New Smoking Warning From Surgeon General

[powerofpositivethinking]

as I was watching the news the other night a story came on regarding smoking and one of the new diseases it is now in fact thought to cause is rheumatoid arthritis.  That got me thinking that if smoking could put so much stress on your body to trigger RA, what's to say it can't help to trigger other autoimmune diseases?  That's my thought process   

 

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[BelleVie]

That's a very interesting thought! My mother now has RA and is a longtime smoker. I'm convinced she is celiac as well, though she refuses to be tested. Sigh. 

[GFinDC]

Wow, RA from smoking?  That's a surprising connection.  Thanks for the info!

[LauraTX]

Smoking is terrible for you and those around you, I feel terrible for those who are addicted and can't quit. 

[NoGlutenCooties]

It may be connected with the effects smoking has on the body's ability to use/absorb calcium... smoking is also linked to osteoporosis.

[bartfull]

I'm doomed!      

[GF Lover]

I'm doomed!      

 

 

Barty...have one of my NJoy E cigs.  Its working for me. 

[IrishHeart]

I have to applaud some members that I know have chucked the butts  as of Jan. 1

 

I will not name them., but they rhyme with:

 

"snot see" and "BeeEff BLover"

 

I am so proud of you girls. XXXOOO

 

If that's not enough, you all should know that smoking is the WORST thing you can do for your GI tract as it causes gastritis and .... uncontrolled gastritis leads to lymphoma. Plus, it makes you all wrinkly and old looking. LOL

 

seriously....how can  anyone hope to give your body a chance to heal fully when you put a known carcinogen into your lungs? It's not like we do not know all this for the past 50 years.

 

And this comes from a ex-smoker. I quit cold turkey Feb, 14, 1994. Just. Do IT. YOU can do it!!

 

Put them down and walk away.  Love, Mom 

[bartfull]

Thanks Mom!     I love you too!

 

I WILL do it...eventually. But I HAVE cut down a lot. I've gone from a pack and a quarter to a little over a half a pack a day - less when it's cold outside. It's my Sundays off that get me. I don't have to go outside to smoke and when I'm sitting with a book in my hand and a cup of coffee in front of me, I tend to smoke more. Once it warms up I can go for walks instead.

 

Wait a minute, who am I kidding? Once it warms up I'll be open seven days a week again.

 

Oh, but the old and wrinkly part - it's too late!!    

[IrishHeart]

less worried about wrinkles....they give us character.....more worried about intestinal lymphoma...that gives us, well...nothing good.

 

XX

[bartfull]

And I have a LOT of "character"!

[mamaw]

I  don't  smoke  but  as  I see  it... no  smoking, MORE BUCKS  in your  pocketbook... Smoking  is  a  very  expensive  habit  ....but  I hear  one  has to get  a  good   mindset  to  stop...... 

Mu  uncle  died  of lung  cancer  , SIL  died  of lung  cancer  &  many more  I  know. After  the  cancer  dx's  they all pleaeded for  everyone  they know to stop  smoking....they  were  dearly loved  & missed  but  some  of  the  ones  they  pleaded  has  not  stopped...

 

I  wish  you  all  prayers  to STOP....

[IrishHeart]

And I have a LOT of "character"!

well, that is true lol....and .... you're very special indeed.

[GFinDC]

I can't understand how perfectly sane seeming people walk around with those rotten smelling things hanging out of their mouths.  Cigarettes stink something awful.  I worked in a restraunt for a while and and cleaning out the garbage cans was disgusting.  Not because of the food, but because of the smell of cigarette butts and ashes mixed with Pepsi and Coke.  If you think you know how cigarettes smell, try going to  a restraunt and cleaning out the garbage cans where smokers have been.  You'll find out they are the most terrible smelling things on  the planet.  And people put that  stuff in their bodies?  Ugh!

[Gemini]

I can't understand how perfectly sane seeming people walk around with those rotten smelling things hanging out of their mouths.  Cigarettes stink something awful.  I worked in a restraunt for a while and and cleaning out the garbage cans was disgusting.  Not because of the food, but because of the smell of cigarette butts and ashes mixed with Pepsi and Coke.  If you think you know how cigarettes smell, try going to  a restraunt and cleaning out the garbage cans where smokers have been.  You'll find out they are the most terrible smelling things on  the planet.  And people put that  stuff in their bodies?  Ugh!

They smoke for the same reasons that people drink to excess and when alcohol is coming out of your pores after a heavy session, it's disgusting.  You can add to that all the people who overeat and become obese.  I think having someone spill over into your seat on an airplane is inexcusable.  Not to mention being forced to smell all that horrible fast food they bring on board. It literally makes me sick to my stomach and smelly food should be banned from airplanes.

 

Everyone has bad habits but unfortunately, smokers take the heat from everyone. As a former smoker, I can tell you that smoking is incredibly relaxing and if they came out with a safe cigarette tomorrow, I'd be the first one in line to buy them. 

[NoGlutenCooties]

Everyone has bad habits but unfortunately, smokers take the heat from everyone. As a former smoker, I can tell you that smoking is incredibly relaxing and if they came out with a safe cigarette tomorrow, I'd be the first one in line to buy them. 

