To think that giving up smoking can actually CAUSE cancer

[merrywidow]

Have seen several people give up smoking then develop lung / throat cancer.

spoke to a friend, she says the same of someone she knows.

A cell biologist I met actually asked if my H who died of lung cancer had given up smoking, I said he had a couple of years previously, then nodded sagely.

I googled the subject and found a docs forum where they actually discussed it; the thought was that as the body heals the cells then don't know when to stop dividing and go into overdrive becoming cancerous.

[Mamaz0n]

My dad smoked 40 - 60 a day. He literally chain smoked his way throuhg life from the age of 14 to 50.

He always said that he could not give up. that his addiction was far too strong. He was very much a smoker for life.

Unfortunately he probably had undiagnosed COPD for some years now. It took a chest infection which lead to pneumonia before he reached a stage where he couldn't breath. He was ambulanced to hospital where after 2 nights in resus and then a further 14 in an accute respitory ward attached to drips and catheta's and bi pap machines, being barely conscious for the first 10 days before his desire to live became stronger than the desire to smoke.

I actually saw him one morning, barely awake, trying to put his drip to his lips to smoke it.

he finally came home on friday. he has to be attached to either oxygen or the bi pap machine 24 hours a day for the rest of his life. At age 50 he has between "days and weeks" left to live.

how my siblings still manage to put a fag to their lips after seeing him as he is is beyond me.

If my dad can give up then so can anyone. though preferably before they are attached to life support machines

[SardineQueen]

For anyone lurking/thinking of quitting, I thoroughly recommend Allen carr's book

It worked for me and a lot of my friends (I read it twice and used zyban as well) - I found that the book completely changed the way I viewed my smoking - it made me realise how stupid and pointless it really is, and that teh pleasure is an illusion. Good stuff

[ivykaty44]

here's a good old amputation of the leg

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

shiny, nobody really ever chooses to smoke, IMO... people fall in to it. Nobody chooses to get addicted to a substance and nicotine is one of the most addictive of them all.

[southeastastra]

of course stopping is beneficial. the cost is enough to make it so! not to mention health benefits. it's a big trap, nicotine is the thing that gets you. inhalators are cheaper and healthier yet still give you a 'hit' if you're trying to give up.

[SardineQueen]

I'm not so sure. Most people I know who have given up smoking have done so for more immediate reasons - they notice the effect it is having on them now and that's why they want to quite. Also if they get a partner/have children and they don't want to expose them.

People who would use this as an excuse not to smoke are people who aren't ready to quit anyway. The vast majority of smokers don't want to be a smoker - the question is when will they be ready to quit.

[RedbinD]

OP - you are spot on. It's taking up smoking that prevents cancer in the first place.

[merrywidow]

Happy - I'm a Hairdresser

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

I need to find the study that shows that giving up smoking, whatever age you are, is still beneficial... PubMed tomorrow then


IF (big if) there is some truth to this claim, all it will do is 'prove' to people trying to give up that there is no point in doing it, and will undoubtedly do more harm than good.

[ivykaty44]

so best never to smoke at all, Roy Castle never smoked and he died of lung cancer as he spent so much time with his trombone in clubs which where smokey and inhaled second hand smoke which caused the lung cancer which killed him. Now second hand smoke in bars is prohibited.

Smoking is often thought of as the cause of cancer - unfortunately there are far more other ailments and illness that smokers will suffer from, these illness may not kill them quickly, but they could have 10 - 15 years of pain and suffering from illness but not get cancer.

Diseases of the Cardiovascular System
Cigarette smoking causes atherosclerosis - the hardening and narrowing of the arteries. This process occurs to some degree anyway as we age, but smoking accelerates the process even for young people. This leads to an increased risk of stroke, heart disease, aneurysms of the aorta and peripheral vascular disease, which can lead to amputations of the limbs.

Diseases of the Respiratory System
The lungs of smokers are likely to become damaged. Damage of the lung tissue can lead to diseases such as emphysema, which reduce the capacity of the lungs to extract oxygen from the air we breathe. 90% of cases of emphysema seen by physicians are caused by smoking.

here is an explination of the disease You can live with it for a good decade getting worse, you end up having to sit with your arms rasied so that you can get some air/breath, oxygen at home to aid your breathing and pretty much forget about leaving the house -it will become prison, though trips to hospital may break the pattern.

Damaged lungs are also less able to fight infection, which leaves smokers more likely to get infections of the respiratory tract including bronchitis and pneumonia. It should be noted here that expectant mothers who smoke are likely to be causing damage to their unborn baby's lungs.

Please don't think cancer is the only disease that you risk getting through smoking and other will also shorten your life span and inhibit your life style greatly

[merrywidow]

I can find the link but when I call up the page, my computer keeps clicking so I'm not going to post it. Just google 'does quitting smoking cause cancer' and it should come up top of the page if you want to look. Its by Ixedoc & Baab Mallya

[MrsTittleMouse]

winny - I am having to stretch my memory back here. :) I think that the theory was that before 30 you are young enough to recover from most of the damage. After thirty (takes big gulp here as I am way past 30 myself), your body's repair functions start taking a hit from the wear and tear of age, so the damage is long-lasting.

[southeastastra]

have you ever smoked shineon?

[SardineQueen]

People smoke because they are addicted, not because they are stupid. Plenty of clever decent people are addicted to smoking.

I know that some people take a "hard line" on addiction though but it's not my cup of tea.

[MrsTittleMouse]

iphone - I can answer the hacking cough thing. When you smoke, you kill off the little villi in your bronchial tubes. The villi are like tiny little tentacles that sweep all of the gunk out of your lungs. So once you stop killing the villi, they grow back and suddenly you are coughing up the gunk again.

[happybubblebrain]

Honestly, they'll try anything.

[winnybella]

MrsTittleMouse-I guess that would depend on how old you were when you started, though?

[SardineQueen]

iphone the cough is down to the little hairs down your throat starting to work again and your lungs trying to get rid of all the crap.

Giving up anything you are addicted to seems to mean going through a spell of crapness - drinking, smoking, harder drugs - I think that while the body works to get to grips with not having something it has had for all that time and sort of rebalancing it can make people more succeptible to infections and things.

I guess that's the "dangerous" bit - you give up something and instead of feeling better, for a while you often feel much worse!!!

[MrsTittleMouse]

I read ages ago (just over 10 years) that if you gave up smoking before you were 30ish that you would have no more risk of cancer than a non-smoker (once several years had passed). I remember showing it to a work collegue who was in his early thirties and trying to give up. It was an article in New Scientist, so from proper scientific research (I should hope!).

I find bakelite and niblet's theory interesting.

[southeastastra]

oh thanks for that patrionising post

[cumfy]

YABU

I believe there are plenty of studies which look at the long term effects of giving up.

The big picture is that giving up by 40-50, gives only about 1 year less life expectancy than a lifelong non-smoker.
Continue smoking and it's 10 years less.

If large numbers of people started dying when they gave up, it would turn up in statistics.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

I shall ask someone who actually knows, and report back.