Smoking

[weebarra]

I'm 36 and have been being treated for breast cancer for the past 9 months. I was diagnosed when DC3 was 8 weeks.
I've had 6 months of chemo, a bilateral mastectomy and now I'm doing the radiotherapy bit. AIBU not to want to walk through clouds of smoke at the entrance to the oncology centre?
I get that people are addicted. I've smoked myself and both parents do. It's just that I feel really pissed off when I see both staff and patients puffing away.
I was going to get cancer anyway - I have the BRCA2 gene, but these people don't have to get it. I just want to shake them.

Nicotine on its own isn't actually all that addictive. It's the combination of nicotine with all the other crap in cigarettes that makes it massively addictive, coupled with a super fast delivery system and a load of behavioural components (the old hand-to-mouth thing).

I can't really get fussed tbh.

It takes seconds to walk through a doorway.

It takes seconds to trigger an asthma attack too.

It also only takes seconds to move away from the doorway to light up

Pubes the super fast delivery is what makes it more addictive than heroin. Withdrawal is less painful of course but if we are constantly being re addicted by passive smoking it really is much harder to stop.

I remember clouds of smoke filling indoor areas and it being horrible - so much better now.

Tbh I don't see the "clouds of smoke" outdoors. I sometimes see people having a ciggie but honestly the clouds of smoke people describe walking through I've never seen. Maybe I just haven't come across a large enough crowd yet.

There is a definite fug of smoke outside Tameside hospital A&E. It's quite minging.

YANBU.It drives me nuts!!! I work for a medical company and visit lots of hospitals to provide training .I once stood outside a hospital to make a phonecall and the smoke made me cough so much I burst a blood vessel in my eye! I wish you the best with your treatment and recovery.

Tbh I don't see the "clouds of smoke" outdoors. I sometimes see people having a ciggie but honestly the clouds of smoke people describe walking through I've never seen. Maybe I just haven't come across a large enough crowd yet.

I have thought this a few times when i hear of these smoke clouds.
inside? yes i can see the cloud of smoke. outside? no, never. like piano said perhaps i jus havent seen a big enough crowd yet.

I can have an asthma attack after inhaling cigarette smoke ONCE

Just think of others... If you're happy to stand in the smoke.. Fine.. Your choice. Give others the choice too. Move away to smoke where you are not affecting others. Common curtesy

Seems to have all widened out a bit too much this thread. Social class, education, freedom of choice, peer pressure, etc etc.. I say - smoke away all you happy puffers, only do it well and truly away from the rest of us who want to live long, happy, disease free lives.

I'm sure most smokers are considerate if only because things like the nasty comments posted on here make them too uncomfortable to smoke anywhere except maybe their own gardens. I am a smoker (haven't for six days as trying to quit after 27 years) and agree about doorways, I personally have never done that and when in hospital myself I didn't smoke for a week as nothing worse than patients outside in dressing gowns smoking.

Even once had a party in my own garden and because majority were non smokers, I went out to the front garden when I wanted a cig. Anyway threads like this don't help people to give up, just reading it all made me want to reach for fags as I'm clearly stupid, disgusting etc. I won't, not because of all the perfect people having a go at smokers but because I want to stop.

Some on this thread might be interested in the Q & A with Linda Bauld from ASH here.

No, YANBU. Seems to me you know they have a chance of avoiding cancer, and you want to shake them as you see them increasing their risk of getting cancer; whereas, you had no real chance of avoiding it. Im an ex smoker, back when I smoked I deliberately put the thought of cancer to the back of my mind. I look back and think how selfish I was - my DDs worried about me smoking, and I knew the risks too. Theres no excuse for that, really.

You are certainly NOT being unreasonable. I feel very strongly about passive smoking, and even more so when I was pregnant and visiting my antenatal clinic for scans/check ups etc. It makes me soooo angry that I have to breath in the crap, just because other people are too selfish to move well away from the doors and drop off points. I am disgusted that staff are smoking there too!! I imagine they are in uniform if you are able to identify them as hospital staff?

On another note, I admire you for what you have been through. Well done Weebarra. I've actually been reading your posts on another thread...you are an absolute rock girl.

Oh thank you dream, I don't feel like a rock tbh. Still, once the radiotherapy is done, that should be me until the oophrectomy and reconstruction

weebarra I hope your treatment is successful and that you feel better soon.

I know it's a contentious subject and I don't want to derail weebarra's thread with a big discussion about it here, but if any of you really really want to see a solution to the problem of passive smoke (and, presumably, the 100,000 UK deaths each year from tobacco related disease) - you could do worse than support ecigs, which are currently under threat from the EU Tobacco Products Directive. I have put together a post here about how you can help.

If you don't feel you know enough about ecigs to support this, Clive Bates (ex-director of ASH UK) has put together a very good blog post here which rounds up lots of the research in an easy format.

You are a rock weebarra...to be still standing strong with your beautiful DC in tow. I wish you all the luck in the world and I fully support your 'smoking' issue.

plenty - I will have a look at the post!! Although a delicate subject..it's one I feel has to be dealt with!