What Do You Know – about Tobacco Related Dis-ease, or diseases?
The government claims that approximately 480,00 people die each year as a result of cigarette smoking. The lists are numerous as to what diseases are the result of cigarette smoking. But what doesn’t the government and tobacco industry tell you?
If you are a smoker or a non-smoker, but are exposed to secondhand smoke, the following information should peak your interest.
The New England Journal of Medicine conducted a study. Here are some of the results of that study.
It is important to note that ‘insidious diseases that kill smokers and former smokers long after they quit, can cause genetic changes that manifest decades later as a lethal disease.’
Diseases that are recognized by the Government and medical system that are a result of the use of tobacco in any form and especially cigarette smoking include:
- Esophageal cancer
- Ischemic heart disease
- Diabetes
- Stroke (total)
- Pancreatic cancer
- Urinary bladder cancer
- Atherosclerosis
- Aortic aneurysm
- Pneumonia, influenza, TB
- COPD2
- Colorectal cancer
- Lip/oral cancer
- Liver cancer
- Lung cancer
Diseases that are not on the list of recognized illnesses by the government and medical system as being related to or the cause of death by the use of tobacco or cigarettes, include:
- Kidney Failure
- Immune system suppression
- Atherosclerosis
- Platelet aggregation (related to the blood)
- Inflammation
- Gene Alterations
- All infections (to include flu/common cold)
- Hypertensive Heart Disease
- Intestinal Ischemia
- Prostate Cancer
- Breast Cancer
- Liver Cirrhosis
- Respiratory Issues
- Rare cancers
- Digestive Diseases
- Acute Mycloid Leukemia
- Peptic Ulcers
- Bowel Obstructions
- Gallstones
- Diverticulitis
- Acute pancreatitis
- Gastric hemorrhage
There you have it – in a nut shell. Cigarette smoking is the most prominent cause of death and disability, all of which are ‘PREVENTABLE’.
This kind of information appalls me. In the first place, the big question in regards to smoking, is WHY? Why would a person want to jeopardize their whole life for what they feel is a pleasure and claim it is not an addiction – a serious addiction, even though it may take a long time to manifest the results of the choice made. WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT?
The list of what can be done, is being done. Everyone has been given ‘free agency’ by God, to do what they want with their lives. The government steps in to make us think that they care. However, in the long run, it is the money to be made by the tobacco industry that counts – not my opinion, or yours.
Do you know?
Sounding like a broken record – you as parents, me, family doctors, anyone who really cares need to discourage the use of tobacco in any form. It can start in your own family. When it comes to teenagers, tell them to not use tobacco and especially now days, to not use,or try the E cigarette (another subject that needs to be addressed, but not in this blog). Educate them as to the results such a choice may cause. Remind them that once addicted, a smoker craves a new cigarette as often as every 30 minutes. That is a difficult schedule to meet, today, where smoking is prohibited almost every where.
In addition to children, teenagers, anyone who has the wish to smoke or use tobacco, should be educated on Nicotine – the damaging chemical that is what tobacco users become addicted to. Do you know that nicotine addicts spend most of their day suffering the miseries of unfulfilled cravings. Smokers who try to stop smoking suffer withdrawal agonies for weeks. I know people who have experienced this. However, many eventually succumb to temptation from any direction where they see cigarettes or smell cigarette smoke.
Aggressive efforts need to be applied to help improve the health of countless people. Discontinuing the sale of cigarettes in retail stores and pharmacies would help, but only minimally. And, that is not about to happen because, once again, it is all about the money to be made by the big industries. The government adding on more taxes doesn’t seem to help, just as it doesn’t help to keep people from buying alcoholic beverages (another addiction). It is funny how Medicare will help pay medical expenses for people with addictions (adding on to the cost of healthcare costs), but won’t help pay the expenses incurred for senior citizens who can’t see or hear.
In my research, it seems other countries are more successful with their efforts in reducing tobacco consumption than the U.S. In spite of all the strategies here in the U.S. to reduce smoking, such as warning mandates, tax hikes, and smoke-free zones, statistically, “one out of six Americans is a smoker, and one out of five smokers has a disability.”
What can you do? Use your common sense folks. Think about how your actions may be, or are affecting the people around you – especially your wives, husbands, and children, co-workers, friends etc. who are not tobacco users or smokers. Think about how your addiction is affecting your health. Think, does smoking really help you lose weight – an excuse used by many women (especially) – for years. Think, does it reduce your anxiety, fears, worries, make you feel good, make you feel you are now part of the ‘in crowd’, look sexy – as the movies seems to make it look (especially back in the good old days). Think, does smoking improve your life style, improve your hygiene? Think again, in reality, smokers cannot effectively camouflage the smell of cigarette smoke in clothes, the house, or your hair, the taste in the mouth, the smell on the breath, the effect of decay on the teeth, fingernails, toenails, and the list can go on and on.
It may be difficult, but suffering the agony associated with quitting may be worth it. Remove yourself from being a burden to your family, your friends, the government and the insurance companies.
Toll of smoking in the United States.
It, once again, is your choice. QUIT SMOKING, OR USING TOBACCO PRODUCTS. Detox yourself back to good health, great health for what time you may have remaining. It can be done.
PS: This is not a trivial matter. I understand that the CVS Pharmacy discontinued retail sales of cigarettes and other tobacco related products. I applaud them. This is, at the least, a step in the right direction to reduce the consumption of tobacco. May everyone get on the Band Wagon, so to speak, so this type of addiction can be eliminated from the lives of those who are addicted and the life of those who are affected by those who are addicted. I have never been a smoker, but am one of those people affected by the smoking addiction of others, at home and in the work place. I am thankful for what little has been done to alleviate this problem – but there is yet, much more to still be done.
Trudging along, but getting it done!
FYI-HEALTH TALK 