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Smoking:
It's Never Too Late to Stop
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“I've smoked two packs of cigarettes a
day for 40 years — what's the use of quitting now?”
If you quit smoking, you are likely to add years to your life, breathe
more easily, and have more energy. You will have extra money for spending
or saving, and food will taste better. When you quit smoking, you join
over a million people who break the habit each year. Whether you are young
or old, you will also have: less chance of cancer, heart attack, and lung
disease, better blood circulation, healthier family members, particularly
children and grandchildren, a healthy lifestyle example for children and
grandchildren, no odor of smoke in your clothes and hair, and a more
sensitive sense of smell.
What Smoking Does
Cigarette smoke damages your lungs and
airways. Air passages swell and, over time, become filled with mucus. This
can cause a cough that won't go away. Sometimes this leads to a lung
disease called chronic bronchitis. If you keep smoking, normal breathing
may become harder and harder as emphysema develops. In emphysema, airways
become blocked as the tissue of your lungs undergoes changes that make
getting enough oxygen difficult. Smoking can shorten your life. It brings
an early death to more than 400,000 people in the United States each year.
Lifelong smokers have a 1 in 2 chance of dying from a smoking-related
disease. Smoking doesn't just cut a few months off the end of your life.
It reduces the life of the average smoker by 12 years. Smoking makes
millions of Americans sick by causing:
 | Heart Disease. If you have high
blood pressure or high cholesterol (a fatty substance in the blood)
and also smoke, you increase your chance of having a heart attack.
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| Cancer. Smoking causes cancer
of the lungs, mouth, larynx (voice box), and esophagus. It plays a
role in cancer of the pancreas, kidney, bladder, and maybe the cervix
in women. The chance of getting cancer grows as you smoke more
cigarettes, smoke more years, or inhale deeply.
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| Respiratory Problems. If you
smoke, you are more likely than a nonsmoker to get the flu
(influenza), pneumonia, or other infections that can interfere with
your breathing (such as colds). Flu and pneumonia are very dangerous
for older people.
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| Osteoporosis. If you are an
older woman who smokes, your chance of developing osteoporosis is
greater. Women who are past menopause tend to lose bone strength and
sometimes develop this bone-weakening disorder. Bones weakened by
osteoporosis fracture more easily. Also, women smokers sometimes begin
menopause sooner than the average woman does.
Good News About Quitting
As soon as you stop smoking, your
heart and circulatory system (the arteries and veins that blood flows
through) start getting better. Your chance of heart attack, stroke,
and other circulatory diseases begins to drop. The flow of blood to
your hands and feet gets stronger. Your breathing may be more
difficult in the first few weeks, but should become easier a few
months after your last cigarette. Quitting smoking can't undo
permanent lung damage. It may, however, help slow further damage to
the lungs. Your chance of getting cancer from smoking also begins to
shrink. Within 10 to 15 years after quitting, the risk of cancer and
heart disease is almost as low as that of a nonsmoker.
Nicotine Is A Drug
In cigarette smoke there are thousands
of chemicals. Some are known to cause cancer. Another, nicotine, is a
very addictive drug. At first, when you smoke, nicotine makes you feel
good and you want to smoke more. Soon, your body starts to need more
nicotine in order to feel good. Then you smoke even more to keep
getting that pleasurable feeling.
The first few weeks after quitting are the hardest. Some people who
give up smoking have withdrawal symptoms. You may become grumpy,
hungry, or tired. You may have headaches, feel depressed, or have
problems sleeping or concentrating. Some people have no withdrawal
symptoms at all. You may be worried about gaining weight if you stop
smoking. Many people who stop smoking gain little or no weight. Those
who do gain usually add less than 10 pounds. But, even if you add a
few pounds, you will be healthier than if you continued smoking.
Breaking the Habit
Smoking is a strong addiction for both
your body and mind. That is why it is so hard to stop. But, people do
succeed. Since 1965 over 30 million Americans have quit. There is
help. You can:
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| read self-help literature,
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| take a quit-smoking class,
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| use individual or group counseling,
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| join a support group,
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| get a friend to quit with you,
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| take medicine to help with nicotine
withdrawal, or
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| use nicotine replacement therapy.
Each person is different. Find what works best for you. Sometimes
combining several methods is the answer. Many people can stop on their
own. Others need help from doctors, clinics, or organized groups. The
first step is to make a firm decision to quit. Then, choose a date to
stop smoking, and pick one or more methods for quitting. Before you
stop, try changing your smoking habits. For example, if you smoke a
cigarette after each meal, wait a while at first. Perhaps you smoke
while reading the newspaper. Try to not smoke and instead chew gum.
Then, when you do stop smoking, habits such as these may be easier to
break.
When you quit, you may need special help to cope with your body's
desire for nicotine. Nicotine replacement therapy can help control
withdrawal symptoms, but it's not for everyone. Check with your doctor
first. He or she might recommend one of the four forms.
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| Nicotine chewing gum is available
without a doctor's prescription.
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| The nicotine patch is also available
over the counter.
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| Nicotine nasal spray requires a
doctor's prescription.
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| Your doctor might also prescribe a
nicotine inhaler.
These provide nicotine to the body without the harmful substances
found in tobacco smoke. They reduce withdrawal symptoms. This makes it
easier for you to learn to fight the physical habit and mental
addiction of smoking. Also, this dose of nicotine is less than that
from a cigarette and is tapered off during the treatment period. It is
dangerous to smoke while on nicotine replacement therapy.
There is a drug to help handle your cravings. Known as bupropion
hydrochloride, it does not contain nicotine and must be prescribed by
your doctor. The most common side effects are dry mouth and problems
getting to sleep.
Cigars, Chewing Tobacco, and Snuff
Are Not Safer
Some people think smokeless tobacco
(chewing tobacco and snuff), pipes, and cigars are safer than
cigarettes. They are not. Using smokeless tobacco can cause cancer of
the mouth, a pre-cancerous lesion known as oral leukoplakia, nicotine
addiction, and possibly cancer of the larynx and esophagus, as well as
tooth and heart problems. Pipe and cigar smokers may develop cancer of
the mouth, lip, larynx, pharynx, and esophagus. Those who inhale have
the same chance of lung cancer as cigarette smokers have.
If You Are Around Someone Who
Smokes
Passive smoking happens when a nonsmoker
breathes smoke from someone else's cigarette, pipe, or cigar. It is
also called secondhand smoke. We now know that such secondhand smoke
is unsafe. People who don't smoke but live or work with smokers are
more likely to develop lung cancer than other nonsmokers. In fact,
each year an estimated 3,000 people who don't smoke die of lung cancer
because of secondhand smoke. It has also been linked to heart disease
in nonsmokers.
Passive smoking is very dangerous for someone with asthma, other lung
conditions, or heart disease. It may cause bronchitis, pneumonia, an
asthma attack, or inner ear infections in babies and young children.
It may be associated with SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). These
problems are just some good reasons for a parent or grandparent to
think about quitting smoking. Everyone should try not to smoke around
young children or infants. |
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Therapeutic
Dosage
