Smoking advice "Help Needed"

[Captain Kong]

As I have said before Tony, how much stress do you put on your family and your self when you are screaming in uncontrollable pain. Counseling could not have helped my friends. The advice I gave them all a few years before would have helped them and their loved ones.
Never say,`It Cant happen to me, I feel OK at the moment.`
Sorry to be a pain in the ass but I am so sad that people still smoke, it is a drug.
I was with a Rhodesian Tobacco Farmer a few years ago, 2001,on my way back from a trip to South Africa,
He smoked very Big Cigars, on the ship they cost £30 each, he offered me one, I declined as that would have kicked me off again.
He told me that the tobacco Companies add chemicals to cigarettes to make them addictive, so you are hooked, and will have to buy them again and again. His expensive cigars had only pure tobacco leaf, nothing added
Ciggies can have as many as 3,000 carcinogens in them.
The choice is yours.
Imagine you are back at sea, and a Life and Death situation arises, Do you grit your teeth and get stuck in and solve the situation or do you back down and hope it solves itself knowing full well it wont and end up in a Disaster.?
Sorry cant help anymore. it is a personal choice I know, I am just doing my best trying my best to save a lot of future suffering.
Have a nice day.
Brian.

[Chris Allman]

Tony,

It is difficult at first but gets easier as you go on. In my last years prior to retirement, I worked in a very stressful job and I used cigarettes as what I thought were stress breakers. I suddenly realised, that I was stressed up, had a fag and that I was still stressed up, it did not do anything for my stress. In fact it upped it by constantly having to make sure I had enough to keep me going. Also it was costing me money I could do without spending and the most important of all, it was making me feel ill, coughing etc. I gave up and have never looked back.

Good luck in giving them up and good luck with your treatment. Perhaps you could look at giving them up as part of your treatment which you have to complete, just another little incentive.

Chris.

[John Callon]

Tony, as I mentioned earlier on this thread I gave up 4 years ago this coming October. I have to say that if knew how easy it was to do I would have packed the dreaded things in years ago. Don't get me wrong packing up affects different people in different ways. My sister in law actually lost her job when she stopped smoking as she was off work with chronic withdrawel reactions. Her GP reckoned it was the worst case he had ever seen. It did'nt do her much good as 5 years later she died of lung cancer. However I found that once I decided to quit I classed myself as a non smoker. Sure the urge was there but you have to decide who is the stronger, you or a piece of paper with some leaf in it. After the first day I was in the shower thinking hell this is my second day smoke free and so it went on. To be perfectly honest I could not afford to pay £7 for a packet now, and even if i could I would not buy them on principal. Think positive my friend and read some of Capt Kongs postings on the subject. There is enough content there to frighten the living .... out of any committed smoker. Good luck.
Regards
John

[Les Woodard]

All that are posting advice on the subject are so correct that it is bad for your health but like everything else there are exceptions to the rule. There are those that seem to be able to smoke all their lives and live a long and healthy one but unfortunatly I am one of the many that it ended up making me sick from smoking but my brother who is twelve years my senior still smokes and I think it would kill him if he gave it up. My other brother never smoked in his life and karked it before he turned 60 so go figure that one out. Smoking does all that they say it does in fast tracking most to the grave but for some giving up would kill them from stress. Human beings are individuals and as such have different needs so be careful in advising the minority into doing something that could not only shorten their lives but also make them miserable for the remaining days on terra firma. Nothing bloody worse than an ex smoker (I know I am one).

As an aside to this topic why are we becoming used to peer pressure to make us all so bloody uniformingly and boring human beings without a trace of the old diversity and adventurous nature that we started out in this life with. No wonder those in power treat us like sheep.

[Lou Barron]

During the war and even after i think the biggest majority of seamen smoked either a pipe or cigarettes and the down below crowd chewed tobaco as for stress thats a word we never heard of but my mother was a very heavy smoker always had a packet of woodbines in her apron pocket it killed her lung cancer i never thought i would give up smoking but i did

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi shipmates any vice with willpower and support of friends and family can be beaten but its not easy........

Its not just the ciggs@booze m8 every £1 you put on the lottery saves this government millions as they say for good causes? And people are queing up to get to the lottery machines Regards Terry.

