smoking & diabetes
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I agree with Shanny and jwags.. smoking is bad..having diabetes only heightens the possibility of complications.
I am a smoker and I know I need to stop.. but let me tell you its a frustrating experience.. I heard alot of good things about Chantix and asked my dr about it. She wrote the prescription but my insurance wouldn't cover it
and I cant afford it on my own.
It makes no sense to me why an insurance company wouldn't cover something that would in the long run reduce their costs?? Then again there isnt alot about why insurance companies sometimes do the things they do.
I am a smoker and I know I need to stop.. but let me tell you its a frustrating experience.. I heard alot of good things about Chantix and asked my dr about it. She wrote the prescription but my insurance wouldn't cover it
and I cant afford it on my own.It makes no sense to me why an insurance company wouldn't cover something that would in the long run reduce their costs?? Then again there isnt alot about why insurance companies sometimes do the things they do.
I quit using Champix but it is a 2 sided medicine. On the one hand it completely and utterly works - I have been a smoker for 25+ years and was one of the heinous types that lit up before even getting up. I have tried to give up using cold turkey (no chance - no willpower), nicotine replacement (bad heartburn stopped that), hypnotherapy (worked for 3 weeks but wore off and I could not find a good therapist near to home). I had all but given up hope. Shortly before my dx I talked my husband into trying with me and we both tried the Champix (different name same drug) with total success. That said, you have to follow the instructions to the T. I tried to come off it early and was climbing the walls with a day or two.. I went straight back on it.
The downside is a pretty major one though, it has been clinically proven to have side effects causing major depression in some. To the extent that suicide has been mentioned. I am glad I did not know that at the time, I am also glad that I had made a start before I got the big diagnosis. My last cigarette was on the 16th January 2011. I do get cravings but these days I am capable of making an informed decision about them!!
The downside is a pretty major one though, it has been clinically proven to have side effects causing major depression in some. To the extent that suicide has been mentioned. I am glad I did not know that at the time, I am also glad that I had made a start before I got the big diagnosis. My last cigarette was on the 16th January 2011. I do get cravings but these days I am capable of making an informed decision about them!!
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I have a relative that thinks because they don't smoke cigarettes - but instead chews tobacco - that it is safer. I can't say one way or another because I don't do either. I know it is a very hard habit to break. I lost an Aunt who quit both before and during having open heart sugery and the recovery period. As soon as her stitches were healed - she lit up again and continued to do so until the day she died.
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I also smoke, probably about 6-8 a day and I know I have to quit and not just for me. I have a 1 year old and a 3 year old, it is for them. I have diabetes so I need to control everything I can to make sure I see them graduate, get married, everything. Smoking is one of the only things you can control that is health related. I do have a date set, Friday night is my last night.
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I used to smoke between 8 and 20 cigarettes a day (normally around 14-15), and while I'd like to say that my subsequent hear attack convinced me to quit right there and then, that's not quite the truth. What convinced me to quit was a pamphlet I picked up to read out of sheer boredom during my 4-day recover period. In the pamphlet, they mentioned that smoking a pack of cigarettes a day was the equivalent of carrying around an extra 40kg (80lbs) of weight each day. Now, that in and of itself, would still never have convinced me to quit without my forced hospital confinement over 4 days. For many smokers, the addiction is so great that it overpowers any force of willpower one might try to muster, just like 1970Clea stated.
It's so easy for non-smokers to spew out "advice" like Adjitater's (no offense meant) but does anyone really believe that smoker's are not aware of the repercussions of smoking? I hated smoking but nothing I tried worked and at that point, the last thing any smoker needs to hear is another person stating just how disgusting it is to smoke and how it will kill us.
Quitting takes an incredible amount of resolve and fortitude. If you think that smoking just a few per day is not too bad then you aren't ready to quit. You have to want to suit, have good reasons to quit and be prepared to live with the desire to smoke again every time you smell smoke.
Just my opinion.
It's so easy for non-smokers to spew out "advice" like Adjitater's (no offense meant) but does anyone really believe that smoker's are not aware of the repercussions of smoking? I hated smoking but nothing I tried worked and at that point, the last thing any smoker needs to hear is another person stating just how disgusting it is to smoke and how it will kill us.
Quitting takes an incredible amount of resolve and fortitude. If you think that smoking just a few per day is not too bad then you aren't ready to quit. You have to want to suit, have good reasons to quit and be prepared to live with the desire to smoke again every time you smell smoke.
Just my opinion.
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The things I say abnout smoking I say with confidence as an ex-smoker not as a non smoker. When you want to quit it is easy, you just don't ever pick one up again. Having one or two a day just keeps the urge to have them alive.
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As an ex smoker twice now I know how difficult it is to give up.
