Medical Moment: Why Quit Smoking?

18 Jul Medical Moment: Why Quit Smoking?

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Care Manager Paula  Scheidegger answers this week’s question: Why quit smoking?

Paula Scheidegger, Care Manager, Telluride Medical Center

It is important to decide for yourself that you want to quit. It is normal to both want to quit and want to continue tobacco use. Many people have mixed feelings before they quit.

Below is a list of information that might help you to quit for good:

Reasons to Quit:

1. Tobacco has more than 4,000 chemicals. Some of these chemical are also found in wood varnish, the insecticide DDT, rat poison, and nail polish remover. Over time, these chemicals harm your body.
2. People who quit start healing their bodies right away. Over time, they breathe better, feel better, and can become more fit. They lower their chances for cancer, heart attack, stroke, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and cataracts
3. People who quit save a lot of money. In the U.S., the average pack now costs $9.00.
4. Once people quit, they find that food and smells are more enjoyable.
5. Quitting helps people have more energy.
6. People who quit stop damaging their teeth and gums.
7. Even a little secondhand smoke is harmful to other people. Nonsmokers who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop lung cancer, other forms of cancer, heart disease, lung problems, and get colds or the flu more often. Secondhand smoke can even trigger heart attacks.
8. Children who inhale secondhand smoke are at risk to get ear infections, colds, flus, asthma, or chronic bronchitis.
9. Women and children are harmed from tobacco.  Pregnant women who breathe smoke may be at greater risk for miscarriage. They can have babies with low birth weight, birth defects, or have babies more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
10. People who quit feel proud of themselves. They feel they have more control of their lives.
11. Many studies have demonstrated that smoking, and nicotine in particular, has direct, harmful effects on the health of bone and its ability to heal itself. Smoking also has damaging effects on blood vessels and the efficient transport of oxygen to cell of the body, as well as the various processes that allow wounds to heal. Together, these effects of smoking combine to cause prolonged healing of fractures and surgical wounds.

Long-term Risks of Smoking:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – emphysema, chronic bronchitis
• Cancer – lung, throat, mouth, esophagus, pancreas, bladder, cervix and leukemia
• Heart attack, heart disease and stroke

Short-term Risks of Smoking 

• Shortness of breath
• Asthma
• Impotence
• Infertility
• Increased carbon monoxide level in the blood
• Effects on physical appearance
• Wrinkles at an early age
• Tooth and gum disease
• Yellowing of teeth and fingers
• Smell like smoke

Giving up Tobacco is the Right Decision

Think about why you want to quit tobacco.

Here is a list to get you started:

• Decide which ones are important to you.
• I will live longer and feel better.
• Quitting will lower my chance of having a heart attack, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, stroke and cancer.
• The people I live with, especially my children, will be healthier.
• Food will taste and smell better.
• I will have extra money to save or to spend.
• My home, car, clothing and breath will smell better.
• I can stop worrying about quitting.
• Quitting will set a good example for my children or grandchildren.
• I will do better in physical activities.
• I will have fewer wrinkles/less aging of skin.
• My doctor recommended that I give up smoking.
• I want to have a healthier baby.
• My family will be proud of me.

How can you get started?

• Come and see your primary care provider. There are different options we can offer to you, such as, medications, nicotine patches, and acupuncture among others.
• The Colorado QuitLine is a FREE online service available to Colorado residents 15 years of age and over. When you become a member, you get special tools, a support team of coaches, research-based information, and a community of others trying to become tobacco free. Their expert coaches can talk to you about overcoming common barriers, such as dealing with stress, fighting cravings, coping with irritability, and controlling weight gain.

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