[Charlie Hannah]

WARNING: While most of the listed health risk reversal entires are common to all quitting methods, the below chart is intended for cold turkey quitters only, not those using quitting products which may produce their own symptoms, delay withdrawal or otherwise inhibit restoration of natural brain neuron function or sensitivities.

The chart reflects averages and norms. Do not rely upon this chart as it relates to any behavioral change or symptom if you are using any quit smoking product. If using a product and you or a family member are at all concerned about any change in behavior, depression, aggression or any ongoing symptom contact your physician and pharmacist IMMEDIATELY! If you experience any suicidal thinking, thoughts of wanting to harm or kill others, loss of consciousness, seizure or other serious behavioral change or symptom seek IMMEDIATE EMERGENCY MEDICAL ATTENTION.



Our body's ability to mend is beauty to behold ...

Within ...

20 minutes
Your blood pressure, pulse rate, and the temperature of your hands and feet will all return to normal.
8 hours
Remaining nicotine in your bloodstream will have fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.25% reduction.
12 hours
Your blood oxygen level will have increased to normal and carbon monoxide levels will have dropped to normal.
24 hours
Anxieties peak in intensity and within two weeks should return to near pre-cessation levels.
48 hours
Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability peaks.
72 hours
Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine. Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day will peak for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and the lungs functional abilities are starting to increase.
5 - 8 days
The "average" ex-smoker will encounter an "average" of three cue induced crave episodes per day. Although we may not be "average" and although serious cessation time distortion can make minutes feel like hours, it is unlikely that any single episode will last longer than 3 minutes. Keep a clock handy and time them.
10 days
10 days - The "average ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day, each less than 3 minutes.
10 days to 2 weeks
Recovery has likely progressed to the point where your addiction is no longer doing the talking. Blood circulation in our gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user.
2 to 4 weeks
Cessation related anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression have ended. If still experiencing any of these symptoms get seen and evaluated by your physician.
21 days
Brain acetylcholine receptor counts up-regulated in response to nicotine's presence have now down-regulated and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers.
2 weeks to 3 months
Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.
3 weeks to 3 months
Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared.
1 to 9 months
Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath have decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean, and reduce infections. Your body's overall energy has increased.
1 year
Your excess risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.
5 to 15 years
Your risk of stroke has declined to that of a non-smoker.
10 years
Your risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer is between 30% and 50% of that for a continuing smoker (2005 study). Risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day). Your risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker (2011 study), while risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus has also declined. Your risk of developing diabetes is now similar to that of a never-smoker (2012 study).
13 years
Your risk of smoking induced tooth loss has declined to that of a never-smoker (2006 study).
15 years
Your risk of coronary heart disease is now that of a person who has never smoked.
20 years
Female excess risk of death from all smoking related causes, including lung disease and cancer, has now reduced to that of a never-smoker (2008 study). Risk of pancreatic cancer reduced to that of a never-smoker (2011 study).

... so long as we stop while still time!

[Les Woodard]

Not to mention putting on the pounds because you enjoy the tucker more. Then you have to put up with all the fitness freaks telling you to exercise more to loose the fat LOL. Yes I gave up long ago and more or less in the same catergory as a none smoker and now have the fitness freaks on my back now that the ex smokers have p1ssed of. Now I am being bombarded to take out funeral insurance for when I kark it. Is there no end to all this stress in our lives. Personally when I kark it I do not want to leave behind one working part of my body I want to go knowing I used it all up by living life. As for funeral well never heard of anyone not having one so why the fecking hell the guilt trips. Give up Smoking, drinking, eating foods that you like, exercising and now prepaying your own bloody funeral. Makes a person want to turn to drink. Short answer to it all is. If you like your life then someone will point out that you are not living it right.

[John Cassels]

Now stopped since middle of February and don't feel the slightest bit better for it.

In fact , normal daily aches and pains are far more pronounced.

Stopping with smoking ? - overrated .

[Capt Bill Davies]

John,

You know very well that is not true.

The truth is, and to quote ' Heineken' which I am sure you will be familiar with.

The blood is now getter to places where it has not been for years. Give it time!!

Surely, you must have started coughing up the black tinged phlegm by now.

That's the de-coking process.

Brgds

Bill