I went cold turkey & managed to stop because I was trying for a baby & managed to keep off them for 20 years, but during a stressful period I once again started this time was only smoking for 6 months but making the decision to stop was extremely difficult but I knew if I didn't put a halt to this addiction at that time then I never would, I enjoyed smoking it was the first & last thing I did each day.
After watching my father in law slowly dying from emphysema I know I may be tempted but can never succumb.
I guess it comes down to how much you want to live & what quality of life you are willing to accept.
Good Luck in your battle it's not easy.
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I went cold turkey & managed to stop because I was trying for a baby & managed to keep off them for 20 years, but during a stressful period I once again started this time was only smoking for 6 months but making the decision to stop was extremely difficult but I knew if I didn't put a halt to this addiction at that time then I never would, I enjoyed smoking it was the first & last thing I did each day.
After watching my father in law slowly dying from emphysema I know I may be tempted but can never succumb.
I guess it comes down to how much you want to live & what quality of life you are willing to accept.
Good Luck in your battle it's not easy.
Sent from my iPhone using Diabetes
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That's so true. Discipline or regret.. as Jim Rohn said. "the pain of discipline weights ounces but the pain of regret weights tons!"
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I quit smoking after being diagnosed and started working out. Joined a gym. It is easier to quit when you workout regularly, as you feel better and more dynamic.
This is bad, but it took a mild stroke to get me to quit smoking. I wouldn't listen to anyone, thinking I'd be the exception who would get away with smoking - nope! I quit cold turkey nearly 9 years ago and will never go back. And I'd LOVED my cigarettes.
Believe me, smoking is much worse than I thought.
Believe me, smoking is much worse than I thought.
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930 Posts
From a grumpy old man with an opposing point of view:
Still in all I think that supplementing with cigarettes and magnesium for bipolar is much better the psycho-toxins that the shrinks had me taking. When I was on those psycho-toxins I just would sit in my chair and not think or do anything which they considered a successful treatment but I could not enjoy anything and never laughed in all the years that I was on them. I was just a zombie in a chair. And they did not stop me from smoking, I just didn't enjoy it or anything else.
ColaJim
Still in all I think that supplementing with cigarettes and magnesium for bipolar is much better the psycho-toxins that the shrinks had me taking. When I was on those psycho-toxins I just would sit in my chair and not think or do anything which they considered a successful treatment but I could not enjoy anything and never laughed in all the years that I was on them. I was just a zombie in a chair. And they did not stop me from smoking, I just didn't enjoy it or anything else.
ColaJim
re Smoking
Do I feel better since I quit? NO! I didn't feel sick to begin with and I feel the same
I do feel better psychologically, as I'd been up to THREE packs a day at the end, but that's all. I don't know how people afford it these days. The prices are very unfair to smokers. And if those meds made you feel that bad, I don't blame you for not taking them any more.
Believe it or not, I'm still for smoker's rights. It's a personal decision and nobody should nag anyone about it. I used to hate that so I never do it to others.
Do I feel better since I quit? NO! I didn't feel sick to begin with and I feel the same
I do feel better psychologically, as I'd been up to THREE packs a day at the end, but that's all. I don't know how people afford it these days. The prices are very unfair to smokers. And if those meds made you feel that bad, I don't blame you for not taking them any more.
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I can't afford cigarettes at $58 per 200 any more so I smoke little cigars at $18 per 200. They are a bit stronger but at a cost saving of $40 per carton they are a great replacement. Rich people smoke pipes and cigars so the rich people that control the law tax pipes and cigars much less. It's just the nature of our/their corrupt world.
ColaJim
ColaJim
Believe it or not, I'm still for smoker's rights. It's a personal decision and nobody should nag anyone about it. I used to hate that so I never do it to others.
Do I feel better since I quit? NO! I didn't feel sick to begin with and I feel the same
I do feel better psychologically, as I'd been up to THREE packs a day at the end, but that's all. I don't know how people afford it these days. The prices are very unfair to smokers. And if those meds made you feel that bad, I don't blame you for not taking them any more.
Cost of Smoking
When I feel like giving up re watching carbs, I come here to read a bit and when I read other people's successful stories, it encourages me to get back on the wagon. The support here is priceless.
You'd have to pay approx. $58/carton for cigarettes? Here in our Walmart they're about $70/carton and I don't know if that's before or after taxes! You're right about the rich getting all the breaks (not your exact words). I see you're close to my age (I'll be 67 this coming summer) and with retirement - wow! Talk about having to pinch pennies.
When I feel like giving up re watching carbs, I come here to read a bit and when I read other people's successful stories, it encourages me to get back on the wagon. The support here is priceless.
Sorry to say Im a smoker too...quit several times... just damned hard to stay off them... when youre a.smoker who's quit, you can smell one a mile away... here's how hard, watched my dad suffer thru emphysema, died at 74 from lung cancer. You'd think that would have.been enough.
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