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GPhC reg. no. 1120610
All medications from licensed pharmacies
GPhC reg. no. 1120610
Smoking is highly addictive, and many people who smoke want to kick the habit or have tried and not succeeded, often on a number of occasions. More often than not this is for health reasons, though in the UK smoking is also highly expensive and, since the smoking ban, regarded as anti social.
It is a proven scientific fact that smoking increases the risk of certain types of cancer as well as heart disease and stroke. In the UK, it is estimated that smoking related illnesses cause around 120,000 deaths a year.
Smoking is the cause of 90 per cent of lung cancer cases and 25 per cent of strokes. Smokers have double the chance of having a heart attack. Passive smoking has also been shown to cause lung cancer and heart disease, and this was one of the main reasons that smoking was banned in all public places in the UK in 2007.
As well as causing lung cancer, smoking can also result in cancers of the stomach, mouth and throat. This risk increases with the length of time that someone has been a smoker and the number of cigarettes smoked. This risk decreases when you stop smoking, so kicking the habit can save your life by preventing smoking related illnesses. It is thought that people who have smoked all their adult lives, who quit before the age of 35 will have the same life expectancy as someone who has never smoked.
Smoking low tar cigarettes will not make you immune to cancer and other smoking related illnesses. As well as tar, there are other carcinogenic chemicals in cigarettes such as benzene and cadmium.
Smoking causes the arteries to narrow, a process called atherosclerosis. This causes an increase in blood pressure and makes the blood more likely to clot, both of which increase your chance of stroke. A smoker with high blood pressure is twenty times more likely to have a stroke than a non-smoker with normal blood pressure.
Smoking doubles your chance of having a heart attack. Cigarettes contain chemicals which coat the arteries causing them to narrow, something which in turn leads to clotting and increased rick of heart attack. Quitting smoking allows the arteries to recover and reverse this narrowing and, although this process takes about ten years, the prognosis is good if you are able to kick the habit.
Smoking causes serious breathing problems such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. These conditions are known collectively as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD. Again, quitting smoking can dramatically reduce the chances of developing COPD.
Quitting smoking before middle age can result in much of the damage that has been done being reversed. Of course this does not apply to all conditions, but if you give up smoking before you hit your mid thirties, the outlook is good though quitting smoking at any time in your life will significantly improve your health and well being. At Private Doctor Direct we have a number of treatments available to help you quit smoking, and after an online consultation with one of our experienced doctors we will be able to decide which is the best course of treatment for you.
