I agree. As soon as they find out you smoke everything you might have wrong with you they want to blame on the smoking. Not very good medical practice IMO. They stop looking for causes. I'd like to quit smoking. But I enjoy it! I'm physically addicted too. My other half just went cold turkey and within 2 weeks he was down to one a day. He's one of those that don't seem to get addicted. He didn't seem to have any withdrawal at all.

The thing that I battle is connected to the anxiety I had issues with in that I get these obsessive thoughts about smoking and what it could mean to me, cancer, etc. And that really does a number on me. I even wonder if it's too late...having smoked as much as I have for as long as I have would quitting really make that much difference to my long term outlook at this point? I can honestly say that I wish I'd known back then when I started smoking what I know now. I never would have started.

I also have a theory: That when women smoke while they're pregnant their children are born addicted and most will eventually smoke. My birth - mother was a smoker and it seemed almost normal for me to smoke. Most of my kids smoke. Only two out of the 6 do not. One of those two is 13 so she could yet become a smoker. The other one is 22 and hates everything about it. They, like me, become physically addicted.

And now there's Chantix. I read the sides for the drug and visited message boards and some people really have some bad sides from this drug. Bad enough and of the type (anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and other wonderful things) that I'm scared to try it. Yet, something like that may be the only hope I have of actually quitting.

For instance and please take this with a grain of salt because they do have their own agenda but this site does address what I've seen:

http://www.chantixsuicidelawsuit.com/

And this one which pits the drug company against the consumer with the drug company poo-pooing the consumers concerns.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=33001

And the anecdotal reports:

http://forums.wrongdiagnosis.com/sho...?t=2301&page=4

There are many more like the last one above. Is anyone else as tired as I am of being a guinea pig for the drug companies? And I'm sorry I seem to have wandered off in this thread. The soapbox always jumps out and grabs me when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Zyban, which is Welbutrin, is a safer drug for use in quitting smoking, I have seen people have luck with that and the use of nicotine inhalers, which feel like cigarettes....the dosage of nicotine goes down slowly.

I understand the problem with nicotine addiction. People have to make heroic efforts to break loose from the addiction.

Unfortunately for myself, I get horribly sick when exposed to smoke. In my state, most places are smoke free, or have a confined section for people who choose to smoke. Most restaurants are smoke free, or have confined areas for smokers, and I believe bars and taverns are in a battle over it right now. We have a great tavern nearby and we have to get take out, as I get so sick and my husband has severe asthma, so we can't eat in, as it has no nonsmoking area.

I have fine reticular changes in the apices of my lung on CT scan, don't know what that is from, other than when I worked in rescue work, I was in wrecks with patients and they used the Jaws of Life, and they had to break windows...car windows have a dust that can cause lung problems. We were instructed to blow out, when they blew out the windows, but I am sure dust got in. First Responders gear was similar to Fire Gear in that our suits were fire retardant, and we had helmets with sheilds, but no masks.

I was inside more wrecks due to being petite, I fit into tight spaces. It could also be from my dad's smoking when I was a kid or from some other disease....My lung function is fine, as far as I know.

I have one son, struggling with quitting and I see his battle....it isn't easy. It has now become unaffordable for him to smoke, so he has had no choice but to cut way back. He is always proud of himself when he refrains, but, at some point, he falls off the wagon and then gets upset about it....it is kind of like me with exercise....I know I have to do it daily, but, I too fall off the wagon.

I don't think it pays to lecture or chastise smokers....I don't think that smokers could possibly have missed the message somewhere along the line....when I worked with clients I simply said, I won't lecture you on smoking....you do what you think is best. Usually when I prescribed exercise programs, most of them ended up cutting back as exercise makes you cut back or stop....just happens....folks 'just do it'. LOL.

I do think that docs need to look past the obvious, beyond smoking, or drinking or whatever, as disease can come from any direction.

I did go swimming today....broke my own rule....It was 13 degrees (below my 15 degree cut off) when I left to go swim...and I signed up and paid for a month....Of course, I swim indoors...duh--but leaving is quite invigorating when it is this chilly.

