Thinking About Giving Up Cigarettes? Doc Velocity Just Had a Stroke...

Originally posted by Prokopio
how did you or your doctor arrived at the conclusion that smoking was the main culprit that caused your stroke? hmmmmm....

When I first started seeing a personal physician a year or so ago, it was at the behest of my wife. She was concerned that my diet, lousy sleep habits, and smoking were going to "come home to roost" some day.

Blood tests revealed that, in spite of my vices — fatty foods, sugar-laced beverages, etc — my blood sugar was relatively low; my cholesterol was not great but not horrible, either; my blood pressure was like that of a teenager (105/64); and my lungs were in remarkably great shape for a smoker of 32 years.

My doctor concluded, then, that I had the constitution of a horse at age 49. He warned me repeatedly, however, that among my bad habits, my smoking was most likely to precipitate failing health. That was in my case.

Therefore, when he came to see me Wednesday afternoon, the first thing he said was that Smoking is the Number One contributing factor to MY poor health — a stroke, in this case. It was his way of saying "See, I TOLD you."

— Doc Velocity

I'm a long time lurker and first time poster on here but this thread has motivated me to post as I thought I could bring something useful.

I work as a stop smoking advisor for the NHS in the UK and have worked for the service for over 5 years, it's something I believe in.

Smoking can cause strokes - it's the Carbon Monoxide that does this - the red blood vessels have a highr affinity with carbon monoxide than with oxygen, so it starves the body of oxygen. The bodt initially compensates by making the heart beat faster to get the oxygen round quicker. Over time, the body creates more red blood vessels to try to regain it's efficiency, this leads to the blood becoming thicker and over time this leads to the plaques build up in the arteries.

As far as quitting goes, everyone is different, but to match the amount of nicotine from a cigarette, a patch maybe enough but I would say only if you smoke less than 10 per day and even then maybe not enough if you smoke them heavily. So, I would normally recommend combination therapy for most people, usually in the form of patches and another product such as gum, lozenges on an inhalator. However, we are having more success with Champix (Chantix in the USA or Varenicline Tartrate) than anything else, this works by purely targetting the nicotine receptors and eventually blocks nicotine from working (it also gives a small release of dopamine thus releieves the cravings).

E cigarettes are something quite new over here and personally I do think they could be useful if developed properly. However, current research shows that they still give off high levels of toxins and sometimes very high doses of Nicotine. They are mainly made in China I believe and are not regulated.

Hope this is of help to someone out there!

Bless you Doc and your lovely Wife. She is a blessing to you from the Universe. Thank you for this first-hand narrative! Live long, and prosper.

thanks doc. I'm quitting the first of june, and this is just one more reason.

Forgot to add - for most of the people I see, the habit is harder to break than the addiction - concentrate on changing routines and habits around smoking, for example, a lot of people drink coffee or similar with a cigarette. You need to break these associations, stop doing the things you do with a cigarette, change your first cigarette routine in a morning, etc.

Originally posted by GoodieBR
My final advice to you, and to all of those that want to quit smoking is: keep trying different methods (e-cigs, patches, pills, etc.). There is no "magic method" that works for everybody, but the fact that you keep trying to quit will, at some point, "change your mindset" (as someone already mentioned on this thread). And THIS is what really will help you quit the habit.

Yes, among my various pharmaceuticals here, my most expensive is the Chantix for quitting smoking. I'm also wearing nicotine patches, AND I have an "e-cigarette," which is supposed to help with breaking the psychological dependency — the physical dependency actually vanishes in as little as a week, but the psychological dependency can linger for years.

I've heard a lot of substance addicts admit that NOTHING is as hard to quit as smoking. I'm inclined to agree.

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 5/28/2010 by Doc Velocity]

The reason it's so addictive is the speed of delivery of the Nicotine, it takes 7 seconds for the drug to reach the brain after inhaling, this is the quickest delivery method possible and the instant reward makes you keep going back for more.

To the OP, I sincerely hope you get well, sir. And congrats on quitting cigs.

I quit cigs over a year ago and the day that I completely stopped smoking was when I visited my dying grandma in the hospital. When you see people having trouble breathing or other various ailments that could possibly have been prevented, it sends your body into "oh sh t I have to react!" mode.

I just pictured myself many decades from now fighting for every breath and knowing what kind of toll that would take on my general health and threw out the death sticks immediately and have never returned since.

