It's NEVER too Late to Quit Smoking

Edwart Visser

My brother-in-law has quit smoking! he called me to share the news, three weeks into his newfound freedom. He's already thinking about better places to spend his money than on a pack of cigarettes.

Quitting's tough, and there is never a "good" time to quit. When people say that they are "too" anything to quit, like too nervous, too stressed, or too busy, I'll tell them that they are full of nonsense. It's just an excuse not to quit. Do they think I'm not stressed, or busy, or overwhelmed by my day sometimes? If course I am; we all are. But I don't smoke. Period. Since I used to smoke and I quit, I'm not just blowing smoke when I say these things :>)

The risks are horrible; the leading causes of death are all directly linked to smoking: cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, cancer, and emphysema. If you are in your 40's or older, you have a 3-4 times greater chance of dying in the next 10 years than your non-smoking counterparts. If you have diabetes and smoke, you may as well resign yourself to early death from cardiovascular disease, because the combination is equal to tossing an accelerant on a fire.

Most of you want to quit and many of you have tried; in fact on average an individual will have 7 quit attempts before they are finally successful for good. But every time you quit, even for a few hours, or days, or weeks, you have given yourself a gift. You have stopped sucking in poisons for that time period, and you have given your body a rest. That rest period is a chance to heal, for cells to repair themselves.

Here are some interesting facts, currently available in an article here at Web MD.

• Within 20 minutes after your last smoke your blood vessels begin to relax again and your blood pressure and heart rate both decline.


• Within 12 hours the level of carbon monoxide, a poison from smoking, has returned to normal. (Our bodies produce carbon dioxide as a part of normal metabolism and it is exchanged with oxygen when we breathe. The presence of carbon monoxide interferes with that exchange).


• From the moment you quit, take a shower, and change your clothes you stop smelling like an ash tray, and you gain a degree of control over your habit. You can say to yourself, "I am no longer a smoker," and mean it. Imagine how that might feel. Tobacco companies and the addictive ingredients that they place in cigarettes to keep you coming back for the next one no longer control you.

You can quit smoking, just like my brother-in-law did. If you think it's going to be hard, you're right. It is. Nothing worth having is easy to obtain, but having your life back, and more money in your pocket is worth the effort. A year from now you can look back and be proud of yourself for taking back control of your body from the addictive chemicals. You can also congratulate yourself for cutting your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease in half.

Take a deep breath -- it feels good whether or not you're inhaling that smoke...

Laurie

Related Topics:

• 10 Overlooked Reasons to Quit Smoking
• WebMD Video: Quit Smoking Aids

Technorati Tags: quit smoking, health and wellness, smoking cessation

Heart Disease and Medication Safety

There is a series of articles currently at WebMD that highlight various issues of medication safety with heart disease. There is a piece on pharmacy safety and filling prescriptions and some great information about blood pressure lowering medications and their side effects. There's also a great overview of heart medications and their purpose in your heart disease managment.

The article that interested me most however was one called Better Drugs: Boost Your Medication's Effectiveness. Here's the description of the article: "Want better-working heart disease drugs? You can have them. The key: lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and salt reduction. Each can give your heart a healthy boost, with one great side effect: helping your medication work better. These tips get you started." I was looking forward to reading it when I clicked on the link, only to find that it took me to the article on pharmacy safety. Oops, a little broken link there, WebMD :>) So I thought, well I can help them put by writing my own version of this article, and you, the reader should contribute your suggestions about how to use lifestyle changes to make your medications more effective.

Diet: Dietary intake of saturated fats and overeating can contribute to increased cholesterol levels and can also result in weight gain or maintenance of being overweight.

Summer is a great time to trim your eating habits - who wants to cook or eat heavily when it's hot anyway? There are great fresh fruits and vegetables available and if you are lucky enough to be able to purchase them at the farmer's market you'll save money, support local businesses, and improve your health. A big salad with some grilled chicken and Chinese rice vinegar is refreshing, doesn't heat up your kitchen and is low in fat. Keep that piece of chicken the size of a deck of cards however, and if you're tempted to go back for seconds - go for a walk instead. Make the kids go with you-they'll give you flak, but once you're out there you'll be surprised how much talking you'll get out of them!

Exercise: When the weather's warmer it's easier to exercise than when it's cold. Whether in the early morning to have some peace and quite to yourself or after work in the cool of the evening to spend time with your family, going for a walk, a bike ride, or a swim are all fun summer workouts. Sure, it's going to take some effort to change your habits, but once you do you'll enjoy yourself so much and feel so good that you'll want to keep it up. Find something you enjoy and get out there and do it!

Salt reduction: Sodium in foods can cause narrowing (constriction of the blood vessels) and retention of water. Either of these can raise blood pressure. Some people are more salt sensitive than others, but we can all benefit from cutting back. Salt "craving" may actually be a sign that you are getting dehydrated, so drink more water. Which brings me to my own contribution to this discussion...

Water, water: No need for a "sports drink," which are expensive and full of calories from sugar. Our bodies need plain water, which makes up a large percentage of our body fluid. Water helps our kidneys function well, and this in turn helps our bodies to process some medications better. Water hydrates all our cells, making them more efficient at their work of repairing themselves and building new tissues. Being adequately hydrated makes your skin look and feel better. Drinking an 8 ounce glass of water about 20 minutes before eating will make you feel full and help prevent you from overeating. Do you need more reasons to drink more water?

