Question
After all these years, It is just too much to believe that they are "now" discovering that smoking causes cell damage and changes in the body's immune system, leading to adult leukemia. When I was a nursing student at UCLA back in the 60's they were doing studies on marajuana. Smoking one joint was equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes at the same time and they knew then that it had a profound effect on the immune system. They also knew that smoking two packs of regular cigarettes a day for 25-30 years would give a male a 99% chance of getting lung cancer. So now it takes the Britts to do the biggest study of its kind to confirm all this.
And what was the suspected cause? Why tobacco smoke which contains harmful agents such as benzene, radioactive lead and polonium, nitrosamines and urethanes. Surely cigarettes can't contain that???
It is amazing to me how everyone has gotten the message that "nicotine is bad for you", but then what is nicotine in the face of those other agents, especially benzene? And what about that oily brown stuff you windex off your windows in a truck or room where someone has smoked consistently. That oily brown stuff, called tar coats the inside and outside of your lungs.. making your lungs brown inside and out and who can windex that off? And what about the blood stream that comes by your lung pockets to pick up oxygen and picks up that brown oily tar stuff and now your blood stream becomes just like fly paper, ready to pick up fat globs from the McD meals and gosh knows what else. Is that why the doctor keeps screaming "You need to stop smoking?" Oh, and the best part, because smoking causes carbon monoxide which attaches so readily to your red blood cells--those things your body uses to carry oxygen around your body--your poor bones go into hyperdrive to produce red blood cells because your body is screaming "I need oxygen" but the carbon monoxide is able to get on the red blood cells faster than the oxygen molecules. So now the body needs to produce twice as many red blood cells so you don't asphyxiate yourself. Oh my what a vicious circle we have produced.
Don't forget the Great American Smokeout is this week on November 19th. I hope I have given you some compelling reasons to quit now.
[This message has been edited by RunningSoLate (edited November 14, 1999).]
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Running So Late,
Very good info and thanks for posting it here. But I must tell you that I am a hard core 1 1/2 pack a day smoker. I am all too familiar with the damage I am doing to my body. Unfortunately that knowledge has not given me enough power over my addiction to be able to quit long term sucessfully. I have been able to go for a few weeks but only with the assistance of the 'quit smoking aids' such as the patch, but have failed even with that assistance.
I have the desire to quit, I just don't have the willpower. And to be quite honest, I am still one of those people who enjoys a smoke. I guess I am not ready to commit yet. And until I am at that point, all the scare tactics, proclaimed smoke-outs, and bans on smoking have had no effect on me. When I am ready to whole-heartedly commit, I know that is the day I will succeed. Until then, I have a very nasty destructive habit. The interesting thing is that the times I have tried to quit have increased my stress levels to the point where I experience other problems related to the nicotine withdrawal such as dysrythmias, anxiety attacks, and gastrointestinal distress. In other words, I have felt worse when attempting to quit instead of feeling healthier and happier about my attempts to stop. This may be one of the psychological factors that keeps me hooked on these damn things.
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Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road.
Nurse Red
Visit us at www.Truck.net/abmsVisit us at
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Well, don't feel too bad about it Nurse Red. My husband is a two-three pack a day person--I believe he would smoke in his sleep if I held a cigarette for him. No one really quits unless (1) they want to or (2) they are recovering from open-heart or whatever surgery with an ET tube crammed down their throats and the first words out of their mouths when extubated is "I"m never smoking again" That vow sometimes only lasts a couple weeks or months anyway.My neighbor who doesn't have enough breath to cuss a cat with,is going to continue to smoke until the day he dies. So go figure. My parents used to smoke like chimneys--we would go down the road with the car windows rolled up--both of them smoking and the windows all smogged over. My dad died in '90 and we brought his German coo-coo clock home with us to Alabama. At the appointed hour the coo-coo would jump out and give this real sick "cooooo-co." We sent the clock over to Madison, Alabama to have it worked on. It eventually came back fixed with a note that said "whoever had done the heavy smoking had gummed up the coo-coo's works." It worked fine for awhile, but with my husband's heavy smoking it soon went back to singing a sickly "coo-coo." So don't feel too bad, Nurse Red. The secret is probably not to have started smoking in the first place.
