Spring Has Sprung ~

Finally .... the thaw is here ...
(Pictured to the left is my smashed in back door in case anyone was interested in my robbery).

I love the spring weather .... I really like the Sunroof in my Cherokee .... When I was car shopping last year I had to have Sun/Moonroof. Of course, this time of year that is best utilized when your smoking a cigarette while you drive ...

I have not been smoke free one entire year yet .... And notice, my cigarette counter at the bottom of the blog is gone ... I don't know what happened to it. The web sight just went down apparently.

Fortunately, I've kept count on my wall counter, tomorrow is day 270 and this weekend will be 39 weeks.

Enforcing Obama-Care ~

Politically (in) Correct ~

WITHDRAWAL ~

from nicotine can be a very unpleasant experience for the person who is trying to quit the habit.

A person can suffer many withdrawal symptoms which most often include: irritability, depression, mood swings, weepiness, light headedness and headaches, "pins and needles" in the legs, tiredness, insomnia, difficulty in thinking, gastro-intestinal upsets, increased hunger or cravings, constipation, various aches and pains, chest pains and coughing.

I've been smoke free for 37 weeks now and I still experience some of these symptoms. I really can't understand why my anxiety wont go away ... But I can say it's not near what it was last July.

I watched this 'train wreck' of a show, SOBER HOUSE, the other day and watched some of these minor 'celebs' struggle with all kind of withdrawals ... but they all got to smoke cigarettes!!!
Actually, though, you might think that that would make me want to smoke .... it really didn't. There was so much smoke swirling around the house it kind of made me 'virtually' choke ...
but there are other times I still wish I could have one.

Happy St. Patrick's Day ~

This used to be a great smoking holiday!

I'd go downtown to watch the parade, cooler in tow ... we'd drink all day and often into the night and it was easily a two pack day!

I'm not sure if I'll even go out tonight but if I do I know I will be smoke free!

*********************************************************

Passive Smoking:

refers to breathing in smoke from people holding burning cigarettes, cigars or pipes near you or breathing in 'mainstream' smoke exhaled by a person smoking near you.

Smoke that drifts from the end of a lit cigarette contains a large number of chemical carcinogens and other toxic substances.

Sometimes these amounts are 30 times higher than smoke inhaled by a smoker.

Recently, scientists have found strong evidence that passive smoking can be harmful to health. It can lead to increased bronchitis, pneumonia and other chest illnesses in children and lung cancer and other lung disease in non-smokers.

But I have to confess ... Sometimes I kind of like it!!

Maxine on Health Care:

I Borrowed this from one of my favorite Blogs:
Hummers & Cigarettes

"Let me get this straight......
we're trying to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,
to be signed by a president that also is exempt from it and hasn't read it and who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,
and financed by a country that's broke.

What the hell could possibly go wrong? "

250 Days!!!

Can You Believe It??
250 Smoke Free and Cheat Free Days!!
It hasn't stopped me from thinking about it ... or dreaming about it ....
And I still have anxiety ...
I don't know why.
But as far as the physical cravings,
they are gone.

WHAT IS IN TOBACCO SMOKE ?

NICOTINE:

Nicotine is a poison. Swallowing two or three drops of pure nicotine can kill an adult. When used as a concentrated insect spray, nicotine is 10 times more toxic than DDT. Voluntary agreements with the tobacco industry ensure that the amount of nicotine in Australian made cigarettes is limited to 1.4 mg. It takes 7.5 seconds for nicotine to act on the brain after inhaling cigarette smoke.

The initial effect is stimulation followed by a relaxed feeling about half an hour later. The absorption of nicotine and its distribution to the brain and other body organs and tissues is very rapid.

Regular intake is needed to maintain a certain level of nicotine in the body. Nicotine causes the narrowing of blood vessels, in turn, affecting circulation and causing blood pressure to rise. Just one or two cigarettes will cause a significant increase in heart rate, a rise in blood pressure and a decrease in circulation to body extremities like fingers and toes. This is why regular absorption of nicotine through smoking cigarettes may increase the possibility of heart attack in people with chronic heart problems and can initially contribute to these problems. The negative health effects of smoking tobacco vary greatly depending on a number of factors, including how much tar it contains, how much nicotine it contains and how the tobacco is smoked.

