eat and the water they drink....Doc :D

Cute. Does not speak to the question, but it is a cute response.

[Dr. Snubnose]

Cute. Does not speak to the question, but it is a cute response.

It's the truth....
on another note: Cigs have the highest concentration of Vitamin K (the blood clotting factor) so if you do smoke and get cut your blood will in fact clot quicker than a non-smoker...not advocating smoking by any means...but more damage is done to the human body by the foods people consume and the water they drink....not saying that cigs cannot cause cancer, however many things can cause cancer including drinking bottled water, drinking milk and being exposed to asbestos etc. etc., just to mention a few and the list goes on and on.....Doc :D

[psimonl]

Hello Vincent...

I would say that stress is the worst killer around. I think the studies are only beginning to see what stress is doing to your system....

I knew 80ish who smokes and are not worried about death and they don't..... And 50ish who don't smoke, and are all stressed out, and are all sick.....

Gee, a friend of mine who is 34 YO is on Chimio (skin cancer) just because its the only sign he would understand... Meaning he lives too much stress....

*** for beloved Deacon........

I stopped 7 years ago.... Smoked 2 to 3 packs a day.....

And still I sometime would like to have a cigarette...... As a mather of fact, I would lit one right now................

Take care you all and sorry for not being here as much as I did...

Simon

[zenheretic]

more people die from the food they eat and the water they drink....Doc :D

In this country perhaps...not likely in Africa or poor regions of Asian however.

[Halfneck]

I work as a nurse in a Urgent Care Clinic, we see anywhere from 30 to 60 patients a day. What always gets me is how much older the smokers look to their relative age. I had a 36 year old, 1.5 pack a day, lady tell me that I would understand when I was her age - I'm 38. She has smoked since she was 18 and honestly looks like she is in her 50s.

Additionally I watched my father die over the course of a year from lung cancer that was brought on by smoking. It's not a quick death, they slowly whittle parts of you away, while injecting you with poison (chemo), till your final end as they turn off the respirators.

BUT, I believe in freedom of choice. If someone wants to smoke, regardless of all the data & warning out there, that is their right. I just don't want to listen to them whine about getting cancer if it happens.

[clovisc]

some psychiatrists, particuarly at mental hospitals, will actually encourage patients to smoke. allegedly, the routine can have a soothing effect that mitigates various difficulties a person can have...

although, i like dealing with my problems myself. and i feel a whole lot healthier since quitting smoking.

its a pretty expensive habit, and there's no doubt it erodes at your health. spend your money on spydies instead, and enjoy them for years to come.

[The Mastiff]

I had a friend find out he had lung cancer by chance when he was at the doctor for bronchitis. This was february, and he passed away october 1st. that year. He was one of those guys that seemed indestructable before his cancer

I had to quit when I saw a relative go through the last few years of her life with emphysema.It was much, much worse than dying of cancer from what I could see. The realization that I likely would have that made me almost have an anxieity attack one night and I just quit. I was 31 or 32. I was working 2 jobs then and my body went through changes. My metabolism slowed down and I put some weight on, and had a difficult time staying awake on double shifts, at times falling asleep standing up, or talking on the phone. Everything normalized in time though.

I have 2 more relatives die from smoking related diseases since then. One uncle died at 48 from a heart attack, and another was my mother who went too young also. Apparently you can have plaque building up at lower body cholesteral levels if you are a smoker. There are other ways than lung disease to have cigarettes kill you.

I'm 46 now, and have urges to smoke even having quit for this many years. Quitting is difficult to do, and you aren't safe even years later as testimony here has shown. I couldn't understand quitting for a few years then restarting but such is the call of the cigarettes. I salute everybody that has successfully quit, or is making the difficult attempt to. Joe

[Vincent]

some psychiatrists, particuarly at mental hospitals, will actually encourage patients to smoke. allegedly, the routine can have a soothing effect that mitigates various difficulties a person can have...

although, i like dealing with my problems myself. and i feel a whole lot healthier since quitting smoking.

its a pretty expensive habit, and there's no doubt it erodes at your health. spend your money on spydies instead, and enjoy them for years to come.

I have a panic disorder, due to a imbalance of serotonin & neuropinephrine. Not much I could due to help it, every man in my Family has had it. Father, grandfather and well 3 more back. About a 2 years ago I started to have pain like a heart attack. My body was just going insane, had tingling and numbness, shortness of breath. I honestly thought I was going to die. I still sometimes have these symptoms and they are really bad. Imagine feeling a Casual heart attack everyday when you are 20.

In the worst of it all, my doctor said I should start smoking. I had to deal with the stress somehow, or else id kill myself from that.

[gac]

Many are supervised because there lungs are in pristine condition. Me and My mother have the same doctor and Her lungs are better than mine. I know it sounds insane but its true...

In the worst of it all, my doctor said I should start smoking. I had to deal with the stress somehow, or else id kill myself from that.

Your mother's lungs are black on the inside from 32 years of smoke and tar.

Your doctor advised you suck in smoke rather than try a different stress medication or try meditation or stress counseling? Are you sure he's a real doctor?