Just a Visualization....

[Dmactds]

...of what may've caused the problem many of us are dealing with; if you'd like to illustrate the harm done so others can learn, simply "select", "copy" and "paste" the URL in the YouTube address bar to an email and send along down the line:

youtube.com/watch?v=AQwIDiL...(Not working as expected?)

"...I decided to do my own small test with cotton balls to determine the real effects of smoking a pack a day and what it does to your mouth, throat and lungs not to mention how it compromises every system in your body in order to try to tell you to stop smoking and stop slowly killing yourself.

The effects of smoking on your body is no secret and if you don't know by now, here is another reason why you need to quit smoking. It's never to late to quit and once you see what a pack a day does to your lungs it will give you the fuel you need to fire up the will power and quit! Good luck on your journey to quit smoking. Remember, waiting another day could be too late...."

[hypercat54]

I thnik every smoker and ex is very aware of what smoking can do to your lungs after all the OTT adverts and messages on packets. Everyone unfortunately thinks it won't happen to them!

[Dmactds in reply to hypercat54]

I agree that MOST people with their wits about them are, or should be, aware of the awfulness of this nastiness; but occasionally in this and a couple of other forums made up of "lung sufferers" someone pipes up bragging about how they're "...still smoking and doing just fine, thank you very much..". It's to them and folks still hooked that this is meant for....

[hypercat54 in reply to Dmactds]

It doesn't mean they don't know about the dangers of smoking but rather that they choose to ignore it and smoke anyway. I did this myself for many years. It's a myth these days that many don't know about the dangers and that's why they still smoke. My smoking friends and I used to look at the messages and say well it's too late for us then and carry on. Or we would just say how awful and try to ignore it.

Everyone knows about lung cancer etc. but copd is never mentioned and that's much more common and can be just as deadly. Around 50% of all smokers I talk to don't know about copd and this should be advertised a lot more. x

[Dmactds in reply to hypercat54]

I'm 75, and ever since my father would send me next door to the gas station for a pack of his ciggies, I've heard them referred to as "cancer sticks", "coffin nails" and other descriptive terms suggesting that as far back as the late '40s people were aware of the dangers. But like you and others now in this group and other pulmonary online forums, we also ignored the "certainties"; I guess, without putting too fine a point to it, that when I posted this I was thinking of the people here who're still smoking and those around them as well..., and NOT the general population.

An in depth analysis/critique of the methods used to illustrate the harm one does to one's self by puffing on the afore mentioned "coffin nails" could be carried out to infinity; but I think the point is simply the visualization of what happens to our insides, pretty much regardless of the "length of the draw" or whether it's smoked down to the bare nubbins.

[hypercat54 in reply to Dmactds]

I think one of the daftest adverts was the guy shown smoking and saying that every 5 ciggies or something caused a tumour or something like that. Every smoker I know said well it's too late for me then as I must have loads and carried on smoking. x

[andyrrc in reply to Dmactds]

The visualization element of this type of video is very relevant and we should do more to ensure that the message gets across. I would like to see more mention in the news and the press of, as Hypercat says, the other problems that smoking causes. I seem to remember seeing an advert in the UK of someone on oxygen but cannot remember what the just of the ad was.

The posting is welcome by me and I am sure others on here. It helps to know what is out there. The health and safety issues are very important in industry and I am always looking for information to use in our safety messages. We have a safety message before every meeting or site visit. Mine usually start will things that are not work related but everyday life and family. This will be a possible candidate for use in one of my presentations. The Middle East has a high proportion of smokers and unfortunately a lot of them. Are youngsters.

[Robin77 in reply to hypercat54]

Good point.

[andyrrc]

Yes I agree to the comments made by Hypercat. However, and I must say that I am on the final countdown to NS (non-smoker) day, that the test is flawed. The test does not allow for the fact that

a) as every smoker and ex-smoker will agree the act of smoking is not one continuous draw, the amount of smoking is really not a full cigarette each time as the time when the cigarette is not being drawn the thing is still burning (no idea of the percentage that is not inhaled and it will vary from person to person)

b) I am pretty sure that every smoker will put the cigarette out before it hits the filter, again this varies from person to person but for myself I would say that I generally left between 10% and 25% of each cig.

Please do not think that I am criticizing the experiment as it does show the effect quite graphically and cumulatively you do get the amount shown in your lungs but not from one pack - maybe 2 packs. There are a few other similar ones out on the web that go even further, 200, 400, 1000 and they really bring home the message as does this one. Just not real life modeling but if they help people stop or not start then that's a good thing.

Just my opinion folks

[Offcut in reply to andyrrc]

I was thinking the same So saved me a long post

But still shows the muck it produces I gave up in 1992. My GP says I am a non smoker now but adds that my lungs are knackered!

Be Well

[Jackieshep57]

I saw a similar thing at school in my teens and thought Yuk, never going to smoke but just a few years later did for just a year. Luckily I had a shock when a close family friend was told by her Dr she would die if she did not quit. She was 45 and had been smoking for 20 years. I quit too, to help her. She was determined to quit. She lived well into her 80's. I got diagnosed with mild asthma in my 30's which progressed to severe by 50's.I now have mild copd at 61. Could have been so much worse if I hadn't quit at 18.

[hypercat54]

I was a heavy smoker for 44 years and I am amazed I have only ended up with mild copd! I don't know how my poor lungs managed to stay relatively healthy with all the muck I was putting them through on a daily basis. By rights I should be very severe or even dead by now.

I now have enormous respect for my wonderful lungs. x