TAR:

When a cigarette burns tar is released in the form of tiny particles in the smoke. It is the main cause of lung and throatcancer in smokers and also aggravates bronchial and respiratory disease. Smokers cough, wheezing and shortness of breath are all caused by tar and other elements in tobacco smoke reducing the flexibility of the small air sacs in the lungs. Yellow staining found on the teeth and fingers of a smoker is also caused by tar.A person who smokes one packet of cigarettes a day will inhale more than half a cup of tar each year. Smokers who switch to low tar brands tend to smoke more cigarettes or inhale the smoke more deeply, so the benefit of switching to low tar cigarettes is limited when compared to quitting.

CARBON MONOXIDE:

Carbon monoxide is an extremely toxic gas that is totally odourless and colourless.Smoking cigarettes causes a greater concentration of carbon monoxide in the lungs than breathing in polluted air.Carbon monoxide can be found in car exhaust, fires as well as tobacco smoke.When you breath your lungs take on oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, When blood reaches your lungs an exchange of gases takes place - the body gets rid of carbon dioxide and takes in more oxygen. Because the blood absorbs carbon monoxide more easily than oxygen, in a person who smokes this means that the blood leaves the heart with less oxygen than it should be carrying, resulting in a lack of oxygen supply to the cells of the body.People who smoke have higher levels of carbon monoxide in the blood than a non-smoker. The risk of developing circulation problems, such as coronary heart disease and/or hardening of the arteries is greatly increased in a smoker.

OTHER CHEMICALS:

Small amounts of more than 4,000 chemicals including tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, radioactive compounds, irritant substances such as ammonia, cyanide, acetone, hydrogen, naphthalene, arsenic and phenol are found in cigarette smoke.The main problem causing chemicals are tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Other dangerous compounds and substances can be found in cigarette smoke including some which are toxic, including 43 which have been identified as being carcinogenic (causing cancer).

Be A Quitter With Hypnosis ~

I shared many times before that when it comes to quitting cigarettes, this time I tried hypnosis. I’ve had tried to quit so many times in the past using so many different techniques I just felt it was time to do something more unconventional or radical. If I were going to do it again, the only other change I would have made would be to get an anti-anxiety medication like Welbutrin two weeks prior to visiting the hypnotist.

If you are somewhere in the neighborhood of my age you may have the misconception that a hypnotized person will walk around in his sleep doing all sorts of bizarre behavior like Gilligan did when the Professor hypnotized him. However that’s not the case. Although I cant fully explain how hypnosis works I have read that anywhere from 75 to 90% of people can be hypnotized.

Psychologist describe hypnosis as an altered state of mind in which one's normal skepticism is largely suspended, allowing a patient to focus attention on a single image and be open to suggestions posed by a trained guide. Some practitioners call it daydreaming with purpose. It's similar to the absorption you experience when reading a good novel, watching an engrossing movie, or listening so intently to the car radio that you arrive home without a clue as to how you got there.

New brain scan technology shows that hypnosis can alter the way sensory messages are received in the brain and experienced in the body. In a recent brain-imaging study conducted at the University of Iowa, researchers found that hypnosis actually blocks pain signals from getting to the part of the brain responsible for conscious perception of discomfort.

"Fantasy can preempt pain," explains Linda Thomson, PhD, a nurse practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist in Bellows Falls, VT. And because pain isn't good for you, reducing it can produce profound benefits.

The Limits of Hypnotic Suggestion:

Ironically, the two uses for which hypnosis has gotten the most attention--smoking cessation and weight loss -- are the areas in which its performance is weak.

Smoking:

Hypnosis has helped people quit, with some impressive initial results: In two studies with 160 participants, 81 to 88% stopped smoking for 12 months. But other studies have failed to come close to that level of success, and the long-term failure rate appears to be the same as for other techniques.

Weight Loss:

Though people have trimmed down using hypnosis, it's been useful only in conjunction with other methods. In a University of Northern Colorado study of 109 participants undergoing behavioral modification, the group that also received nine weekly hypnosis sessions lost 15 more pounds. In another study, patients on a diet who also employed self-hypnosis lost more weight. But it's unclear whether hypnosis works well as a stand-alone treatment for losing weight.

Eight Months Smoke Free ~

Now That's Something to Sing About!

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself.
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,

It should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.

Flying away on a wing and a prayer.

Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.
It's like a light of a new day-,
It came from out of the blue.
Breaking me out of the spell I was in,

Making all of my wishes come true-.

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-.
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.

