Life After Smoking

I am certain that you have heard the claims that smoking is a very strong addiction, some studies suggest it may be a stronger addiction than hard drugs. Luckily I cannot comment on that comparison from personal experience. But I can say that I tried to quit about 25 times in the last 25 years. I took pills, chewed gum, had shots, wore patches, was hypnotized, ate special foods, and did just about every free or cost cure available. None of them worked for me. Does not mean that they won't work for you. Do what you gotta do.

By the way let me spin some conspiracy theory for you: why is it that when I was trying to quit, the gum tasted like an ashtray, now there is this nice cherry flavored deal. My money says that Phillip Morris was behind both gums. In the past they did not want us to quit, now that they are so diversified, all they are trying to do is avoid lawsuits and enjoy the investments they made with the money they accumulated destroying our lungs.

One more shot at the conspiracy thing, why is it that 30 years ago I could miss a day or most of a day, and it would be no big thing, but the last 15 years I smoked, as I was trying to cut back a bit, I needed my fix on a regular basis without fail or everyone around me was sorry. You will never convince me that Phillip Morris and the rest did not juice up the nicotene (or whatever addictive chemicals) levels in cigarettes when the market started to slip.

OK, I made you wait long enough. I will tell you how I quit and then what has happened since. The story continues in the next module. If you are looking for some humor, try the video. It is not a sales plug, it is just some weird humour.

In May of 2005, my doctor of 20 years told me that I had two choices: pick out a headstone or quit smoking.

I thought he was kidding because we had been having this conversation on a less serious note for about 20 years. Prior to 2000, I was very active physically. Too much success in my construction business kept me running between jobsites instead of working with my back and my hands. Also this management type activity left me more time to smoke. My health deteriorated quickly as soon as I stopped the physical labor. I had quit playing ice hockey because I was too busy and too tired after long days. My physical activity had gone to zero.

My diet for most of my life included too much red meat, too much fast food and too few vegetables and salads. Prior to 2000, when I was still physical active, my chloresterol level was not a problem. In 2006 my doctor put me on medication for high chloresterol.

OK, it's May 2005, I am probably around 190 pounds, should be 175. I have a chloresterol problem brewing. I no longer look healthy. I can not catch my breath properly. Stairs are a major challenge. My doctor just told me to quit smoking or die.

Just like in marketing, always give people a choice. I chose to quit smoking. Well to begin with I quit buying cigarettes. As 3 construction crews had been bumming free cigarettes from me for 10 years, it was not hard to bum the odd smoke. I believe I only bought one pack during May of 2005. 2 or 3 a day, down from 30 cigarettes a day prior to May 1, that's when I saw the doctor.

In June, I cut back on the bumming and again only bought one pack all month. In July, my wife, son and I go back to Canada, near Bracebridge in Northern Ontario. My mother in law has a very nice house with several cottages on a small lake - see the picture. We usually stay the month and meet up with relatives and old friends. It's a nice break from hot and humid summers in Georgia. During July, I bought one pack of 20 Canadian cigarettes. I came home with 10 of them in August. I gave half of those to my then 30 year old son. I was bumming a cigarette from him on August 17, when I just said, enough's enough. I have not had a cigarette since.

OK, now you know a little about me and my background. If you want more go to my home page, I will put it in the links under this module. You also know I quit not because I had an epiphany. I stopped smoking because my doctor told me that if I did not quit smoking I would die within the year. OK that was then.

Once in a blue moon I still have a small craving for a smoke. Nothing serious. People smoking around me do not bother me from a 'I want a smoke' viewpoint. But 40+ years of smoking have caught up to me.

Even though I had quit back in August 2005, I still could not make it up the stairs without losing my breath. It continued to get harder to get my breath as the months went by. I saw the doctor in November 2005 and he recommended that I go and see a lung doctor. I putzed around and finally saw one in March of 2006.

Now remember I quit totally back in August of 2005. I wanted the results I had been promised by the television and the barroom doctors. I wanted to feel healthy again.

They tested my lung capacity. The scale is irrelevant but I scored about 20. Minimum for live humans is 22. Sick people score 30. Regular people score 40+ and very healthy people score 50+. The doctor was concerned and prescribed two powder inhalents. I must return every 3 months. I do and that doctor is no longer at this office. New doctor. Retest. Similar results. This doctor explains to me how COPD works. That's what I have, because of smoking, because of lack of exercise while smoking. He tells me that everyone's lung capacity decreases slowly as they age. A smoker's lung capacity decreases faster. When a smoker quits, if he takes medication, proper diet, exercises, then his lung capacity will degrade at the same rate as nonsmokers. But and this is a giant but, lost lung capacity can never be regained. Let me repeat that, lost capacity can never be regained.

