Stop Smoking Forever

I started smoking when I was 16 years old. Smoking was fashionable in those days and cigarette advertising was everywhere – in magazines, on billboards, television commercials and in films. It was unavoidable.

I had no idea I was allergic to cigarettes. Being young, my natural immunity was high and I thought that my breathing problems were due to a cat allergy I had developed a couple of years earlier. It wasn’t bad enough to stop my normal activity, and I just avoided cats for a few years.

When I was 18, two years after I started smoking, on the eve of my wedding day I had such a severe asthma attack that I was rushed to the emergency department of a local hospital where I was administered an adrenalin shot straight into my heart. I thought it must have been due to the stress and excitement of the wedding. Severe asthma attacks were to become a regular part of my life from that point forward.

In 1968 doctors advised patients against smoking, but doctors themselves were smokers. Athletes, film stars, mothers, fathers and grandparents were smokers. It was accepted as a normal adult activity, no questions asked.

My asthma continued to get worse but I was hooked. When I was really ill, I had no desire to smoke – until I felt better again. Inhalers and prednisone, a synthetic corticosteroid drug, were now what I had to regularly rely on to get through the ‘bad patches’. Normal colds were turning into severe chest infections and required more trips to the hospital, more oxygen, prednisone and courses of antibiotics. Days off work were becoming more frequent due to the ‘chest infections’ I suffered every winter. Trips to the emergency ward of the hospital were occurring every year.

In the mid-70s my uncle died of lung cancer. He had been experiencing back pain and when he went to the doctor with his back problem, he was rushed to hospital where he died two weeks later. He had been smoking three packages of Camel cigarettes most of his adult life. The news of his sudden death shocked me into quitting smoking for the first time. It wasn’t easy, but I stuck to a diet of black coffee and chewing gum to get through my withdrawals. Three months later I started smoking again at a party. I didn’t think just one cigarette that evening could do any harm. I woke up the next morning and bought a package of cigarettes – I was hooked again.

I continued to smoke for the next 20 years and during that time trips to the hospital for emergency treatment became a regular part of my life. I always returned home after a couple of days in a hospital bed on oxygen and steroids, started to feel better, and lit up again. Society was changing its attitude towards smoking, however, and by then people were becoming aware of the dangers to their health and that of passive smokers. I had now been a smoker for 30 years and try as I may, it became harder and harder to quit. So I stopped trying and graciously suffered the increasing barrage of rude remarks and hostility of non-smokers, many of whom were personal friends, to my bad habit. I rationalized that they didn’t know how hard it was to quit because they weren’t the ones who were addicted.

In the early ‘90s, I had been refurbishing a property and there was a continual haze of plaster dust in the air. I started to feel extremely unwell, took a couple of days off and by the third night found that I was having more difficulty breathing than I had ever experienced in the past, so much so that I couldn’t walk without gasping for breath. I dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance to come to my home. The operator asked me how I was feeling. I replied “Hurry please, I think I’m dying”. She advised me to leave my front door unlocked and ajar so that the attendants could come in with a stretcher and take me to the hospital. I vaguely remember the trip in the ambulance or what happened afterwards. My right lung had collapsed.

When I awoke in hospital, what I thought was a short time afterwards, I found myself in a dim room with a nurse sitting at the end of my bed keeping watch over me. I remember feeling very thirsty and asked for a glass of water. She told me to only take small sips from a very tiny glass of water. When I asked her where I was, she told me I was in the intensive care unit and that I had been in a coma for 5 days. She summoned the registrar of the unit and he told me that I had nearly died. I had been blue when the ambulance had arrived with me at the hospital and was informed that if I had arrived three minutes later the emergency staff wouldn’t have been able to save my life.

I didn’t believe what I had been told and started to get out of bed, but on stepping onto the floor I collapsed because my muscles hadn’t been used for the past 5 days. I insisted on putting on my clothes and checking myself out but the doctor wouldn’t give me my clothes. He said that if I went home I would die because I was so ill. He stated that it would be weeks, if not months, before I would be recovered enough to carry on my life as normal.

Unbelievably, when I finally arrived home after three further weeks in the hospital, I found a half-full package of cigarettes in my kitchen, just where I had left them, and lit up again.

For the next ten years my health started deteriorating rapidly – my immune system was shot. I never had enough energy although I kept up the same manic pace of work I had always done, I was irritable because I often felt exhausted, I was losing my appetite, and checking myself into the emergency ward of hospitals more and more often for oxygen and prednisone. Often I would be checked out the same day, but sometimes I was there for days in a ward with people who had been admitted with lung and heart conditions. Some of my fellow patients would never leave that hospital, they would die there.

