Do your heart a favor - Quit smoking in 2009!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28450513/

Study shows a 41% decrease in heart attacks in Pueblo, Co., where a smoking ban was put into effect three years ago. They may have proved that smoking and breathing second hand smoke is deadly.

The article also points out flaws in the study, but it's quite clear that something happened to decrease smoking and heart attacks.

I've quit plenty of times.

I quit about three years ago after smoking for about 10 years. I will never go back. I could go on about the health issues but I am pretty sure people are aware of them. I just hope I never have to be a victim of them.

My grandmother quit cold turkey one day after having eight consecutive heart attacks in one day in the very hospital I work in now.  She smoked a carton of cigarettes a day back then.

It only lasted for about a year, unfortunately.  She went back to them when she didn't see her health improving and figured it hasn't killed her yet, so she'll press her luck.

Despite all the health warnings, people still smoke. I guess smoking does depend on luck. There are people who smoke and are managing to live to a ripe old age.

My mom tried to quit smoking with pills, it worked, but it also made her depressed and have quite frighting dreams. She stopped using them and started smoking again. But luckily she only smokes about 2-4 ciggerates a-day. I just hope she doesn't die from smoking. D: (Same w/ my dad..he smokes worse than my mom)

i don't smoke a lot but recently acquired personal health concerns have convinced me to quit nearly altogether. i never really figured how it was affecting me until one day i was running in which i had smoked a black and mild the night prior and i felt like dying. it wasn't even a generic sensation of fatigue as it was like i was going to dispose of a few organs even... so i'm gonna take a break from it... probably an indefinite one.

Hi All,

I sure am glad I don't have to deal with trying to stop smoking.  I used Yahoo smober, went to Nicotine Anonymous meeting, www.SilkQuit.com has a cool meter that I put on my desktop that was really encouraging.  Oh! and I used nicotine gum for a very short period.  It took two tries a year apart the second time was it.  I really think stopping smoking and loosing weight at the same time is really to much one thing at a time.  I found I did alot of emotional smoking and had to learn to first learn what triggered wanting a cigarette and second what could I do instead.  Oh! some say oh I'll gain weight when I quit smoking you won't if you don't eat more have to find another out let.  I chewed alot of bubble gum.  Ok! I will show you what the meter tells me I will post the results from the meter.

Five years, ten months, two days, 12 hours, 2 minutes and 48 seconds. 44845 cigarettes not smoked, saving $8,520.65. Life saved: 22 weeks, 1 day, 17 hours, 5 minutes.

Now let me get back to eating healthy and I'm working on things to do other then emotional eating.  I've gotten some children's books to read short and repetitious because I have trouble stay focused.  I also got a personal trainer at 24hr Fitness to help motivate me.  This is my second week and I am already starting to strengthen. 

Good Luck,

Marilyn

Goodness - I desperately need to quit smoking!  I find I'm smoking nearly a pack a day these days!  It's the most I've ever smoked.  I tried Chantix but it made me depressed and suicidal (almost had to go to a psych ward). 

"I found I did alot of emotional smoking and had to learn to first learn what triggered wanting a cigarette and second what could I do instead"

marilynlg - this exactly what I need to work on!

Mind you, I've already had one today but in order to smoke any more I have to go buy some....I'm going to put it off for as long as I can, maybe go buy the patch instead.

Any success with the patch????

eroth,

I couldn't use the patch because it is Zyban which is Wellbutrin and Wellbutrin makes me out of my mind.  Wellbutrin is an antidepressant and all it did for me was make me extremely agitated.   

Marilyn

Smoking increases your risk of coronary artery disease, including atherosclerosis, stroke, hypertension. Research showers that people who quit smoking reduce their chances of cardiovascular disease by 50% in the first year and there risk are almost the same a a nonsmoker after 4 years of cessation. 

Depends on the patch you use. People who use patches that act on the pleasure center in the brain have more side effects, with wellbutrin. If you take the nicotine patch, you don't rally have as much side effects because you are getting the dose of nicotine you get when you smoke. what people fail to realize is that the nicotine patch wont help you quit if you keep it at the same does. If your prescriber slowly titrates the dose of the patch down, your body adjusts to it to the point that the does is so low you dont need the patch anymore... its the same principle as putting heroin addicts on methadone. 

Original Post by cellulitedelight:

My grandmother quit cold turkey one day after having eight consecutive heart attacks in one day in the very hospital I work in now.  She smoked a carton of cigarettes a day back then.

It only lasted for about a year, unfortunately.  She went back to them when she didn't see her health improving and figured it hasn't killed her yet, so she'll press her luck.

 Wow a carton a day?!!  There are 10 packs of cigarettes in a carton and 20 cigarettes in a pack.  That's 200 cigarettes a day!  I hope that was a typo. 

