I have been trying to quit smoking for a long time. It is something I struggle with, but that story is on one of my other blogs. I have been cigarette-free for a little over a week now. For many months I tried the patch, which had worked for me in the past enabling me to stop smoking for up to 1 ½ years. This time, however, it wasn’t working as well. I did manage to not get up and smoke during the night, but as soon as the cravings would hit after getting up in the morning, I would tear the patch off and have a cigarette. I displayed no real will-power at all. But this did keep me down to between 5 and 10 cigarettes a day, depending on how stressed out I was. There were a lot of things going on in my life.
Now I know, as everyone these days does, that smoking has severe consequences for many. Not only does it cause many cancers, but affects heart, lungs, and blood amongst other things. For a diabetic these dangers are increased by 3, 4, up to 5 times that of a non-smoker.
I know that there were times that my blood carried too many red blood cells. Enough that my doctor was commenting on it. I looked it up on the internet and found that, aside from smoking being the cause, there was one other cause of this. Those suffering from that cause had to have some of their blood drained off every so often. It was too thick. Something that happens to diabetics when their blood sugars are too high.
If you are having trouble keeping your numbers in line your blood is already thickened. Add smoking to that and a heart attack could be on the way. It just gets too hard for the heart to pump that thick blood.
Another affect of smoking is decreased oxygen. This has to affect every part of your body. Now add diabetes to the mix. Your organs are affected by the diabetes. From kidneys to liver to heart, eyes, nervous system, immune system and on and on it seems to go. With smoking you are depriving them of oxygen, (not to mention what affect the many other chemicals in a cigarette are having on you), when they need all they can get to maintain good health and function in their battle with diabetes.
I know that I huffed and puffed just walking around. I was to the point, a few years ago, that I would get up in the morning, light my first cigarette, and have a major coughing spasm. When I got down to 10 or less cigarettes a day, that improved. So did my breathing.... somewhat. Then, in the last few months, I lost 45 lbs which improved my breathing a little more. I started walking, too.
Of the many lifestyle changes I am making, stopping smoking is at the top of the list. I am using Champix this time as I had tried it once before and had some success with it. I have been on it just about 4 weeks now and by the 3rd week I was down to one a day. For the past week I have been down to zero.
For my overall health I need to do this. I know that I feel so much better. I can take a deep breath. I can walk further. I am not huffing and puffing nearly as much.
One concern is that I am eating more. It seems to be something to keep my mouth occupied. In effect replacing cigarettes with food, even though I am not hungry. This is making it a little difficult right now to keep my numbers in line, but I know it will pass. If I gain a little bit back while I am stopping, oh well. I know that I will get that back on track after I am over the initial few weeks. I am working on that now by chewing on a toothpick. I guess it doesn’t look so good, but if it helps I don’t care. It is only temporary.
I don’t know how much I will add to my life, if anything, for I am not a spring chicken and have been smoking for many, many years now. What I do know already is that the quality of my life will improve. I have already become more active and that’s got to help. My breathing has improved drastically increasing my ability to do things. So if I can feel better in whatever remaining years I have, it is worth it whether I add anything to my life span or not.
I know I don’t have emphysema right now... if I continued smoking I would most likely develop it. Perhaps I will forego the heart attack I would surely have. Or the stroke that would make me unable to care for myself and put me at the mercy of others. If only for those reasons, stopping is worth it. I just feel better. I hope I am 100% successful this time. I feel I will be.
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