In November 1999 I suddenly began to feel extremely unwell again and admitted myself to hospital where I stayed for a week. Naturally, on returning home again, I lit up on arrival. Two months later, in January 2000, I caught the cold that changed my life. The infection went from my head to my chest in a matter of hours. I couldn’t walk up the stairs, and started to feel chilled all over. I called a friend to come and take me to the hospital, but he ended up calling an ambulance. Again, I am told, I was blue on admission and was later told by the doctor in charge that I had nearly died, that I was one minute from full cardiac arrest on admission. I awoke once again in intensive care and was informed that my left lung had collapsed. After a further two weeks in hospital, I returned home, looked at that package of cigarettes, ripped them up and threw them in the bin. I knew that I wouldn’t live through a third major attack.

I didn’t give up on sheer will power this time; my recovery was partly-due to smoking aids. Nicotine gum and nicotine microtabs. Whenever I needed to put something in my mouth, it was a smoking aid, not food. I didn’t gain an ounce of weight.

It’s January 2010 – a new decade and 10 years off the cigarettes. My doctor tells me my lungs are healthy again but I still suffer the odd asthma attack, I still lack circulation in my fingers and toes on cold days and I still get wheezy when I catch a chest cold. But I’m alive and plan to live until I’m at least 90 – in good health. I lost a lot of years, but it could have been worse. I am now campaigning against smoking and am an insufferable ex-smoker, but at least I’m alive to do this work.

How to Stop Smoking Forever

If you’ve been a smoker for a long time and you want to quit your bad habit now, you should consider tips on how to stop smoking forever. For many reasons, it is important that you stop your habit now and stay away from it as long as you live. First, smoking is bad for your health – it kills. There have been many thousands of studies that prove the effects of smoking to your health. When you suffer bad health your appearance will start to deteriorate at a faster rate than by normal aging. You will see these effects on your skin, nails, eyes, teeth and gums, and even hair.

Smoking doesn’t have any benefits, so what’s stopping you from quitting? The important step to stop smoking forever is determination. If you’re determined to stop smoking, then you have already won half the battle.

Here are the basic tips you need to be armed with to stop smoking forever:

• Have a plan. It is easy to say that you will stop smoking but it is difficult to do it if you do not have a definite plan. You should set a goal for yourself. It can be a short-term one to start or a long-term one if you already have the confidence to quit.

• Write a list of reasons why you want to quit smoking. Write another list of reasons you don’t want to quit smoking. You’ll quickly see there’s only one decision to make.

• If you smoke at least 10 cigarettes a day, consider decreasing by just one cigarette a day. By the second week, you should have stopped smoking altogether. Detailed planning makes it more real and you are more motivated to stick to your main goal which is to stop smoking forever.

• Always keep in mind the effects of smoking on your health and appearance. Post a picture which depicts the negative effects of smoking in a very graphic and realistic way on your bedroom walls to discourage you from lighting a cigarette. If you’re continually faced with these images of how your lungs, teeth, gums, skin, and other parts of your body will appear if you don’t quit, you will fell much less-tempted to smoke.

• Use stop-smoking aids, especially if you have been smoking for many years. Some of these stop your cigarette cravings immediately, i.e. nicotine pills, gums, patches, ‘fake’ or smokeless cigarettes. Some even help you with the withdrawal symptoms. These are important especially if smoking is a major part of your life, but if you have only been smoking for a short time, then you should be able to stop ‘cold turkey’, without the help of aids. They’re not cheap, but they are effective.

• Find a buddy or a friend who is also willing to stop smoking forever and who’s doing the same thing, or join a group with the same objective. Office colleagues, collectively giving up (particularly in the New Year), are great for supporting each other through withdrawals – you’re together most of the day for understanding and you can’t avoid each other – no sneaking away to light up! Having somebody who can fully understand what you’re going through is a big emotional help. Nothing will make you feel more encouraged and motivated to quit smoking than to talk when you’re feeling tempted to smoke. It’s important not to feel alone when you are undergoing this process.

• Consider alternative activities – start a new hobby or sport that will require physical activity such as going to the gym, swimming, bicycle riding and other everyday-type activities that you can establish as a routine. This way, your mind will be focused on beneficial things like becoming healthy again and cigarettes will soon be the last thing on your mind.

• Keep a calendar and tick off each day that passes without smoking – you’ll be proud of your progress!

Stop Smoking Forever

The physical and emotional benefits of not smoking

If you’ve become addicted to smoking and it’s a regular, everyday habit, it will be more difficult for you to stop. You may even ask yourself ‘why should I stop’?  You should be thinking about quitting because of the benefits you’ll regain that you no longer enjoy – not just your health but to other aspects of your life. These include your family, friends and just as important, your own self-esteem and emotional well-being.

