5 Myths About Quitting Smoking
July 17, 2009
Smoking Kills
“It’s probably best not to quit smoking at all – quitting just makes people ill.”
Can you believe folk have said that to me and other such horseshit, since I quit smoking? Luckily, I’m no longer foolish enough to believe that quitting smoking might kill me. And these 5 smoking myths are a load of crapola too:
1) The Physical Withdrawal Is Unbearable: Some folks say that the physical withdrawal from nicotine is worse than heroin withdrawal. And I don’t know if it’s true but the idea almost terrified me into not attempting to quit at all – ever. But don’t let it put you off quitting smoking.
While the physical withdrawal from cigarettes is quite nasty and you might even feel like killing a whole bunch of people, the worst of it is over within 72 hours, which is the amount of time it takes for most of the nicotine to leave your body.
2) Some People Are Too Addicted To Quit: You’ve probably heard that some people are more addicted to cigarettes than others. And it’s more difficult for certain people to quit smoking. For example, I have PTSD and I read that it’s harder for people with PTSD to quit.
But hard and impossible are completely different words. So don’t be put off quitting just because you think it might be harder for you. I think a lot of these rumours are started by the smoking industry to persuade people not to quit.
3) You’re Weak If You Use Any Type Of Nicotine Replacement Therapy: This is a load of crapola. The only thing that will stop you from smoking is you. And if using patches, gum, pills, or anything else makes it easier for you to quit smoking, then why shouldn’t you use them?
Nicotine patches allowed me to delay some of the physical withdrawal symptoms, so I could concentrate on coping with the mental withdrawal symptoms.
4) It’s Too Late – The Damage Is Already Done: It makes me sad when people say things like this. While you’re unlikely to completely reverse the damage caused by smoking, your body does a pretty good job of healing itself.
And yes – if you’ve smoked a long time, then you stop, there’s still a good chance you may die of a smoking related disease a few years down the line. But it may be a few years later than if you’d not quit at all.
5) There’s No Evidence That Smoking Kills: I can’t believe folk still say this but plenty do. And a few years ago, there just wasn’t enough research on smoking related death but there is now.
The tobacco industry is still a big business and if there was any doubt at all, that smoking caused fatal diseases, there’s no way they’d put up with having their product branded with slogan’s like: “Smoking Kills” and “Smoking Can Cause A Slow And Painful Death.
Still Not Convinced That Smoking Is Bad For You? Check Out These Killer Resources
Thanks, Tobacco: You Killed My Mom: A heartbreaking anti-smoking video.
Tobacco Kills 1 Person Every 8 Seconds & Other Smoking Related Facts.
Christine’s Quit Story: By the time Christine Rowley quit smoking, she was tied to an oxygen tank 24/7. And in her remaining years, she saved thousands of lives. This is her quit smoking story.
Top Ten Unbelievable Vintage Cigarette Posters: Wonder why so many people started smoking in the first place? It had to be good for you if your doctor was doing it right?
Had you heard these, or any other ridiculous smoking myths. Who do you think starts most of them? Smokers who can’t give up, the tobacco industry, or the government?
Comments
27 Responses to “5 Myths About Quitting Smoking”
Got something to say?
Cath Recommends
Change Your Life
Make Money
Talk To Me
Successful And Outstanding Blogger
Cath,
Well said. You speak with authority on this topic, and it shows.
I simply can’t believe the kind of myths to which you refer above are still around today, and I thank you for your efforts to set us straight with regard to each of these points.
Andrew’s last blog post..June contributors
One of the best benefits to making a successful hero’s journey of your own is you can then gift others with the knowledge you have gathered….one candle can light a thousand others.
Great post, shared with my network.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach’s last blog post..How to dramatically increase your optin list with ease
Cath, Keep up the great work. I’ve seen first hand the damage cigarettes can do – they aren’t worth it!!
Brad Shorr’s last blog post..The World’s Worst Job Interview Response
[...] the original post: 5 Myths About Quitting Smoking | Catherine Lawson Author: athena6435039 Categories: Quit Smoking Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a [...]
My friend Mike has an electric cigarette. It is based on batteries and you put in a Nicotine cartridge and inhale, you get a vapor and the NIC. But, none of the real bad parts of cigarettes. Plus, you can smoke it on a plane since it is just vapor..
No second hand smoke. He is using this to help quit with regular smokes…
Jim Gaudet’s last blog post..Firebug for Web Development
Vanity – thy name is woman.
My reason for quitting smoking was not the damage I was doing to my body – it was the damage I was doing to my face.
About a decade ago – someone pointed out that smokers have more wrinkles than non-smokers. I took a look around – saw it to be true and THAT is when I got serious about quitting. It’s been over a decade now.
See, I NEEDED a reason like that to quit – because I felt like SHIT! when I quit smoking That’s one of the WORST parts about quitting smoking… I actually feel WORST for about 5 or 6 months after I quit.
