I am 25 years old and I am trying to quit smoking before I develop cancer or some other disease. Please tell me why I should quit. Tell me what will happen if I don't. I want to become a healthy person but I am struggling. I need your help.

Thanks,
Erin

Hi, I can understand your need to give up smoking. You should try a smoking cessation clinic, they're really good with plenty of moral support. You can also keep visiting this board and reading all the sad messages from people who are having to watch their loved ones die from lung cancer. It's heartbreaking, and a very good eye opener. Please try your hardest to give up. Good luck, Ann.

So you need reasons to quit..... here are some.....

Do you want to be at your son's or daughters wedding??
Do you want to see your children grow up??
Do you want your wife, or others to watch you die a horrible death?
Do you want to basically sufficate to death?
Do you want to cough up a lung?

See the doctor and get some support!!! But remember, you will not quit unless you are really ready to quit.

I have watched my mother die, my children watched her die..... My life was put on hold for over a year, while I traveled to see her. I missed important steps with my eldest. My eldest says she lost her second bestest friend.

Good luck, hope these are reason's enough.

Leisa

Very well said LeisaH. I couldn't have put it better myself. Like the words of the song....You have to be cruel to be kind....... Short, sharp, shock treatment can go a very long way, let's hope Erin heeds your warning. Best wishes, Ann.

There's one other area on the Health Boards that you should check out; it's called "Smoking Cessation" and I'm betting there are alot of folks there who are well qualified to help you!

Erin,
When you finally decide that you really want to quit,you will quit. You are the one that pulls one out of the pack and fires it up and you are the one that can stop at any time you want to,you have that power. I smoked at least 38 years and I quit almost 1 & 1/2 years ago. I never dreamed I could ever quit smoking and it was much easier than I thought it would be,all I had to do was just pick a day and just stop and I used the patches to curb the cravings. Oh,I still want one real bad,but I know if I have just one,I will go back. Do it now before the damage is done. A friend of mine,her Mother quit over 25years ago and even after all those years it has come back to haunt her as she is dying from emphysema. Good luck!! You CAN do it and you will smell so much better too!! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hi..I want to add to this..Remember, It doesn't get easier with time to quit smokeing. Quit now, before it gets harder to do. But, then remember this, never get puffed up...to thinking that you can smoke one now and then and never get hooked again! I made that mistake.They are stronger now than ever to get hooked on. They added more chemicals to trap more people.
And, remember too..that ......Just because you have a pack, don't mean you gotta smoke them!
.......and, if you have lit one , don't mean you have to smoke it!!!..put it out!
Right now I have the last two packs I wanted to smoke. I filled the packs with water and have them stuck into a clear container. So, I can see them, and
remind myself that I can do that anytime that I weaken and buy a pack. I don't have to smoke it! They are my torphies! Proof that I am strong. I don't want to smoke.
I am over fifty..my husband smoked until he could not hold a cigarette as he was dying this last May.
For over a year, I kept trying to not smoke, while he was chain smokeing. It is hard to not do it and have it available every minute. But, I didn't care how many times i would pick up one or lite one..(without thinking) I would put it out!
So, I must have lit a hundred this last year..but, did NOT smoke them.
Now, when I feel something is missing...it is my husband that I miss. And, I hate Cigarettes for takeing him away from me....twenty years, too soon!!

I need to add something also. I quit the hard way, in a hospital, tubes in both arm and oxygen tubes in my nose. Staph infection in my lungs. Remember Jim Henson, that's what killed him. I had cut way down for about 5 or 6 months. My husband hadn't smoked for a year. I have asthma, and now emphysema. I'm also a widow. That is the worse. I haven't smoked for 3 years and 6 months. I can tell you also that one puff would start a two pack a day habit all over again.
Donna, how are you? Start a new thread, we need to talk and I really miss you.
Cheryl

When you see that lung cancer is reality. You will put the cigs down for good, and if you know whats good for you, you will never touch one again.

Dan