Is an occasional cigarette that bad for you?

So many people believe that moderation in all we do is key! However, when it comes to issues that are as dangerous as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, or smoking marijuana, the dangers may outweigh the potential for good. People love to cite studies, but if you do your homework you may find that the folks behind the studies may change your opinion of their results. For instance if a cigarette company funds a study would you trust it?

Thank you Dr. for taking a stand!

Dan Callahan, LMSW
http://www.TheLastResortPa.com

When someone smokes and takes anti-oxidant drugs and coffee,does it reduce the risk of getting diseases related to smoking especially cancer.

The carbon monoxide from the cigarrettes effects the integrity of the inner lining of your arteries (Tunica Intima). This inner lining becomes cobblestone in appearance and allows free radicals in the blood stream to become trapped and oxidized in the arterial lining. This is the creation of plaque progression in the arteries. As time progresses, more free radicals, as well as macrophages are recruited by the bodies inflammatory response and they get trapped inside the lining of the artery as well. The plaque gets bigger and bigger until the artery is completely occluded (heart attack) or the clot breaks off and floats downstream (stroke).
These are the biggest dangers to smokers... So just don't do it!

I have a history of depression that has dragged me down for over 10 years. I recently put on the patch and swore off smoking. This might seem unreal or not tested to be true. When I guite smoking my depression that I have suffered with for so many years seemed to disapate. I quite for 7 weeks and I could actually smeel the flowers and the grass outside as I had when a young child.
I let my younger sister sway me into taking the patch off. So now I have to set another new start to stop smoking date.
I just wanted to let anyone who had these problems know another benefit of quiting smoking. The first two weeks where so hard for me I am so sorry I let my sister talk me into it.
It has to be harder than any drug out there to guite.
However, I was able to get 4 people to quite with me they said if I could do it they could do it. One positive success story has come out of it. I'm proud of that.

Elaine-
Thank for sharing your story. Very upliffting. I encourage you to go buy the patch and put it on RIGHT NOW. Don't blame your sister, don't delay. Do it for yourself and family but also for those who are watching you. Depression also effects your judgement. Write your goals in a journal, and don't let anyone "talk" you out of them. Read and update the goals every morning, it will strenthen your resolve to remember why you are quitting. You can do it, and now......America is watching.

Smoking should be illegal. If other less harmful street drugs are illegal, I do not understand smoking being legal. I have never used an illegal drug in my 60 years of life, but I do smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. I am so addicted until honestly saying that I want to quit is difficult. Reaching an I want to quit point is my present prayer to God. I am stuck in the I want to want to stop smoking.

Cigarettes make my house stink, my clothes smell, and limit my interaction with others, even my children. I smoke in my bedroom when others are present, so I stay in my bedroom. Enter my bedroom at your risk is my motto. I do not visit family and friends because I cannot smoke around them or I am ashamed to smoke around them.

Just the other day, my granddaughter asked me to do a very inexpensive activity with her. I told her I did not have the money for this little excursion. She replied, " Grandma, how come you can buy cigarettes than? How much do they cost?" Well, I am an unemployed schoolteacher because I am too depressed to work. Before I perceived that I was being suckered in by a fifth grader who is smarter than I; we discovered that I spend $1,800.00 a year on cigarettes. Sadly, I could not afford to take my granddaughter on a bus ride to the French Quarters to eat Beignets and take a ride on the ferry. This is a crime.

I am planning to attend a prayer meeting tomorrow, and my prayer request is to be delivered from the smoking habit. I can thank my granddaughter for this first step I am taking.

I agree with Elaine that cigarettes should be illegal. Apparently it is OK to kill people as long as you do it slowly. If you do it suddenly it's called murder. The time factor is what must matter.
I don't know if the Feds are still giving the tobacco farmers subsidies to grow tobacco or not. As long as we have a health care problem in this country, money should be going to make the problem go away, not get worse. Tobacco fields should be treated like poppy fields in Afghanistan or marijuana fields in Columbia.

