This was one of those odd stories I have with my patients. The stories of how and why people quit smoking before they knew the truth are unusual at best. Thirty years ago they didn't see the locomotive coming, it was fashionable and considered a positive stroke in business.
"How did you quit fifty years ago?" I asked 75 year old Ben.
He said, "I had a part time job just out of college helping with autopsies. The doc asked me to put the lungs in a bag. I asked him,'What's this black stuff?' He told me,'That's from smoking all those cigarettes, probably what killed him.' I never took another puff after that day."
You can quit, you need to quit.
Life is Rich,
Dr. Don
Author, 5AM & Already Behind
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"My Husband Thought It Was Cute"
She is a special person and patient. Her friend brings her in every three months and she sit erect and dresses like she's going to the easter parade. Read this story...
I asked her,"What's the one mistake you can think of that you made in your life/"
"I wished I'd never smoked," she answered.
"Do you remember your first cigarette?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," she said, "I was 15 years old and my husband thought it was cute. I coughed and choked but kept smoking."
What's unusual is this lady is now 95 years old, on oxygen, and was married to that man for 80 years. She quit smoking over 20 years ago but... think about the impact that silly day had on her life and her finances and her retirement.
The important point is her answer! After 95 years...smoking is her greatest regret.
Life is short...live it without nicotine!
Dr. Don
I asked her,"What's the one mistake you can think of that you made in your life/"
"I wished I'd never smoked," she answered.
"Do you remember your first cigarette?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," she said, "I was 15 years old and my husband thought it was cute. I coughed and choked but kept smoking."
What's unusual is this lady is now 95 years old, on oxygen, and was married to that man for 80 years. She quit smoking over 20 years ago but... think about the impact that silly day had on her life and her finances and her retirement.
The important point is her answer! After 95 years...smoking is her greatest regret.
Life is short...live it without nicotine!
Dr. Don
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
" I Don't Remember that Cigarette"
"I started smoking again;was doing pretty good for a few months, but now I'm back to it," Bob told me through a mild wheeze.
"What happened to get you started again?" I asked.
He looked down then that squint eye of thought and said," I don't even remember the
cigarette. I had one for some reason then one the next day and it just started all over again."
The Bahbit of nicotine addiction lives in the subconscious fo what I call
your habit or "Bahbit Center". This is where all those habits drive the emotions and actions in you life live. Addiction is different, it's powerful and a simple stress can trigger a let-down that'll create an action before you even know it's happend.
Nicotine addiction never goes away...and your Bahbit knows it. It waits for that cluttered day when you've "had it" to suggest that you should visit your old friend...the smoke. Don't do it, be ready, have a plan to do something when that voice tells
you "it's OK to have one," It isn't and if you can hold off long enough and think through that moment...that new and healthy you trying so hard to keep away from the nicotine can win every time.
Life is Rich,
Dr. Don
"What happened to get you started again?" I asked.
He looked down then that squint eye of thought and said," I don't even remember the
cigarette. I had one for some reason then one the next day and it just started all over again."
The Bahbit of nicotine addiction lives in the subconscious fo what I call
your habit or "Bahbit Center". This is where all those habits drive the emotions and actions in you life live. Addiction is different, it's powerful and a simple stress can trigger a let-down that'll create an action before you even know it's happend.
Nicotine addiction never goes away...and your Bahbit knows it. It waits for that cluttered day when you've "had it" to suggest that you should visit your old friend...the smoke. Don't do it, be ready, have a plan to do something when that voice tells
you "it's OK to have one," It isn't and if you can hold off long enough and think through that moment...that new and healthy you trying so hard to keep away from the nicotine can win every time.
Life is Rich,
Dr. Don
Thursday, August 14, 2008
" I Was Nine Years Old"
As I see the patients late in life, I hear their stories and see the path that they've led due to a simple, yet profound, influence early in life. As this 70 year old man caught his breath between sentences due to emphysema, he told me this story.
"I was only nine years old and we needed some way to make money, but nobody had any money to give us. So my friends and I would find empty pop bottes and give them to the owner of a store. Instead of money for the bottles, he gave us cigarettes."
I wished I could say that this is an old story about what used to happen, but with 33% of the non-college under 22 year old young people in our country lighting up every day, I know and you know that the "addiction inducement" goes on. From examples set by parents to extreme marketing by the cigarette companies, the story of each life is affected and infected with each curl of blue-gray smoke.
No matter when you started, you can quit. It's late...
