The Best Revenge ... Quit

[Zan_of_Texas]

We may or may not win our political battles any time soon. One of the things we DO have some control over is whether we become another statistic, a life lost way too soon.

So, if we feel powerless to defeat the bastards, at least make the fight of your life to defeat one of the strongest addictions known, the addiction to nicotine.

I don't want to lose any of you. I want to outlive the bastards, and I want you here to do that too.

Quit for one day. Today.

The stats are amazing. Our biggest threat is not drug use, or terrorists, or gay marriage, or even AIDS. Our biggest health threat is tobacco use. In the next 60 minutes, 49 people will die because they didn't quit soon enough.

Tobacco use is the single leading preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 430,000 deaths each year. The economic liability associated with tobacco use ranges from $50 billion to $73 billion per year in medical expenses alone.
CDC 1998-99 http/www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss4910a1.htm

Research consistently shows that smoking cessation saves lives and reduces smoking-related health care costs and is one of the most cost-effective health interventions available. http://www.fsa.usda.gov/tobcom/health.htm

Ted Kennedy, June 1998: "In the three weeks since the Senate started this debate, 66,000 more children have started to smoke. Three thousand more will start each day. Tobacco use is responsible for 20% of all premature deaths in the United States. Tobacco is the nation's leading cause of preventable death and disability. It accounts for 400,000 deaths a year -- more deaths than alcohol -- more deaths than car accidents -- more deaths than suicides -- more deaths than AIDS -- more deaths than homicides -- more deaths than illegal drugs -- more deaths than fires -- more deaths than all of these combined. ...The federal government currently spends $520 million a year on tobacco control efforts. That sum is dwarfed by the amount spent to fight illegal drugs, which will total $16 billion this year -- thirty times as much. This disparity is especially significant, since tobacco use causes 400,000 deaths a year, while illegal drugs are responsible for 20,000 deaths. http://kennedy.senate.gov/statements/980609.html

Oh yeah, and if you don't care about dying in 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 years, make yourself more kissable, right now!


From my newspaper:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/2241157

Nov. 21, 2003, 8:43PM

Dying from effects of smoking isn't worst of it
By MARY TURNER

This is a very emotional subject for me; it's about my own personal holocaust. ...I think that when you've read this, you'll know why I implore smokers to quit. You see, my mother smoked for 44 years, starting at the age of 16, and smoked at least a pack a day. Always a stylish woman, my mother proved to be very avant-garde when she developed a perforated ulcer (a disease nearly unheard of in women at that time) at the age of 39. After that, she frequently suffered from bleeding ulcers as well. Her ulcer problems dogged her until she was 61, when she went to the dentist, who told her, "That spot on your tongue doesn't look good!" She quit cold turkey, but she did indeed have tongue cancer. (It was no coincidence that she didn't get ulcers again. Cigarettes inhibit the stomach's ability to maintain its lining, leaving it more vulnerable to its acids.)

It took two surgeries to stamp out the tongue cancer and another to remove five teeth from the right side of her lower jaw, and part of her cancerous jaw as well. Count five teeth from the back of your mouth. You'll find that without those, it's rather hard to chew. I guess it didn't matter much because during these procedures, she also lost part of her sense of taste, and nerves in her tongue and lips were damaged, making it difficult for her to speak or eat, or even know when she was drooling. But she was able to go back to work and live her life, though not with the same gusto.

I'm happy to report that she enjoyed another eight good years, until, at the age of 69, she developed lung cancer. The prognosis was that if she just had one lobe removed, she'd be just fine; but it was not so. Although she'd had chest X-rays every six months after first developing cancer, the tumor was already inoperable. This meant that she had to endure three rounds of chemotherapy and several weeks' worth of radiation treatments. I never knew before this that one of the possible side effects of chemotherapy is hearing loss. Mom lost about 50 percent of her hearing in just one day. Another side effect is kidney failure, but she recovered from that after about a month of hospitalization.

My Mom was no sissy; she went back to work 10 days after the lung surgery. The chemo, she said, is what kills you. But even that didn't kill her, and it didn't destroy her sense of humor or her love of life. Mom trucked along for another six years, still working every day and traveling. But she couldn't eat or hold conversations much, since she didn't hear or speak well. Too bad, those were always her favorite things to do! Then, two and a half years ago, she developed congestive heart failure, and as a result of the earlier radiation, an inflexible esophagus, requiring the insertion of a feeding tube into her stomach. She could take no food or drink by mouth afterward.

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[liberalhistorian]

1. I agree,

but as a one-time smoker who quit almost fourteen years ago, I can honestly say that you really have to want to quit for yourself and your own reasons, and not because everyone wants you to or you know it's for the best, etc., etc. Otherwise, you're not going to be able to make it.

It took me three times over the span of a year before I was finally able to quit for good, and I'd only been smoking for about eight years. I have a lot of sympathy for those who are trying to quit, or who want to quit but can't seem to do it. It's such a powerful addiction that it's really hard for those who've never smoked to understand it. It's not a matter of "just quitting", saying that to a smoker is like telling someone who's clinically depressed to "cheer up." Hell, it's been almost fourteen years since I've touched a cigarette and I STILL want one once in awhile, believe it or not.

But yes, for those of you who smoke and want to quit, it really does get better and easier the longer you're able to keep from smoking. That first week is total hell, but once you get over the physical addiction, and your body starts to clear itself of all of that gunk in your blood (such as carbon dioxide, etc.), you will really start to feel so much better physically. That's what really helped me stay off the damn things. The psychological addiction is another story, and you never totally get over it, but it does, indeed, get better and easier.

[opihimoimoi]

2. As an ex s. I agree."Quit while you can" should be the cry

of the Day.

[Zan_of_Texas]

3. Yeah.

Thanks for chiming in.

I should also say, KEEP QUITTING!

Most people take several tries, or numerous tries.

Don't give up. The first tries were just practice!

[BiggJawn]

5. I made it the first time.

The outrage I felt over the way my state legislaters look at smokers like a big cash-cow was enough.

"We'll keep raising the taxes on those things, and you morons will just pony-up and pay it, because you're stupid addicts..."

Still waiting for most of the promised health benefits to kick in. I still get winded climbing stairs.

[Westegg]

4. cough! cough!

Hey, I'm smoking a cigarette now, and I couldn't agree with you more. It's so hard to quit, though! I married a woman who has never smoked a cig. She hates the smell. I have an office in our home, and I've got this big industrial-strength fan in the window (even in winter!) that 's just two feet from my computer where I sit and do my work (I'm a writer by trade---we're notorious smokers, alas). Bottom line: when I was 21, and drinking martinis, smoking struck me as "cool." Now, over a decade later, I fully realize it's an embarrassment. An addiction. At least I've reached the point where I don't smoke on weekends (unless I'm working!) and don't smoke socially. It's a start, I guess. Thanks for your stark information. I need to read stuff like that as often as possible. All smokers do.

[Zan_of_Texas]

6. I know it's hard.

Someone I know who did every vice known to humankind said quitting cigarettes was harder than quitting heroin.

But dammit, please keep trying!

This message has been brought to you by Zan, who misses her brother. He never quit. Died at 44.