Smoking Causes More Deaths than Murder, Suicide, and AIDS Combined.

Nicotine Addiction and Withdrawal By Bette L. Hall

Cigarette smoking is responsible for more deaths than murder, suicide, and AIDS combined.

In 1984, the US Surgeon General believed we could become a “smoke-free society” by the year 2000. Programs have been implemented to help lead our nation to a smokeless society by healthcare providers and government officials.

However, cigarette smoking leads to nicotine addiction and it’s the addiction that needs to be treated.

Enforcing non-smoking facilities, hospitals, and restaurants is a great way not to subject non-smokers to second-hand smoke, but what good does it do to help the smoker deal with addiction?

With every addiction comes withdrawal symptoms when attempting to abstain from cigarette smoking or other tobacco products. Kicking the habit will not be easy. Nicotine addiction is both chemical and psychological, meaning it can negatively affect you in your body and your mind.

Some of the withdrawal symptoms include headache, irritability, insomnia, and restlessness. Symptoms can last up to three or four weeks.

Joel Spitzer, a smoking cessation specialist, says patients need to know “why they need to quit and how to do it.”

Cigarette smoking is responsible for more deaths than murder, suicide, and AIDS combined.

Every year in the US, premature deaths from smoking rob years from the potential lifespan of those who have died. Strokes are the third leading cause of deaths in the US and cigarette smoking is a major cause. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death and is attributed to cigarette smoking. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and most cases are caused my cigarette smoking.

There are several products on the market today that will help alleviate symptoms. Most of them are nicotine replacement products that are administered in a less lethal manner.

Some of those products include nicotine spray, nicotine gum, nicotine patch, and nicotine inhaler. There is also an antidepressant pill that helps alleviate withdrawal symptoms which is a non-nicotine product–Zyban.

Zyban is an antidepressant that helps eleviate irritability and restlessness. It’s been used to treat depression and other problems. Zyban is a prescription medication that works on the neurological level to reduce the nicotine craving.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in to assist you by alleviating withdrawal symptoms, then discus it with your personal physician. Treatment with Zyban is generally initiated while the patient is still smoking

With the help of one of the above products and your healthcare provider, you’ll be on the road to better health. One last help for those desiring to quit smoking is the support group or counseling. Becoming smoke-free is truly within your reach.

Reference: CMA Today. “Smoke Out” by Tamara Matthews. Jan/Feb 2006 Pages 10-15

Cigarette Smoking

Cigarette Smoking

By Bette L. Hall

(written in the 1990’s) 

I come from the state in which the people are known as the “beautiful people,” California.  It seems everyone is in to health, fitness, nutritious eating, not smoking, and looking and feeling their best.  During the ten years I have been in Oklahoma, I have observed the high incidence of obesity, cigarette smoking, and the use of tobacco in other forms. 

Just recently, my husband and I were going out for a Saturday morning breakfast.  We went to a local Denny’s here in Tulsa.  The gentleman who serves the guests asked if we wanted to be seated in the smoking or non-smoking section.  We simultaneously responded, “Non-smoking.”  He apologized for not having a non-smoking table available and asked if we would accept a table in the smoking section.  About that time, I realized the entire coffee shop was so smoke-filled, that we would have left even if there was a non-smoking table available.

If people would just realize what a nasty habit smoking really is, possibly the percentage of smokers would drop to 15% of the population by the year 2000 as once predicted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  Cancer is not the only effect of cigarette smoking.  It also causes respiratory symptoms like cough, sputum production, and wheezing.  It is related to diseases of the respiratory system such as bronchitis and emphysema.  It causes low birth weight, and adversely affects the immune system.  Smoking causes dry skin, yellow fingers, wrinkled faces, and bad breath.  Not to mention the fact that the smoker’s hair, clothing, and automobiles smell terrible.  I saw a bumper-sticker years ago that is appropriate.  It read, “Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.” 

I cannot count the number of times I have stopped at a red light, looked over and spied a young woman with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.  That is extremely uncomely.  It detracts from the young woman’s beauty.  It appears that either she is trying to be macho (a male gender word), or she is trying to act like a gangster.  A cigarette hanging out of the mouth is the image of TV gangsters as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Matheau, and Clint Eastwood.  

As a woman, I would like to give a word of advice to all women, and especially the younger women.  Part of enhancing your beauty, radiance, and sex appeal is having a clean body, clean clothes, and clean tidy hair.  Strive to be your best.  Don’t let that cigarette smoke get into you hair and on your clothes.  Put on some dusting powder.  It is so much more pleasing and magnetic to the opposite sex. 
In case anyone wonders why I am addressing women, it is because I do not see real live men with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, only TV characters and women. 

The company I am affiliated with collects urine, blood and/or saliva to test nicotine levels.  Generally, anyone who applies for a life insurance policy with non-smokers rates will have to submit to some sort of testing.  Many times these tests show the applicant is a smoker which could cause them to be subject to the higher rates that smokers have to pay.  Nine times out of ten, further questioning of those with a nicotine positive test who claims they are a non-smoker reveals either the spouse is a smoker or the office where they work is a smoke filled room.

A study done by Dr. Goran Pershangen and his associates at the National Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden showed adults who spend at least eight hours per day in a room with smokers could receive as much second-hand smoke as smoking one or two whole cigarettes. Also, second-hand smoke at home has been the cause of cancer in many studies around the world. 
According to S. K. Kaura, M. D., the chemical analysis of second-hand smoke reveals that second-hand smoke contains:

• 2 times more tar compounds
• 3 1/2 times more benzopyrene, the known cancer causing chemical
• 5 1/2 times more toluene
• 5 times more radiation particles