Health Effects of Smoking

If you have ever quit smoking or tried to quit smoking you are well aware of the mixed feelings you encounter your very first day. The anger, frustration, irritability, and obsession with wanting a cigarette. For some of us our very first attempt didn’t make it past the first few hours because we could not rest until we had just one puff of a cigarette. The instant we lit up and inhaled our body received what it had been longing for; nicotine.

Nicotine cravings aren’t hard to manage physically, but psychologically they can drive us crazy. In the grand scheme of things a case of the flu is much worse than what most people will encounter when quitting smoking as the body rids itself of the nicotine and other chemicals that have saturated our cells.

You must realize that the more you smoked the more addicted you are to nicotine. In reality each day as a smoker you encountered nicotine cravings, that is why you went and had a cigarette every couple hours. As you quit your body is doing the same thing, however, by not going out and replenishing the concentration of nicotine in your blood your body begins to crave it more and more. Then your mind starts to mess with you, telling you, “You Need It!” Well we all know you don’t… resist the nicotine cravings and they will pass. Cravings tend to last anywhere between a few seconds and a few minutes. Don’t give in to them. Think of the benefits of quitting and why you are doing it

Nicotine cravings can be planned for when quitting, in fact, they shoud be planned for. Some simple ways to combat nicotine cravings are to:

• Take a walk
• Get some exercise
• Drink some water
• Chew a piece of gum
• Suck on hard candy
• Brush your teeth
• Deep breathing

The use of Nicotine Replacement Products can also be helpful but remember that you will still have to wean yourself off of them and you will experience nicotine withdrawal and nicotine cravings. Nicotine Replacement Products are helpful in building the confidence to quit smoking by feeding the addiction while you change your habits.

For over 45 years the U.S. has been placing warnings on packs of cigarettes, however, compared to other countries our warnings are mild in comparison.

Surgeon General’s Warning Examples

• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, And Low Birth Weight.
• SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide.

Lets look at Singapore for example; since for several years they have used blunt strait to the point warnings using text and pictures of damaged organs… for example:

• Smoking causes a slow painful death
• Smoking harms your family
• Tobacco smoke can kill babies
• Smoking causes stroke
• Smoking causes lung cancer
• Smoking causes mouth diseases

Example of Pakistan’s Warnings

• WARNING: Protect children. Do not let them breath your smoke. Ministry of Health.
• WARNING: Smoking causes mouth and throat cancer. Ministry of Health.
• WARNING: Quit smoking; live longer life. Ministry of Health.
• WARNING: Smoking severely harms you and the people around you. Ministry of Health.

United Kingdom Smoking Warnings

• Smoking kills
• Smoking seriously harms you and others around you
• Additionally, one of the following additional warnings must be displayed, covering at least 40% of the surface of the pack:
• Smokers die younger
• Smoking clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks and strokes
• Smoking causes fatal lung cancer
• Smoking when pregnant harms your baby
• Protect children: don’t make them breathe your smoke
• Your doctor or your pharmacist can help you stop smoking
• Smoking is highly addictive, don’t start
• Stopping smoking reduces the risk of fatal heart and lung diseases
• Smoking can cause a slow and painful death

We could go on and on with examples from additional countries however, the point would be the same. The U.S has some catching up to do.

Though the United States started the trend of labelling cigarette packages with health warnings, today the country has one of the smallest, least prominent warnings placed on their packages. Warnings are usually in small typeface placed along one of the sides of the cigarette packs with colors and fonts that closely resemble the rest of the package, so the warnings essentially are integrated and do not stand out with the rest of the cigarette package. However, this is subject to change as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 requires pictorial warning labels with supplemental text to cover 50 percent of the front and rear of each pack. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will design the health warnings in 2011, and tobacco companies will begin including them on their cigarette packaging in 2012.

It amazes me that I smoked for so many years and I never paid any attention to those warnings. When was the last time you read the warning on your pack of cigarettes? Would things of been different if a “Smoking Kills” label covered 30% of the package or a picture of rotting gums or lung cancer? I would hope so or else people who smoke either are stupid or have a death wish.