ALCOHOL is a WAY bigger Killer of EVERYBODY,Not only does it Kill The Human Body Inside and Out but It KILLS OTHERS,It cost This Country 175 Billion a year because of ALCOHOL Related Disease,Murders,Rapes,Suicides, Child and Spousal Abuse,Liver,Brain,Kidney,Throat,Spleen,Pancreas,and Other DISEASES too many to mention........You cannot even comapre SMOKING TO A DRUNK ...PERIOD.......A perfect EXAMPLE GEORGE BURNS Lived to be 100 Smoking CIgars.....And what did he DIE OF,He fell in the SHOWER and hit his head causing a trauma From most likley having ONE TOO MANY .SO ? Whats the HULLABALLOO about SMOKING ????
Many other things destroy your arteries Like,Fast Foods,Cheese,Milks,Butters,Bagels,ALCOHOL,ASPARTAME which is in most candies,Gum,Sodas,Speed Drinks,TYLENOL Rots the Liver out,ASPRIN eats up the stomach,Oils,Steaks,Veggies,(SALMONELLA) ,Most Bypass People never smoked a DAY IN THEIR LIVES,Here's a few more Fact for you ANTI'S for you :"A standard alcoholic drink, will release into the air, in one hour, as much Class A carcinogen to equal 2,000 cigarettes!

By the pseudo scientific standards of the Passive Smoking hysteria, ALL cooking, food and drink would have to be banned in public places too!

Using the same methodology, drinking a glass of whole milk every day, was found to increase the risk of lung cancer to 3 TIMES that of passive smoking but this was deemed to be too small to be of any significance!

NO fatality from SHS has ever been scientifically proven. After many years of being asked for ‘names and dates’ of just a few of the many ‘thousands’, no health authority
in the world has produced even ONE, that has stood up to scrutiny!

Uh Dennis...I think you are missing the point. You are probably right that Alcohol is a more dangerous substance, but the article is about smoking. Just because alcohol is more dangerous doesn't mean that smoking isn't dangerous. And you can rant all you want about there only being a correlation between smoking and fatality, but you'll just be one more person sticking their head in the sand. For your sake I hope you are not a smoker. Chances are that smokers won't die of cancer or a heart attack, instead they usually suffocate to death with diseases like emphysema. To all smokers currently feeling okay or unsure about quitting, I recommend visiting someone in the end stages of this disease. Our nursing homes and hospitals care for many of them. When you ask these patients how they are, they probably won't be able to gasp out an answer very easily, but you'll see the answer in their eyes.

Good comment Anne....I quit 3 years + ago after many attempts...finally just quit "cold turkey" by drinking more water and doing breathing exercises....and, praying....breath in with "Jeeeeeess"....breath out with "suuuus." Repeat an least 10 times several times a day..... should feel real good in 12-18 days...It worked for me.....I continue with the good breathing exercises.

Recently I was standing in the line at the gas station and a lady was in front of me complaining about the price of cigarettes. (They recently raised the cigarette tax to $1) Anyway they guy at the counter was trying to explain that it will help the states economy and the lady was shocked and said "How? By bankrupting its citizens?" It's amazing how warped peoples minds become when they are addicted to something.

Dennis,
I agree with Anne and Ron on this one. Your statistics on the U.S. mortality rate are way off base. The number one killer in the U.S. has nothing to do with alcohol, It is all cause CARDIOVASCULAR disease. One of the top contributors (if not the top) of cardiovascular disease in the country is smoking. Smoking leads to atherosclerotic plaque buildup which progresses into myocardial infarction (heart attack) and/or stroke.

Alcohol can certainly be a deadly drug if someone gets behind the wheel and drives after using it. Tobacco on the other hand, is a deadly drug regardless of where you use it. Not to mention the effects of second hand smoke on those around you while you use it.

TO ANNE:

Health Dangers are DRINKING BOOZE,EATING GARBAGE,STRESS,TAKING ALL THESE POISON DRUGS DOCTORS GIVE YOU,Smoking,And SMOKING POT.......They are all REALTED ANNE I dont want to hear that Booze is not REALTED,But GET THE BOOZE OUT OF THE RESTUARANTS and keep it in the BARS where it belongs,This way the DOCTORS can RAKE IN MILLIONS for LIVE,Kidney TRANSPLANTS.................

HA HA...

Wow Dennis...
Way to "REALTED" your point to everyone! Did you smoke pot before writing that?
This forum is about smoking... one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. and the world.

Yes, there are certainly other dangers in the world... like crossing a busy street, or fishing with rusty fish hooks. Drinking in and of itself does not create health risks until it's an everyday occurence in excess. Having a glass of wine every now and then or enjoying a beer or two during a ball game doesn't harm you...
HOWEVER, it takes a minimum of ONE YEAR after complete smoking cessation to heal the damage done to your lungs. Every cigarette lit up takes time off of your life. The risks associated with smoking include, but are not limited to, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atherogenesis, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, choronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, not to mention disgusting breath and stained teeth.
In moderation, a glass of wine just makes you more fun to be around... sounds like you could use one...although based on your spelling of the word RELATED, perhaps you've already got a head start!

Dennis –
While you are right that alcohol certainly causes its share of problems, dozens of studies have shown that smoking is the number one contributor to preventable deaths in this country.