IMHO – that’s what makes it SO HARD to stop. There’s no “immediate” gratification. You don’t stop smoking – start walking and feel marvelous the next day. ON THE CONTRARY!!!
However, I’m really amused by the lack of support you’re getting. Isn’t it amazing how some people get uncomfortable when you make a change – especially when it’s a change for the better?
Keep on keeping one my dear! Remember – those ciggies were providing wrinkle fodder for your face. Stay strong!!!
Kathy | Virtual Impax’s last blog post..Social Media: It’s a Moral Imperative
I’ll show this to my brother. Thanks, Cath.
Vered – MomGrind’s last blog post..Low Rise Jeans: Five Reasons To Hate Them, One Reason To Love Them
Cath, one of my friends, Kristin had managed to quit the bad smoking habit since a year ago. She told me that she used to have a very terrible sinus problem while she’s smoking. Soon after he had quit it, the sinus is gone without cure! What a miracle to her…
wilhb81’s last blog post..The Useful Business Tips 38: The 5 Remarkable Tips on Paying Yourself Off!
More and more, I began to be surrounded by anti-smoking fanatics, the most fanatical of whom were previous smokers. Then, legislative effects kicked in and it became impossible to smoke indoors throughout most of the State of Minnesota – difficult to go outside in January when it is -35 F. So I quit for the second time three + years ago.
So, legislating behavior by making it socially unacceptable worked in the case of smoking, in relatively short order (less than ten years).
I am amazed that when I sit next to someone, I can tell if they smoke, that encountering a chain smoker in the dairy section of the grocery made me physically ill, and that test-driving a car for purchase revealed that the former owner had smoked. Smoking stinks. Period.
But . . . as I mentioned to you already, if it looks like the world is really ending I will use what’s left of my 401K to purchase a carton of Benson & Hedges menthol, head for my friend’s farm where there is an ammo stash. Thus will I greet my demise with a shotgun resting across my knees and a cigarette dangling from my lips.
Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post..CHANGE DOESN’T COME FROM THE TOP
Good post and I know it is hard but you are doing it and striking back.
Maybe I should write a post about how hard it is to loose weight -myths and phobias…
I will do it after I come back from walking all over the UK.
I am not taking a computer…but just know I will return and I will be wishing you well with every step…success is yours
Patricia’s last blog post..Part III: Agenda for a Real-Wealth Economy
You can credit C. Everett Koop, our former Surgeon General, for the one about cigarette addiction being worse than nicotine. He was trying to help, I guess. I hadn’t heard all the others. I’m glad you haven’t let any of them hold you back, and this is a powerful post for others to read. I guess one of the benefits of my never being “cool” when I was in school was that I never felt the need to smoke to fit in. Hmm, I never thought there were any benefits before.
Dot’s last blog post..Life Goes On
I think it’s one of those things where you have to have both motivation and the right technique.
This past year, 2 people I know that I thought were permanent smokers, quit and haven’t gone back. I’m impressed.
J.D. Meier’s last blog post..What’s Your One-Liner Super Hero Power?
@Betsy I am with you at the Apocalypse..
Jim Gaudet’s last blog post..Ani Difranco | I am Drunk, leave me alone…
Hi Andrew – Isn’t it just shocking that folk actually believe that smoking doesn’t kill?
Thanks Barbara – that’s the only thing I don’t regret about smoking. At least it makes it easier for me to help other people quit.
Thanks Brad – It’s so horrid to watch people go downhill from smoking related diseases isn’t it? My grandfather died from lung cancer and brain cancer when I was nine. I didn’t see him at the very end but I remember being really scared when he could no longer speak or anything, after it spread to his brain.
Hi Jim – I’ve seen those and I did consider them. But I really wanted to get rid of the nicotine addiction – just didn’ want to give another penny to the folk who profit from it. But I can understand why people would choose to use those, instead of cigarettes.
LOL Kathy – You definitely feel shit for a while after don’t you. It’s like you totally have to fix your whole body.
The wrinkle thing scared the shit out of me too. The ones who don’t die look horrid – grey, wrinkley – yuk. Trouble is – I have more lines since I quit.
Hi Vered – You’re welcome. I hope it helps him. I used to smoke at least two packs a day and if I can quit anyone can.
Hi Wilson – Good for Kristen – a year is a huge milestone. And I bet she feels a whole heap better without the sinus pain.
Hi Betsy – The new smoking laws over here helped me a lot too. You soon get tired of going outside in the cold and rain just to smoke. And as you say – when you smell someone else, after they’ve been smoking, it’s puke making.
Hi Patricia – Now that would be an interesting read too and it would help a lot of people. Being overweight can also kill.
I hope you have a fabulous trip in my country.
