What is the REAL story?

I've been told to quit smoking. I know that I should and plan to. What is the real connection?

Shauna



[This message has been edited by Shauna_M (edited 01-14-2001).]

It can be damaging to your lungs even many years after quitting, if you started very young. I now have asthma and I believe COPD. which came on gradually over the last 8 or 9 years. I have not smoked in 18 years, but did from 12 to 37. It's not worth the risk.

Smoking is bad for your whether you have asthma or not. However, it is worse if you do have asthma. It takes a long time to clear out your lungs once you do stop smoking. If you don't stop, you can also get cancer or other lung disorders which will shorten your life! There are a lot of websites out on the internet that discuss this more in detail.

I smoked for many years, then quit for 5. Then, I started it up again, and smoked for another 5, but now I'm a nonsmoker again. I have asthma. Asthma that I would NEVER have gotten if I had never smoked.

Yes, I miss smoking, always will. I loved it. I have an addictive personality, and smoking was something I really enjoyed.

However, for me, the time of denial is OVER. If anyone believes they can smoke without harming themselves, especially in the long run, they are fooling themselves, or they have a death wish. If you already have asthma, and you're continuing to smoke, you're not only choosing DEATH, you're choosing a horrible, lingering, suffering way to die. All of which can be greatly allieviated NOW by quitting smoking NOW.

My mother literally suffocated to death, because her lungs were so damaged by years and years of smoking. I'm not going that way, and I don't want ANYONE else to, either. Not from self-infliction, anyway.

Think of where you want to be in 10 years, or 5, or even next year. Do you want to be on oxygen, sucking on a nebulizer 4 times a day, always having an emergency inhaler nearby, on so many steroids you don't recognize your own swollen, puffy face in the mirror?

Set a quit date, plan for it, and smoke all you want until then--enjoy the hell out of it. Then, when you STOP, enjoy just BREATHING...

I smoked since I was probably 17 (quit for both pregnancies, but started up again after). When I was about 37, the smoking caught up with me. I would wake up in the middle of the night wheezing, I could only lay on one side and try to get to sleep. But when I woke up in the morning, I would light that cigarette again because I felt better after being up. But I no longer had the stamina I used to have. I always told myself I would quit..someday. Well, when I was 38-39 I got a cold in the fall and I couldn't breathe, just walking to the phone to answer it left me terribly breathless. After suffering a day and a half not being able to breathe, I finally went to the doctor because I couldn't take it anymore. He immediately admitted me to the hospital. I ended up there for 2 days. He diagnosed me with asthma and told me I had better quit smoking. Well, I did, and even though I do have allergies and they bother me w/my asthma, I no longer wheeze and my stamina is much better. I don't if I got the asthma from smoking, but it definitely triggered it. No one in my family ever had asthma. Now my daughter has asthma (maybe because I smoked and she got the second-hand?).

Sorry for the long post, but my point is QUIT! You'll be glad you did! I am. (And I was addicted!!!)

Every reply to your question is absolutely true. I quit smoking 7 years before being diagnosed with COPD...chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I have good days & bad days breathing. It's not wprth the risk.

Bernice

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BL

its definately not worth the risk. Having allergies w/asthma sucks. I've been smoking around 10 years now(started when I was 12). I am having the hardest time quiting. I want to be able to breath and not wheeze. Maybe soon I'll get will power and quit for good. Good luck

I am a 38year old woman with two boys 12 and 6 unfortunely the 12yr old suffer with servere asthma because I did not not take care of my self while I was pregant I smoked then and after he was born which caused him the pain he now suffers daily. We have been back and forth in emergency rooms since he was 6mos. I truly regret all that has happen please save yourself and other to STOP NOW.

I'm 16 years old and was diagnosed asthmatic at 8 months old. I've been smoking for 18 months and I can honestly say that I've never had problems with my asthma because of smoking. There are more severe types of asthma, and some are more affected by smoking than others.....maybe I'm just one of the types that isn't affected by it.
At the end of the day it's your own personal choice whether to smoke or not.
Good luck!
Love Katie xxx

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Don't dream the dream, be the dream.

It's definitely not worth the risk. My uncle died from lung cancer last year from smoking. I have asthma and can't be around anyone that smokes,if I do I have an attack. It's not worth it.

Jeanette

I've never been diagnosed as asthmatic but I do get asthma-like symptoms from second-hand smoke, wheeze, phlegm, cough, etc, and other nasties like sore thrat and headache. There is nothing else I have ever come into contact with that affects me as badly as cigarette smoke, so I can hardly believe that any asthmatic would even contemplate smoking, even though my mum smokes and is asthmatic. Because of her smoking around me I was always ill as a child, can't even forgive her for that, it was abuse pure and simple. Cigarette smoke is one of the comonest triggers for asthmatics, second only to stress so I read somewhere. I can believe it too. It's deadly whether you are asthmatic or not anyway.

Lesley

I've never been diagnosed as asthmatic but I do get asthma-like symptoms from second-hand smoke, wheeze, phlegm, cough, etc, and other nasties like sore thrat and headache. There is nothing else I have ever come into contact with that affects me as badly as cigarette smoke, so I can hardly believe that any asthmatic would even contemplate smoking, even though my mum smokes and is asthmatic. Because of her smoking around me I was always ill as a child, can't even forgive her for that, it was abuse pure and simple. Cigarette smoke is one of the comonest triggers for asthmatics, second only to stress so I read somewhere. I can believe it too. It's deadly whether you are asthmatic or not anyway.