I don't refer to myself as a smoker or non-smoker...I'm a habitual quitter!  Ready to quit again.  I find I last longer in the no smoke zone when I go cold turkey.  All I need is 3 days to pretend I have the flu and sleep it off.  Hard part is the pretending I have 3 days.  The patch for me is just another addiction.  I've been smoking and quitting for almost 30 years......dumb.  This time around, when I get back into the no smoke zone I'm staying there for good.  Withdrawal is not fun!

Original Post by happynhealthy61:

Original Post by cellulitedelight:

My grandmother quit cold turkey one day after having eight consecutive heart attacks in one day in the very hospital I work in now.  She smoked a carton of cigarettes a day back then.

It only lasted for about a year, unfortunately.  She went back to them when she didn't see her health improving and figured it hasn't killed her yet, so she'll press her luck.

 Wow a carton a day?!!  There are 10 packs of cigarettes in a carton and 20 cigarettes in a pack.  That's 200 cigarettes a day!  I hope that was a typo. 

I don't refer to myself as a smoker or non-smoker...I'm a habitual quitter!  Ready to quit again.  I find I last longer in the no smoke zone when I go cold turkey.  All I need is 3 days to pretend I have the flu and sleep it off.  Hard part is the pretending I have 3 days.  The patch for me is just another addiction.  I've been smoking and quitting for almost 30 years......dumb.  This time around, when I get back into the no smoke zone I'm staying there for good.  Withdrawal is not fun!

 

Its common for people to smoke more than 5 packs a day when they have been smoking for so long because they become so hypoxic that the smoke helps them breath... which is why you  cant give a chronic smoker 100% oxygen or they will stop breathing. It be good to figure out her pack years ( the number of packs/day times the number of years smoking). I had a COPD patient who was a 432 packyears smoker and still smokes 

Original Post by nigerianboriqua:

Original Post by happynhealthy61:

Original Post by cellulitedelight:

My grandmother quit cold turkey one day after having eight consecutive heart attacks in one day in the very hospital I work in now.  She smoked a carton of cigarettes a day back then.

It only lasted for about a year, unfortunately.  She went back to them when she didn't see her health improving and figured it hasn't killed her yet, so she'll press her luck.

 Wow a carton a day?!!  There are 10 packs of cigarettes in a carton and 20 cigarettes in a pack.  That's 200 cigarettes a day!  I hope that was a typo. 

I don't refer to myself as a smoker or non-smoker...I'm a habitual quitter!  Ready to quit again.  I find I last longer in the no smoke zone when I go cold turkey.  All I need is 3 days to pretend I have the flu and sleep it off.  Hard part is the pretending I have 3 days.  The patch for me is just another addiction.  I've been smoking and quitting for almost 30 years......dumb.  This time around, when I get back into the no smoke zone I'm staying there for good.  Withdrawal is not fun!

 

Its common for people to smoke more than 5 packs a day when they have been smoking for so long because they become so hypoxic that the smoke helps them breath... which is why you  cant give a chronic smoker 100% oxygen or they will stop breathing. It be good to figure out her pack years ( the number of packs/day times the number of years smoking). I had a COPD patient who was a 432 packyears smoker and still smokes 

 

 

 

As a smoker I find that amazing.  Wow!  Who has that kind of time?  They are smoking constantly obviously without restrictions.  I live in a state that bans indoor smoking in all public buildings, at home I prefer to smoke outdoors.  When I think of all the time I waste taking a smoke break it makes me angry.  Another reason to quit. 

I know smokers who have horrible smokers cough and truly believe smoking cures them of their cough.  They hack away at the first puff then after a couple more drags they are fine.  I read somewhere that nicotine paralyzes the cilia (spell?) and that's why they stop coughing.  The cilia is unable to clear the lungs because they are frozen.

When I stopped smoking I had to be willing and opened minded about the method I was going to use.  I could have said I don't want to do this, or that's just another addiction but the key is I didn't know how to stay stopped. So someone I had a better chance following somebody elses way because my way wasn't working.  So I tried doing what others suggested and its work so far I don't crave cigarettes anymore.  I am a RN and I know no one or any patient that smoked five packs of cigarettes a day and I've taken care of alot of chronic lungers.  I have seen some one with a trach smoke and that was pretty disgusting but of course I was different. NOT! I was still smoking at that time.  So moral to the story if someone wants to quit stay open minded to healthy suggestions, and look online there are alot of suggestion from the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and websites like Yahoo Groups, and www.SilkQuit.com.  

Take It One Day At A Time and before you know it you'll go days without thinking about smoking.  March 3, 2009 I will have six years smoke free not bragging just showing its possible. 

Marilyn

I am very proud to say that I quit smoking December 15 with the help of the patch and a new way of thinking about my smoking. The first day of quitting I told myself that I was not going to smoke that day.  The next day when I woke up, I told myself the same thing.  The most important thing I've experienced was the first time I actually worked through a craving without smoking.  I realized that I could do it.  I still get cravings but that is expected.  My desire to quit is stronger than any craving.  I've  realized that quitting is MY choice and that I could choose to start at any time but don't want to. 

Good luck to all who are on the same journey as I am.  We can do it!

Misty