Life is Rich...it only lasts 29,2OO days (80 years).
Dr. Don
"I was only nine years old and we needed some way to make money, but nobody had any money to give us. So my friends and I would find empty pop bottes and give them to the owner of a store. Instead of money for the bottles, he gave us cigarettes."
I wished I could say that this is an old story about what used to happen, but with 33% of the non-college under 22 year old young people in our country lighting up every day, I know and you know that the "addiction inducement" goes on. From examples set by parents to extreme marketing by the cigarette companies, the story of each life is affected and infected with each curl of blue-gray smoke.
No matter when you started, you can quit. It's late...
Life is Rich...it only lasts 29,2OO days (80 years).
Dr. Don
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
"I Smoke the Low Tar Cigarettes"
A patient said that to me today, thinking that it mattered and may actually decrease her possibity of heart disease, stroke, and emphysema.
Here's the truth: It won't matter and here's why.
Nicotine addiction and the level of nictotine craving are based on the level of nicotine in your system. Your brain requires that level no matter what type of cigarette you smoke.
Even if it's filtered, nicotine addicts will smoke more, take longer puffs, hold the smoke longer, take more frequent drags, and in the end...the result is the same.
The bottom line is filters do not protect you. But you can quit and you need to do that now...not later. Your retirement, your health, your income, and your family depend on this one simple habit change. Don't wait!
Life is Rich,
Dr. Don
Author, 5AM & Already Behind
Here's the truth: It won't matter and here's why.
Nicotine addiction and the level of nictotine craving are based on the level of nicotine in your system. Your brain requires that level no matter what type of cigarette you smoke.
Even if it's filtered, nicotine addicts will smoke more, take longer puffs, hold the smoke longer, take more frequent drags, and in the end...the result is the same.
The bottom line is filters do not protect you. But you can quit and you need to do that now...not later. Your retirement, your health, your income, and your family depend on this one simple habit change. Don't wait!
Life is Rich,
Dr. Don
Author, 5AM & Already Behind
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
"We Were Expected to Smoke"
Smokers all have the story and the memory of their first cigarette. They may not be able to find their keys or remember a birthday...but that day, that puff, that friend, and that taste are part of a definitive memory as powerful as any life event.
I spoke with a now "non-smoker" who never really got started. He stated "50 years ago we thought we were expected to smoke. We didn't want to so we decided to try a pipe, we thought it was safer."
Fact: 33% of twenty two year olds who are not in college are smoking. It had to start with and expectation or a dare. Some things have not changed except for the fact we all know the eventual outcome of long term smoking.
And no matter how loudly your "Smoking Bahbit " tells you it's never going to happen to you....it will....Emphysema, Heart Attacks, Strokes, and a Fatigue that never let's down.
Fact: Quit Smoking Now and you will have 50% more oxygen within 24 hours.
Life is Rich!
Dr. Don
Thursday, July 24, 2008
"A Carton of Cigarettes Cost Me $5.05"
The stories I hear about smoking and smoking bahbits are mini-stories about a magnificent success. Often I ask people who quit smoking years ago how it was that they were able to stop cigarettes when at that time, the 1960's and 70's, smoking was classy and anti-smoking campaigns were minimal?
I asked a patient this morning how he quit smoking and he said, "I promised myself I would quit smoking when a carton of cigarettes cost me more than five dollars. One day I went to the store and I paid $5.05 and so I quit that day. That was 1970"
Fact: Three dollars placed into an 8% account on a daily basis between ages 18 and 65will yield a savings of $550,000.
Question: How much are you spending every day on Cigarettes to shorten your life by an average of fourteen years. Even closer to your Smoking Bahbit is this question: How many hours do you work for free every week to watch your retirement float away in a blue-gray smoke?
Life is rich - You can quit today if you have the right reason!
Dr. Don
I asked a patient this morning how he quit smoking and he said, "I promised myself I would quit smoking when a carton of cigarettes cost me more than five dollars. One day I went to the store and I paid $5.05 and so I quit that day. That was 1970"
Fact: Three dollars placed into an 8% account on a daily basis between ages 18 and 65will yield a savings of $550,000.
Question: How much are you spending every day on Cigarettes to shorten your life by an average of fourteen years. Even closer to your Smoking Bahbit is this question: How many hours do you work for free every week to watch your retirement float away in a blue-gray smoke?
Life is rich - You can quit today if you have the right reason!
Dr. Don
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