To think that the damage has been done?

[Meralia]

Hi all, please be kind, this is the first time I’ve posted on this board.

I’ve been a smoker for 20 years now, ranging from light, to moderate to heavy then to moderate again.

There have been times when I’ve stopped (pregnancies etc...) but I’ve always restarted at some point.

Aibu to think that even if I stop for good now it won’t really matter in the long run as my body has been taking in all this poison for 20 years.

I began smoking at 17 so should have known better at that age really.

I really want to stop, but it is so difficult, an irrational part of me thinks what is the point of putting myself through the stress of quitting if I’m going to die from a smoking related illness anyway?

Thanks for reading.

You won't necessarily die of smoke related illness or even have smoking related illness. But you are far more likely to develop problems of you don't stop. You are making excuses here.

Switch to vaping. Seriously.

My dad was like this he yo-yo'd off and on until he tried a tablet call champax. He has now been off cigarettes 9 years and would never got back.
(The tablet have very strict health need ie no mental health illness) but it worked fab for him.
He has some cough still but his general health is so much better than when he was smoking.

Some damage have have been done - not too sure.
But stopping will defiantly help further damage continuing. And later life breathing conditions can be scary.

Never ever too late to stop. I was like you, I started when I was 16 and stopped when I was 27.
It was the best thing I ever did for myself and ultimately everyone in my life.
I've never met anyone who regrets giving up.

No, the chances of smoking related diseases start to go down as soon as you stop. A lot of the ‘damage’ is things that can repair themselves when you stop, particularly in terms of your risk of heart disease and COPD where the risk is halved just a year after quitting. Even people with COPD already can halt its progress by quitting so it really is worth it. COPD is awful and stops you being able to move around and live normally.

Plus, on the vanity side, if you keep smoking after 40 you will look incredibly old incredibly quickly and will be looking like you’re in your 60s before the end of your 40s.

I’m fairly sure I read somewhere that if you give up by 35-40 you can ‘undo’ the damage done and reduce risks of smoking illness to almost same as non-smoker?

A lot of damage will be repaired.

You stopped for pregnancy, so you have kids. Do you want to be alive to see them get married and have their own kids? Stop smoking and your chances of seeing that will drastically increase.

Think of the money you’ll save. The healthy example you’ll be to your children.

Your risk of developing health problems is related to the number of pack-years (1 pack of 20 a day for a year is one pack year) so if you stop now, you will reduce your risk.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9826482/Smokers-who-quit-before-40-live-just-as-long.html

Exactly what everyone else has said. Stopping will definitely reduce your risk of getting smoking related diseases. Have a look at this graph showing how stopping smoking changes outcomes in COPD.

There was a 2008 study which showed that after 20 years women reduced their risks of smoking related death to that of life-long non-smokers. If you're 37 it's totally worth a go.

Well it depends, OP. Do you want to spend years gasping for breath, coughing your lungs out, possibly needing home oxygen, stinking of stale smoke, tasting like an ashtray and having wasted further thousands of pounds buying yet more cigarettes over the next 40 years? If so, carry on.
Or would you rather allow your body the chance to recover as much as possible, stop adding yet more toxic carcinogens to the load you've already inhaled, have lots of spare cash for treats and holidays, feel and smell better, and reduce your chance of premature death?
Around 50% of smokers die as a direct result of their habit - from several cancers (kidney, bladder, oral, laryngeal as well as the more well known lung cancer), ischaemic heart disease, COPD, strokes, etc.
Personally I'd say it's a no brainer, but it's your call!

Your underlying health will be significantly improved by giving up permanently. Plus if you do get ill or have to have any operations your recovery will be so much better. There are only benefits to giving up smoking. The only benefit to not giving up is having a cigarette. Easier said than done I know but it’s true.

I also agree with @dancingtothebeat. I’m in my 40s now and friends who smoke are starting to look really old compared to non-smoking friends. I think you get away with it in your 20s and 30s but it really catches up on you in your 40s.

Absolutely NO. Stop NOW and you will get benefits. I trained to be a hypnotherapist years ago and we were taught that the benefits to your body are actually measurable within 48 or less! Go for it!

My DF stopped smoking by going cold turkey at 40. His three older siblings all died of smoking related illnesses before they were 70. DF is now 84 & fit as a fiddle. He puts his relative longevity compared to his siblings down to stopping smoking when he did. He was a 40+ a day man so it wasn't easy, but totally worth it.

It wont change damage you've already done but it could prevent damage that hasn't occurred yet.

Even if you could cut down to a few a day that would drastically improve your later lung function.

It is absolutely still worth you quitting, I did it 5 years ago after being a heavy smoker for over 25 years and can't believe the difference in how I feel day to day. There's lots of research showing that stopping, even in your 60's or beyond will add years to life expectancy, google 'stopping smoking in later life' and lots of info comes up.

From a personal perspective I feel much healthier, get far fewer colds and they don't go straight to my chest anymore, get much less out of breath generally and my skin looks better. I quit with a vape and found it surprisingly easy btw, so much so I bought one for my dad (very heavy smoker for over 50 years!) and he quit too He's late 60's now and showing no signs of smoking-related illness so far, in fact he had a nasty smokers cough which has completely gone.

Also, as someone else has said, smoking, like drinking, eating poorly etc. REALLY starts to take its toll on your appearance as you get older. Most people can do pretty much most things before 40 and look ok but after that it can go downhill fast! Your body can't rejuvenate itself like it once did.

Sorry meant to say benefits are measurable within 48 HOURS of giving up smoking.

my grandad smoked from when he was 11 for 40 years. Then he got very ill and stopped. His uncle and Dad never did and both died at 63. He lived until he was 85 - I put that down to stopping smoking

You sound like you really want to quit but are resigned to addiction.

I really really recommend Allen Carr's Easy way to quit smoking. (Book and CD) It's really powerful.

After you quit your body has a chance to heal.

It's always worth stopping. My dad smoked heavily for years - eventually gave up in 1981 when his dad die of smoking-related heart disease that year. My dad at the time was 47.

Fast-forward to 1984 and my dad (by now 50) had a blocked artery to his kidney, but no symptoms other than a bit of breathlessness that he went to dr with. Turned out blood pressure was off the scale (machine couldn't actually read it) and dad was rushed to Intensive Care immediately, where they told him he was lucky not have already died from a stroke or a heart attack because of what was wrong - the ONLY reason he hadn't was because he'd given up smoking 3 years earlier. 3 weeks in ITU, one duff kidney removed, and dad survived - and is still alive now at the age of 83.

That's not to say dad's escaped his years of heavy smoking unscathed - he now has chronic COPD, but he got to his mid-70s before he started having problems with that. Still a hell of a lot better than dying at the age of 50, which he could well have done (when I was still only a teenager) if he hadn't stopped smoking at the age of 47.

So please consider stopping, even now - your body will be all the better for it.

Of course it’s worth quitting! A lot of the damage caused will heal. And even if it didn’t, the damage caused by 20 years smoking is still better than the damage caused by 50 years of smoking!

Please read this for inspiration!
www.thealthbenefitsof.com/health-benefits-of-quitting-smoking-within-hours/

You will benefit greatly from stopping.
You can do this, you really can, help is out there for you.🌸