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Does anyone think there's a correlation between the decline in smoking and the increase in obesity? I do. Robyn
I was complaining to my doc one time about not being able to gain weight and I still really want to. He told me that I have a high metabolism that keeps me from gaining weight BUT if I'd quit smoking it would slow down and I would gain weight. I know that when I wasn't smoking for six weeks my appetite increased a LOT. They say food tastes better but I never noticed that. I was just hungry all the time and did a lot of 'grazing'. Not junk food though. Mostly fresh fruits, cheese sticks, etc.. So, there could be something to it.
Forgot to add to the original post that we moved to Las Vegas in 2002 without considering the smoke
For various reasons we only lasted 6 months and fled back to San Diego
But you may still need to use a mask in San Diego, as 30% of the air pollution in California today stems from China, all that filthy air drifting across the Pacific! Then add to that the local air pollution, and any air pollution drifting up from Tijuana!
As I said very clearly smoking causes other problems other than cancer. But in this group's case several died from prostate cancer, others simply from old age, one was in a car wreck at the age of 65, another from liver disease (drinking no doubt). If you want to argue that smoking caused their prostate cancer then go right ahead but that would be total speculation.
In my peer group (late 50's) I know probably 10-15 current or former smokers and none are dead or even close.
Any number of people with COPD have never smoked, or been exposed to 2nd hand smoke, it arose through their work environment.
And? It was reported that if you lived in the L.A. area during the 50's through the 1990's, just breathing in the air there was the equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes every day!
They've reportedly brought down their Red Alert Days from 200 in the year 2000 to 100 now. But still! Breathing in that air, even 100 days a year, is like smoking 1 pack on those days?
Lost my dad to the effects of smoking since he was a teenager and it contributed to the premature death of my mom.
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I grew up in an 800SF house in Rochester, MN, windows closed a good part of the year due to the cold, and my Dad smoked, at least, 3 packs of cigarettes a day, and my mother, myself, brother, sister breathed in all that 2nd hand smoke for 18-20 years, and my mother breathed it in much longer, and she died at age 86, with not an iota of respiratory problems. And, ironically, my Father died at age 96, having finally quit smoking at age 66, never having any use for oxygen or COPD meds.
The verdict on the dangers of 2nd hand smoke is still not in yet!
And, yes, someone will come along and upload some scientific study proving it, and yet another will upload a contradictory study, and as we all know, bought-off scientists can be more corrupt than politicians!
But I do kind of agree with NB about obnoxious ex-smokers. And I do believe smokers are treated unfairly, smoke free campuses being one of many examples. Last time I checked this is America and we have the right to make our own decisions. They should be able to supply designated smoking areas that do not require the leper, er I mean smoker, to walk to his car and drive off campus just to be able to smoke.
The university regents tried hard in Nevada to have their campuses smoke-free, in the last legislative session, until a Senator bonged them on the heads with: Do you realize where some of the money comes from to fund your universities?
Another place I see what appears to be unnecessary cruelty in enforcement is local nursing homes. In the winter it can get down below zero. When they can convince someone to push them outside I see the poor old addicts lined up in bitter weather to have a smoke. Is this kind of treatment really necessary as someone is near the end of their life?
This issue definitely belongs in the Retirement forum, we're talking Elderly Abuse! Be careful where you pick your retirement spot, as there are those of us who will happily die with a cigarette in their mouths, and if you can't comprehend that, try equivocating addictions! Addictions are addictions are addictions!!!
There's a senior housing complex up the street, where I walk to, occasionally, and there's no smoking on the property, so given how chilly it can get here in Las Vegas in Winter, compounded with our "hurricane" winds at times, there they are, with canes/wheelchairs on the sidewalks, endangering their health even more.
My Aunt's children were hopeful that if they put their smoking parents (one 84, one 82) in a non-smoking senior apartment building, they'd quit smoking! There, at the edge of Rochester, MN, they couldn't smoke on their palatial grounds, and were forced to cross the street into a corn field to smoke, come deep snow, below zero windchill! If that isn't Elderly Abuse, what is!!! And? My stubborn as a mule Aunt, in protest, started smoking in her apartment, praying to be evicted! And they were, creating a big headache for their 5 non-smoking children!
Yes, nursing homes. In MN, you must walk 50 feet away from the facility to smoke, come deep snow, icy sidewalks, below zero windchill! And how many contracted pneumonia as a result of it!!! Here, in NV, I work in a nursing home, and they can still smoke in the patio area!
Senior apartment complexes are notorious for Elderly Abuse, in that they won't allow them to smoke in a weather-protected area on the property. And, given how we carelessly, negligently build apartment buildings in this country, out of flammable wood, rather than concrete, like they do in Mexico, small wonder they don't allow smoking inside the buildings.
Given I'll probably smoke (down to half-pack a day with COPD) until the day I die, this has served as a warning to me about where my final retirement place will exist. And, even though you may have quit doesn't mean you won't start up smoking again, at some point in time. As they say, never say never!