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Nurse Red,
I'm a fairly new poster, and I think I may have a way around your lack of will power to quit smoking. I'm 28, and had been smoking 2 packs a day since I was 11, and this worked for me. QUIT COLD TURKEY! No patches or other aids. Now everytime you want a cigarette, lick a dirty ashtray. It sounds nasty, it is nasty, but believe me, it works. You won't even want to look at another cigarette. It worked for me in about 2 days. It worked for my mother in 3 days. Try it. It might work for you too.
Janette
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NOW THAT'S A NOVEL IDEA!!!!!! And one that just might work! I will have to get up the courage to try that one though. Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I will let you know if I decide to try and "lick" the cigarette habit.
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Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road.
Nurse Red
Visit us at www.Truck.net/abmsVisit us at
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I never tried licking an ash tray, sounds pretty nasty. I smoked for 34 years 1 to 2 packs a day, some times more and tried to quit a lot of times with the patches and gum and any thing else you can think of. In Nov. 1990 I had a heart attack and had to quit while I was in the hosp. I was in even for the grate american smoke out 2 weeks after I got out I was smoking again, and did so until July 24 of this year when I was put in the hosp. with cogjestive heart falure guess what I quit smoking again, I mean really quit this time haven't had one sense. The craving is still there but not as bad as I thought it would be. I think one of the reasons it was easyer this time is because i was working and had no income, and if i bought cig. I might not have money to buy food or keep elect. or water or gas or any thing else so it maid it a lot easier, and with a wife and to teenagers to encourge me helped to. But any its hard and you really have to make your mind up to do it our it won't work believe me.
have a good day ,GOD BLESS
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Nurse Red--have you ever tried ZYBAN? several of the girls at work have used that to stop smoking.
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Hi Nurse Red...
Sorry to renew this old topic.... but it was the only thread the search picked with "Zyban" mentioned.....
As a 3-4 pack a daysmoker...I really need to give up....(Mainly coz I cannot afford it!!!!)... My Doctors practise is trialling Zyban..... before I volunteer anything I thought if you had heard anything good or bad about it.......
Thanks
RIKKI (Cough, splutter )
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Zyban, is pretty good RIKKI. I have not heard or seen any medical alerts as far as bad side effects. Another way to go, but I don't know if you can get it in the UK, is to start out with Habitrol, which we can only get as a prescription here. This is how my husband started out, because he smoked three packs of cigs a day too, while driving. Then you can come down to decreasing doses of Nicotine, stuff we can buy over the counter here. Sibyl
P.S. You can go to Zyban's website. www.zyban.com Good luck
[This message has been edited by RunningSoLate (edited August 06, 2000).]
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So glad to see RSL back in here posting, I had wondered where you got off to girl!
Rikki, The only side effects that I have heard of really causing problems with Zyban are rapid heart beats and sleep disturbances. Not everyone experiences these and they disappear if treatment is discontinued. I had the same problems with the 'stop smoking patches'. So they didn't work for me.
I would suggest that you check out the website that RSL has provided and decide from there. Since your physician is going to be 'trialing' Zyban, does this mean he will treat you for free or at a reduced rate since you will be his guinea pig? (just in case that doesn't translate well....it's not a bad thing
I say go for it, but only after your doctor has done a complete physical exam and feels there is no danger in your taking the medication. Let us know what you decide. And if you go for it, please come in frequently and report on your progress for the rest of us. You may even help some of the rest of us kick the habit, too. COUGH, COUGH!
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Keeping you safe, healthy, and on the road.
Nurse Red
Visit us at www.Truck.net/abmsVisit us at
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Hi Sybil and Nurse Red,,, Thanks for the info.... to answer your question Sharon....99% of medical treatments are free in the UK, The trial is because each doctor has a Budget to spend.... some doctors are trying Zyban to see if it is effective and worth the expense....
will be sure to let you know what happens....
RIKKI
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smoking also cuts night vision, a study showed 20% loss.
One way to stop smoking is to chew, people that want to stop and like the smoke can chew to cut the craving as they taper off, works if they don't like chewing much.