Just wanted to share my story on how I quit smoking cold turkey. I did it but I must say it’s no easy feat and takes lots of will power and effort on oneself.

I just want to let everyone know that kicking the habit is possible and achievable and I firmly believe everyone can do it too. Whether you quit smoking cold turkey, or with the aid of nicotine gums and patches, pills, with an ebook, via hypnosis, it can be done. Not one method is going to suit all but if you are determined and search enough, you will find a program that suits  you. Whatever the mind perceive and believe can achieve.

I started smoking from the age of 17 and graduated from a casual smoker to a heavy smoker of 30 cigarettes a day. Before I quit smoking cold turkey, I also tried various methods to quit smoking along the way:

• Smoking “lighter” cigarettes (for your info it doesn’t work and only makes me smoke more in fact double because I couldn’t get the kick out of the “lighter” cigarettes.
• Smoking lesser but it only made me feel worse because I had cigarettes with me but keep reminding myself to smoke lesser.

To cut the long story short, the day I quit came as a surprise to me too because I didn’t set a date or anything before that. One day, some 13 years ago, my wife to be asked me, when am I going to quit? Well, I guess the message hit home, so instead of trying to quit, I quit!

I wouldn’t say that the path was easy after my decision to quit, there were the temptations and the usual habits and rituals that always coincide with me lighting up a cigarette. However, I persisted…

I have stayed smoke free since then I hope my own success story will help you on your way to a smoke free life. I quit smoking cold turkey, but I believe this method is not going to work for everyone because all of us is different. Thus I believe with all the programs out there today offering all kinds of methods to quit smoking, I’m sure you will find one that is going to work for you.

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Are you a smoker? Are you a pet owner? So are you going to quit smoking for your pet’s sake?

Based on researchers’ findings from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan, you should quit smoking for your pet’s sake! Mind you, not yours but your pet’s sake!

Here’s the gist. The health threats to pets like dogs, cats and birds raises significantly if they are inhaling second hand smoke.

Cats are more vulnerable to mouth cancer because of the way they groom themselves by licking their fur. Carcinogenic compounds in the smoke settle of their fur and it’s ingested during this grooming procedure.

Long-nosed breed dogs are highest risk to suffer from cancers in the noses and sinuses according to study done by Colorado State University. Short and medium length noses have a higher rate of lung cancer.

So are you are going to quit smoking for your pet’s sake? Well, I guess it depends on how much you love them. According to the 3,300 pet owners surveyed, one in five are smokers and 27 percent live with smokers. One third of the smokers said they will quit smoking for their pet’s sake. Many others said they will get their smoking friends, relatives to do that for their pet’s sake too.

I wonder if they bring up human factor in through out the survey? Will they quit for the sake of their human family members, I am referring to those with pets.

Based on the result, it looks the quit smoking message and public health campaigns can be targeted at a certain niche, the smoking pet lovers. It would be interesting to look at results of further research looking into those that actually quit smoking for their pet’s sake.

I believe pets lovers are a dedicated bunch however if you can’t quit smoking for your pet’s sake perhaps you can consider pet insurance if you haven’t bought one yet.

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Latest largest study shows that there is a link between passive smoking and dementia. Well, well, so what else is new? I just mentioned about fungal nail infection and smoking link and now this…

The report published in the British Medical Journal said there’s a 44 percent increased risk. This risk factor is for people exposed to high levels of second hand smoke. Passive smokers inhaling tobacco smoke may suffer damage to the brains, impairing memory functions thus making dementia likely.

For more details, you can read it at this site reporting this passive smoking and dementia link and there are many others if you do a search for it.

Now with this study released about the passive smoking and dementia link, is that going to change smokers attitude about how this is going to affect their loved ones breathing in their second hand smoke?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Think about it, when dementia sets in. Smokers and passive smokers alike may have forgotten how they ended up that way and relation to news about the passive smoking and dementia link they are reading now.

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Have you heard about smoking and fungal nail infection relation? It kind of surprised me but the again, I wouldn’t say that I was very surprise when I heard it over the radio. All this while, I thought it was related to some kind of fungi or yeast infection but not the link to smoking. But with some many kinds of diseases linked to smoking appearing time and again, question is what’s next?

Here’s what I heard and found about fungal nail infection.

• Nail fungus is caused by microorganisms that are not dependent on light for their survival.
• It affects the human nails and often passes thru skin cuts between the nail and nail bed.
• A warm and moist environment is a place for the growth of this type of fungi, not visible to the human eye. Thus toenails are more susceptible to fungal nail infections because they are often confined inside shoes.
• Fungal nail infection of the finger is more common in women, and toe nail fungus infection more common in men and equally spread among the two sexes.
• An infected nail is thickened, brittle, crumbly, distorted and lacks luster. There is also build up of debris under the nail.

Who is at risk to be affected by fungal nail infection?

• Those who constantly have their fingers wet like fishmongers, drink sellers, housewives that do plenty of housework, those involved with water works whose hands are wet most of the time.
• Older people are more prone to acquiring nail fungus. The slow growth and thickening of nail as someone ages and also poor circulation makes a person more prone to infections.
• Smoking and fungal nail infection relation. The chances increase by 80% if you are a day a pack smoker.
• Those that wear socks and shoes that are too tight, restricting blood flow in some cases.  Sweaty feet is another environment where fungus thrive, warm and moist. Walking barefoot in public places like pools, shower rooms, gyms.
• Diabetes.
  
  

Treatment
Fungal nail infection can be very painful and affect your everyday activities. If not treated, it can and may spread although not very fast. However, people with weak immune system or other medical conditions like diabetes, should not take this lightly since they can lead to more complications.

It’s best to consult your doctor and you may be prescribed oral medication and/or antifungal nail polish depending on the severity of your fungal nail infection.

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