Well, if you don't see me for a few days....I got the old puke-spasm....hope to avoid it, I tried to stay reasonable....and asked the staff, folks I know, to boot me out if I start to be unreasonable with my time and intensity. LOL. By the time I left temp was up to 17, so my hair was not too stiff by the time I got home.....getting rather 'tight' and dizzy right now, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I do not get that syndrome of whatever it is. If I do get it, this time I go to the ER or at least urgent care, I am getting short of meds....not up for using all my meds and laying around for 2 days.

I also have to use 180 degree goggles...at my age, when you use those little ones, your eye bags get sucked out and you look 20 years older... it is like the opposite of an eye job (funny those worked just fine for me 5 years ago and I liked them) I just bought these new kind they recommend for triathletes..(gotta feel the part) Anyway, they don't suck out the skin around your eyes, and leave you looking no older than when you entered the pool...Which is a bit more motivation to get in.

I need nose plugs to prevent sinus infections and ear plugs to prevent ear infections....Apparently I get moldy when I get wet inside and I have a chlorine insensitivity, that makes my eyes turn red too...Lord, what a routine to swim....but hey---I did it---now to see if I can keep it up. Wish me luck, and promise not to nag me if I fall of the wagon.

Hi Jarrett:

You wrote: "I also have a theory: That when women smoke while they're pregnant their children are born addicted and most will eventually smoke. My birth - mother was a smoker and it seemed almost normal for me to smoke."

Wow!! I must be a major exception to THAT rule!!! Both my parents smoked. My mother used to love to tell me the story about the day she gave birth to me. She smoked her entire pregnancy.

The day she gave birth, my father went running into the delivery room expecting to see my mother in all kinds of distress. My mother was sitting up on the gurney smoking a cigarette. My father said "are you all right?" and my mother said: "I'm fine, we had a girl".

My mother smoked Salems, my father smoked Pall Malls. My mother had 9 brothers and sisters. Absolutely all of them smoked. Everybody was around everybody else's house on the weekends, for coffee, cake and gin rummy. So every single friday, saturday and Sunday night, I was exposed to everybody (and I mean everybody's) second hand smoke. The air was so smoky, well you could cut it. It never bothered any of them. It did bother me. I always had bronchits (many bouts) of it growing up.

After the age of 18, I remember going to a doctor for a checkup and when they put the stethescope to the chest, the doctor would invariabley say "oh you smoke??" and I would always say "nope, but my WHOLE family does". And the doctor would then say "you should never go near anyone who smokes, you have the lungs of a smoker." Now when one is told that at so young an age, well I never understood what the heck the doctor was getting at. And god forbid I should have gone home and told my parents "oh guess what, I have the lungs of a smoker and I'm not supposed to be around anyone who smokes". That would have never flown in my house.

So I guess I got lucky. My parents moved away when I was 24. So I've been on my own since then and absolutely no one has ever smoked in any of my apartments. No one. Now whether or now I still have the lungs of a smoker, well I don't know. I'm afraid to ask the doctor when they listen to my chest. But they always have me breathe in and out and I'm fine. It's been A LONG LONG time since anyone has told me "oh you smoke?"

Oh, and this is interesting. About 15 years ago, when Alan and I were looking for an apartment, we happened upon a lovely apartment and the landlord was interviewing us and she made this announcement. "I am severely allergic to smoke, you cannot smoke anywhere in this house, you can' smoke on the porch, you can't have company that smokes, ....well, just imagine this woman going on and on about NOT SMOKING!!! I looked at her and calmly said "you don't have to worry about us, neither of us smokes". She looked at Frank who was all of 12 at the time, and she said "yeah, but what about him"? I said "are you for real, he's 12 years old?" She said "well, you never know, I'm telling you, no one can smoke in this house, blah blah. well, she got me so nervous with her neurotic behavior, that we ultimately and politely took our leave.

It was the most fabulous apartment I had ever seen. With round rooms. I never forgot those round rooms. But I know that if we had taken that apartment, she would have been the kind of landlord sneaking around the front of the door just waiting to pounce and waiting to see if anyone smokes.

And I ultimately get a landlord who smokes upwards of 5 packs a day.

Now that is ironic.

My friend Charles and I take 2 trips together every year,well for years
now..Charles and I have known each other since elementary school.
He is intellegent,funny and oh so yummy..I remember seeing him on
that school bus,and after a week I had him conviced if he if he didn't
sit next to me I would beat him up..Now this was in the 50's and 60's,
I did want to be polite,so I whispered this in his ear..Boys' as we knew
in those days did not at first grow as fast as girls,well most. .Besides
my brother who was older would no longer have to seat next to me
like my mother insisted.