- directly and naturally lead me to exercise more which, in turn, improved my circulation which improved a whole collection of other ailments

- food started to taste as it really was... bad unless I cooked it myself (which changed my eating habits and almost completely cut out processed and salty/cornsyrupy foods)

- improved sense of smell also aided in eating healthier and drinking delicious wines

- no more clenched lungs and wheezy exhales, poo-tasting mouth residue and consistent, time-consuming breaks (thus no more need for a "crutch" break time), and no more acrid odor

- more money in the pocket

- greatly improved mental/emotional health (laziness transformed into proactivity)

- whiter teeth which led to greater smiles which led to more positive life experiences

- inner satisfaction that I stuck it back to the Man that got me over a decade ago (and beat something that was chemically designed to get me good (which it did until now))

The most effective way I have seen people quit smoking is seeing the effects with your own eyes. Not even images on the screen. Go to the hospital and see what struggling to breathe is like. I didn't even intend to quit smoking prior to the hospital visit but I left with the habit defeated.

Out of sight out of mind, folks. Don't forget what cigs do to you and others around you. I assure you it will help you quit.

Im sorry to hear of your misfortunes!

I have experienced personally what your going through with my family.

I created a thread for a quit smoking technique here-->
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Ive given this info out a few times, but I wanted to make it more visible to the general populace here on ATS!

If you have a serious desire to quit smoking, I really think I can help you here->
www.abovetopsecret.com...

You may find this video interesting to watch. Get well soon:

Hi Doc,

I am pleased you got through this and my prayers that you continue to get better have been sent.

What a time you had, wow. It is frigthening to have this happen.

hey doc! i smoked for 20 yrs and kicked the habit on 1st oct 2007. i did it using a prescribed pill called zyban which acts to suppress the physical craving...however combating the mental habit was the tricky bit. i took 2 weeks off from work and had to avoid social gatherings and other smokers.
i'm cool now and dont think about it nor have any impulses to try it again...but i did put on 20 kilo. i'm so glad i gave it away especially for the sake of my kids...anyway good luck to you doc.

glad you're alright mate, but this:

anyone who doubts the high level of medical care in the USA just hasn't been to the hospital recently. It was nothing like I remembered or imagined it. It was superb.

You must have health insurance, and haven't seen the bills yet. I have been to the hospital recently, and I don't have health insurance... well, let me tell you, they didn't take kindly to that at all. That too was an emergency.

again, glad your alright. stay healthy.

Hey, thanks for sharing the stroke story, its cool that you remembered and are able to share that experience with us all. And also, being a smoker myself, i know how hard it is to not smoke, even with all the nicotine gums and patches and all that, i still think it's one of the hardest things to give up. Well, hard enough to quit for a while, but then to never touch one again, ugh that's the real killer. Well, good luck and glad you're still among us.

reply to post by Doc Velocity


S&F for this thread! Thank you for writing about your experience... I really hope it will inspire people to quit smoking.

I did quit smoking half a year ago and it has been one of the best decissions in my life. I think everybody can quit smoking, it may not be easy but, as we all could read in your post, a stroke or worse is what lays ahead if you don't quit.

Thumbs up for you! I hope you will remain smoke free for the rest of your life! It's the best thing you can do for yourself!

Originally posted by kinda kurious

I am still 2.5 years out from my stroke but continue to get little "gifts" each day as the neurons in my brain re route paths to bypass the stroke damaged sections. The other day I was scratching myself with my weak arm involuntarily and didn't even realize I had an itch.

That's a good point you're making.
Much more is understood these days about the way the brain recovers, and it's medically accepted now that the brain has remarkable healing powers.
A stuffed neuron might be stuffed forever, but new neurons keep growing,(coffee encourages that,) and new pathways are found.

My noggin has been damaged through a stroke, through hits to the head, and, more recently, through anoxia during an operation. Each time it's repaired again. - Thank God, or I still wouldn't know whether you cross roads with the green light or the red light.

After the last incident I was left pretty incompetent, (~9 years back) and my son patiently taught me to play a complex online game. Now I believe game playing is one of the best cures out there.

Thank you for posting this, and I hope your doing and will be well. Life is a very funny thing and you don't know how much you love it till your in a emegercy room looking up and the ceiling tiles as they work on ya. I love life and I hope you have good luck.

Doc,
I wish you an excellent recovery.

Thank you for the extreme descriptiveness of the event. What really struck me was the smell.

-Jeff

Blessings, Doc and i'm very glad you are fine.

Take care of yourself.

DG

Well doc, I started tobacco about the same time you did. Of course I started in high school where you started in college.

Your experience sounded a higher problem then my father's stroke. He was piloting an aircraft at the time and he just could not remember what he needed to do. So it runs in my family also.

Well, I have to say I have appreciated your wit and verbiage while reading and learning here.

Good luck to you and God Bless.