 

Me too!

 

There are a lot of bad habits that I don't understand - some of which I am guilty of myself from time-to-time - but people ask how can someone smoke when they know it is bad for them?  People do all kinds of things that are bad for them... they eat junk food, way too much sugar, chemicals, caffeine, alcohol.... refuse to get enough sleep... refuse to exercise...  I don't quite understand not being able to understand one bad habit while being able to understand all of the others.

[bartfull]

I was wondering how it was relatively easy to quit gluten, which IS physically addicting, but so hard to quit smoking. Then I realized it's because there is nothing to replace cigs with. I mean, it is more like giving up EATING than giving up gluten. I can still eat meat and veggies and rice and ice cream and potato chips, and if I want bread I can buy Udi's or Canyon Bakehouse. If I want pancakes I can make them with King Arthur flour. ''

 

But the only thing I can replace a cigarette with is one of those e-cigarettes, which, from what I have read, are maybe almost as bad as regular ones.

[Gemini]

I was wondering how it was relatively easy to quit gluten, which IS physically addicting, but so hard to quit smoking. Then I realized it's because there is nothing to replace cigs with. I mean, it is more like giving up EATING than giving up gluten. I can still eat meat and veggies and rice and ice cream and potato chips, and if I want bread I can buy Udi's or Canyon Bakehouse. If I want pancakes I can make them with King Arthur flour. ''

 

But the only thing I can replace a cigarette with is one of those e-cigarettes, which, from what I have read, are maybe almost as bad as regular ones.

You are brilliant, barty!  I always wondered the same thing myself.  Went gluten-free in a nano-second after diagnosis and never looked back. Never craved any gluten at all.  But quitting ciggies?  OMG...it was like trying to stop heroin.  I still miss it. There is nothing to replace it with that is as enjoyable.  Well...I like red wine but I have Sjogren's Syndrome and if I have more than 9 oz. of wine, my mouth gets super dry and then I am miserable so even the red wine is limited to one glass.  To mistify matters even more, I was not a heavy smoker at all.....5 cigarettes a day was all I smoked.  I was always very self limiting when it came to my addictions.

 

It may have something to do with the fact that when I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I was deathly ill and could barely eat anything so giving something up that made me vomit and have the Big D all day was not too hard.     But smoking may or may not cause problems later in life and if it does, you don't get sick until your later years.  If smoking had caused the same symptoms as Celiac, none of us would have trouble quitting. 

 

I am not so sure I believe anything that is presented in the media about e-cigarettes.  Part of the smoking bans have to do with control.  Once people started to smoke the alternative cigs, government immediately started to trash those and ban them. From what I have read, the end product that is exhaled is flavored vapor, with or without nicotene.

No matter what people do to try to accommodate the non's, they still get bashed. Yet....people run into McD's or any of the other fast food places and eat stuff that is all fat and causes heart disease. And, yes, it does impact everyone else because it raises health care costs. But there are many more people eating bad than smoking so it's tolerated.

I think the attacks on smokers need to stop because we are all guilty of bad habits. People know they shouldn't smoke...they don't need to be nagged about it.

[Gemini]

Me too!

 

There are a lot of bad habits that I don't understand - some of which I am guilty of myself from time-to-time - but people ask how can someone smoke when they know it is bad for them?  People do all kinds of things that are bad for them... they eat junk food, way too much sugar, chemicals, caffeine, alcohol.... refuse to get enough sleep... refuse to exercise...  I don't quite understand not being able to understand one bad habit while being able to understand all of the others.

Ha....I'll see you in line! 

[IrishHeart]

.  I don't quite understand not being able to understand one bad habit while being able to understand all of the others.

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but here's how I look at "bad habits".

I don't view any of them as "bad" for starters,  because who's to say what's "bad"....?

but I do look at the weight of the consequences of smoking and 

lung, jaw or throat cancer is pretty compelling evidence for me to quit smoking.

The most torturous thing I saw was a very handsome

guy (a friend of the hubs) who died from cancer eating away his jaw and face. Just very sad.

 

And Barty knows I am not nagging her...I just love her and want her around for a long time. 

 

When I was young, I smoked and did other stupid things because I was "bulletproof". lol

 

But we know what smoking does now and especially when we already have an AI disease that has compromised our bodies, smoking is just begging for trouble.

IMHO

 

Now, if you all will excuse me, I have to go mix myself a drink. It's miller time baby.

[NoGlutenCooties]

I was wondering how it was relatively easy to quit gluten, which IS physically addicting, but so hard to quit smoking.

 

 

FWIW... my ex-brother-in-law was an alcoholic and a smoker.  He found it easier to stop drinking than to quit smoking.

[GFinDC]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to offend smokers, or condemn them.  It's the stench of the stuff that bothers me.  And having to be around smokers and breath their exhaust at times.  That inhales like a hoover.  The people themselves are not the problem, their habit is.  The smokers themselves are kinda nice, in a sort of wrinkled up, smelly, hazy cloud of  smoke kind of way.