A Doctor's Plea: Please Stop Smoking!

To stop smoking is one of my frustrations. As a doctor I kept telling my patients to quit. I have seen the worst case scenarios too often that I just can't give a good reason for a person to smoke or keep smoking.

Somehow, what works for me so far is to show my patients, specially, those who are still young, about the adverse effects of smoking and what it does to their bodies as they accumulate all the toxic substances. If they want to live a long and meaningful life, they should strongly consider quitting.

From a medical point of view, I have listed some of the benefits of smoking cessation;

It is a fact that smoking directly causes lung cancer. Wikipedia states over 19 known carcinogens (substances that are known to cause cancer) identified in cigarette smoke. The risk of lung cancer is directly proportional to the number of sticks you smoke per day and the duration in years you have been smoking. The sooner you stop smoking, the sooner is the risk reduced.

Tobacco smoke, along with its 4000 plus toxic chemicals, directly damage the lungs, specifically, the alveoli (tiny air sacs in the lungs where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place). This condition is called emphysema. When these air sacs are damaged, breathing becomes difficult. The sad end result is severe breathlessness.

Because of structural damage in the lungs, a smoker is more prone to infections such as the common cold, bronchitis, and the most significant, tuberculosis.

Smoking also affects the heart. It causes hypertension and heart disease. The nicotine present in cigarette smoke causes atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Thus, decreased oxygen delivery to the heart, increased blood pressure and heart rate, increased blood clotting, and damage to cells that line the coronary arteries and other blood vessels.

This form of atherosclerosis is not just confined to the heart and its blood vessels. Remember there are blood vessels everywhere and atherosclerosis may affect every organ. Of note is the disease that affects the blood vessels of the lower extremities (or legs) called. When this happens, there is intermittent claudication (discomfort or pain in the legs when you walk that goes away at rest. Instead of pain, you may feel tightness, heaviness, cramping, or weakness in your leg during activities).

In males, smoking also causes impotence as a result of the harmful substances of cigarette smoking to the sperms anderectile dysfunction because of narrowing of the blood vessels of the penis.

Among pregnant smokers, miscarriages and threats to the fetus are common. These are also due to the harmful substances of cigarette smoke.

Not only are the smokers at risks to have these diseases, exposure to cigarette smoke by a non smoker (passive smoker) cannot escape its harmful effects. Conditions such as lung cancer, ear, nose and throat infection, lung and heart conditions, low birth weight, premature birth, are just some of the diseases that can be acquired. There are also risks of diseases In children such as asthma, bronchitis, tuberculosis, allergies, and a whole lot more.

So, to answer the question from a medical stand point, PLEASE don't smoke. If you love yourself and your loved ones, live a long and meaningful life without smoking. If you are thinking of starting this habit, DON'T!