Smoking

[Lexie]

Well, let me start by saying my husband smokes (cigarettes). All but one of his brothers do as well and his cousin. My body reacts quite unhappily to it, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Getting my husband to smoke outside instead was harder than I had anticipated and for a few weeks while I was pregnant, I spent a lot of time trying to breathe through damp washcloths or standing in the front doorway for fresh air. After that, I still had to put up with it in the car until our girl was born. Needless to say, I made excuses to stay home more and more.

The only thing I know about smoking is it's claimed to increase the likelihood of lung cancer. I did meet someone who quit smoking because, according to his doctor, it destroyed his sense of smell entirely. There were some other issues related to it, I think, but he said he had quit a couple months prior and was improving every day. Otherwise, I've heard second-hand smoke is equally hazardous and both smoking and second-hand smoke should be avoided while pregnant.

So I guess after reading from more than one person here that smoking apparently isn't linked to lung cancer, I'm confused. I realize most studies on smoking have been done on rats and I have never understood why we continuously test on animals when we can't say with any certainty that humans will react the same way they do, but is that the basis for this conclusion? Or are there studies on humans which are showing these results? If there are studies, does anyone have any links? I've searched...but I can't seem to find anything. I'll probably do more searching tomorrow, but it's hard to sift through the million sites on how to quit and what to take to help you do it.

Honestly, I'm still concerned about just how much smoke I inhaled while pregnant and what it may have done to my baby. Sure, she could be perfectly fine, but I prefer not to tempt fate.

To a lesser degree, someone else is on my mind. I know a young woman who smoked cigarettes and marijuana (and was having a caffeinated soda every time I noticed her) through her entire pregnancy...and I'm 99.9% sure they vaccinated too, but that's a whole other issue. I've moved away since the week before she gave birth and it's been 1 1/2 years. We haven't kept in touch, but I still sometimes wonder what effect all of these things have had on her child. I haven't read enough about smoking in general to really have any clue. Still...tempting fate...not what I like to do.

So are the effects of smoking simply a mystery or does anyone else have any idea what the truth is?

[Barefoot]

My take on tobacco is that lung cancer was very rare when more people people smoked pure organic tobacco and then when they started adding the chemicals and the radioactive polonium phosphate ferts the problems started.

"Amercian Spirit" is the only company i know that sells organic additive free tobacco and i would recommend all smokers, if they cannot quit change to this safer brand.

[Lexie]

Wow, I had never known about that. I just looked it up and apparently the tobacco companies tried to find ways to remove it but failed. Gee, how about not using it to begin with? Such a lame excuse. And considering the cost of cigarettes has doubled in the past 1 1/2 years here, I would have expected the tobacco to be organic.

I'll tell my husband about American Spirit, but he's very picky, so I don't know what may come of it. He'd like to quit because of the cost, but one of the women he works with constantly gives him cigarettes if he doesn't have any and he doesn't have the willpower to say no. He did try some homeopathic remedies a few months ago and though he still wasn't able to quit, he had cut down considerably, but he has since increased the amount he smokes. So he's at square one again.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

My take on tobacco is that lung cancer was very rare when more people people smoked pure organic tobacco and then when they started adding the chemicals and the radioactive polonium phosphate ferts the problems started.

"Amercian Spirit" is the only company i know that sells organic additive free tobacco and i would recommend all smokers, if they cannot quit change to this safer brand.

This is my understanding as well.

I don't think there is any doubt that people who smoke commercial crap cigarettes, can get cancer. There is also no doubt that using measureable immune parameters, smoking results in nearly a 20% decrease in immune function.

THAT SAID, it has also been found that people who smoke, who have a fantastic diet, with extra vitamin C do not appear to be at nearly so much risk as those who eat a SAD diet.

THAT SAID, THAT SAID, :p I'd never marry a smoker, because the smell of it makes me vomit, and within three days, I'll be in bed with bronchial issues...

THAT SAID, THAT SAID, THAT SAID, being in a room full of women all wearing perfume, does exactly the same thing to me :giggle:

[Lexie]

THAT SAID, THAT SAID, :p I'd never marry a smoker, because the smell of it makes me vomit, and within three days, I'll be in bed with bronchial issues...

THAT SAID, THAT SAID, THAT SAID, being in a room full of women all wearing perfume, does exactly the same thing to me :giggle:

If things had happened in a different timeline for us, we would have never gotten this far. Smoke is dreadful for me too though it doesn't make me puke.

Perfume does a real number on me too. Even my eyes can't handle it. I'm grateful my mother preferred a very weak scent, but I still made her keep away from me before she left for work every morning.

I wish my husband had a good diet. Meh... :(

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

We call perfume or anti b.o. products... tip-sanitizers. :p The kids hate the expression.