Lesley

If it's personal choice to smoke, maybe it should be the doctor's choice to refuse you treatment since your problem is self-inflicted, just a thought for you Katie. Quit smoking

Lesley

DUH?!?!?!?!?!?

lc

DUH!?!?!?!?!

lc

DUH!?!?!?!?!

lc

But, then if the Dr has the right to not treat you for self inflicted smoking damage than also must not forget people dieing of obesity related disease are catching up with smoking stats so he could refuse the right to treat her obesity since over eating is self inflicted to. this could apply to boozers destroying their livers as well. Quitting is important but getting treatment now is just as. Any Dr who refuses to treat is not living by his Hypocratic oath! JMHO and thoughts on the subject.

In the UK there's been serious talk of doing that very thing as it's costing our NHS so much money.

Is there anything to stop an anaesthetist saying "sorry I'm not prepared to anaesthetise you because I feel your lungs are in too poor a condition to survive anaesthetic."? It's not the same as saying "I'm not anaesthetising you because you're a smoker" but it's another way of saying it!

Euthanasia is illegal here too but every day doctors give patients increasing amounts of morphine as pain relief which actually helps end their lives.

I reckon there's many ways around the Hippocratic oath!
Lidia http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by lidiajamjar (edited 08-09-2003).]

It's a doctors' perogative whether he wants to treat or not treat a patient. In a busy situation like the States, where it can be difficult to get a doctor, some doctors ... I can see, anyway ... reserving the right to help people who want to be helped.

Has anybody heard about the product called BreatheEasy Saltpipe? I found it on the following link: http://www.thanedirect.co.uk/products/beauty/pipe/pipe.php

Does anybody have any experiences with it?

Here's my beef with smokers: My lungs are CRAP. I have never been above 60% on my lung functions. I am taking 9 medications for them now. I have spent days in the hospital and in the ICU unit because I could not breathe on my own. A cannula in your nose giving you supplemental oxygen is usually not the most fun, add on top of that a ventilator, and you're dying. It is horrible not to breathe. My peak flows are that of a seven year old, and I am 18. I am on my nebulizer 6-8 times a day and still, I cannot breathe. My dad is a severe asthmatic as well and I've heard the phrase 'severe FATAL' tossed around me several times. I have not smoked, nor has anyone in my family smoked. My lungs are like this because I got dealt a band hand. Usually those who smoke have a better hand than I do, but slowly gamble away their life because of their addiction. If you want bad lungs, I'll gladly swap you mine. There are several other people out there who will swap with you too; you don't have to smoke to throw them away.

Katie13,

If you've only been smoking for 18 months, it's *way* too soon for you to experience any long-term side effects. If you keep on smoking for five or ten years and you have asthma, you can kill yourself. Think about that.

I don't know ANY asthmatic who can tolerate cigarette smoke. I do have a friend who has asthma and used to smoke... cigaratte in one hand, ventolin in the other. It was really sad.

How can you breath? I can't walk past anyone smoking without it triggering an asthma attack. I have been hospitalized several times just because someone was smoking right outside the entrance of a public building I had to enter. I have never smoked but my father smoked my whole childhood. I didn't develope asthma until 12 yrs ago. I am now 48.

I know this is an old topic but I just found it when I was researching and wanted to reply....I have been asthmatic since I was born, basically. I've always had an inhaler, when I was little I was on a nebulizer, had gone to the hospital a number of times, etc. I think it's partly genetic. I was a competitive swimmer for a long time and I KNOW that helped my lung function, or at least my lung capacity...I think it's really a godsend that I found that sport b/c, not only was I good at it, but it can be very beneficial for those w/ asthma b/c of the climate and everything (as far as being IN the water, even if it was indoors)...anyway,after I gratuated from college I started to smoke. Yeah, stupid...it was partly social, partly b/c of stress b/c I was having trouble finding a good job that I was actually qualified for (instead of being a waitress!) I know, not the best idea, especially for a person that has struggled with asthma all her life. Well, I have been addicted for a year and 1/2, and I haven't really noticed a change in my asthma, worse or better. I'm an educated person, I know all the downfalls, and worse yet, I used to think smoking was DISGUSTING....I know if I continue I will do permanent damage, but as far as my smoking and my asthma are concerned, i honestly do not see a correlation. I mean, I've been asthmatic all my LIFE and have had to depend on an inhaler forever but really do not see a negative impact. Is this just me being naive???? Please give me some input! Has anyone else had a negative experience? Thanks

Ashamed to admit it - I smoke - according to my resp dr have mild to moderate asthma, GP says I have moderate to severe asthma. Anyway, have had my asthma for 6 1/2 yrs been smoking for 2 1/2 yrs. Yeah, not good. Sometimes after I've had a cigarette it triggers an acute attack, though not severe or it really 'burns' my lungs and I get a bit wheezy. I've noticed my asthma has been much more out of control after about 1 1/2 yrs of smoking - peak flows no where near as good as what they use to be - can only reach my best pfm reading after being on pred for 2 weeks - react a lot worse to colds than what I use to. I know asthmatics are prone to bronchitis after having a cold - though for me it wasn't all cold - only severe colds - since I started I get really bad bronchitis with EVERY cold and have now had pneumonia twice (last yr) secondary infection due to a cold of all things. Not good for an otherwise healthy 20y/o. I'm sorry I don't have the link but I read somewhere 20% (approx) teenagers with asthma smoke - A LOT and really sad. I was told once that asthma who smoke also run a far great risk of developing COPD/emphysema. :(

Because you smoke and you have a lung disease you DO run a higher risk of emphysema. Not only will your lungs remodel themselves so you can breathe, but you'll lose more lung function, and you'll lose the ability to oxygenate. Most asthmatics, unless in an acute attack, oxygenate just fine. Smoking kills that ability and you could end up being on oxygen 24/7.