If you don't like the taste of plain water try a trick I learned on my cruise last winter: throw in some fruit or vegetables! That's right-vegetables! The best water I have ever tasted had fresh slices of cucumber (peel and all) floating in it. Other favorites at my house are pineapple or orange water. When I cut away all the peel from a pineapple it feels pretty wasteful! Instead I now put the peels and the bottom of the fruit into my water pitcher and cover with tap water. Then into the fridge it goes. When you're thirsty you have a nice citrus-flavored cold drink waiting for you. If you're outside working out or doing yard work, remember that you should drink 8 ounces of water for every 30 minutes of activity; even more if you're really sweaty.

There you have it! Laurie's article on things you can do to enhance the effectiveness of your medications. Please share your thoughts on things you've learned over the years about taking medications and medication safety, and let me know, what's in your water?

Happy summer, Laurie

Related Topics:

• 10 Summer Tips for Healthy Living
• Easy Summer Fun

Technorati Tags: heart disease, medication, exercise, fitness, hydration

Hypoglycemic Unawareness and the Mr. Universe Story

Forgive me for being on a diabetes roll, but it's been a busy week of diabetes related news, and of course I have a special interest in caring for those who live with diabetes.

A number of my favorite diabetes bloggers, such as Kerri and Amy are talking about Mr. Universe, Doug Burns, and his episode of low blood sugar (called hypoglycemia) that led to an altercation with the Redwood City, CA police. Mr. Burns was present with a friend in a movie theater when he began to notice the symptoms of low blood sugar. He attempted to go to the snack counter to obtain food but was intercepted by a theater security office, who thought that he was drunk. He escorted him outdoors and asked him to leave (you have to love this thought process, "let's take the drunk guy outside and tell him to get lost??"), but when Mr. Burns remained in the area and appeared "dazed" the security staff called the police.

The arriving officers reported finding Mr. Burns to appear intoxicated, and stated that he became agitated and attacked an officer on approach. They brought in additional officers and police dogs who maced and forcefully restrained Mr. Burns, then called for paramedics.

These rescue personnel report that they found a severely low blood sugar and that they treated Mr. Burns by administering a fast-acting dose of IV sugar. His hypoglycemia was confirmed in a subsequent visit to the local hospital ED. Until recently Mr. Burns was headed to trial for assault and resisting arrest, however the charges have been dropped, to the great relief of the Internet diabetes community, who actively called the area District Attorney to ask that the charges be dropped.

In reading about his story I am honestly surprised at the response of the police, who should know to be on the look out for things like a Medic-alert bracelet, which Mr. Burns was prominently wearing at the time of the incident.

I am also shocked at the number of people responding to the blogs about the incident that want to blame this individual with diabetes for his lack of ability to care for himself. Mr. Burns had temporarily switched from his insulin pump to individual insulin injections because he had run out of administration sets for his insulin pump while traveling. This kind of thing happens; any one of us could miscount the number of pills in the bottle and run out of our prescription while away from home. Unfortunately insulin pump administration sets have to be mail ordered, so he was waiting for his shipment to arrive. Mr. Burns found himself having an unexpected low blood sugar that may have been due to his switch in how he was giving himself insulin.

He recognized that he was having a low blood sugar, but apparently it was too late; by the time he acted he was already very low. This can also happen to anyone with diabetes; some days blood sugars are unpredictable despite their best efforts. Many individuals have some degree of a problem called hypoglycemic unawareness, in which they don't have early physical symptoms of low blood sugar at all. This can occur in anyone living with diabetes, especially those who have had the disease for a long time, but this lack of awareness can also be increased by certain medications, such as beta-blockers used for heart disease.

Whatever the cause, low blood sugar can cause the individual with diabetes to become sweaty, lightheaded, shaky, confused, and anxious. They may feel hungry and tired, and may abruptly become agitated and belligerent, even with people they know well, such as their spouses or parents. They will get to a point where they have no control over their emotions and actions and if the low blood sugar goes unchecked eventually they will become unresponsive.

It is extremely important that people on the scene of such a situation look for a medical bracelet or necklace and ask the person if they have diabetes, and to call 911 to have the person assessed. If they are agitated then don't approach them in a way that might be perceived as threatening, but speak calmly and follow behind them so that you can help rescue personnel to find them. You may also be able to set a different "stage" for the person by suggesting to those who arrive to help that you are concerned that the person may have diabetes and a low blood sugar. I certainly wonder how differently this incident may have played out had someone pursued that line of thought with the arriving officers, or with the original security guard.

I wish Mr. Universe well in his efforts to educate the public about diabetes and low blood sugar, and I hope this post will be one more place where he feels supported in his efforts to educate the public. I hope that if you ever have the opportunity to be the voice of reason in such a crisis that you will be successful in your efforts to help the person with low blood sugar receive appropriate treatment, rather than a face full of mace and a beating.

Take care, Laurie

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Personal Story - Living with an Insulin Pump
• WebMD Video: New Blood Sugar Monitor Calculates Insulin Dose

Technorati Tags: diabetes, Doug Burns, heart disease, Mr. Universe, hypoglycemia, health and wellness