The Great American Smokeout is Today November 15, 2018
Tobacco Causes 12 Kinds of Cancer (CDC)
The Great American Smokeout is today, November 15, 2018. This campaign is by the American Cancer Society and is urging all smokers to quit today on the great American Smokeout.
Quitting is not Easy but you can Go for Help
Join the Quit for Life Program
This is a telephone based program where you can phone for help day or night and receive information and support on how to quit smoking.
The Quit for Life program is offered by 26 states and more than 700 employers and also by health plans.
Enroll Online or for assistance call 1-866-QUIT-4-LIFE (1-866-784-8454).
When you join you will get a Quit Coach who will teach you how to live without tobacco using the “4 Essential Practices to Quit For Life.”
The program has helped over one million smokers to quit. Those who want to try to quit will get the following:
- Numerous outbound coaching calls and unlimited toll-free access to a Quit Coach®
- Unlimited access to Web Coach®, an online community that offers e-learning tools, social support, and information about quitting
- Decision support for the type, dose, and use of medicine and mail order access to the medicine
- Text2Quit – text messages personalized to each participant’s quit plan
- A printed, stage-appropriate quit guide. “Stage” refers to pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, or maintenance. Most tobacco users fall somewhere on this continuum.
- Tailored, motivational emails sent throughout the quitting process
After six months, quit rates are assessed by a follow-up call. Participants are asked to report the day they last used tobacco products. Participants who have not used tobacco in the last 30 days are considered to have quit.
Quitting can also Save you a Lot of Money
Dreaming of going off for a nice vacation or maybe you want to buy something new, but it seems you never have money for these things? Here is an online calculator where you can see how much money you will save when you quit smoking.
Smoking Tobacco Cigarettes
More than 34 million Americans are still smoking cigarettes and smoking is still the single largest preventable cause of illness and death all over the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking and second-hand smoke cause an estimated 480,000 deaths (1 in 5) a year in the US. Of this number 41,000 deaths among adults and 400 deaths among infants are from exposure to secondhand smoke. Tobacco use causes 80% of all lung cancer deaths and 30% of other types of cancer deaths in the US. About half of all people who smoke cigarettes for 20 years will die of a tobacco-related disease, but quitting smoking can decrease this risk.
Tobacco contains about 7000 chemicals and hundreds of these are toxic and about 70 of them can cause cancer. Smoking costs approximately $300 billion every year in direct health care expenses. More than 16 million Americans are living with a smoking-related disease.
Cigarette smoking in the US has dropped significantly from 42% in 1965 to 14% in 2017 probably because of knowledge that smoking leads to all kinds of diseases and early death. In fact, people who have less education and live below the poverty line are still smoking and suffering from smoke-related cancers and other diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Types of Tobacco use in the US
- Cigarettes
- Cigars
- Smokeless tobacco (Chewing tobacco, snuff, dip, snus and dissolvable tobacco)
- Pipes
- Hookah (water pipes)
- Bidis
- Electronic cigarettes
Tobacco is Linked to 12 Types of Cancer
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in their Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report (MMWR) of November 2, 2018, published “Surveillance for Cancers Associated with Tobacco Use – United States 2010-2014, reports that tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of cancer and is linked to at least 12 types of cancer:
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- Cancers of the mouth and pharynx (throat)
- Esophagus
- Stomach
- Colorectal
- Liver
- Pancreas
- Larynx (voice box)
- Lung, bronchus and trachea
- Kidney and renal pelvis
- Urinary bladder
Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Care
If you or your loved one are in need of a good rehab and skilled nursing facility check out the Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Syracuse, New York. They also have wonderful amenities and recreational programs. If you are suffering from any kind of lung diseases, Van Duyn has a state-of-the-art respiratory wellness program with a team of expert respiratory therapists.
Conclusion
It is Never too Late to Quit Smoking. People who have already become ill from smoking should still quit.