Smoking

mattsmom81 · Oct 2, 2003

We can influence all we want...but until someone is ready they tend not to quit...sometimes a 'slap in the face' approach is what DOES motivate addicted folks to WANT to quit....

The alcoholic who hits rock bottom, the obese pt who is told they'll die within the year, the smoker whose pulm doc will pull out unless he quits...the kids who cry and say "Mama, quit...I don't want you to die young"....these are some hard line tactics that DO seem to motivate the need to change.

I have asthmatic bronchitis now turning into COPD/pulmonary HTN...from growing up with 2 chain smoking parents in a smoke filled home in the cold North.

If someone chooses to NOT harm their child after they've heard this, then I'm glad. While some folks still argue the dangers of secondhand smoke, MY pulm doc pulled no punches on where my disease came from.

babs_rn · Oct 3, 2003

Originally posted by 3rdShiftGuy
Amazing you can smoke, but are so sensitive to stuff that can help you.

You have every reason to smoke, you're obviously not ready.

I say we just lock you in a padded cell with unlimited access to all the food you can eat for a week and make you go cold turkey. Then we lock you in a controlled environment, take the weight off and get you training for the Disney Marathon in January in Orlando!

Tough, but it's the only way for you cold turkey.

:)

LOL

An ativan drip and wiring my jaw shut would probably work too. Will still need something to put in my mouth even after all this is done unless you want to foot the bill for all the therapy needed to get over this whole freudian oral fixation thing. Maybe I just need to win the lottery and find a good man who wouldnt mind that being taken out on him....

Frankly, as a single child-support paying mother who commutes 1000 miles a week and works 50-60 hrs a week, I have not the time nor the energy for ANYTHING that requires hypervigilance. And probably never will until I retire or at least until after my kids (now 11 & 13) graduate from college. I never could stand anyone who cannot tolerate the human flaws and vices of others. It is not a personal affront to you or anyone else. I don't blow smoke in your face, don't go blowing it up my ***.

stillcrazy · Oct 3, 2003

Precisely, Babs!! I also hear about how it causes increases in healthcare costs, etc. While no doubt this is true, my God, shall I list all the other things that we do to our bodies that also cause increases? Why don't they mandate it that all of us eat Asian food! Their heart disease rate is almost non-existant. Ooh.....that's right, I forgot, I'll need to prepare for stomach cancer instead since that's THEIR bane. C'mon folks, very few of us realistically eat and do precisely the things the "experts" tell us to. Plenty of people smoke all their lives and have no complications (yes, it's true, believe it or not) and no, I'm not saying smoking is good for you but a helluva lot of it is in the genetics too. Some folks even eat plenty of fat and live to be 90. Just look at the obits from my original neck of the woods, East Tennessee - we eat plenty of bacon grease (can't make good cornbread without it) and things with gravy and I see in my hometown obits, folks dying at 80 and 90 just like the rest of the country. It's a PERSONAL choice. What ever happened to this being a supposed "free country" anyway? I'm with you, Babs. People in glass houses........

JustJulesy · Oct 3, 2003

well I'll probably be attacked for saying this, but I'm NOT a smoker, and I'm very against it especially after all the very ill patients I've seen from smoking with COPD, trachs, vents, etc....but I don't preach at work, it's their business, but my opinion is that the smoker doesn't typically realize how much they smell after smoking, especially to a non-smoker, an ex-smoker or a person who is sensitive to smells. I've heard many patients complain about co-workers smelling really bad. I used to work in PostPartum, and that was pretty bad, patients were very careful about their babies and to have a nurse come in the room smelling of cigarette smoke, it isnt' taken well.

If you smoke, smoke at home or before or after work, is my opinion.

Luvmedicine · Oct 3, 2003

Well,I've been following this thread the whole way through and I just have to make a comment about comparing obesity to smoking. While it is true that both are health risks, here is the difference.........when someone overeats it usually doesn't have an impact on me or my health! I can't name the number of times I've been sitting in my own home enjoying the warm breeze coming through my windows only to start smelling cigarrette smoke so strong that *I* had to shut my windows. Many smokers who claim the right to smoke in their own homes.....don't! They stand outside and let it waft into someone else's home. Same thing with their cars. I'd rather be sitting next to an obese person in a restaurant than one who is going to light up. Unfortunately, smoking infringes on other's rights, the majority of the time.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2003

Originally posted by stillcrazy
Precisely, Babs!! I also hear about how it causes increases in healthcare costs, etc. While no doubt this is true, my God, shall I list all the other things that we do to our bodies that also cause increases? Why don't they mandate it that all of us eat Asian food! Their heart disease rate is almost non-existant. Ooh.....that's right, I forgot, I'll need to prepare for stomach cancer instead since that's THEIR bane. C'mon folks, very few of us realistically eat and do precisely the things the "experts" tell us to. Plenty of people smoke all their lives and have no complications (yes, it's true, believe it or not) and no, I'm not saying smoking is good for you but a helluva lot of it is in the genetics too. Some folks even eat plenty of fat and live to be 90. Just look at the obits from my original neck of the woods, East Tennessee - we eat plenty of bacon grease (can't make good cornbread without it) and things with gravy and I see in my hometown obits, folks dying at 80 and 90 just like the rest of the country. It's a PERSONAL choice. What ever happened to this being a supposed "free country" anyway? I'm with you, Babs. People in glass houses........

I'm all for personal freedom, you can smoke crack cocaine for all I care. I'm not sure I read anywhere it should be mandated that smoking be made illegal. But healthy lifestyles should be encouraged, and that includes diet. (There is a movement for a junk-food tax to encourage healthy eating. Why not, there's a cigarette and booze tax.)

I don't like high and mighty nonsmokers either.

The one thing I would disagree with you is your statement....that "plenty" of people live long and healthy lives smoking. There are precious few smokers living long and healthy lives. But I guess it depends on definition of long and healthy and "plenty". But I would venture to say that the overwhelming majority of smokers, while maybe able to smoke well into later years in life, have ill health as a result of their smoking. Of course we can all find someone who is 99 years old, smokes two packs of Winstons a day and did for 80 years.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2003

Originally posted by babs_rn
An ativan drip and wiring my jaw shut would probably work too. Will still need something to put in my mouth even after all this is done unless you want to foot the bill for all the therapy needed to get over this whole freudian oral fixation thing. Maybe I just need to win the lottery and find a good man who wouldnt mind that being taken out on him....

Frankly, as a single child-support paying mother who commutes 1000 miles a week and works 50-60 hrs a week, I have not the time nor the energy for ANYTHING that requires hypervigilance. And probably never will until I retire or at least until after my kids (now 11 & 13) graduate from college. I never could stand anyone who cannot tolerate the human flaws and vices of others. It is not a personal affront to you or anyone else. I don't blow smoke in your face, don't go blowing it up my ***.

You underestimate yourself. To work that much, to rasie kids requires an abundance of hypervigilence.

babs_rn · Oct 3, 2003

Originally posted by 3rdShiftGuy
You underestimate yourself. To work that much, to rasie kids requires an abundance of hypervigilence.

Okay, anything ELSE, then. Saturated. Done.

babs_rn · Oct 3, 2003

Originally posted by 3rdShiftGuy
You underestimate yourself. To work that much, to rasie kids requires an abundance of hypervigilence.

Okay, anything ELSE, then. Saturated. Done. Full.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Oct 3, 2003

Motivation for me to quit was being broke. Worked like a charm.