Breathing Happy Author

Quitting an addiction, particularly when the substance is smoking, is one the hardest things to do. The body and mind are very powerful, especially in working together. When starting to quit, have a plan about what to do when the nicotine withdrawals start to occur, so that you don't go back to smoking.  You also don't want to resort to binge eating and go from one addition to the next, and then back again.

Yes this is very hard. When you work three times as hard at it, I think you will be more successful in not going back to it. Here are a few tips:

1. Choose your method to quit, date and time.  Some of you may want to cut down one cigarette a day until the pack is done and not go back to it. Others may want to quit cold turkey.

2. Have a plan ready for when nicotine withdrawals occur. It should be a plan with goals that doesn't involve food or going back to smoking. Utilize this plan fully until your through this stage.

3. If you can do pushups when you feel the withdrawals, do them. Seriously!

4. Meditate and your mind to a place that you want to be.  Or do other forms of meditation.

Here is one meditation exercise to get through your withdrawals: You are in a bike race. You notice in your peripheral vision that the person behind you is coming up on your left to pass you. As that person passes you, you notice that they are the new you winning, leaving the old you behind. How do you feel now?

Work very hard at it.  Keep these tips in mind and keep focused. Add in some exercise and good nutrition. Here's to wishing you well with your new healthier life.

All votes and comments are welcome.

In the past few years, many discoveries have been made about the type of damage that smoking during a pregnancy can cause. A particular study, recently published on the JAMA Otolaryngology, describes one of such latest findings.

Often, teenagers will encounter trouble hearing, and this had been attributed for a long time to the use of headphones, the proclivity to attend loud concerts and other similar causes. However, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that took into account youths between the ages of 12 and 15 in 2005 and 2006, confirmed that about 16% of the parents admitted to prenatal smoke exposure, and subsequently, the children in this subgroup were three times as likely to experience hearing loss as the children whose mothers had not smoked during the pregnancy.

Smoking as an epidemic

The widespread use of tobacco means that pregnant women are more and more commonly smoking during the early stages, even if they do quit down the line. However, it has been discovered that those that smoked even just for the first trimester, many times before they even found out they were pregnant, also had repercussions on the health of their children.

The only viable solution is quitting smoking preemptively, as due to the nature of pregnancy and the cycles and lifestyle of a particular woman, several weeks could pass before a pregnancy is detected. This could lead to the mother inadvertently smoking or engaging in other damaging acts even if she willingly quits them down the line.

Among the consequences of loss of hearing in adolescents, the natural issue of a potential disability is not top of the list. Studies report that loss of hearing can result in a diminished IQ, it could also have social and academic effects, and could even result in the child dropping out of school or engaging in damaging behavior.

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

Thanks for reading this post. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section and do not forget to vote if you like it.

COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease was once thought of as coal miner's disease or a man's disease but it is now being detected more in women as well. According to the National Hearth Lung and Blood Institue or NHLBI 12 million people have the disease and as many more may not be aware that they have the early stages.

If the disease is detected early lung damage can be slowed down or even stopped. Educating yourself and knowing the symptoms and treatment options can help you save your own life or that of a loved one.

COPD is a disease that slowly kills healthy lung tissue, chronical bronchitis is also characterized by a smoker's cough and is caused by inflammation and can cause bronchial scarring, and emphysema is where the air sacs lose their flexibility and makes it hard for oxygen to enter the bloodstream making it very hard to breath. This makes for more mucos, coughing and infections.

Air trapped in damaged or dying parts of the lungs keep the lungs from operating at full capacity and the patient will have trouble breathing. There is no cure to this disease because no one has discovered a way to make new lung tissue. At age 35 people will begin to lose about an ounce of lung tissue per year. This is normal and not a problem in healthy people. But for the smoker this amount of loss is quadrupled and increasing the probability of becoming oxygen dependent. After 40 or 50 years of loss this could make it difficult to do the most menial tasks.

The symptoms of the disease are the same in men and women. The progression of the disease seems to be faster in women especially if they continue to smoke or are diagnosed at a later stage.

Shortness of breath is the major symptom of COPD. And coughing up clear mucos. In the early stages most patients are fine setting or resting but have a problem with breathing just walking afew feet. It's time to see the doctor if you suddenly become winded riding a bike, getting groceries or walking the dog. Early detection of the disease may slow its progression. And the right medication can improve lung function by opening the airways.

COPD is detected by a lung function test. The two step non-envasive test is called a spirometry. It can detect the disease before you have symptoms or tack its progression. The air flow range is figured by age, weight and smoking history.

Quitting smoking will halt the distruction process but continuing to smoke destroys the lung tissue continuously and makes living with COPD harder.

Like asthma drugs COPD medications are inhaled. The two common drugs used are salmeterol and budesonide/formoterol fumarate dihydrate and fluticasone propionate. They were originally designed for asthma sufferers but have been regulated by the FDA for use in COPD. The most common side effect is dry mouth. These drugs can be expensive and aren't covered by Medicare or insurance. Alternative remedies such as herbs, accupunture and …….. have no scientific information to support their use.

There are two surgical treatments used but they are short term solutions. The first most common surgery is lung volume reduction surgery which removes about 30% of each lung which help air to circulate better. And one that is an in-patient procedure. A surgical incision through the breast bone with the effected tissue being removed through the chest. And one less evasive one which uses incisions on both sides of the chest removing the damaged tissue. These require 5-10 days in the hospital and weeks of rehabilitation. And it is a short term solution because the disease usually comes back in two or three years.

There is a new option that is being testing in the U.S. Minimally invasive valves shaped like an umbrella are put into the lungs with a flexible tube called a bronchoscope by way of the mouth or nose. This is said to redirect air flow to healthier areas from the diseased ones.

COPD is a irreversible condition but some patients have been able to manage the condition for more than 20 years. The best option, ofcourse, is to not start smoking in the first place.