Here's one from Harvard, for example:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/smoking-high-blood-pressure-overweight-preventable-causes-death-us.html

As I said, there are plenty others if you care to look them up.

The truth is smoking led to about 7 times the number of preventable deaths as alcohol (in this study at least). The top three killers in the US are heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Smoking drastically increases the risk of all three. Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer and smoking certainly leads to other cancers as well.

So while I agree alcohol is more widespread and is responsible for more deaths and probably more difficult to quantify problems like abuse, property damage, and so forth than most ILLEGAL drugs, it still doesn't come close to smoking when it comes to causing disease and death.

One more thing to Anne -
While your comment was undoubtedly well-intentioned, if you look at that article and the leading causes of death you will see you were mistaken as well; though emphysema is a terrible disease and certainly caused by smoking, if you look at the numbers the chances are in fact more likely that smokers will die of a heart attack, stroke, or cancer.

My take-home message is the same as yours though – if you are thinking about quitting, DO IT! And if you are not thinking about it, you should be! As a doctor I find it hard to find that fine line between encouraging patients to quit and nagging them (and no one ever responds to nagging), and it's frustrating because it is just such an important issue.

You all need to OPEN your EYES to all the LIES of this SOCIETY,Foods,Booze,Junk Foods,Cause Cancer too,The only Real Issue I have is Why Not BAN THEM TOO ? Ask your DR GUPTA how many people who never smoked in their LIVES Have had BYPASS,And Artery Diesase,I know people Who Have artery Disease that is HERIDITARY..So...Lets Look at That,Of course I know Smoking is No Good for Anyone Im not saying it is,There are way more things on this Planet That Cause disease Like SALMONELLA,LUPUS, and the other 5000 things....Now if you get a MEDICATION from a Doctor you dont know if your ALLERGIC,SO THAT CAN KILL YOU...Now why is it alochol is CONDONED and SMoking Is Not ? Its all about MONEY and Most Politicans are DRUNKS ANYWAY..........SEE YA LATER

Christ, it’s laughable how whenever someone posts a reasonable question regarding cigarette smoking it seems everyone turns into a preacher, preaching their narrow minded, ignorant opinions upon everyone else. I'm guessing most of these who feel their of huge merit to our society are earning sub $20,000 P/Y. Do these people not realize you don’t have to be hooked on cigarettes to enjoy the occasional Marlboro? If you live a healthy life (gym, eat well) I can’t see the odd cigarette doing much harm.

I use to smoke a 20 pack a day, i now only smoke perhaps once a week when having a few beverages. I’m considering becoming a full-time smoker again as i don’t want to turn into one boring MOFO who preaches to smokers how bad it is blahblah. Another favorite of mine is to smoke as many on Non-Smoking day.

Smoke away, enjoy your life. It’s a gamble. But could you really imagine making a BBQ with a cigarette hanging from your mouth? Or whilst waiting at the departure gate at a busy airport having a crafty tab in the disabled toilets?

My Great grandfather died at the age of 96, smoked 40 a day. I know this is not typical but there you go.

Because someone smokes should not suggest their addicted, using similar logic , someone enjoying a few beers are they a full blown alcoholic? No. As for the individuals posting these questions..on the internet, don't bother ask friends and family or make your own judgment. The majority of posts on this page are nothing short of pathetic. As addictive as heroin? What's that about? I find i can give up cigarettes for long periods without any 'withdrawal' symptoms at all.
Regards,
Yasmin

Okay, some of the things these people are saying sound a little extreme. I'm not a fan of extremes on anything – I agree that we should keep it out of the hands of kids and such, but banning it? Fast food and the like can harm you quite a lot too, but it's a matter of choice. I'm sure McDonalds gets into people's heads – kids, too – and many would be better off health-wise if it was banned. But people should have the choice.

On the other hand, yasmin, I can't agree with a lot of what you're saying either. Particularly comments about things like wages. That's unnecessary, and I'm sure smoking is just as prevalent among low-wage folks (and wouldn't it seem LESS likely they'd be on the internet if they didn't have money?). And your comment about becoming a full-time smoker again so you don't become boring and preachy... Talk about sounding pathetic. Not only that, but you already sound like you're preaching about the opposite side, telling people they should smoke. You really think that's something you should try to make a case for? Yeah, your grandfather was fine, but mine has emphysema and can't walk further than thirty feet in one go. He's only in his sixties, but his capacity to just "enjoy life" as you suggest is pretty well shot. I hope you're not going to tell me that it was caused by something besides smoking, that smoking doesn't harm your lungs.