During my 15 years of smoking I really never thought of myself as an addict. I mean cigarettes were legal to purchase, as long as you were 18, and they were sold everywhere in town. I was able to hold down a job, pay my bills, contribute to society, raise a family, and do all the normal things that normal people do.

I have seen addicts… drug addicts that hide out in their home while they get high. Shutting themselves off to most of the world. All they really knew were their own kind, supplying each other with the stuff that kept them in a state of numbness. They had difficulty socializing with others, holding down a job, getting an education, and taking care of themselves. Their lives revolved around when they could get their next fix and if it didn’t come soon enough they would experience withdrawals and lash-out, get angry or violent, they were irrational, and would do anything to make that feeling go away.

Uh Oh! Wait just a minute… could it be that smokers are addicted to a drug? I mean have you ever missed your routine cigarette break? How did it make you feel? A bit cranky, agitated, irritable, irrational, have you ever said anything you shouldn’t and blamed it on needing a cigarette? How many of us have wanted a cigarette so badly and simply could not get one, picked one out of an old ash tray somewhere and lit up. That is disgusting, however, I know I have done it and I know many of you reading this right now have done it. But wait that doesn’t make us an addict does it?

Let’s take a look at the definition of ADDICTION:

“Addiction – being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming”

Okay so maybe smokers are addicted, I mean would they continue to damage their bodies the way they do if they could stop smoking? Do heroin addicts like sticking needles in their arms to get high? Probably not but it seems to be very affective. I guess the only difference between being addicted to heroin and nicotine is that one is legal and the other isn’t. Amazingly enough nicotine is often compared to the addictive nature of heroin and thought to be even more difficult to give up.

Obviously I am being a bit facetious… it is quite evident that smokers are addicts. Their daily lives are planned around when they can have their next cigarette. They are trained to smoke a certain number each day because they need to feed the addiction. Without it their day crumbles, they are an emotional roller coaster, and this is all because they suffer from nicotine withdrawals. Do yourself a favor and take your life back. If people are quitting heroin and other addictive drugs don’t you think you can quit smoking?

Did you know that 1,000 to 1,500 people die each day from a smoking related illness? Well it is true – people who smoke will eventually die – not from old age but from an illness that may have been prevented. Sadly, thousands of people are trying to quit but fail – they sincerely want to give up smoking but they are addicted to nicotine and the withdrawals can be very uncomfortable.

When you begin to think about the advantages of quitting smoking and remind yourself day after day you will eventually build up the courage to try to quit. Thinking about the positives rather than the negatives can help motivate you in quitting.

Think of taking back control of your life, the extra time you will have, the money you will save, the health benefits, being a good role model, and making a positive change in your life. There are many reasons (advantages) to quitting smoking.

If you have tried to quit before and failed don’t give up. Use each experience as a time to learn and determine what is keeping you in this nasty habit. If it is stress then buy a book on how to manage stress and quit again. If you are concerned about weight gain, do the same thing, buy a book on eating right and learn to manage your weight in a healthy way. Whatever the reason that you are unable to quit you can find a solution. So many people stop trying because they simply don’t get it, they don’t understand how badly they are hurting their bodies. Others, consider smoking to be pleasurable and giving up something pleasurable can be very difficult. You have to learn why it should not be that way and look at it in a different light. Smoking is a nasty habit and should not be considered pleasurable – because it isn’t. Each cigarette you smoke is poisoning your body.

Smokers are addicts, plain and simple. However, the level of addiction may be significantly different from one person to the next. The top 5 tobacco companies put out hundreds of different brands, types, sizes, and packages of cigarettes that vary in the amount of nicotine that is in each cigarette. For example; Brand A has a nicotine content of 1.0mg per cigarette while Brand B has 0.5mg per cigarette. A person who smokes a pack per day of Brand A has a daily nicotine addiction of 20mg compared to a person who smokes Brand B which is only 10mg per day.

What’s the Nicotine Content of Cigarettes?