If you do not know what the two biggest lies in the world are, then ask your father. The third one has been discovered by millions of people in the last 20 years. I am talking about people who quit smoking only to find that their lungs did not recover to their former capacity, for that matter they barely recovered any capacity at all. Here the third biggest lie: "Don't worry about smoking, as soon as you quit your lungs will start to regenerate, hey in a month or two you'll be back to normal." Bull.

Do not lecture young people about cigarette smoking as a dirty habit, socially unacceptable, habit forming addiction. Do not show them pictures and tell them about lung cancer etc. Tell them that every cigarette they smoke is literally taking time off their life. When you can not breathe, you die.

Previously I have done a lot of ranting and railing about smoking and my health. But in reality, things are getting better for me. I may be one of the lucky ones. My breath is much better. I use an exercise bike 5 or 10 minutes a day. I can get up stairs without stopping to catch my breath. It has been a fight. My weight went up to 215. That's 25 pounds up from when I quit. 40 pounds above where I should be. Determination and Atkins have my weight back close to 190 with the 175 target in sight. Jon Henson's Fit Over 40 has helped but I cannot exercise long enough yet. Tortoise and the Hare, one step at a time and I'll get there.

The loss of weight helps many ways, the biggest thing is the ability to exercise more. One thing that cannot be stressed enough, quitting smoking is a classic catch 22. The best thing you can do after quitting smoking is to exercise strenuously and regularly. But almost everyone puts on weight after quitting...exercise gets more difficult, becomes a pain instead of a pleasure.

Like most things in life. Do not believe the hype. Do not believe the lies. You will not be good as new soon after you quit. According to the doctors, you will never get back to square one. Smoking is a life shortening occupation. Do not even think about lung cancer and all the other horrific health issues. Just regular Joe stuff. You won't be able to play tennis or golf except maybe in a very limited capacity. Now I am not going to preach. We all should make our own decisions. But decisions are best made with solid facts. Trying to scare teenagers with medical terms and gorey pictures of cancerous lungs is not the best approach in my opinion. Tell them the truth. Every cigarette takes away some of your life. Every cigarette negatively affects the quality of your life after 40 years of age. It's irreversible.

Do whatever you have to do. Just quit. I am wasting 2 or 3 years of my life trying, no not trying, getting back into good enough shape so that I can enjoy a reasonable quality of life for years to come. As I said I may be one of the lucky ones. Anyone who knows me knows that the worst thing you can say to me is: "You can't do that". Well with diet, supplements, medication, breathing exercises cardio/vascular exercise, and some strength and endurance exercises I am going to regain the health I should have enjoyed. I am aiming at my 60th birthday as a milestone, that's October 25. I randomly report in here as to my progress. Quit and exercise.

Just after the turn of the year I had a bad chest cold so I went to my family doctor. He said I had a bad chest cold and gave me some antibiotics and so on... I did not really get better after a 5 days of pills, but I persisted assuming that I would shake it.

Remember I have COPD. Chest problems are exaggerated and very serious.

Like a fool I stuck it out and did not return to the doctor despite the pleas of my family. I could not sleep laying down and could not get comfortable sitting up. So I basically did not sleep for about 2 weeks. I got progressively worse and my son insisted I go to the doctor, but I said - wait until Monday. I was so bad on Monday, that my wife stayed home from work to take me the lung doctors, not the family doctor.

They made time for me at 9AM and as soon as I arrived I did the normal testing which includes 'dissolved oxygen' in the blood. A healthy person reads 99 or 100. With COPD I usually read around 91. My reading was 62. This means that I was not getting any oxygen into my blood and I was starving my body for oxygen. This easily could have resulted in brain damage.

Almost immediately I was taken to the hospital and admitted. I spend 5 days in the hospital recovering. Heavy duty steroids and antibiotics. Upon release, more steroids and antibiotics by prescription. Oxygen was installed at my house. I now have an oxygen concentrator and some small bottles for portable supplemental use. It has been 4 weeks since I returned home and I still need oxygen if I face any stress - physical, mental or emotional. I have been to the lung doctor twice and she says that I will recover but it will take time, weeks, maybe months.

I tell this story not to cry on your shoulder but to warn you. If you have COPD do not take a cold lightly. Stay in close contact with your pulmonologist and do as you are told.
Nothing is more frustrating than the leash effect - in my case the tubing to my supplemental oxygen source. Nothing is more frightening than when you address some type of stress and you almost pee yourself and fight for breath - rushing in a controlled manner back to the house so that you can reconnect to the breathing tube. Believe me, you do not want this.