New Study on Smoking and Psoriasis

More bad news for current and past smokers, a article in BBC News says Smokers have a higher risk of developing psoriasis, a study suggests. US researchers found that heavier smokers have a greater risk of the skin condition and this only falls back to normal 20 years after quitting. The study of 79,000 nurses published in the American Journal of Medicine also found that people with psoriasis who smoke had more severe disease. It is thought that toxins in cigarette smoke may affect parts of the immune system associated with psoriasis.

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Smoking Relapse

O.K. it's been about 2 months since I quit smoking. I am sure chantix has helped me a lot so far. I have 2 and 1/2 half months to go for the 6 month period. I still get urges but none that have been uncontrollable like when I have quit previously. I have been thinking about the next step. When I am done with the pills. I came across this site on relapse prevention called Stepping Stone, they are about relapse in alcoholism and drugs. But relapse is relapse and one can pick up good ideas from it.
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Every Cigarette is Doing You Damage

This is not funny but it is impressive I think. Cause it's one of those that make you think about quiting smoking if you haven't and glad you did quit if you did.


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Smoking Humor

Yes, smoking is bad for you. It is part part of our culture so tthere are aspects that can be humorous.
Two old ladies were outside their nursing home, having a smoke when it started to rain. One of the ladies pulled out a condom, cut off the end, put it over her cigarette and continued smoking.

Lady 1: What's that?
Lady 2: A condom. This way my cigarette doesn't get wet.
Lady 1: Where did you get it?
Lady 2: You can get them at any drugstore.

The next day ... Lady 1 hobbles herself into the local drugstore and announces to the pharmacist that she wants a box of condoms. The guy looks at her kind of strangely (she is, after all, over 80 years of age), but politely asks what brand she prefers.

Lady 1: It doesn't matter as long as it fits a Camel.
Got any jokes that relate to smoking or quiting smoking ?

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Smokers and Sellers

A very good article by Ailene Sankur that speaks about the intimate relationship one builds with the seller of tobacco how it is similar to to where the alcoholic gets their booze.

Here is a quote "Like any addiction, smoking involves not only a great deal of self-deception, but also a great deal of repetition. Go outside, fumble for a lighter, light up, inhale, exhale, throw the butt in the pile in the planter, go inside, wash your hands, pop in gum, feel less stressed. Do it again. And part of that repetition is seeing someone everyday" Read the whole article at Tencartrain .

I was one of those she referred to as "the most diehard, embattled sort of smoker, the sort with yellowed fingertips and overflowing ashtrays". I went to the same small store to buy my carton every 4-5 days. I wouldn't have to say anything the clerk would just grab a carton. If they were out of full cartons they would refill a open one so I could get the carton price. Now when I go in, after quiting for a month and a half and having saved about $562 in what I would have spent on cigarettes. They ask me how the smoking is going. Which I find a interesting way to phrase it.

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Quit Smoking Story

More and more people are getting free of smoking, especially older ones. There are many more stories like mine of older folks finally hitting the bottom of our nicotine cigarette addiction and wanting to live what is the rest of our life maybe a little better. I came across this story of a lady who smoked for 31 years. She talks about how it was back then. About how she smoked all through her pregnancy and even smoked on the maternity ward after her daughters’ birth. She also talks about the process she used when quiting smoking. Read more

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Smoking and Bar Accordions

The Irish have had a smoking ban in public places since 2004. According to this report from the Science Buzz Blog They have had time to check on the health of inanimate objects like accordions. Apparently the researchers contacted the repair workers for the instruments in the country. They reported that prior to the ban, they’d get a blast of foul odors when opening up the instruments to do repairs. They also found sooty particles in the tubing and chambers of the instrument. Get enough of that gunk in there, and the tones the instrument was putting out could be affected. Well that makes sense to me as another in the vicinity of cigarette smoke gets a nice coating of the yellow residue.
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2007 National Conference on Tobacco or Health

Here is a little something special coming up soon. Did you know The 2007 National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) is going to be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center October 24th to 26 th. The stated purpose of the National Conference is to help improve and sustain the effectiveness and reach of tobacco control programs and activities in the United States. So there. Early bird rate is gone but you can still register for $675.
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Timelines of The Smoking Way