Not sure how many times I need to say this but I have acknowledged that there is an obvious link between smoking and other health issues. Now let me ask you a question, be honest. How many smokers have you known and how many have died from it directly (lung cancer) or indirectly with the understanding that the indirect deaths may or may not have been a result of smoking? Every one of us has an aunt, a grandfather, or a neighbor who smoked and lived to an old age. Again my position is smoking can kill you but it's not as automatic as many believe.
My sister smoked. She was never able to stop. She died of small cell lung cancer, which is exclusively caused by smoking. It was horrible, and I was very familiar with cancer, having worked on the Oncology Unit of a hospital for years...I had seen it all. But, this was MY SISTER. She died over 10 years ago. I miss her every day of my life.
My sister smoked. She was never able to stop. She died of small cell lung cancer, which is exclusively caused by smoking. It was horrible, and I was very familiar with cancer, having worked on the Oncology Unit of a hospital for years...I had seen it all. But, this was MY SISTER. She died over 10 years ago. I miss her every day of my life.
Hope that answers your question.
I'm very sorry for you loss. But you cleary do not understand my position if you believe you have answered my question.
The no smoking in a retirement home is a facinating topic too. Of course the home should be no smoking but can anyone really justify forcing an 85 year old who can barely walk to cross an ice cover road just to be able to smoke? Is it really fair to force an old guy who understands he is in his final years to quit? To me it's like a smoke free campus, they need to accomodate the smokers too by finding a place for them to be allowed to smoke.
I'm very sorry for you loss. But you cleary do not understand my position if you believe you have answered my question.
The no smoking in a retirement home is a facinating topic too. Of course the home should be no smoking but can anyone really justify forcing an 85 year old who can barely walk to cross an ice cover road just to be able to smoke? Is it really fair to force an old guy who understands he is in his final years to quit? To me it's like a smoke free campus, they need to accomodate the smokers too by finding a place for them to be allowed to smoke.
Not everyone dies from excessive smoking, drinking, over-eating or doing drugs, but the odds increase. Smoking is just one more thing that piles up the odds of dying from lung cancer, along with radon, asbestos, diesel, second hand smoke , other chemical exposures and genetics. What are the risk factors for small cell lung cancer?
My Dad was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer 20 years ago. At that time chest x-rays were taken before cataract surgeries and a spot was seen on the x-ray taken a year later before the second cataract surgery. He had chemo/radiation/surgery and lived to be 92. He smoked for years, but gave it up after his cancer treatment, but also had asbestos and chemical exposures throughout his life. His cancer reoccurred > 20 years later and pneumonia was his listed cause of death with cancer as the secondary cause.
Besides lung cancer, smoking is one of the causes of peripheral artery disease, along with hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. The arteries narrow and become blocked with plaque buildup, leading to strokes and heart attacks along with other problems. I used to do MRA's (MR angiograms) and from my limited experience, a large majority of those patients were smokers or diabetic and many times both. They couldn't wait to get the test done so they could get out and smoke, some with their portable oxygen tanks. It was hard to watch.
What kills someone is usually a culmination of factors and not always traced to one thing. You may know smokers that haven't dropped dead from smoking, but it's likely their smoking was one of the causative factors in the disease they did die from. I'll go out on a limb here and say if you Google any preventative disease, smoking will be among the listed causes in all of them.
Not everyone dies from excessive smoking, drinking, over-eating or doing drugs, but the odds increase. Smoking is just one more thing that piles up the odds of dying from lung cancer, along with radon, asbestos, diesel, second hand smoke , other chemical exposures and genetics. What are the risk factors for small cell lung cancer?
My Dad was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer 20 years ago. At that time chest x-rays were taken before cataract surgeries and a spot was seen on the x-ray taken a year later before the second cataract surgery. He had chemo/radiation/surgery and lived to be 92. He smoked for years, but gave it up after his cancer treatment, but also had asbestos and chemical exposures throughout his life. His cancer reoccurred > 20 years later and pneumonia was his listed cause of death with cancer as the secondary cause.
Besides lung cancer, smoking is one of the causes of peripheral artery disease, along with hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. The arteries narrow and become blocked with plaque buildup, leading to strokes and heart attacks along with other problems. I used to do MRA's (MR angiograms) and from my limited experience, a large majority of those patients were smokers or diabetic and many times both. They couldn't wait to get the test done so they could get out and smoke, some with their portable oxygen tanks. It was hard to watch.
What kills someone is usually a culmination of factors and not always traced to one thing. You may know smokers that haven't dropped dead from smoking, but it's likely their smoking was one of the causative factors in the disease they did die from. I'll go out on a limb here and say if you Google any preventative disease, smoking will be among the listed causes in all of them.
Yeah we covered this at length. Again to be clear there is an obvious link between smoking and death and other health issues. I have acknowledged this over and over and am ready to move on.
But we have already had a poster say if you smoke your life will be shortened, period end of story. We also had a poster supply links to smoking deaths that according to another poster has not changed in years when we all know the number of smokers has dropped very dramatically over the years. So obviously those figures have to be questioned. So IMO both arguments are nonsense. It can, maybe it will, but there is no proof that it will almost always lead to other illnesses and death yet that is the common belief that I disagree with.
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