Can smoking 1 pack of cigarettes in your whole life do any harm? (1 Viewer)

[Van Patton]

OK well I have probably smoked 5 cigarettes my entire life and yesterday I chain smoked 3 and today my throat feels like Im being cut in the back when I swallow liquids. What causes this and if I smoke again will it stay longer????

 

[Sean Conklin]

Van, the long term effects of smoking varies with each individual, however if you have smoked less than a pack of cigs in your life so far and you do not smoke anymore, I'm 99.9% sure you will have no long term life changing effects, IF you don't smoke anymore.
Van, hello, cigs make your throat hurt and they stink, so, DON'T SMOKE!
The reason your throat hurts is because your inhaling noxious and poisonous smoke into your lungs, I quit smoking over a month ago and I don't know how I ever started, cigarettes stink and they hurt when you smoke them for the first time.
I mean you have to actually acquire a tolerance for this nasty habit, the question is WHY!

 

[Brad_W]

Your throat hurts because it was exposed to an excessive amount of heat. Most of us "professional" smokers have hard patches in our throats due to long exposure to heat and cigerette smoke. So, obviously the more you smoke the lesser of pain you will feel in your throat. As an almost 11-year veteren of smoking, I suggest you STOP NOW! Take it from us smokers, quit while it's easy and not part of your daily routine.

Oh and yes, smoking more will be bad because of your body's developed craving for nicotine becomes greater. Oh yeah and that whole cancer thing I keep hearing about.

EDITED to say that while I am typing this, I have a cig dangling from my mouth. Nothing like hearing how bad smoking is from someone who is a smoker.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

This site contains pictures of healthy lungs and smokers lungs. Why any rational person would start smoking I'll never know

 

[Brad_W]

Andrew's link made me hungry for hamburger.

 

[Jason Whyte]

Ewwwwwwwww!!!!

 

[Chad Isaacs]

I just turned 26,I have smoked on and off for the past 20 years.My mom smoked when I was young so I thought if I smoked,she would want to quit..THat worked however,I got hooked.But with no smokes in the house,a 6 year old has a hard time getting them..

Then I got a bit older(17ish) and was able to buy them on my own,back then,they were not as strict with checking for i.d.I smoked for a few months,and gave it up.

When I was 20ish,I started again.I quit for about a year but..I gave my self an excuse to start again.I have psoriasis and no meds I take seem to help any.Well,when I was not smoking,I was constantly picking at it and making it worse.I remembered when I smoked,it was not AS irritating so I started again...what a mistake.

So here I am trying to quit again.I can go for a few days without one,did just a week ago,but for some reason I always find my self wandering into a smoke shop or gas station to buy more.

It aint cool,its nasty and it will kill you,stop while you are ahead!

 

[DennisHP]

Instead of smoking tobacco, bake it into cookies. That way you still get the effects and it won't hurt your throat and make you stink. Oh wait, that's for something else entirely. :b

 

[Sean Conklin]

 

[Chris Maynard]

I quit cold turkey about one year ago. I was a light smoker (4 to 6 cigs a day) on and off for about 10 years.

I fear I have done damage to my body that will never repair. On the positive side I feel better every month since and I will not ever start smoking again.

 

[RicP]

I fear I have done damage to my body that will never repair.

99.8% of the time a smoker that quits permanently for 10 years will have lungs that are virtually as healthy as a person that's never smoked.
Unless permanent damage was done prior to quitting, after 10 years of being smoke-free, it will as if you've never smoked in your life.
That data is from the National Cancer Institute.

 

[Andrew V]

- Post Deleted -

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

When I was a kid I would see my grandfather sit in a chair with a respirator hose in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He would take a few hits on the respirator (he had emphasema) and then alternate it with puffs from the cigarette. This struck me as really sick. I never wanted to touch the stuff after seeing him do this schtick.

 

[Danny R]

99.8% of the time a smoker that quits permanently for 10 years will have lungs that are virtually as healthy as a person that's never smoked.
Assuming they live that long.
Does this conversation make anyone want to go back and watch the anti-smoking segment on Clerks?

CUSTOMER
What's this?
ACTIVIST
It's a trach ring. It's what they
install in your throat when throat
cancer takes your voice box. This
one came out of a sixty-year-old man.
CUSTOMER
(drops ring)
Unnhh!

 

[Aaron Ulmer]

I'd quit while you're ahead. I smoked for about 10 years (quit 5 years ago). Here are just a few of the drawbacks that you will experience:

1) You acquire the lovely fragrance of an ashtray--a good human repellant.

2) You're always running out of cigarettes, which is definitely a pain late at night, because you don't want to wake up without a cigarette. It is just plain annoying to want a cigarette and not have one.

3) They're way too expensive, especially in the U.S.

I never really considered the health benefits of quitting, the above reasons were enough for me.

To your good health,

-Aaron

 

[Howard Williams]

99.8% of the time a smoker that quits permanently for 10 years will have lungs that are virtually as healthy as a person that's never smoked.

RicP, when I first read that, the first thing out my mouth was "Bull Shit!!". Since you said it came from the from The National Cancer Institute and they know much more about it that I do, I must assume it is correct. I never would have guess that though. I still think that line is misleading.

This is the real question. Does a person that smokes heavily for 30 years then quits for 10 years have the same risk of developing lung cancer as a person that has never smoked? Your quote implies the answer is yes. I could be wrong but I don't beleive that. It sounds like a line of propoganda straight from the tobbacco dealers.

 

[RicP]

Howard,
This is completely true!
A person's lungs are constantly healing themselves. The problem is that a smoker's lungs never get a chance to fully heal, and therefore are much more susceptible to disease.
If you'll notice, I said also that unless permanent damage was done prior to quitting, then after 10 years of being completely smoke free your lungs will be virtually as healthy as a non-smokers.
I don't really see what's not to believe about this, or why you'd think it was "propaganda". Propganda for getting people to quit smoking?? As if that's a bad thing!
See this page...especially the chart in the middle.
http://www.alamn.org/smoking/default.htm

 

[HenrikTull]

Need....smoke......now
*lights up*
Aahhhh... that's the stuff.

 

[Howard Williams]

RicP:

Thanxxx for that link. That is truly amazing !!!

 

[Frank_Lee]

I'm currently taking a course dealing with cancer and I've learned a lot of interesting things regarding smoking and lung cancer. The fact of the matter is that it only takes one cigarette to cause lung cancer. I'll try to clarify this statement without going too much into technical detail.

All kinds of cancer are caused by mutations in your body's DNA. All it takes is one mutation at the right spot for cancer to develop. Cigarette smoke contains many substances, such as a radioactive component called polonium 21, that can cause the mutations leading to lung cancer. The thing to remember is that the mutations are a probability based event. Let's assume, for the sake of arguement, that cigarettes are 99.9% safe. That seems reasonably harmless doesn't it? However, statistically that would mean that 1 out of every 1000 cigarettes that you smoke could potentially give you lung cancer. Cigarettes in actuality are much safer than 99.9% otherwise we'd be seeing much higher lung cancer rates. My professor likened it to Russian Roulette, just with a lower probability. Everytime you smoke a cigarette, it's just like pulling the trigger. The chance of a bullet being in the chamber is very remote, but the more often you do it, the greater your overall risk is.

I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that developing lung cancer is not dose-dependent, i.e. there is no threshold for getting cancer. If you smoke one cigarette a week, you will have less physiological damage than someone who smokes one pack a day, but every cigarette you smoke has the same chance of giving you lung cancer as the more frequent smoker.