Choking Smoking

I'm a pretty forgiving person, but one of the most difficult events I have come to forgive is the gift of asthma from my father's 1.5 pack-a-day smoking in the house, in the car, and everywhere in between until I moved away from home. Second-hand smoke, combined with living in L.A. for four years, are the two most likely contributors to my present diagnosis of asthma. After countless doctor visits, inhalers, reverse breath techniques, allergy identification and removal, and an aggressive cardiovascular fitness routine, I recently removed my fast-acting inhaler from my purse and laid it to rest, knowing that I could still have a massive asthma attack at anytime, but also knowing that the primary trigger to my asthma has been removed: smoking.

When Washington enacted its current Chapter 70.160 RCW smoking ban from all public indoor spaces (including the 25 foot rule which goes beyond most state's smoking bans) in 2005, I did a little dance of joy. For years, going out in public for a meal, entering a nightclub for music concerts, or accepting an invitation to a public party meant knowing that at any moment, a smoker's cloud directed towards my airspace could mean hours, days, and weeks of illness, shortness of breath, or a trip to the hospital. Until international cities like Paris adopted similar laws, a trip to gay Paris meant at least a week of coughing, bronchitis, and repeated asthma symptoms; a visit to Taipei, Taiwan still means coughing until I vomit, wearing a mask at all times, and nothing short of physical misery.

Recently, someone asked the question, "What do you love most about living in America?" My immediate gut response is unequivocally, "Freedom." But freedom includes every person's right to pursue happiness and pleasure, including smoking cigarettes. What right do I, a smoke-sensitive person on par with fitness trainer Bob Greene (who coaches weight-loss clients to quit smoking first, for their health and because of his own sensitivity to smoke), have to tell people they should give up their freedom to kill themselves with cancer sticks?

When I first learned how addictive cigarette smoking truly is to the human body and brain, I felt a tinge of sorrow. Maybe people don't quit because they can't. Ironically, while watching the movie, "G.I. Jane", the movie includes a quote from D.H. Lawrence's poem "Self-Pity": "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without having felt sorry for itself." We are a kind of wild thing, we humans. Yet we feel sorry for ourselves and others when maybe pity isn't what's needed. Action -- your true right to choose freely after seeing the truth -- is what's needed.

At the time of my personal education, I was a nursing student caring for a woman in her 40's, a double amputee due to poor circulation directly linked to her two pack-a-day smoking habit. Crying while still smoking on the balcony of the hospital after her third amputation to the thigh on both legs, she begged me for mercy and understanding. I will never forget that day, nor what I said. I looked at her, and said quietly, "It doesn't matter if I grant you mercy. If mercy is what you seek, you already have it. But if you don't quit smoking now, there is no more of your legs to cut off. There is no remedy. You must stop, or you will die." She was later treated, discharged, and I never saw her again. I don't even know if she's still alive. I do know that she had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth as her family members wheeled her away to their car.

From my experience as a nurse and psychotherapist, the reason why anyone would continue to repeat an action that they know is harmful to them is not because they don't know better, but because that action is doing something for them. That action has to feel incredibly good, be convenient and easy to use, and/or highly addictive. In the case of chronic smoking, nicotine is delivering nothing less than self-medication for anxiety and unsettling emotions which similar to carb loading, over-exercise, or certain drugs like Xanax and even TCH in marijuana, provide a temporary respite. Not only are there physical cravings when smoker's attempt to quit, but there are psychological ones as well.

Having treated many people for anxiety, I have a certain level of compassion for the "drug of choice" that each anxious person chooses, whether it becomes an OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) ritual, an Eating Disorder, psychotropic medication for anxiety, or cigarettes. I only know that nobody can stay at a high level of anxiety for long without feeling like they are going to crawl right out of their skin.

However, knowing that there are more healthy options to treat anxiety gives me some hope that those who are willing to get an "education" as I did about cigarette smoking might come to the same conclusion: while smoking is the number one cause for preventable diseases (such as cancer, stroke,and heart attack), it's not a very good way to treat anxiety! Neither is marijuana, for that matter, as you end up trading one problem for a host of others. For my many friends and future clients who wish to quit smoking but feel too anxious to do so, I don't judge you personally. I only know that there are better ways to treat your anxiety and cravings, and when you're ready to quit, there is help to do so. Just tell me when.

Video Nurse will be featuring a one-hour hosted chat on Ustream.tv Monday June 14, 2010 at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, finishing out the series, "Five Things People Do That Could Kill Them". Smoking is an obvious one, but Video Nurse will take on all the stuff we don't talk about, since most of us know the statistics. It's like telling a fat person, "You're fat." That doesn't help. Instead, we'll talk about the "why's" behind cigarette and marijuana smoking, and worldwide trends that'll have you thinking about what the tobacco industry will be doing to make sure they stay in business for years to come, as well as the link between smoking and obesity, as smoking doesn't always serve to curb one's appetite.

I'll then edit a five minute video segment on Youtube, so you can share it with friends. I hope it's not only informative, but entertaining as well. I find that even when we're talking about death and cancer, there's always something strangely funny or bizarre to share. Tune in and check it out for yourself.