Here are some tidbits of information I have come across. Some are from England and some from the United States. Ting them in with my own situation.
1939 First major paper suggesting link between smoking and cancer published in Germany by FH Muller.
1951 First large epidemiological study of link between smoking and cancer, Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill
1958 First health authority smoking withdrawal clinic established, Salford, England. I was 13 and experimenting with cigarettes.
1962 RCP report "Smoking and Health" recommending restrictions on sale of cigarettes and smoking in public places, increased taxation. Tobacco Advisory Committee adopts new voluntary code of practice for cigarette advertising. A junior in high school smoking wastasting good. hooked. I would run out to my car in between classes for a quick smoke. We had a hour off for lunch we would walk across the street from the school and smoke. Nobody would bother us. The high school football coach would cut his cigars in half so he could cup them when seeing students. The sports field was 5 blocks away, always time for a smoke if you walked slow.1964 US Surgeon General's report "Smoking and Health"
Doll and Hill report: "Mortality in relation to smoking: ten years' observation in British doctors", comparing lung cancer incidence for continuing and ceased smokers. Freshman in college. would smoke with friends in the hall. Mother had a heart attack, when visiting her in the hospital to be polite I would stand by the window to smoke.
1965 Cigarette advertising on television banned under powers of 1964 Television Act in Great Britain. Since some of the college teachers could smoke during class we couldn't figure out why we couldn't.
1968 Mom had another heart attack. About this time visitors were made to smoke in the halls of the hospital instead of the room. We thought this was a afront to our rights. there would be 2 or 3 people smoking right outside of a hospital room. Started teaching the principal would be smoking a cigar at his desk after school. I would pull out a ash tray from my desk and smoke. It wasn't until the middle 70's that not directly being told but got the feeling a teacher should not smoke at their desk. This was not a 'habit'
-THIS WAS THE MINDSET OF A DRUG ADDICT-
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Extreme Cigarette Quiting Aid

"An Iowa woman who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day became so frustrated with her addiction that she called the sheriff's department last week and asked officers to jail her for several days — just to help her kick the nasty habit." from ABC News
I totally believe she was serious about this. In the past I have though about such a thing myself. I did not go so far as to call the cops to see if they had room but the thought was there as a way to stop. Along with getting out into the wilderness and being stranded for a time. The story referred to her "nasty habit" clearly people do not realize the intensity of the nicotine addiction can be.
There is also a ironic sense to this as people that are addicted to other drugs are put in jail and are trying to get out while some cigarette nicotine smokers are trying to get in for help- in breaking the addiction
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Almost Smoking Again

Yesterday I was at a meeting all day. My oral fix was covered by dried apricots and dried cranberries. No problem with craving all day but when I was on the way home. I got a intense wave urge for a cigarette. I mean it caught me off guard. At this point a bunch of slow deep breathing did the job keeping me on track. The slow deep breathing really can help a lot in those situations. The oral fixation is hardest in the morning but a bunch of crackers and coffee work there.
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No Smoking 11-3-07

I was doing pretty good today on my nicotine freedom. I was listening to public radio, I don't what show it was, I agreed with what they said that withdrawal from nicotine is as on the same level of drug withdrawal as heroin. Now watching watching "Man With A Golden Arm" is my only connection with heroin.

I knew that Minnesota was not the only state to have a state-wide no smoking ban. Washington D.C, Puerto Rico, and 22 other states also have laws on smoking. One of the weirdest things about the Minnesota law is Smoking is still allowed in casinos and I believe patients in certain hospitals...

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Death with Humor

This is hilarious. Death with humor Smoking Kills

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The Smoking Ban

I didn't get to a bar today to check out the smoking ban was going but the local pizza shop has their no smoking sign up and in small letters it says, be careful big brother is watching you. A couple people were in there when I was and started talking about the 'health Nazis' I used to talk like that. It's amazing how nicotine can twist your mind. I know I am not going to be like what I see as the raving lunatics. Looking with disdain at those who smoke.
I remember when I had become quit smoking 8 years ago and I was going into the hospital to visit my wife who had breast cancer, how I had felt sorry for the smokers who were standing out in the cold having a cigarette. On thinking about it now it was I'm sure a sense of snobbery or superiority.
Later that day as she was in surgery I went out and bought a pack and the story repeated itself. Now I am 2 months into my quit still using Chantix, there is no easy way to quit smoking. The urges still come but they pass without being intense, I can be misdirected with a Ricola.
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