smoking !!!

[Newlife]

HI guys how ru all? hope all ur ok in ur health and in ur life and.....
Guys sometimes i smoke , like one cigarette or two every week .Am i taken a risk , is this dangerous for my heart and my health? 10x for helping me .

[auspoz]

Hi Newlife,

I start by saying I'm not a doctor, and I know they'd say to stop smoking is one of the best things you can do to improve your health.

That said, I wonder why you have only 1 or 2 a week? Heck, I have 30 a day. I will soon be ready to give up, but I can't imagine that the little amount you smoke can harm you too much. I know that I'm doing damage, but your intake must equal less than sitting in front of a smoky fire or in a traffic jam. Id say quit while you're not that hooked.

Auspoz.

[J.R.E.]

http://cancer.about.com/od/smokingandcancer/a/carcinogencancr.htm

[BT65]

Newlife, I have a friend who smokes maybe three cigarettes a day.  I always thought it wasn't dangerous.

I was read a newsletter called The Weekly Breather from the American Lung Association and they just had an article in there about how even an occasional cigarette can do artery damage.  I have trouble on the weekends, when around friends who do smoke, or just being bored at home. 

Anyway, I would speak to your doctor about it, especially if it's a concern to you and you want to quit.  I've found that the key is really wanting to quit.  If you don't, no stop smoking program will work.

Good luck.
    Luv,
Betty

[MYSTERY]

Newlife,

If you are only smoking a few cigarette's a week I would stop all together before it becomes a more serious habit that will affect your health. Smoking is never good I have had three relatives that died from complications due to smoking, and there deathe was not very comfortable. I would stop.

[mecch]

Ask your doctor for advice.  Speaking of VICES, we all have a few.  If it's a real pleasure, you can weigh the risks against the pleasure, considering some known risk factors:

"While 80 to 90% of lung cancer incidence can be attributed to cigarette smoking, only 10 to 15% of all smokers develop lung cancer, and 10 to 15% of all lung cancers occur among nonsmokers. These figures suggest that there are individual differences in susceptibility to lung carcinogens and that these individual differences in susceptibility may be the result of genetic predisposition to lung cancer."
http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content/full/125/5_suppl/86S

We all know someone who smoked, quit young, and got lung cancer. We all have stories of the great auntie who smoked a few now and then, loved em, and lived into her 90's.....

[BT65]

It's not just lung cancer one has to be worried about.  There's congestive heart faliure, COPD, chronic bronchitis etc.

[aztecan]

Hey Newlife,

Is smoking a few ciggies a week or a month dangerous? Yes.

How dangerous is it? I think that could be debated.

I smoked for 34 years. When I quit, I was smoking two packs a day.

I have issues with COPD, and use an inhaler daily as a result. I was supposed to use it twice a day, but when I do, it gives me thrush.

Not fun.

Since you are just smoking a few cigs now and then, I would just quit. I know many people who said they only smoked a few cigs, or believed they could quit no matter how much they smoked - or how little.

Most are still smoking, and, for the most part, smoking more. It is dirty, smelly and causes health issues galore.

I was at a party Saturday night (even with my cold, like the dummy I am), and most everyone there was smoking.

I was sorely tempted, more than I have been in quite a while.  I didn't smoke, but I was sure tempted.

Ask yourself if this is what you want from smoking, to never be free of the yearning?

I am not going to preach, but, were it me smoking that few cigs, I would drop it now.

Just my two cents worth.

HUGS,

Mark

[RevMC]

As a smoker and someone who has heart disease in my family, from what I've read and heard YES even second hand smoke can affect your heart and arteries.

I'm planning on quiting smoking SOON.

I'm also going for a heart checkup since I'm 45 and my parents both had heart problems in their mid 50's.

[weasel]

SMOKING SHOULD BE BANNED !

It is smelly

 It burns holes in things

 It MAY burn YOUR house down !

 smokers homes are YELLOW with nicotine ,very gross 

  I did smoke for  10 years , been 22 years  with out them , no problem 
 I get sick when I get stuck in  family home that people are smoking !

 My MOM died with COPD  , It took 15 years of medication ,and a very strong will
 power to live to be 75 ! The AIR TANK is no replacement for good lungs !

 Just quit , sounds to me like you want to .

                                                     the best to you ,
                                                                                Karl