When you stop smoking, you will experience renewed health benefits. For one, your blood circulation will be normal, so your feet and hands will be warmer. Your blood pressure and pulse rate will also return to normal. Smokers usually have an abnormally fast heart rate and a higher blood pressure than non-smokers. You will stop coughing, almost immediately, and phlegm will become a thing of the past. These are the most common problems of smokers. Also, your stamina and energy level will be improved.

You’ll start to feel active and energetic again and you will not tire as easily during strenuous activity. Your sense of smell and taste will also return to normal. Smokers have poor sense of smell and taste because of the nicotine, which leads to loss of appetite. When you stop smoking, your senses will return to normal and your appetite will increase. The risk of lung cancer and other types of cancers emphysema, and heart attack will be reduced.

There are emotional reasons why you should stop smoking. When you succeed in combatting your bad habit, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and this will empower you.  You’ll regain respect for yourself because you know that you can control your life. You’ll feel good inside and out because you know that you are living well, with fewer vices and bad habits. Your life will not revolve around cigarettes. And when you can look at cigarettes and sit next to a person smoking without feeling tempted, you’ll feel a great sense of liberation.

You will have improved relationships with your family and friends because you will be happier, more confident and you’ll look and smell better. There will be no more ill-feelings between you and your loved ones who do not smoke or who don’t like your smoking habit. 

Your work habits will improve because you won’t be breaking every half hour for a cigarette break, disappearing from your desk and losing your train of thought.  Your boss and co-workers will notice that you’re always there when needed. 

Your home will start to smell fresh again, unlike before when the smell of cigarettes lingered and permeated every fibre from curtains to bedclothes and your wardrobe. Visitors to your home will be more likely to return.

Your children will be proud of you and more likely to bring their friends home to a fresher, friendlier environment.  You just might get more kisses and hugs from your family and your spouse, if a non-smoker, will be more likely to engage with you physically, therefore ensuring a more satisfying sex life.

The Effects of Smoking on Your Health

Almost everyone, smokers and non-smokers alike, are aware of the effects of smoking on health. If you don’t stop smoking forever, the negative effects on your health can kill you.

If you want to stop smoking forever, you should memorize vital tips for quitting the habit. For one, be serious and determined about quitting. Don’t just talk about it – do it. You should have a detailed plan that you stick to, no matter what. You also have to set a deadline for yourself. You can say you should have completely stopped smoking after a month. And when that time comes, you should have realized your goals.

It’s also important that you tell your loved ones, close friends and colleagues about your plan. And it’s even better if you can find someone who also wants to stop smoking to join you. During the process of quitting, you may, at times, feel alone and depressed so it will be a big help if you have someone to talk to who can fully understand what you are going through. 

As for the relationship between smoking and your health:

• Smoking causes heart disease in most people who have a prolonged habit. Those who are heavy smokers are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases than non-smokers. This is because smoking causes clogging in your arteries, a condition called atherosclerosis. When the walls of the arteries become thicker than normal due to smoking, substances like fats and plaque will block the flow of blood in the arteries, causing heart disease. The thickening of artery walls prevents blood from carrying much-needed oxygen to your heart and this causes your heart to work overtime. That’s why smokers tire more easily and can even experience chest pain when they do strenuous exercises or physical activities. What’s worse is that this can lead to a heart attack.
• Aside from the heart, the organs that are mainly affected by smoking
  

  Effects of smoking on a lung

  are your lungs. Smoking causes major respiratory problems. You always hear smokers coughing or wheezing and they always have phlegm. These are the usual and typical breathing problems caused by smoking. Other major lung problems include emphysema and chronic bronchitis, leading eventually to lung cancer.

• Tobacco smoke releases harmful and toxic substances like carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and tar, to name just a few. These substances are obviously not natural and therefore harmful to your health. Tar can cause cancer and also turns your teeth and fingernails yellow, as well as causing unhealthy gums. The carbon monoxide produced from a burning cigarette decreases the amount of oxygen in your blood, which again leads to heart disease. Hydrogen cyanide causes damage to the tiny hairs in your lungs called cilia – it glues and flattens the cilia down. Cilia clean your lungs and when damaged, causes your lungs to remain full of smoke and other harmful substances which cause major respiratory problems.
• For pregnant women or for women trying to become pregnant, smoking affects the reproductive system. Their periods will be irregular. And for some heavy smokers, monthly menstrual cycles stop completely. It is then very difficult to become pregnant because natural, healthy fertility has been adversely affected. And if you are already pregnant and still smoking, the fetus will also be affected. When you give birth, it is highly possible that the baby will have birth defects caused by smoking.
• Of course, the passive smoker can suffer the same effects.  That person might be your child, your spouse, your family pet or a complete stranger.