Gents, I was Dx'd in August, stopped smoking cigs in November.
Stop the bullshit how important is this really?
How Taboo is Smoking?: Gents, I was Dx... - Advanced Prostate...
How Taboo is Smoking?
Written by
Yzinger
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45 Replies
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I'm not a smoker but I can't imagine anything more important to do than quitting tobacco in any form, whether you have PCa or not. The stress it puts on your heart and other organs is substantial.
You're 50 years old and you don't understand the implications of smoking on health? It causes cancer!
…from my experience I have two antidotes to share. When I was being treated at every step along the way they would ask me two or three times have I smoked, have I ever smoked, how much did I smoke, etc. They seem to be a common question. The doctors would ask.
…more importantly there are things called nomograms. These are predictive models that tell you you’re probability of outcomes based on different factors and you go down each side and you add up the points. Smoking is one thing that adds a lot of points to your nomogram. And then it affects your outcome.
I’m not doing this to beat you into the ground. It is what it is; each of us has done stupid things. In my case it was drinking excessively which I’m sure contributed to my cancer. But the point is that we stop. The body can heal itself as long as we give it a chance.
…the message to the rest of the brothers out there who are still smoking and under surveillance or under remission is don’t smoke. And I can tell you from my personal experience don’t drink alcohol. They tell you a little bit of alcohol is OK; like a 'little bit of smoking would be OK! I think that’s wrong advise. The best thing to do is to cut out all this stuff. Give your body a chance. All the best.
Well, stopping earlier would have been better of course! The problem with smoking is that there is no "safe amount", it's subjective. This said, even if I am otherwise very strict, I allow myself a cuban cigar once or twice per year, normally on NY eve, sometimes for my birthday. But I have never been a regular smoker and I don't remember having more than 10 cigarettes per day even in the short periods where I was smoking heavily (like when I was in the airforce). I have always alternated periods of complete no smoking to period of smoking (mostly rolling them myself), till I decided to give up completely. Giving up was as easy as restarting for me, I noticed that people that had a hard time giving up were less likely to get back to smoking.
If you really struggle controlling the urge, I would avoid also the cuban cigars twice per year!
Yzinger
Of course smoking is your choice.
I do hope you chose to quit.
There is nothing good that will come out of continuing to smoke, physically or mentally.
While you do not mention it, I have my doubts if you much if any routine exercise. Please look around this site at the posts from the folks that are battling this disease (Warriors).Along with the meds they ask you to take (your choice again). Exercise is the #1 thing you can do to battle this disease. The meds will cause atrophy to your muscles that can only be countered with exercise.
Walking, or cardio such as a treadmill or elliptical, and resistance exercises are crucial to a good quality of life while in this battle.
Of course this is all your choice also.
All of of us on this site have made the choice to live. (that again is your choice)
I exercise a ton - always have. Bit frustrating to not get the same results but thats expected.
Thanks for reply
You can find many arguments about this online, Mostly smokers say it's ok to smoke but scientific studies show it is not. You know, cancer, emphyema, bronchitis. I'd love to smoke a pipe. I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy it. But even though I'm 76 and have prostate cancer I'd rather not add to my troubles by smoking. One might argue that it takes many years to develop these problems but it is well proven that as we age we face a greater risk of cancer. Likely this is because as we age our natural defenses and body functions deteriorate. Therefore, it seems to me that smoking at age 76 is riskier than smoking at 26. You might consider this.
ADT creates cardiovascular risks, why add to it by smoking? If you were able to stop which is hard enough on its own, why the hell would you want to start again?
Ed
I have a friend who also has cancer and he never quit smoking and to be honest with you the change in his health status from the smoking has been minimal to zero. Every case is different and yes I agree the taboo of cigarettes is pretty huge but in the end it is your call and what makes you happy and the stress of not smoking cigarettes might make your case even worse so do you do what feels right
I quit cigarettes years before my diagnosis of Prostate cancer. I recently began using Zyn capsule, it sharpens the mind, just like smoking did. Anyone who never smoked can't know how great a product nicotine is for the mind. It just is, but at my age the health effects, and of course the cost. I say live and let live. Carbohydrates in the diet are worse for your health than tobacco. With smoking, you may die younger, but you have a better quality of life than being a fat porker who lives to be 85. I choose to have a capsule 15 times a month. Face it NOBODY lives forever.
yup yup, what I expected. I was just curious to see the comments.
When i smoked it was average of 8-10 per day. A lot of folks would say thats good - I would disagree. Sure, maybe its better than the person who smokes couple packs a day but still any smoking is bad imo.
Thanks for the all the replies. I full expect to STAY a non-smoker. In fact instead of saying I quit I like to say "i started not smoking"....
In regards to your smoking callout it’s the same thing that we hear from all these other guys on this forum for the first 60 years of their life they eat garbage and drink booze then they get cancer and switch to a plant-based diet like it’s gonna make a difference - damage has already been done.