LOL Dot – You are lucky you never saw any benefits. I thought smoking was a great diet tool – I had no idea how much those blood sugar hits were damaging my body.
I can see how Koop’s warning might persuade people not to start smoking but it was kind of scary, for all of those who’d already started.
Hi JD – That is so true. The motivation was important to me. But I had to clearly see all the benefits of not smoking first and realise that continuing smoking afforded me no benefits at all.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..5 Myths About Quitting Smoking
Go Cath! I’m going to send this to my friend. He turns 50 this year, is a smoker, is overweight, doesn’t exercise, drinks too much and doesn’t eat properly. And, his father has had four open-heart surgeries. I guess it’s really none of my business because he enjoys smoking and he will never stop unless he wants to. But it’s hard to watch when there is so much proof about the hazards of this habit.
Davina’s last blog post..Roaming with the Metaphor
Good article !
Im 100% sure that if you really want to quit smoking , you could do it . Probably you would tell that usually it depends on your will. If you are eager , it could be done..
“I am too addict to quit” its just an excuse
Ambyr Amoureuse’s last blog post..Notre première fois
Hi Davina – It sounds like your friend is really putting himself at risk. I’ve heard some people say they enjoy smoking but I never did. I think if you really concentrate on what you are doing, you realise that you don’t enjoy it at all.
Hi Ambyr – it’s a really bad excuse isn’t it. As you say, if you really want to do it, you can.
Cath Lawson’s last blog post..5 Myths About Quitting Smoking
It definitely kills. I wonder why people make excuses like that. Just accept that they are doing something that is really really bad for them.
There is a part of me though that thinks that although cancer is a horrible way to die that we are ultimately going to die no matter what and other than dying in your sleep most of them aren’t that great. If someone really enjoys doing something that is bad for them and they die a little sooner then ok. I don’t know – it’s not like we are going to live forever.
Kim Woodbridge’s last blog post..How to Remove a Facebook Application from your News Feed
i’ve never smoked, but i know people that do. there’s a woman in my office that has had reoccurring cancer and she still continues to smoke. i don’t get that one.
i have heard people say that if they stop smoking they will get fat. uh okay, cancer or some other disease is a lot better than being fat. right.
Natural’s last blog post..I am conductor, hear me cook
#4 is such a cop-out. My Dad smoked for 40 years, from 12 to 52! But when he stopped, he stopped coughing (hacking) unless he was sick, some physical issues he’d had cleared up, etc. Smoking did a LOT of damage still, he has various organs which were damaged by it. But things could have stayed or gotten worse.
Same with my granddaddy. He stopped smoking when the doctors found a shadow on his lungs. Shadow cleared up, he didn’t get cancer, and he died 30 years later of a heart attack (in his 80s!).
Mrs. Micah’s last blog post..Why an Online Degree Makes Sense Today – Guest Post
Hi Kim – I sort of know what you mean. Surely a few hours less life and happiness is better right? Trouble is, a lot of folk don’t enjoy smoking. I think that’s hard for a non-smoker to understand – they just assume they must be enjoying it, or they wouldn’t do it.
As you say though – cancer is a nasty way to die – but there probably isn’t many nice ways to go.
Hi Valerie – exactly – I’m betting that weight is a lot easier to lose than cancer.
Hi Mrs Micah – My dad smoked a similar amount of time to your dad – stopped at 50. Your grandaddy’s story shows that it really is worth stopping. I have a neighbour in his eighties who had a similar history – shadow on his lungs and quit. He is now in his eighties and looks very well.
Glad to hear you quit. One other way is with the Ketamine protocol for RSD. Makes you NOT want to light up. I felt like I was living in the Middle Ages, carrying around a spittoon for a few days. But, boy, was it worth it! You go girl!
I am very jet lagged, but wanted to respond to you first thing from my trip to UK…
There is so much smoking by so many people in the Cities and on the streets I think you are amazing for being able to quit…
\
awesome awesome…
All of our hotels were smoke free zone…but the bathrooms in several and the halls just reeked of smoke and were full of blue haze by bedtime each day….
The smoking was the worst part of my whole adventure…
I can’t believe so many folks smoke still..
More power and kudos to you
Patricia’s last blog post..Part III: Agenda for a Real-Wealth Economy
Those are not myths those are excuses made by people with no strength and will to make changes in their lives.
Basic thing, with any addiction is following the right path all the time. If you make room for excuses and myths you are doomed to failure.
stop smoking cigarette’s last blog post..Quit Smoking: Reasons and Methods
“4) It’s Too Late – The Damage Is Already Done” That’s what my doctor told me, and i didnt end up quitting till years later. nice guy eh?
[...] various myths about quitting smoking or hearing about all the bad things that can happen because of physical withdrawal, such as having [...]
don’t they know that smoking will kill them not the other way around!?!?
Greg’s last blog post..How To Make Your Own Sinus Irrigation System