exersize, smoking, diet and calcified plaque

[Michael_E]

Its one thing to take a verbal warning from nutritionists about how unhealthy eating too much fat, smoking, coffee, and lack of excersize are to the heart but last thursday i got to see the results up close and it left much more of an impact.

we had two bodies to disect and look at: one who was a heavy smoker and one who wasnt. when the doctor cut across an artery at the heart from the smoker it was like cutting into bone, we could hear the scalpel rubbing against the calcified plaque, kind of like nails across a chalkboard.

Upon looking at the bodies lungs, the smoker's were black and had what felt like marbels in the lower areas whereas the non-smoker's were largely pinkish with some blackish patches caused by pollution and no marbels. The marbels in the smokers lungs turned out to be cancerous which the person apparently wasnt aware of.

After seeing the differences i cant believe cigerettes are still allowed to be sold.

[Michael_E]

Hi Michael,


Why did this person die? Could the state of his body be traced back solely to smoking?

The person died from heart failure which often happens as a result of emphysema which she was suffering from as well. The emphysema can definitely be traced back to smoking, although some people who get it are antitrypsin deficient which isnt related to smoking.

Do you know anything about the interaction effect between smoking and radon exposure?

It hasnt been discussed yet. but i looked up some articles. i pmed you one. one that i had looked at said that smokers and recent non-smokers were at higher risk for developing lung cancer at usual amounts of radon in their homes. There were a bunch of other articles on lung cancer being reported in mine workers who were exposed to higher amounts of radon as well so if they are right i hope you arnt exposed to it  too much.

Also, a piece of information something hard to come unless looking in the professional literature is the actual chance of developing lung cancer in a life-long smoker. Usually, health agencies present the statistics in the most scary way - i.e. tenfold risk for smokers, etc making it sound it's basically guarenteed to get it.

sorry i dont know the actual chance of developing lung cancer for a life-long smoker, but ive seen a whole slew of numbers thrown around. eh ill just pm you a bunch of stuff...

[Eol007]

Hi MT,

You are familiar with the thread I started 'New Year Quitters' www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16570

I've been on and off the dreaded weed over the last few years and finally scared myself to stop this time.

As an example - after reading almost every article on the site below I found, and I am sure you wound agree that: the expression used by Joel Spitzer founder of http://whyquit.com really is the only perspective any sane individual can take: -

i.e. "NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF"!!!

Sorry to sound pedantic

Good luck and go for it,


Stephen

[Nay]

OH.. how depressing it is to know that I'm in older than you MT!!  *sniff, sniff*  When did it happen that I find I'm  always the oldest one in the room?

That aside, I'm so mirroring you on this one..infact, I would appreciate if ya got outa my mind..  

Perhaps we can quit together?  A support for each other, ya know?  Ohhh..ok, how about a contest? hehehe...ummmmm.. need to think of a good reward.  We'll start off slow first.. like, whomever smokes the least tomorrow gets...well, that is where I'm stuck..

And ideas?

Nay

[Nay]

Fair enough..  

Sounds like we both use it as a crutch...does this make us weak?   *she types while taking a big drag*

Nay

[wisp]

Is this about smoking or death?

we had two bodies to disect and look at: one who was a heavy smoker and one who wasnt.

Michael,

Was the other body a light smoker? Either way, they are both dead.Is there such a thing as a healthy corpse?

[Michael_E]

Ohhh..ok, how about a contest? hehehe...ummmmm.. need to think of a good reward.  We'll start off slow first.. like, whomever smokes the least tomorrow gets...well, that is where I'm stuck..

And ideas?

Nay

i have a GREAT idea! How about for every cigerette you smoke you donate 5 big ones to the "Put Michael_e through Med School Fund" I have a bank account number all ready and everything

[You]

My mom just quit smoking, and she sucks at quitting smoking (has tried several times). If she can do it, you guys can.

Don't smoke, it's evil. Mail the money you would have spent on it to me... or a respectable charity (like me)... instead.

[Nay]

Ohhh..ok, how about a contest? hehehe...ummmmm.. need to think of a good reward.  We'll start off slow first.. like, whomever smokes the least tomorrow gets...well, that is where I'm stuck..

And ideas?

Nay

i have a GREAT idea! How about for every cigerette you smoke you donate 5 big ones to the "Put Michael_e through Med School Fund" I have a bank account number all ready and everything

LOL!  Awwwww..if I didn't have three kids already to put through college, I do just that.

PS..sorry about stealing the thread, I should have posted on Stephens thread..sorry again.

[Michael_E]

Is this about smoking or death?

we had two bodies to disect and look at: one who was a heavy smoker and one who wasnt.

Michael,

Was the other body a light smoker? Either way, they are both dead.Is there such a thing as a healthy corpse?

The smoker died 40 years before the non-smoker. The non-smoker, although in her late 80's, generally had healthier looking organs, especially the lungs. They both died from heart failure.

[You]

Lots of things can be used as crutches, does the crutch being an unhealthy one make it any more of a crutch? No.

First off, what's wrong with crutches? What's wrong with using things to make you happy or help you do the things you want to do? Nothing. If you had a broken leg, would you walk without crutches, thinking that would cure your broken bones? No, so how exactly would going without life's pleasures develop and secret willpower? None, you're just torturing and damaging yourself and will probably be so focused on the pain it's causing you you won't get anything more done or accomplished, and all you'll have to hold on to is the satisfaction that you don't have a crutch.

This is a fresh view for me, I used to think in that crutch thing too, but this epiphany is nice, I just hope it can sink in.

This doesn't mean smoking is good though. Smoking is akin to walking with a crutch with nails sticking out of it. Sure, your leg is spared, but holes are sticking through your hands causing a stigmata-like wound with blood spattering everywhere, and you and the people around you are slipping and falling in it.

You just need to find a crutch without spikes, and keep off that part of the hand for a while while that injury heals as well. I recommend anime and martial arts, but we all have our specific joys.