Health

Trying to keep up with frequent posting here. . .

Just a small background on my health issues that I have struggled with. One of the biggest being smoking. My father has been a heavy smoker ever since I was born and always preached to me that I should never start. He told me the same thing his father told him when he started smoking in his teen years, "someday you will be sorry". Well for me that day has come and passed, and also for him as well. About two years ago he was diagnosed with copd after a bout of lung issues that landed him in the hospital for about two weeks. The doctors said that if he somehow managed to sleep the night he went into the emergency room, he probably would have never woke up. That scared him enough to quit cold for about two months and then he was back at it, not as heavily but smoking again nonetheless. A little side story about my father is that he always has something to get done, weather it be working on the house remodel or splitting wood for heat in the winter. He works literally non-stop 24-7 with about 5-6 hours of sleep on and average night (he works night shift at Ford Motor Co.) when he went back to smoking (after struggling with quitting numerous times, trying chantix, nicorette, and many other alternatives) he didn't have the energy to get his work done.

Stumbling upon a new alternative that has made its way into the states, he started using electronic cigarettes and has been cigarette free for more than a year now. I followed in his footsteps and purchased my own arsenal of e-cig supplies, batteries, mods, and juices (liquid nicotine flavors) I'm not going to go into the details of how they work but the basic principal is that they deliver the craving a smoker's body has for nicotine without the harmful tar, carcinogens and pesticides that are found in today's common cigarette. This is great I thought. No smell, no terrible after-taste, and best of all it's water vapor, so no harm done with smoke. The downside has finally begun to hit me. With all the fruity and delicious flavors the juice comes in, I find myself puffing on this stick more then I would smoke throughout the day. I can do it at work, school, in my dorm, and there's no harm because it just evaporates odorless. But now, how does this help as a QUITTING aid? It doesn't. You can choose lower levels of nicotine mixtures, but then you wind up using it more because it doesn't satisfy. I've gone up and down several times (made it to zero nicotine for a while) which fulfills the physical motions but doesn't satisfy the  chemical need for nicotine.

Wanting to keep this short, I won't go into further conundrums, but my frustration is apparent. I hate it when someone says "just stop doing it" because they have no concept of the chemical addiction that goes along with cigarettes. It would be like telling someone who drinks 2-3 cups of coffee every morning or drinks soda to just quit drinking it. Caffeine is a similar stimulant, and although it may sound easy, try it for a week then tell me it's not hard. I want to quit for my health and my career as a musician. granted, percussionists don't generally need lungs to play, but you still have to breathe. Furthermore, my cycling abilities are greatly handicapped, I can ride 20-30 miles at a average speed of about 16mph on the road and be fine, but get me on the trails and I'm huffing after the first hill or mud pit in cyclocross. Smoking has made me a shitty roadie, and I hate it. I know that if my lungs were healthy, I could really kick some ass on my bike with my massive legs and start to loose the small pot belly I have (legs and arms are strong as hell and all muscle).

So something needs to change... that is all...