How Can Your Loved One’s Help?

How can your family, spouse, or significant others help you quit smoking?

A better question would be: Why is it that your loved ones support is effective than your own ambition?!  It is the power of influence. Normally, we look up to these people, value their opinions, and while we may feel that the  things we do may not affect ourselves in the least, as soon as we learn that they too are affected, in negative ways, we feel empathy. Having built good relationships with loved ones, being a good person in life gives you the advantage of caring for others.

This, in turn, allows you to vicariously feel their emotions toward your addiction(s). It's just like when you see a child fall, cry, or experience fear. You are instantly overwhelmed with feelings urging you to protect that person. You may also have found yourself in some pretty brave situations where you did just that.

The same rules of love apply to you when you're in need, on your quest to quit smoking. Ask your loved ones what they think of your addiction, and how it affects them. Of course, it's a difficult question to ask, but it's important and shows them that you know they feel the pain of your actions. Tell them to not only express themselves, but to go ahead and surpass your emotional pain threshold if necessary, and to make the words count (and perhaps even hurt). Allow them to exhibit anger, a human response to feeling ultimately saddened and troubled. Communicate that the therapy of this shunning, may provide you with the protective instincts to quit smoking (in part) for the people you love, even if you’re having a hard time doing it for yourself.

Honestly? It sucks.

I have ‘quit’ at least ten times in the past few years, each effort just a little better than the last, and each wrought with the voice of the addiction: “One isn’t that bad. Everyone else can do it, why shouldn’t I?” or “I’ll just smoke with drinks.” Read more

It Sucks to Get Sucked in to Sucking Butts!

A friend of mine started smoking when she was going through a difficult time in a relationship and with other family stress. It started out as only a "once-in-while" thing, just as a quick and easy stress reliever. At every point along the way, she thought she could quit any time she wanted.

At first, it was only a couple times a week. That lasted about a year, and since the relationship issue and other stressors weren't resolved, the stress was still there. What had started out as something she intended to be a temporary thing, was at that point something that had gone on for a year.

It's amazing how quickly time flies, and how fast suddenly a year can go by. Not only had she not quit, but now she was up to twice a day instead of twice a week, probably spurred on by the fact that the stressors in her life had increased rather than decreased. Now, something that was supposed to be something to easily quit at any point she wanted to, had become a harmful habit.

Fortunately, when she was called out on the fact that she was increasing her habit, and was smoking twice a day, she realized what she had done, and with a lot of effort, and support, she was able to quit at that point. But I always think of her when I think about the addictiveness of smoking. It's so easy to get sucked in, and it's a slippery slope.

Don't start! Don't let tobacco trick you into thinking that it's just temporary and that you can easily quit any time. While it's true that YOU CAN QUIT ANYTIME that you put your mind to it (in fact, that's precisely what you need to do), it very quickly turns into an addictive habit that is NOT EASY to stop any old time you decide you're done. It will most likely take a huge effort, thus sucking more time, thought, and energy away from the important things in your life.

So the moral of the story is, don't get sucked in, in the first place. Find support for dealing with the stresses in your life. Find healthy ways to combat stress. Don't be fooled into thinking that you are stronger than this addictive substance Because it's powerfully addictive, so don't get sucked in, because sucking butts sucks!

 

 

*Image courtesy Flickr creative commons.

Smoking and Male Infertility

Everyone knows that smoking whilst pregnant is bad for both baby and mother, but many couples hoping to start a family overlook the fact that smoking can adversely affect male fertility too.

Studies have shown that smoking causes a decrease in the quality of semen. Sperm concentration, that is the number of sperm present in a measured quantity of semen, is reduced by up to 23% in men who smoke. The motility of the sperm, i.e. its ability to swim, is also compromised with a 13% decrease. If the sperm are unable to swim strongly enough to reach the egg, fertilisation may not take place. Sperm morphology, the actual shape of the individual sperm, is also affected. This also interferes with effective swimming and can cause problems with fertilisation should the sperm manage to reach the egg at all. It has also been shown that male smokers experience abnormal hormone levels which will cause problems with fertility.

Poor sperm quality and hormonal imbalances may not cause infertility in all men, but for those whose sperm count is already poor these additional negative factors may be enough to render them infertile.

