Life expectancy for people who ignore Doctors advice

No I'm not saying smoking is a good thing . but some people can puff away and be immune to that, what i want to know is why some people can be a Doctors worst nightmare in their social habits and live long lives?Governments might be banning the wrong things if the mystery is not solved.

Yeah I know genetics plays a huge part of it, but the Majority of people I have met who smoke are very unhealthy and stressed to boot. It's just the way you phrased it, as there are people on ATS that actually believe that there is no proof that it's bad for you. Glad to clear that one up

Can anyone explain why someone can smoke all their life and end up being old, to me we are subject to a group of people , ie Medical that dont know .

i told my boss's wife the following when she gave me her spill about smoking:

would you go to a doctor for treatment if the doctor had no tolerance for blood?

would you send your children to a public pool where the lifegaurds had no tolerance for water?

would you go to an obgyn office that had no experience with women>

i'm a firefighter, you figure it out. if you feel safer trusting your life in the hands of a firefighter that has no tolerance for smoke ...... call them, not me.

incidently on a challenge made by four smokers in a fire department we and four of the "healthiest" fire fighters put on the face masks and the self contained breathing apparatus and sat on the flightline in 120 degree heat fully bunkered out. results:

smoker #1 (17 years) lasted 49:16 ------ age 33, 212 lbs
smoker #2 (11 years) lasted 43.10 ------ age 38, 207 lbs
smoker #3 (10 years) lasted 43:07 ------ age 31, 226 lbs
smoker #4 ( 9 years) lasted 39:00 ------ age 28, 192 lbs

non smoker #1 lasted 39:28 -------------- age 19, 135 lbs
non smoker #2 lasted 37:30 -------------- age 21, 178 lbs
non smoker #3 lasted 33:10 -------------- age 24, 156 lbs
non smoker #4 lasted 28:15 -------------- age 18, 149 lbs

note that the wieghts were usually more for the smokers and the youth was definatley on the side of the non smoker.

this obviously was not a scientifically controlled study, just some guys in a fire house doing what it is we do. the specs are correct, but the non smoker #2 had a cold the week prior. outside of all this, that is all we bothered to write down, or remember, primarily because we didn't care for listening to our boss's wife ........ which sometimes neither did our boss.

Anecdotal evidence for smoking is just that, anecdotal. Nearly 400,000 people die of lung cancer each year. Are all of them from smoking? No, just the overwhelming majority of them. Before smoking became widespread at the turn of the twentieth century, lung cancer was one of the rarest forms of cancer.

Anyhoo, when you ask about people who ignore a doctor's advice, what advice are the seeking to begin with? The overwhelming percentage of people I see in the ER do not belong there, that is they aren't afflicted with any sort of life-threatening disorder. Hence, any advice prescribed to them is fairly irrelevant in terms of life-expectancy.

However, when I do recommend that a patient quit smoking, it is not because they will probably contract cancer and die (most non-metastasizing cancers are induced early in a smoker's life and aren't manifest for some years), it is to assuage smoking-related symptoms that hinder the quality of life; COPD, emphysema, compromised immuno system, horrid sputum production, asthma, bronchitis, pectus angina, etc...

Just my two cents...

two cents from a doctor is usually good cents/sense, you know they can afford two pennies, but they did not have to offer them. thanks doc.

Well drinking nearly killed my dad. But my Sister-in-laws dad is supposed to be dead quite a while ago from drinking, but he is still around. That doesn't say his health is good, but he kept drinking and drinking without passing away.

I drink some, but I'm not willing to say drinking constantly is a good thing.

Troy

I'm just wondering how Doctors say the cause of Death was caused by smoking, is there a cast iron test for this, or it it a get out clause for them not knowing. Perhaps people might have got cancer from all the radiation in the atmosphere due to nuclear testing. Might be due to cars polluting the planet, i think Doctors don't know what the cause of cancer is, they just tell you bull# and get paid a lot of money.Here in England if you go in Hospital your more likely to die from the superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics than passive smoking.

Originally posted by Bulldog 52
I'm just wondering how Doctors say the cause of Death was caused by smoking, is there a cast iron test for this, or it it a get out clause for them not knowing. Perhaps people might have got cancer from all the radiation in the atmosphere due to nuclear testing. Might be due to cars polluting the planet, i think Doctors don't know what the cause of cancer is, they just tell you bull# and get paid a lot of money.Here in England if you go in Hospital your more likely to die from the superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics than passive smoking.

Over 85% of people who contract a primary lung cell carcinoma have a long history of smoking. Do the math, it's not that complicated. Etiology is by far the most cut and dry aspect of Oncology, and ignorance is far more deadly than both superbugs and passive smoking combined.

Well, a man in New York City lived to be 115 on a diet of bread fried in fat back and 3 gallons of Golden Bird wine a week. When asked why he didn't use bacon fat, he said it was to lean.

My family is full of smokers on my moms side. All live over 90.

My family on my dad side has few smokers. So far all healthy, well, except the one who has an illness not related to smoking.

Me? I don't smoke, my mom does a carton+ a week, even when I was a kid, so have had the exp. of literally hacking up a lung, well, part of a lung. It's what happens when you suck a whole(well, whats left) inhaler up in one breath.(break the nozzle thingy so when you press down it all shoots out, like a pop bottle after it's been shaken up) Mucus, black liquid sludge, and pink stuff hacked up in the toilet.

Although, I don't like doctors. Before I met them I was never sick. 13 years, one ear ache, and 3 broken collar bones.(well, broke it three times) But just one little car accident, and 2 weeks later I wake up from the coma and no spleen, broken leg, and 3 broken Lumbar Vertabrae. Sure they didn't break the bones, or cause me to have the coma, but they removed my spleen! Since then have been sick 1-2 times a year. Hell, my sister had tonsilitis(sp?) and went to doctors, bought prescription anti-bodies and such. I got it, never told anyone, and after a couple days of pain when ever I swallow liquids or food, it went away. If I had gone to the doctors I'd be out hundreds on medicine, visit, and maybe even surgery to remove my tonsils. But I said F it, if it gets worse who cares, and it went away.

Originally posted by Templarum

Originally posted by Bulldog 52
I'm just wondering how Doctors say the cause of Death was caused by smoking, is there a cast iron test for this, or it it a get out clause for them not knowing. Perhaps people might have got cancer from all the radiation in the atmosphere due to nuclear testing. Might be due to cars polluting the planet, i think Doctors don't know what the cause of cancer is, they just tell you bull# and get paid a lot of money.Here in England if you go in Hospital your more likely to die from the superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics than passive smoking.

Over 85% of people who contract a primary lung cell carcinoma have a long history of smoking. Do the math, it's not that complicated. Etiology is by far the most cut and dry aspect of Oncology, and ignorance is far more deadly than both superbugs and passive smoking combined.

To me your maths don't mean a thing , someone who smokes all their life ought to die as young as 40 yrs old , lots of people die in their 90ies who have smoked all their lives . My Dad was one of them, you don't know what makes people last to an old age, same as Doctors. Lets see some honesty as to what kills you and not blame it on smoking as the main cause.