The number of smokers have been increasing constantly all around the world, and so is the fight against it. Smoking has been found to aggravate multiple health risks, with a few of them life threatening, like cancer and respiratory problems.
Jay Schiffer has been a chain smoker for more than a decade before converting back to a non-smoker. His journey from a smoker to a non-smoker is nothing short of a thriller, where the protagonist enters the fray knowing that it can be life threatening.
Life of a Smoker
Jay started smoking at the age of 22. It was his first job, he claims, which caused so much stress that smoking came naturally to break the routine. Gradually it became a habit. Jay says he was aware of the health issues smoking can cause. However, at that age, Jay thought, “well, it probably won’t be me.” A few of his friends even warned him about it, when they saw his cigarette consumption spiralling up. Initially, he thought he could quit smoking any day. He was wrong, however, as he found out later.
He realised that when he tried to quit a couple of times and each time ended up getting back to smoking even more cigarettes. He had lost control over the cravings.
The Decisive Moment
The moment of truth, for Jay, came at the age of 41 last year, when he had to be hospitalized for severe chest pain. He was diagnosed with a lung infection. He was already suffering from Tuberculosis for some time, and was already on medication.
His physician asked him to stop smoking so that TB does not get a boost. That advice seems to have worked exactly opposite for Jay, as his smoking only increased. He blames it on the bouts of anxiety he experienced all this time due to sickness.
However, the doctor at the hospital diagnosed a far simpler reason for his increased smoking, anxiety and even TB. “You are addicted to smoking” he claimed, “and you will need a long period of deaddiction to get back to normal.”
A major revelation for Jay came when he was told about the illnesses that his infection can lead to. Given below are the few that found special mention on the list:
| Lungs Related Issues
(Respiratory Disease) |
Heart Related Issues
(Cardiovascular Disease)! |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Bronchitis Asthma Aggravated Asthma Attack All kinds of lung cancer |
Stroke & Coronary Heart Disease
High Blood Pressure Lower Blood Flow to Skin and Legs Numbness in fingers etc. |
Smoking can cause various types of cancer in and across our body. That includes cancer of Cervix, stomach, mouth, and not to mention lungs.
The Diagnosis
Bombarded with so many diseases caused and aggravated by his cigarette use, the stress on his face was clear. Jay was now worried about the result of the tests for the infection, and simply hoping hard that it does not come out to be cancerous.
Jay’s infection was not cancerous. He felt lucky, but total recovery would take about a month before he can join the work force again. He had to spend another seven days at the hospital, which he spent reading his favourite authors and journals. He almost forgot about the smoking thing he had just a couple of days ago.
The diagnosis also pointed out couple more defects in his body due to regular smoking:
- His Arteries had thickened, and risk of cardiac arrest was twice as high from a non-smoker of the same age.
- Because of this, he had the risk of artery blockage and stroke
- His risk of developing lung cancer is now ten times higher than a non-smoker
Effects on Life after Quitting
It has been two years since Jay quit smoking, after the lung infection scare, and he says, it feels like life has come back to him slowly. He can now engage with his kids more often without the danger of him passing TB to them. He suffered from TB for about six months before being hospitalized.
Though he still faces few withdrawal symptoms like anxiety and cravings, it is increasingly less frequent. He says those seven days at the hospital were a blessing. Otherwise, he had given up multiple times, even when he desperately wanted to quit smoking.
He has been seeing a therapist since he got rid of his TB and lung infection. According to his therapist, even these less frequent symptoms will disappear within next two to three years. However, cancer and stroke risks will take 5 to 10 more years to return to normal.
Photo/Pixabay