Research into the effect of male smoking on successful IVF treatment shows that smoking dramatically reduces the success rate of IVF treatment. Given the cost of multiple cycles of fertility treatments, it would be well worth giving up smoking before you embark on this route if you and your lady want to start a family any time soon.

Even if you're not at the stage where you want to father a child, smoking can have a seriously detrimental effect on your ability to even practice! Young men who smoke run a high risk of becoming impotent, depending upon their daily consumption of tobacco and the length of time they have smoked. Smokers are statistically twice as likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction as non-smokers.

Smoking causes hardening and narrowing of the arteries. As the heart becomes affected, it becomes less efficient and less able to maintain a good level of blood pressure to the extremities. To make matters worse, the blood vessels supplying the penis become narrowed. The end result is an inability for the affected individual to achieve and maintain an erection. Impotence in male smokers is extremely difficult to treat.

Luckily, it's not too late. Studies show that quitting smoking sooner rather than later will prevent long term impotency problems in young men and even those who have a longer term smoking habit will suffer less irreversible complications and will respond better to medication.

So, come on guys; if ever there was a really great incentive to quit this surely has to be it! Good luck!

Should We Allow Kids to Use E-Cigarettes?

With flavors as enticing as strawberry, banana, chocolate, cappuccino, lemon, apple and others you can’t help but think that e-cigarettes could be attracting children as much as they are luring smokers who want to quit. The question is should we allow them to or not? A few days ago before the burnt wick incident, I invited my wife to have a puff or two. I bought two new flavors: strawberry and banana. She’s a non-smoker but she enjoyed it nonetheless. I hope I won’t get judged for this, but it really is worth sharing. Two consenting adults are free to do what they wish after all. I let her puff some strawberry and she said that she Read more

Licence To Quit?

Freedom at last - Breathe Happy

Would you think twice about smoking if you had to apply for and pay for a licence in order to purchase tobacco products? What if the application included a test to establish whether or not you are actually aware of the health implications of smoking or if the licence came in the form of a swipe card which limited your daily tobacco purchases?

Sounds rather extreme and verging on 'big brother' right? Well, it's actually the proposal of Australian public health expert, Professor Simon Chapman of Sydney University. Prof Chapman reckons that such a licence could provide a really practical disincentive for smokers. But how would such a scheme work?

Prof Chapman says that there are insufficient controls in the sale of tobacco products; pretty much anyone can sell them. He cites the analogy of a medical prescription which is essentially a temporary licence which enables the holder to purchase pharmaceuticals. Unbelievable then that a product which causes millions of deaths and costs billions annually in medical treatment which would be unnecessary if no-one smoked, is so freely available.

The licence would take the form of a swipe card which smokers would have to apply for. Retailers would not be permitted to sell tobacco products to anyone without a card. As with pharmacists who supply drugs to someone without a prescription, retailers would risk losing their retail licence if they were caught selling tobacco to someone without a licence. There would also be a component of the licence application process which would limit the quantity of tobacco products the holder could buy.

The licence would incur a cost to the smoker, would require the inconvenience of renewal and could even be refused or revoked in the event that the holder became seriously unwell as a result of their smoking habit. There could even be a financial incentive built in to encourage smokers to quit; their total licence fees might be refunded to them on condition that they were not allowed to apply for a licence at any time in the future.

Critics of the proposal say that the licence would only punish the smoker and not the tobacco industry itself. Bans on smoking in public places have been broadly accepted whereas a smoking licence would be seen as a more targeted attack and deemed to be "health fascism". Smokers should be able to make an informed health choice rather than have to sit a test to obtain a licence; it's just the nanny state gone mad! The scheme would be nearly impossible to police, would be ridiculously expensive to administer and would encourage a 'black market' in tobacco products. It is also suggested that the scheme would merely serve to punish poor smokers who have already been hit in the pocket by increased taxation, although Prof Chapman opines that this is a good thing. The addition of a licence fee, he says, will encourage poorer smokers to quit.

The UK Department of Health was keen to stress that it had no plans to introduce a licence for the purchase of tobacco products.

