Is there any coincidence in this?

Hi everyone, I have this question nagging me since I quit 4 months ago, I need to know if in some cases or most or maybe none at all can quitting smoking bring on any serious illnesses, I am experiencing time after time stories of people who have quit and a few months down the road they are struck down with an illness sometimes terminal, I friends relative who is 65 smoked all his life quit smoking 6 months ago and is now fighting for his life in hospital, he previously appeared fit and well but then quit contracted a virus which then turned into a chest infection and now turns out he has double pneumonia and his organs are failing, the doctors actually said to my friend that had he not quit smoking the chest infection may not have happened?? Due to his lungs getting rid of toxins ect, this is not the first time I have heard this, I no we all get quite ill when we first quit and I wonder if some of the cancers are caused by the shock of quitting, please tell me this is not the case because this is nagging at me, also my dad died 2 years ago after being forced to quit in his warden controlled home and he also developed pneumonia which started with chest infection?

[Briarwood Administrator LONG TERM WINNER]

Hiya Sharon, sorry to say I just can't answer that very difficult question coz I don't really know the answer. I guess we all hear so many stories about quitting and of people who smoked and drank all their lives and lived to a great age. We also hear of lots of smoking related deaths as well. My sister passed away at 50 of cancer and she never smoked or drank. I think we have to do the best we can by stopping smoking because it's doing more harm than good. A lot of things are genetic which we have no control over but the best thing we can do for our health is quit smoking and that we do have control over. Your doing great with your quit and giving yourself the best possible chance you can. Hope that makes sense to you and anything else is out of our hands x

[Hidden in reply to Briarwood]

Yes briar I think you are right, my dad always said that because he had smoked all his life the stress of quitting would kill him, unfortunately he nearly burnt down the warden control flat he was in by smoking in bed and was given no choice to quit then died a few months later and you just think wtf???? But you are right I feel healthy since quitting and surely the benefits outweigh the negatives, I'm so sorry about your sister, life never ceases to amaze me, it's cruel who it picks out and and hurts so much to the people left behind, especially when cancer attacks those who do not smoke, you would think by now they would have a cure for this evil disease xx

[glolin LONG TERM WINNER]

Hi Sharon, certainly and interesting question.

I am with Briar, i too think quitting is better for all of us than not quitting. I think if there were any statistics available, they would show that it is a minority group whose health has deteriorated as a result of quitting. Being genetically predisposed is one thing and when you look at pneumonia, it in itself has become a super bug which is a lot harder to clear as many of the antibiotics don't work.

For me, i feel quitting out weighs not quitting by a long shot.

I too be interested in seeing other peoples comments

[roneo]

Hi Sharon, I always argued that smoking made me more resilient. In my childhood & early twenties I had pneumonia & bronchial pneumonia 5 times. Never as a smoker. Researchers have suspected that smokers are less likely to suffer from alzheimers & parkinsons disease. A study in the early 2000s showed that off all those who get lung cancer, 11% were smokers, 45% ex smokers & 33% never smokers. The low percentage of smokers getting lung cancer was probably because they died of other smoking related illnesses before lung cancer manifested itself. My opinion? So what! Many of the health claims are like global warming, for every scientific study, there is a counter study & conflicting findings. I guess that's why I didn't include fear of illness as one of my reasons for quitting. I KNOW I am breathing easier but really, the question should not be WHY QUIT, but WHY SMOKE. We know that smoking feeds nicotine addiction & nothing much else. It's a reward?, it relieves boredom, it helps you to concentrate, it relieves stress & anxiety, it's the best way to end a meal? These are all lies we tell ourselves to justify feeding a nicotine addiction. If they really made that much difference, all the non smokers out there would be leading miserable, unfulfilled lives.

Sharon, I know that feeling of doubt about quitting particularly when evidence keeps cropping up to "suggest" quitting may adversely affect your health. Just ask yourself this question....if I had never smoked before, & never felt the need to, what reason would I have to start now?

[glolin LONG TERM WINNER in reply to roneo]

well said roneo

[NgaireM]

Hi Sharon, I have some ideas on this and will post tomorrow - too late and I'm tired, sorry. Xx

[rubyred777]

Hi Sharon,

They are coming up with some good points for nicotene. ( not all the other junk). That I have to admit. I dont think people should quit all at once. That is a shock to your system. Who knows what effect that could have on you. My grandmother had parkinson s. She got it about a yr after she quit smoking. Guess what the dr. Said? She

never should have quit smoking . It decreases your chances of getting it. I can

see why. Nicotene increases dopamine in your brain. What can I say. You just don't know.I do notice alot of people on the copd site are sick constantly after they quit.

Just dont know........

Rubyxx

[jillygirl Administrator LONG TERM WINNER]

Sharon I do believe its better to quit smoking no matter what outcome is in store for you.

I quit smoking, and 9 months later was diagnosed with lung cancer.

However the cancer was found on an x ray nothing to do with cancer. If I had not had the x ray I wouldnt have known. I would most definately have died if it had not been spotted.

I was very fortunate that having my right lung removed got rid of the cancer. That was over 2 years ago.

[DavidH83 3 YEAR WINNER]

I'm no medical expert, but I'm aware from experience that anything that causes a change in our biochemistry can have impacts on our health/well-being/other parts of our body.

An example from many years ago, I had a case where I went on a treatment of tablets for something (I can't remember the details, 15 years ago) shortly after going on that treatment I had digestive issues (only lasted a couple of days) which I picked up tablets for and was fine. Shortly after stopping that treatment (it was only a few weeks) I had the same digestive issue and took the same counter treatment (again for a couple of days).

Our bodies are carefully balanced eco systems which do adapt to changes, if you have a sudden change in what is going in then things can go off balance. I believe that sometimes there are conditions manifesting themselves and the sudden change in our chemical intake damages our balance and pronounces those issues.

Many illnesses are caused/influenced by a variety of things. We can look at statistical evidence and see that smokers/ex smokers are more likely to get those illnesses. But that being a smoker/ex smoker/non smoker does not imply you will or will not get that illness.

In many cases I feel we can visualize this as having a wooden plank supporting something. Statistically one can say:

- If the plank gets wet often, it's more likely to weaken and break.

- If the plank gets hit with a hammer often, it's more likely to weaken and break.

- If heavy weights are put on it and taken off repeatedly, it's more likely to weaken and break.

If you find the condition which has the largest statistical significance and remove it, the plank is less likely to break, or at least will last longer until it reaches that point. For our bodies and many illnesses, smoking is the biggest statistical difference.

As for the alzheimers & parkinsons, this is a new one for me. More reason to remain active and exercise our minds and bodies as we age when we can.

[roneo]

Hi Sharon,

I just wanted to touch base as we haven't heard from you for a couple of days. Your last post sounded a little like you were having some doubts as to the rationale for quitting. I've been there before & those nagging doubts resulted in me going back on the cigarettes. I hope that's not the case for you. It takes a strong resolve to quit for good & that resolve needs to be supported by ironclad reasons for quitting. Just hang in there mate, we're all barracking for you.