Well we were very good friends all the way through High School,he played
Footbal and I was a Cheerleader..We even went to the Prom together,
(which should be banned).You had to be on dialysis or be at that prom.
C and I had many friend's in common...We both married young 19,to others
as did many of our friend,it was the times,the draft was going strong then.

Try to make this short one friend was over weight,she married a tall,nice
guy from a nearby highschool. Jackie's mother died young,she had 5 younger
brothers and sisters.She have to help with her mother ,the whole
family..Her mother had a weight problem , her father was a policeman
who drank from the time he got up in the morning to the time he went
to bed..We were all sure he would accidently kill himselve or someone else.
When his wife lost tons of weight do to cancer ,this snake told the
wife and childen look your Mother is finally thin,I hope you tell her it's
about time. Her mom passed away.

So she helped cook and take care of the yonger one's,and she started eating,
After her marriage her husband helped her with the last 2 brothers..Her
father married a women with money,he stopped drinking and he stopped
seeing his oldest daughter she after all looked to much like his dead
wife



So her brothers and sisters stopped seeing him..

Well we all lived in Mi many went in the service,many ended up in Vietnam
some came back others didn't...Maybe we had a big class I don't know,but we lost many dear friends..But for years we have kept in touch and many
made these 2 trips a year,well seems like forever..Some times my husband
could make it and other times he couldn't..Well my friend Jackie's husband
passed away when there only son was young..She was a well know
reporter in Mi,she was brave and did one of those how could you steal
from a old lady,type of shows and was very good at it.

Well we went to Fla. in the spring and Mexico in the fall..Friends same
people we knew for years ,build a home in Mexico and invited us alll
there. .I was to sick to go and glad now I didn't..Jackie went and even
throug she weighed a great deal by then,and living her dream of traveling
with a very sweet new husband..These friends were a fanatic about there
stuff,and that new house.. Charles said they had all new furniture,
inluding a rather large chair,that they kept telling Jackie here sit here it's
so comfy. Somebody beat them to and got in that chair..Sooo
Jackie took a seat on there lovely couch theyfreaked she sat and
people wanted to talk to her,she was very interesting..

Charles was flying back home with her,and they were rushing trying not
to get to the airport late Charles heard a yell you broke the springs in the
couch,you fat bi-ch. Well those who were still there went down to
see what was going on,he said there stood Jackie,she said she was sorry
and would gladly pay for the damage..But they wouldn't let it go.
Charles just said I sat there as well,the name calling stared again. He said
just sent us a bill and anyone else who sat there. he rushed her out the
door,she cried until she fell asleep on the plane..Jackie took care of there
children,when the rest of us finally said no,she was wonderfull.

They couln't accept her offer to pay for any damage she did,they informed
all of us in the mail or on the phone,whice they stopped most of us
had to hang up..They chose that counch over a long friendship (no it
was not a antique,you know grand mom's) They knew how her father
verbilly abused her) Charles and I thought they could of called her faxed what ever but he said watching what once again the shame she felt was sad.

She now lives in France Mel and is so happy and heathly,not skinny, but
she never smoked,did drugs,drink..her addition food..Charles and I have
promised to make one of our trips to France..As for the people with
the counch,she let them pick 1 out a far better one and paid for it.
We have never seen them again,they didn't have to yell,I don't see
all the same people because we change,somee have passed away,and
besides Charles and I enjoy our trips as i said he's yummy..
Sorry didn't mean to go this long. I hope I can make our trip in the sping.
All Sue

--although my mother smoked through all three of her pregnancies, and none of her three sons will go anywhere near cigarettes, or anything else than requires inhalation.

I do understand that those who smoke do feel that their individual rights are being trampled on quite a lot lately. I tend to look at this as a public health problem, not a rights problem, however. To me, smoking in enclosed public places cannot be condoned because the act of smoking results in other people breathing in potentially dangerous substances they did not consent to inhale. Smoking in the ventilated outside can be condoned, as people do have the option to move away. Smoking in private depends on the wishes of the people involved.

