Smoking

[ryosaki]

I use to be a smoker before my kidneys failed, I do not smoke anymore. But at the centre i go to i see alot of patients lighting up after Dia! I wonder, woudl the occasional cig hurt? if I asked my doctor, the obvious answer would be hell no, but once in aa while? what do you guys think
?

[KICKSTART]

Sorry im a smoker and wont be giving up , its my only vice i have left. Regardless of whether or not you have kidney failure or a boil on your bum a doctor will always tell you to give up !

[LightLizard]

i think you might be feeling the craving and are looking for some kind of justification or rationale to start again. if you don't smoke now, it would be silly to start again. just the expense alone is enough reason to avoid it. who has a cigarrette 'once in a while'?
but, honestly, i am a smoker. like kickstart says, it's the only vice i have left. well, one of the only vices.
cannabis makes way more sense. at least you get something from it.
 

[ryosaki]

Does it affect your medication? How do you feel after having a smoke? cigs affect your red blood count right? so how has it affected your blood reults?

[KICKSTART]

If you are talking about cigarettes , they all know i smoke (the staff) My results come out ok , even good some days ! If you are talking about cannabis , sorry dont know , i dont touch it !

[LightLizard]

i'd have to quit smoking to be able to tell that. but my bloodwork has been darn good for some time now. i think people are really eager and quick to jump on the bandwagon when a scapegoat is targetted and i don't buy all the negative hype on tobacco being the cause of the many diseases it is blamed for. i believe that oil-based products are responsible for a great many lung problems. really, like everything else, moderation is a must. even too much water will kill you.

[paul.karen]

I agree with lightlizard (shock).

Sounds like you are looking for a reason to have a smoke. 
Stay away from it.

[Stoday]

I quit smoking four years ago, a little time after I'd been diagnosed with kidney failure.

I used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day plus a cuban cigar from time to time. Gave them up cold turkey. Even after a year I fancied one two or three times a week. Now it's only once every couple of months or so.

A far from easy thing to do. You need to psych yourself up — who's boss? Me or Tobacco? Plus, of course, exacerbating your illness.

[Restorer]

I don't know of anything specific that might influence your situation, but nicotine can do unexpected things and influence other parts of your body/metabolism/etc. As an example, smokers metabolize caffeine much faster, so it has less of an effect on them. Who knows what else it might interact with.

Not to mention the expense, potential long-term damage, and the snowball effect.

[dwcrawford]

Smoking killed both of my parents .. in different ways.  Guess what I think of it!

Ban it everywhere.  You can't go naked in a city park, so why should you be allowed to smoke in public.

[LightLizard]

i've lost friends to car accidents. let's ban cars, hey?
 

[dwcrawford]

there deaths weren't long and painful though.  I'd say here we go again, but I'm through.

[glitter]

I quit three and a half years ago to help my husband quit-

I was a three pack a day militant smoker(I will smoke to the grave!!!!)

Now, I won't pick it back up for my own healths sake, BUT I sure would LIKE to smoke just one dammit!!!

But I know I can't- so I will just suffer...

[Loretta]

I am a nonsmoker and have always been.  I am very allergic to tobacco smoke.  Walking through the smokers after dialysis is enough to give me an earache.  Being delayed while walking through it is enough to give me an ear infection.  I am about a nickle away from putting up a stink about the smoking outside of dialysis.  I don't feel they have the right to add to my pain.  I live in utah and it is against the law to smoke outside of a public door!

[RichardMEL]

I'm a nonsmoker so you can take any comment I make with a puff of smoke, but the comment the OP made got me thinking...

"woudl the occasional cig hurt? if I asked my doctor, the obvious answer would be hell no, but once in aa while?"

occasional, once in a while.

Seems to me that smoking is an addiction that means that a cig "once in awhile" would be VERY difficult to do because soon you think "oh, there's no harm in having another one" or "one every other day" and before you know it you're smoking full time.

I have a friend who is trying very hard to quit. She's gone a few weeks now, but she told me that she finds it hardest when she THINKS she'd just love one, but she KNOWS that if she has one, that will lead to another, and another....

I'm not trying to be critical here - everyone's entitled to live their lives the way they want and it's not for me to say that you should or shouldn't smoke. Everyone but the most ignorant or those in full denial know the damage smoking does to anyone's bodies (kidney disease aside). If you want to take that risk - fine go ahead.

I did used to think that being a heavy smoker would preclude transplant to most patients but I have known some who have gotten one, so the rules may vary on that one. I am not sure of any specific medical reason for that (as in, smoking would interfere with specific anti-rejection drugs) or it's more just a general issue of "if you're going to do that to your body you could well hasten the demise of a transplanted organ" type deal.

I also recognise that dealing with a terminal disease such as ESRD is very stressful, and people use different methods to cope with that situation - one of those might be to smoke.

