Smoking and Asthma

Twenty five years ago when John picked up his first cigarette he never dreamed of the consequences. For years he smoked them, young and free no cares in the world. Pack after pack. He was up to a pack a day. He had quit several times in his life but this time he got the sobering news and had to. John had been diagnosed with Asthma. That diagnosis came five years before the news that he also had COPD. John, in his young forties was looking forward to a life with a  wife and new home. He wouldn't live much longer by continuing to smoke. He had been wanting to quit anyway and this was his motivator.

Asthma affects over 20 million Americans. There is not cure for Asthma. only treatment to help manage it.   Forty thousand people per day miss work or school due to Asthma related illness.  Thirty thousand people a day have an asthma attack.

John had dealt with Asthma as a child. But like most things in childhood you grow out of them. He grew out of asthma with a little help form a hypnotist. John had described times when he was having such an attack that his lips turned blue. He states Asthma attacks are brought on by either emotions, allergies or over exertion. His triggers are from emotions and allergies. Most other attacks are more about panic than about truly not catching your breath. John went to a hypnotist to help ease him through the anxiety of asthma. John didn't remember being with the hypnotist that long although his mom said He as there for there hours. He remembers the hypnotist giving him some tips on how to deal with the panic, and nothing else. Strangely though.. to this day if John feel as if an asthma attack is coming on he is able to talk himself through it before the panic sets in. Then he is able to apply the coping steps to the asthma attack.

 Yet after all of that work to over come the panic of an asthma attack he begins smoking in his teen years.  John says he started because all of his friend were doing it.  A decision he has since regretted. He recounts that it took him several tries to get the inhaling down to an art.  He stated it Takes a few weeks to start but a lifetime to quit. Smoking has done nothing more than agitate the situation.

But the consequences of his actions are not only health related but monetarily related as well. Now instead of spending 25 buck a month on cigarettes he gets to spend 60 dollars a month on inhalers and medicine for his nebulizer. He uses his rescue inhaler two times a day and his nebulizer three to four times a day. He also has to spend more on medicines because he is now more susceptible to colds and flu. Asthma lowers his immune system making him susceptible to every thing. It is estimated that twenty billion dollars per year is spent on a whole to treat Asthma.

COPD came aas a surprise to John. He figured he could never get anything like that. But there are more serious helath Ristk to boot.   11 Americans a day die from Asthma.

Quitting smoking for good was very tough. John would get sick at times. He would literally vomit up the charcoal in his lungs. The first time it happend was bad. Then a few months passed and would happen again and again until all the toxins worked their way out of his body. His skin brightened. his smile widened and he felt like he could breath again. The benefits of quitting smoking definitely outweighed smoking.  John still struggles with the feeling of needing a cigarette from time to time.

When writing this hub I couldn't help but think why people who have asthma don't quit smoking. Unfair for me to ask being a non-smoker myself. Looking around I found an article form the UK that gives a statisitc of 27% of people polled with Asthma still smoke.82% of those polled also agreed that smoking does bring on asthma attacks. The poll revealed that smoking was not easy to give up.( which we knew) If asthma was not enough to thwart people from smoking then neither were the fifty other illnesses it causes.  john remembers a time when he would use his nebulizer just so he could smoke!

 Secondhand smoke contains the following ingredients:  formaldehyde (embalming fluid), Cadmium, ( toxi metal,) Arsneic, ( poison) cyanide (poison) carbon monoxide (car exhaust), methane (poison), benzene (poison in cleaning solvent), nitro amines (cancer-causing compounds), benzopyrene (cancer -causing substance found in gasoline and tar), aniline (poison used in dye) and polonium (radioactive materials).

 I Can Quit helpline 1-800-480-QUIT (7848)