I liken this to alcohol consumption--drinking is fine, until one engages in an activity, while under the influence, that involves the possible mitigtion of other people's welfare, such as driving, operating construction machinery, performing surgery (!) . . .

I do extend this to other polluting activities--I think we should be far more regulatory about the release of toxins into the atmosphere and the aquifer. It's the old "my right to swing my fist ends where your nose (or lung) begins".

I have wondered this as well my mom smoked through two pregnancies,
and probably as well as drinking alcohol. Don't know about other things.
She was a singer in East St. Lewis..I do know my brother and I have
Bronchitis and Bronchial Asthma.. And it making me really sick.

I don't believe they allow smoking in bars or restaurants,hospitals,
If the Bars and Restaurant have a patio they may be able to smoke.But I know
Hospitals have decided smoke free on inside and out..

The hospital I worked for in Mi. for one year First it was called Women's,
Hospital and then Huzel , It took people from everywhere who had Infertilty
Problems,went there myself..They treated very weathy paitients,as well
as women with addiction problems,mostly Heroine. They had aprogram
that if they could attempt to stop them,by putting them in the hospital
at least by the seventh month,the babies would go though no addiction
or less..These woman were not charged.Other patients better have good
insurance or lots of money..It had the very best Drs, oh they were
just great. There were no private rooms,there would be 2 beds up to
5..The youngest patient i saw was 10 yrs. old,well there were all ages.

Seeing a baby going through withhdraw C just about did in my nerves
of steel..I couldn't sleep,they took the mothers down to see there
babies,then come back,you rarley saw weeping..When I worked there
I cried,when I had my children they,well these men would come in put the curtain shut whisper in a voice if you get back on the street soon you
could have it. Than later that day they would take them to the second
floor to be by there babies,they had that slow cottton mouth,one said
to me your babies pretty, i'm sure your's is to,she told me he's broken
the nurse taking her down,told her to get down and touch him..No
get that social worker,I did what you told me,I got to get to work.

I remember some great Drs. leaving because ,I was told the poor bring
lawsuits,those lawyers were waiting,this was the late 60's and early
70's and thus the first of the high malpractic insurance,all they would
have to do was not help the mother's of the Drug babies..That was
more then i could handle..This still bothers me,some of the mothers
just left..Before my hands got bad I use to rock the the Aids babies
babies,they have to be touched to survive,well I don't know everyone.
In the hospital ,where I first worked the vol in the nursery's I think
they where the hero's they were the mothers who's children,were
killed in the wars..They said they did it,to feel needed so they could
sleep at night..Makes one think ,perhaps in my case to much,sorry..
Sue going to rest,I'm hooked up antibiotic again. Oh haircut tomomrow.

Very moving story Sue!!! How tragic for those moms.

My first clinical rotation in school was a med surg floor in one of the local hospitals. Mind you, this was back in the early 80's. Behind each nurses' station, there was a little room where nurses could go and take a break or eat lunch, etc. This had to be the WORST place in town to be exposed to second hand smoke. You opened the door and smoke just poured out... Choke, choke, cough, cough... I don't think they do that anymore in the hospitals...

I smoked, but was able to quit when my husband and I married 30 years ago. It was either that, or we were going to kill each other fighting over my smoking or end up getting a divorce. He cannot stand the smell of cigarettes. Funny, he didn't make a big deal about that before we got married...

It was hard for him to see someone he cared about smoking. His daddy smoked for years and lost a lung to lung cancer. It was awful watching him go downhill. A big, strong man was reduced to a weak, sickly person, who could not enjoy the last years of his life or his grandkids, before it spread and took him.

I was probably not a very good candidate to be a smoker. With a history of lung issues, I probably could have found a better means of relieving stress. I am very glad that I quit. I had forgotten how good food really tastes and also how bad smoke really smells. You don't notice this so much when you are smoking...

I don't mind if people smoke, I have friends who smoke. It was really hard to quit smoking though, and my lungs are damaged from all of the years I did smoke. Like Glenn, it is a public health issue in my opinion. I just don't want my lungs compromised any more than they already are with Chronic Bronchitis.

Cathie

Cathie I sure remember those little rooms and your so right,but that's
the pass,and good for you...I was never so proud of my son,putting
it on a web site helped him and so many more..You mean to much
to us to have yucky lungs...Hugs Sue