Want to Quit Smoking? Don't Turn to Light Cigarettes ~

Smokers who switch to a low-tar, light or mild brand of cigarette will not find it easier to quit and in fact may find it harder, researchers reported.
(From Fox News and Reuters)

They found that smokers who traded to light cigarettes were 50 percent less likely to kick the habit.

"It may be that smokers think that a lighter brand is better for their health and is therefore an acceptable alternative to giving up completely," Dr. Hilary Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study, said in a statement.

Her study of 31,000 smokers found that 12,000, or 38 percent, had switched to a lighter brand.

A quarter said they switched because of flavor but nearly 20 percent said they had switched for a combination of better flavor, wanting to smoke a less harmful cigarette, and as part of an effort to give up smoking completely, Tindle's team reported in the journal Tobacco Control.

Those who switched brands were 58 percent more likely to have tried to quit smoking between 2002 and 2003 than those who stuck with their brand. But they were 60 percent less likely to actually succeed in quitting, Tindle's team found.

"Forty-three percent of smokers reported a desire to quit smoking as a reason for switching to lighter cigarettes. While these individuals were the most likely to make an attempt, ironically, they were the least likely to quit smoking," Tindle said.

Other research has shown that so-called low-tar cigarettes have just as much tar, nicotine and other compounds as regular cigarettes.

Not Too Late For Obama To Quit ~

5 Tips to Help Obama Quit Smoking

By Marrecca Fiore from AOL HEALTH

President Obama may be in "excellent health" according to his physician, but until he quits his nasty smoking habit, he continues to shave years off his life, doctors say.

"What we don't know is how much he smokes," said Len Horovitz, M.D., a pulmonologist at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. "But we do know that smoking just a few cigarettes a day can double or even triple your risk of coronary artery disease. That's from a study published in (medical journal) The Lancet and it's astounding. Smoking is the riskiest thing that you can do to damage your health."

Obama signed the nation's toughest anti-smoking law last June. When asked at the time if he was still smoking, the president, almost angrily, responded that law was not about him, but about preventing others from starting a bad habit he's struggled with for his entire adult life.

Pulmonologist Brian Gelbman, M.D. of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell University's Weill Medical College, said people who quit smoking by age 40 are usually able to undo most of the damage they've done to their bodies and though the president is already 48 years old, all hope is not lost.

"It's not too late for him," he aid. "The biggest benefit he'll he is a reduction in his cardiovascular risk. His risks for tobacco-related diseases like COPD, lung cancer and other cancers will all significantly decline as well. Unfortunately, it never returns to that of nonsmoker but he'll have much less risks than someone who doesn't quit smoking."

Horovitz agreed: "In particular, the president sets an example and he shouldn't set that example. Especially since he sets a good example in every other way: He's thin; he exercises; he appears to have good dietary habits. His blood pressure is ideal -- 105 over 60 for someone under that much stress is excellent."

Gelbman and Horovitz offered Obama these tips for kicking the habit for good:
1. Set a quit date. Gelbman said he usually tells his patients to set a quit date one month out. Over the course of the month, they're to rid their homes of all smoking-related items such as ashtrays, lighters and cigarettes. They should also start to avoid places and activities that trigger the desire to smoke.
2. Stop cold-turkey. Horovitz admitted this method does not work for all his patients, but said that people who are truly motivated to stop smoking can, with the right frame of mind, quit the habit cold-turkey and never look back.
3. Try medication. Gelbman usually starts his patients on Chantix; however people prone to depression and anxiety may want to avoid Chantix. "The data shows that, at a one-year follow up, 44 percent of patients who used Chantix remained abstinent from smoking," he said.
Horovitz said he has the most success starting his patients on a mix of nicotine patches and gum. "This takes care of the physical craving, but it doesn't address the psychological aspect, or the habit or ritual of it. But for those who can't just walk away from it, I find this is the best way to address it."
4. Make sure you want to quit. Both Horovitz and Gelbman said smokers will never quit the habit if they don't want to quit. "The first question I ask my patients is if they want to quit," Gelbman said. "If the answer is no, the conversation stops right there. If you're not motivated or you're doing it for someone else, it's not going to work. You have to want to quit."
5. Prepare to fail. Most smokers fail at their attempts to quit at least three or four times, Gelbman said, adding that the problem isn't failing, it's giving up. If you fail, keep trying until you get it right, Gelbman added.