So true! I will add to that list of things one more - lack of exercise. After they do all the wrong things they want modern medicine to have some instant miracle cure for them.
Ehhhh, not so sure I agree. There is evidence that when a person stops smoking the body begins to repair immediately. That wont cure cancer but a healthier body is... healthier and may help fight the disease. Eating a healthy diet even after 60 years of garbage also has health benefits. I dont necessarily buy the fact that after diagnosis you might as well keep abusing your body cuz its just too late to make a difference.
Do you "really" not know the answer to that question?
My take on this is that you want to give your body every chance to heal, and reducing oxygen and ingesting nicotine is not doing this. I even find I only rarely drink anymore, for similar reasons. This from a guy who was a pack and a half smoker (quit in 1992 with the birth of our child) and a regular (gin, of course) martini drinker.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that if you pack in around the 40 years mark it isn't as bad as you'd imagine - but it goes rapidly downhill after that. I guess how much you smoke will also be a factor.
Got me thinking actually. I guess smoking is a form of hypoxia.
So, it should be no surprise that I think it's not recommended.
That being said, I'm also a believer of taking your pleasures out of life where you can get them. If it makes you happy, and you are strong willed, a couple here and there probably won't be disasterous. I'm sure there are people here who smoke for pain relief.
If you're a heavy smoker and are considering stopping, I'd do it gradually. I wouldn't just stop immedately.
I tried a couple of times to taper off and quit. I ended up quitting cold turkey. I woke up on New Year’s Day after sleeping like 13 hours and I thought, “well, that 13 hours without smoking…” and went from there. That plus a knowing a baby would be in the house in 6 months. (That baby is 32 now…)
I was such a heavy smoker that I had (no joke) an ashtray in my shower. Not sure if it was for before, or after, or even during, but I did have one.
When smoking cigarettes is casually compared to other common vices, such as drinking alcohol, it baffles me. Eating, drinking, thinking, working, worrying, even exercising is harmful when done to excess. But smoking?
Cigarette smoking deserves its own category: Unsafe at any speed. Nothing harder to quit. Nothing as flat out proven to kill you, too often slowly and painfully.
And yet I completely get that some will continue to smoke regardless, for I also believe strongly that longevity is the most overrated thing that exists today.
The problem is the quality of that longevity (‘healthspan’) doesn’t have much of a shot if you smoke regularly past a certain age. Again, instead of causing a major event (heart attack etc) too often it erodes health cruelly and deliberately over time.
Smoking into old age is at best, unfortunately, a great tool for outliving one’s good years.
Actually, what I find interesting is that correlation doesnt prove causation - except where the correlation is extreme and undeniable. Cancer from smoking is the perfect example of the exception to the rule. The correlation in this case doesn't need a blinded study.
My mom died from lung cancer in 1984. She smoked Lucky Strikes. Unfiltered.
Sorry to hear that. Unfiltered? Wow.
Strange how it affects people differently. My great aunt smoked heavily every day until she died at 92 I think it was. I think she started around 14 years old. Heart packed in eventually. Must have been something like 4 standard deviations up the curve.
Very. Smoking complicates treatments and adds more carcinogens to your system undermining any attempts to get rid of the cancer cells. So it's like turning on the tap while trying to empty the tub.
Which carcinogens
There's a thing called Gogle and you can look up many many answers. Here are some of the most valid sources
everywhere go we’re exposed to carcinogens including the one we volunteer to injest
cancer.org/cancer/risk-prev...
never smoked in my life , don’t drink , workout everyday- professional athlete for 6 years. Cyclist. And currently stage2 , biochemical reoccurrence
Best way to smoke............ Tear out a page from the NY Times roll it up into a long cigarette (or cigar) light it and inhale the smoke.... better than sex (and cheaper).....
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n
This really a dumb question. You already know the answer.
You are a young man compared to most of us here on this site. Smoking is correlated with impotence. Treatments for prostate cancer, like ADT, lead to impotence. If you value sexual health, at least cut out smoking. It wasn't fair that you were diagnosed at such a young age. None of us were thrilled to be given this diagnosis. Good luck with your treatments.
that has to be the stupidest question ever raised on our site!! Everything you do that could compromise. Your bodies ability to fight is bad news! Smoking then drinking then being fat and eating crappy food then lack of exercise are the worst and ALL CAN BE CHANGED!!!
wow - got some responses with this post huh.
Indeed I know the answer and thought this would be a spicy thread. However, there may be other folks whom this post might help kick their ass.
A lot of folks better be careful to not fall off their soapbox either. The one post about how folks might not live the clean life and then when DX'd look for a magic pill?? Come on buddy, shake your head ffs.
No matter how you lived previous to DX you are still in this same forum as the rest of us. Shame on you.
Thanks everyone else for the comments.
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