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I think coffee (caffeine/sugar/milk) is more addictive than cigarettes. The fact that it's socially acceptable doesn't help. I found it easier to quit smoking than drinking coffee. But then, I had a bit of help quitting smoking. Some friends who cared about me. No one thinks caffeine is a problem.
Dave, it is NEVER too late. Just like going into recovery...your life will SO improve when you put down the smokes! Keep trying....Ric
What a fucking eye opener...I hope its not too late
Jon, Thanks for the kind words about my late husband's death. Even after 3 years words of comfort still lighten my heart. I think you may have read into this blog posting a little than intended; or I may have written it too harshly. The basic point of my stance on tobacco abuse is that there isn't ANY UP side to it. All tobacco does to anyone (positive or not) is slowly and insidiously harm their overall health. However, when you throw in the fact that many of us who are living with HIV/AIDS need to take daily chemotherapy (I don't give a shit what the drug companies say about HIV meds...it is chemo in my book.) Substance addiction has some universal traits such as a need to use daily, being unable to stop, and so on. The fact that tobacco addicts do not APPEAR to commit crimes does not change the situation. (BTW, numerous crimes have been committed to obtain smokes and even some murders have occurred.) So basically Jon my goal as a primary care nurse practitioner is to help my patients optimize their health in numerous ways...stopping tobacco is a major improvement to anyone's life.
Firstly, I regret to hear about the demise of any loved one, so, Richard, my sincere condolences and sympathy for the loss of your life partner. In no way are my comments, queries or reasoning that follows intended to subtract from that loss or his memory. I hope you are able to separate the emotional elements of this issue to help me better understand the logic of your premise. I'm new to this section of poz.com, so forgive me, but are you a physician? This is amazing to me. No HIV/AIDS patient in your practice has died from complications or ailments related to their infection, just tobacco-related ailments for the past ten years? Where do you work? From that statement, what you're inferring is that if an HIV+ person quits smoking, or better, never smoked, that no illness or condition related to their HIV infection will kill them, for at least a period of ten years. Is that condition only applicable to your practice, or will it apply to all clinical settings everywhere in the world with comparable treatment capacities, respectively? I expect that you have statistical data to support this claim, along with allowable variants to other lifestyle habits, economic/social settings, gender/race, etc. I understand that second-hand smoke is irritating to many people, but if it truly is as toxic as the anti-smoking protest groups have proposed, then why aren't more Americans over age 60 dying faster? The reason I ask, is because this age group, more than any other was exposed to second-hand smoke in virtually every location from their childhoods in homes to doctor's offices, cinemas to grocery stores, buses to airplanes, restaurants to college classrooms, yet they are one of the fastest growing segments of our aging population. Why? Per the anti-tobacco statistics, they should be dropping like flies in a mist of pesticide. What is your professional, clinical explanation for all the people who develop lung cancer that have never smoked, nor worked in an environment where they were exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke? Also, please give me your professional opinion on why other nations, like Japan, where tobacco use is more prominent their population, do not suffer cancer and heart disease risk at any level close to that of our American population? In your professional opinion, does genetics, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, dietary habits, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, exposure to other chemical compounds and stress play any role at all in cancer rates? When relating and comparing addiction to nicotine to meth and alcohol addiction, with the exception of the habit-forming properties of any addictive substance, I have not witnessed any tobacco user driven to commit homicide, violence, theft, vandalism, suicide or rape with nicotine being the major contributing factor in the commission of criminal acts. On the contrary, the nicotine addict's personality and propensity to commit criminal behavior remains constant, whether or not the compound is present in their metabolism, unlike meth and alcohol, where addicts' behavior is markedly changed by their abuse of the drug. Am I right or wrong about that? Finally, I don't mean to question the validity that using tobacco on a daily basis will definitely affect the user's health in a negative way, but with everything else I know, I cannot point to just one culprit as being the sole cause of any patient's suffering. Sorry, but that's just too easy.
congratulations!! Jason you made the write decisons by quitting smoking and getting rid of your smoker friends that are still in the world.Have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour and do you want to receive him or if not repeat these words after me(PRAYER OF SALVATION). "LORD JESUS, I KNOW THAT I AM A SINNER AND I KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN RUNNING MY OWN LIFE ALL ALONG.COME INTO MY HEART LORD JESUS,COME INTO MY LIFE AND TAKE CONTROL OF MY LIFE.lORD,I LOVE YOU AND NEED YOU MORE THAN EVER BEFORE.I BELIEVE YOU DIED ON THE CROSS FOR ALL MY SINS AND ROSE AGAIN 3DAYS AFTER.COME AND LIVE IN ME FOREVER AND EVER,AMEN"
I LOVE YOU MAN THAT YOU TOOK THE WRITE STEP TO COME TO JESUS CHRIST AND CAME OUT FROM THE WORLDLY THINGS TO THE SPIRITUAL THINGS DUE TO THE GRACE OF GOD THROUGH YOUR FAITH!!!
Richard Ferri
Good point on the caffeine issue and thanks for bringing it up. however, just for the "clinical record" nicotine (and whatever else is secretly - remember Big Tobacco still will divulge contents of is products) has been studied extensively to be one of the most addictive substances in the world. Tobacco addicts within in a few uses (a couple of cigarets really) and then develoes a feedback loop to keep AND increase the addiction going. It is brutal.
May 21, 2010