I would imagine that most smokers have no idea what the nicotine and tar content are of the brand of cigarettes they smoke, the tobacco companies aren’t going to tell you and the FTC hasn’t released anything for quite some time. Knowing the level of addiction could help you quit. Suppose you smoke a pack a day of Camel 100’s filtered cigarettes, which is 24mg of nicotine per day and you switched down to Camel King filtered ultra-light cigarettes, which is 8mg of nicotine per pack. Do you see the significance of this? You just dropped your addiction level by 16mg per day. Just think how that would affect you when you gave up smoking for good. Your physical nicotine withdrawal may not be nearly as bad.

Also consider this: Many people quit smoking with the use of nicotine replacement products such as the patch or nicotine gum. Nicotine Gum for instance, has several different nicotine potencies; 4mg and 2mg. This is per piece of gum and frankly I don’t know why they are so potent because there isn’t a cigarette out there that goes much over 2mg and the majority is under 1mg. According to Medline Plus, treatment is usually started with using 2mg gum. Heavy smokers (people who smoke more than 25 cigarettes per day) would use the 4mg gum. Either way, if you don’t know how much nicotine you are getting each day you could end up even more addicted.

Nicotine Gum is typically chewed by the hour or when there are cravings. If you were to chew 10 pieces a day you would get 40mg at 4 per or 20mg at 2mg per. Chances are with each of these scenarios you will be getting more nicotine with the gum than you did when smoking. This can cause side affects such as; dizziness, nausea, and headaches.

Over time you would decrease the use of nicotine gum to help with the nicotine withdrawals as you quit but it is important to realize that you may become even more addicted than you were before. Nicotine replacement products do have benefits and greatly help break the habit of smoking but they may have their drawbacks and the more you know the better prepared you can be.

No matter what – smoking is unhealthy and you should do everything you can to quit before it is too late.

Commercials have been airing about this product and I must admit this product seems a bit ridiculous. I understand the power of addiction and how hard it is to quit smoking but in my opinion the Smoking Savior won’t work. It claims to be nicotine, tobacco, and tar free – this being the case if you use this product instead of regular cigarettes you are still going to go through withdrawals. Your body wants NICOTINE not the smoking sensation. That is merely a habit and one that is pretty easily broken.

Why spend $100 just to walk around and blow smoke out of your mouth? The product also claims to taste like the real thing… Do you remember the first time you had a cigarette? Chances are it was pretty nasty and did not taste good. However, over time as your body grew more and more addicted to nicotine the taste didn’t really matter that much anymore.

Instead of putting your money into something that doesn’t really have any value whatsoever use it to buy yourself something that you have been wanting for a long time.

Quit smoking and break the bad habit instead of trading a bad habit for another bad habit.

When I first saw this I thought it was fake, however, it isn’t. The father gave his son his first cigarette when he was a year and a half and continued to do so. Now the kid is addicted to nicotine and smokes a pack a day. While mom is distraught because her son is addicted the father, Mohammed, doesn’t feel anything is wrong with it.

In the U.S. you would hope someone would step in and put a stop to this but this isn’t in the U.S. it is in Indonesia. Instead of the government stepping in and putting an end to the abuse they are offering to buy the family a car if the child quits smoking… which so far they haven’t so having a car must not be that important to them, nor is their child’s health. I guess they are getting their fifteen minutes of fame for being some of the stupidest parents but if you continue to reward stupidity then it will continue.

Source: Click Here

So you think this doesn’t happen in the U.S.? Think again… we have our share of stupid parents.

The You Docs: Cutting back on quit-smoking programs now is a mistake

Source – Idaho Statesman

Article by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen

It takes a lot to make us mad, but we’re furious: Here we are with a brand-spanking-new health care law, yet for the first time since 1960, smoking rates are increasing. Why?

• Legislators are taking money AWAY from stop-smoking programs.
• Eighty-five percent of health insurance policies do NOT cover tobacco-cessation treatment.
• Big Tobacco is still plenty rich: It spends $25 million a day on marketing to hook new smokers. And it’s still influencing politicians everywhere.

The result? Sicker people and a sicker economy. Fewer jobs, lower productivity and a bigger budget deficit. We can hear you going, “Are the You Docs crazy? How could smoking increase unemployment or the national debt?”