COPD

COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Atleast 12 million people are diagnosed with the disease. More may have the disease and do not know it. How is the diseased diagnosed and treated? What are the symptoms to watch for?

This disease makes breathing difficult and worsens over time. It has two main conditions- emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

In emphysema the air sacs of the lungs are damaged and in some cases lose their shape and become floppy. This can also destroy the walls which leads to larger and fewer sacs instead of tiny ones. This causes the amount of gas exchange in the lungs to be dimenished.

In chronic bronchitis the lining of the airways is continually enflamed and irritated causing the lining to thicken. In the airways lots of thick mucus developes making it hard to breathe.

The disease developes slowly and worsen over time. In severe COPD it may prevent you from doing even the most basic activities during a typical day. Things such as taking care of yourself or cooking and walking you may no longer be able to do.

Basically COPD occurs over time when the lungs have been exposes to irritants that damages the airways and the lungs. The most common of these irritants is the cigarette. And, if smoke is inhaled, pipes, cigars and other types of tobacco smoke can also cause the disease. Other things that can contribute to this disease are air pollution, smoke and second hand smoke from the workplace or environment.

Usually a person is atleast 40 years old when the symptoms begin. People younger than 40 can get the disease. For example those with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency which is a genetic condition.

Often a 'smoker's cough' will develope and this is one of the first symptoms. It is a cough that is ongoing and produces a large amount of mucus. Wheezing(a squeeky orwhistling sound when you breathe) or , chest tightness and shortness of breath especially with physical activity is another symptom.

These symptoms are similar to some other diseases but the doctor can run tests to see if this is what you have. Often these symptoms occur years before the actual flow of air in and out of the lungs has declined. Your doctor will diagnose the disease based on these test results, symptoms and signs, and family and medical history. The doctor will ask you questions pertaining to how long you have had these symptoms and how much mucus comes up when you talk, and examine you.

The main test is called a spirometry and it is painless. You will be asked to take a deep breath in and then you will blow as hard as you can into a tube which is connected to a small machine. This machine is called a spirometer and it will measure how much air you breathe out and how fast. Then the doctor will have you inhale a medicine that will help to open your airway and have you breathe into the tube again and can then compare the results before and after adding the medicine.

Your doctor can also do several other type of tests as well. A arterial blood gas test or a chest CT scan can be done. The arterial blood gas test measures the oxygen in your blood and the CT scan creates pictures of blood vessels, lungs and heart and can show other conditions such as heart failure.

Though COPD has no cure yet there are lifestyle changes and treatments that can help to slow the progress of the disease, help you be more active and feel better.

Quitting smoking is the most important way to start. The doctor can help you learn of products and programs to help you quit. Other COPD treatments include vaccines, medicines, tips for managing complications, oxygen therapy and surgery, and pulmonary rehabiliation.

Depending on the severity of your COPD the doctor may prescribe a bronchodilator and these relax the airways and muscles and either short or long acting. And to reduce airway inflammation that flares up an inhaled glucocosteroids are prescribed. To relieve these breathing problems your doctor may ask you to try this for a trial period of six weeks up to three months to see how it helps.

Those with COPD are at higher risk for pneumonia. You may want to discuss with your doctor whether you should get the pneumococcal vaccine which lowers your risk. And a flu shot as well since this can cause serious problems for the COPD patient. Even a cold can cause symptoms to worsen.

Avoiding irritants to the lungs and quitting smoking will make your lifestyle more enjoyable. There is no cure for COPD. Using air filters in the home can help as well.

Strong for Who?

I wanted it so bad the other night. I had braved a beer (my single biggest trigger) and when my sister lit up, I could hardly hold back the words. I could see myself asking “Could I bum one?” and her responding happily, supportively even. It’s not that she wants me to smoke. It’s that she doesn’t want me to not smoke. I mean, really. Who wants to be reminded of the things they are doing “wrong”? Especially when we made it right for each other for so long. Read more

How Smoking Affects Your Health

Share your personal stories

Smoking tobacco products is responsible for the death of over 100,000 adults in the UK every year. Almost half of these deaths are from cancer. The remainder die from heart and circulatory disease or slowly and painfully from emphysema and other more chronic forms of lung disease. Read more