[billybags]

I also smoke, I enjoy a ciggaret, (I think that is spelt wrong, I know it is spelt wrong) I was going to say I enjoy a "fag" but in America it means a different thing.Ha Ha I tried giving up a couple of years ago, I went for a week and thought , what the hell. I went for a check up at the doctors last week, when you smoke they like to keep a check on your chest at least once a year. You blow in this machine and it gives data on your lungs, apparently my lungs are good till I'm 87. I asked if I could have this in writing. I will proberbly die of some thing else. Ok there are none smokers out there who will be horrified, who think smoking is awful, but I don't drink, I don't drive and pollute the air with petrol or deisel so hay I am not bothered.

[Des]

non-smoker myself

I tried though.... after three months (many many moons ago) I was admitted to hospital for asma.... so needless to say I never got to continue smoking after that.

I did nursing for 4 years and I have seen with my own eyes (barrel chests, yellow fingers and teeth, wringkly mouths, blue lips, heart attacks) and heard with my own ears what smoking does to some people.(those chesty coughs... uch!) I have even seen an autopsy once and the lungs ARE really pitch black inside from smoking.

Sorry people, no amount of "it is the only pleasure I have in life" will justify smoking to me. 

If you ask me should you start again? the answer is NO NO NO.

Oh and don't do the "bars should be banned as well" with me, because I don't believe alcohol is neccessary to live your life.
 

PLEASE do not take this post as a judging anyone...... I just can't see the point.

ps I am just an old prune, hey hehehehehheeh

[ryosaki]

Thanks for the feedback. To the smokers out there, I know you would understand where I'm coming from. having the occasional smoke would be like a little escape, there was nothing I liked better than having a hot drink with a smoke. I dunno, when i see the patients that do smoke at the centre i attend, I don't know what it is that bothers me. but there's something. maybe it's because I want a smoke, or maybe it's because it's just another thing that I can't have.

[dwcrawford]

I promised I wouldn't write in here again, but to ryosaki I want to say keep the faith.  I'm sure it must be hard for a smoker to live without smoking.  It can be harder to die from smoking.  Not a lot do I know but this I can say with certainty.

Is there a type of dialysis to remove the toxins from your lungs?  Or a lung transplant.   "Oh, I'm going to get in trouble.   I feel it."

[paris]

Ryosaki,  if you can stay away from the cigarettes and not start again, it is one more thing in your favor, health wise.  We do have to give up so much of what we love.   I don't smoke, but did care for my Dad who died from lung cancer. Even when he had one lung removed, he refused to stop smoking. He had smoked since he was 12 and couldn't give it up. Instead, we had to give him up.  It was not an easy way to die.    So, for the sake of those you love, step away from the cigarettes.        That lovely "angel" in your avatar picture is a great reason to not smoke.     

[okarol]

I use to be a smoker before my kidneys failed, I do not smoke anymore. But at the centre i go to i see alot of patients lighting up after Dia! I wonder, woudl the occasional cig hurt? if I asked my doctor, the obvious answer would be hell no, but once in aa while? what do you guys think
?

I have no doubt that for me "once in awhile" would turn into "all the time." I quit smoking after 11 years of it and it was one of the hardest things I ever did. I could really see how addicted I was after the first couple of weeks and the cravings left. Cigarettes always had a calming effect on me and I missed it - stopping was minute to minute, I almost caved a few times. So for me I think having one cigarette would be too risky. My mother-in-law died at 60 years old from lung cancer - not a pleasant way to go. So I tell myself - I am postponing my next cigarette - I could have one - but I choose not to today - it's worked so far - for 27 years.

[ryosaki]

Hey thanks, I never thought of it like that. thank you.

[kittylee]

I gave up smoking on the 14th August 2005 the day I fell pregnant (IVF) I then did not smoke again until Dec 2006 and it made me vomit ha ha. I havnt touched one since then but lately I have been feeing the urge and I think ok just one that cant be to bad..... then I remember how one turns into two and three then seventy seven and before I know it my blood pressure will be through the roof and do I really need another reason for the Dr or nurses to have a go? No I dont. So you just need a reason to not light up - and being on dialysis is a pretty big one.. Good Luck

[dwcrawford]

To all the non smokers and to all of those who have quit:

Thank You and Bravo.


PS:  I hope you don't die in a car accident either.   

[Hanify]

Used to be an occasional smoker up till my cousin's funeral 4 years ago.  Haven't touched one since (although I dream constantly that I forget I've given up and 'ruin' it).  Paul gave up his 20 a day habit 2 years ago and still craves.  If I was a smoker now, I wouldn't give up because of the kidney thing.  But if you have given up then don't spoil that effort because of the kidney thing either.  Don't let it get you!