Two ways: First, smoking is a huge drain on worker productivity, thanks to all that sick time (not to mention cigarette breaks). Second, state and federal governments are spending billions of dollars to treat the serious illnesses caused by tobacco. Just imagine what would happen if those billions were spent on creating jobs and, hey, maybe even shrinking the national debt, too.

Don’t let any politician tell you that tobacco taxes cover these huge losses. That’s a joke that even Leno wouldn’t crack. You’d have to charge more than $10 per pack just to break even! Likewise, laugh at the many governors who think spending their state’s share of the 1998 tobacco settlement on job creation – instead of quit-smoking programs – is smart. This year, most states will receive an average of $162 million from the settlement fund but will spend an average of $202 million on tobacco-related health costs for Medicaid patients alone.

The cost? About $40 million per state, or $2 billion total. Simple arithmetic, but the politicos can’t seem to manage it. So let’s help legislators do the math:

$22.5 BILLION: The total collected each year in cigarette taxes and settlement money.

$96 BILLION: The annual price tag we all pay (in addition to seeing good people succumb to miserable deaths) in health costs related to cigarettes alone – not pipes, cigars or secondhand smoke.

$96.8 BILLION: The annual productivity loss because of tobacco use.

THE BOTTOM LINE: We’re spending $170.3 billion more a year on tobacco damage than we’re collecting in tobacco taxes. And that contributes mightily to our budget deficit. Still, can we really afford quitting programs in a recession? We can’t afford not to fund them! They save lives and dollars. Proof:

• When Massachusetts covered the full cost to Medicaid of stop-smoking programs, quit rates tripled and the number of smokers on Medicaid fell 26 percent. In just two years (2006 to 2008), emergency-room visits for asthma attacks fell 17 percent, and hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 38 percent.
• When companies help employees quit, they save at least $542 per ex-smoker per year on health insurance premiums.
• When smoking was banned in workplaces and public buildings in Pueblo, Colo., hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 27 percent.

By the way, if you’re in Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon or Pennsylvania, do a happy dance. These six states fully fund Medicaid quit-smoking programs, and the payoffs are huge. Now, if the other states will just learn this simple, life-saving, job-creating, debt-shrinking lesson! (In fairness, some are trying, but there’s a long way to go.)

Another by-the-way: Medicine now knows how to win the quitting fight, and it’s not by going cold turkey. It’s by using a combination of nicotine-replacement products, prescription drugs (like bupropion) to get you over the psychological hump, behavior modification and counseling. It’s what we do with our own patients. And it works in whole towns, not just in our offices. Dr. Mike personally saw this happen in 2006, when the Cleveland Clinic offered free smoking-cessation programs to an entire Ohio county. In just six months, 16,800 smokers quit.

The new law covers good quitting programs for pregnant women – which will mean healthier babies and moms – and it earmarks funds for future pilot programs. But 74 percent of smokers want to quit right now. They, like us and you, are ready to make America healthier and wealthier.

We’re not big on begging, but we’re begging you: Write, call and/or e-mail your state and federal politicians and tell them to get a grip. Our nation’s health – and your ability to compete for jobs with Europe and Asia – are at stake.

Article found at Idaho Statesman

Did you know that the more intensively you focus on quitting smoking, the higher your odds of quitting? Hatsukami, D; Mooney, M. 1999. Pharmacological and behavioral strategies for smoking cessation. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. V6(1):11-38.

That’s right the more you focus on quitting the better your chances! What that means is the more you learn, the more websites you visit, the more information you read about quitting smoking will fuel the fire to quit.

To give your focus more power you need to not look to the negative but the positive. You aren’t giving up or losing something because to do so may create the desire to find it. No you are changing your life and as you educate yourself on different methods of quitting, the health effects of smoking, and everything else involved you should focus your mind on the new you. Think about how good you will feel when you finally kick the habit. What does that look like? Think of all the things you will be able to accomplish, the places you can go, and the money you will be saving.

Quitting smoking should not be a negative time in your life. It is a time of celebration!

As with anything in life, if you focus on the positive you will have positive results. If you focus on the negative you will have negative results and have a hard time letting go. The key is to educate yourself and to change your life by changing your mind. Put your focus on the positive aspects of quitting smoking and you will increase your chances of success.