lungcancer - Jezebel

posts about #lungcancer more →
Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Bad News

Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.

Dsmvwl Admin Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Sister Toldja
05/04/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE "NOSMO KING" SIGN MY BEST FRIEND MADE WHEN WE WERE 8????? HOW DID YOU KNOW???
Reply

Sister Toldja was starred Sister Toldja was unstarred

GoldenRatioφ (aka -girl11)
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Even friggin' cigs are sexist. Using this as further proof for goldenboy that the world hates women.
Reply

morninggloria
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Edit: Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer And Nab Danny Zucko.

Fixed.
Reply

morninggloria was starred morninggloria was unstarred

MeganGlass 就是一个古代的三明治
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Fuck. Quitting was fucking hard as hell, but I'm glad I did.
Reply

Jack_Burton
05/03/09

@MeganGlass (is pronounced wiener slave): Cheers! I have had the same experience.

In fact... I dreamped of smoking last night. =\
Reply

Jack_Burton was starred Jack_Burton was unstarred

hkcd
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
My maternal grandmother smoked for most of her life and died of lung cancer. She was in her early 80's, though.
Reply

hkcd was starred hkcd was unstarred

badmutha
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
I am sad to say that I haven't even tried to quit lately. I know I should, if for no other reason than the little muthas. It makes me ashamed of my lack of will power.
Reply

badmutha was starred badmutha was unstarred

Skinny lips, killer lashes
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
The one thing that stopped me from even trying one cigarette was an episode of the X-Files. I think the episode was called Brand X.
Reply

happysquid
05/03/09

@Skinny lips, killer lashes: Nope! but Close, they were called MORLEYS! (*instead of Marlboros).

Sorry, watch X-files too much. And the CSM (Cigarette-Smoking Man) was one of the best anti-smoking PSA's EVER. Take note, Truth campaign!
Reply

happysquid was starred happysquid was unstarred

happysquid
05/03/09

@Skinny lips, killer lashes: Oh wait! Haha I remember this episode - the one with the beetles that infested the test subject's lungs. :bows in humility:
Reply

happysquid was starred happysquid was unstarred

kelsium
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Good. Another thing that we can specifically shame women for that falls into the category of "But, but HEALTH!"

Fantastic.
Reply

kelsium was starred kelsium was unstarred

HappyHydrozoan is positive disintegration
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
HA! Love the "Nosmo King" tag, Hortense!
Reply

bananastand
05/03/09

@HappyHydrozoan: Ramona ftw! Next Hortense is going to write little anti-smoking notes, roll them up, and slip them into our cig packs.
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

hortense
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
I am trying to get my sister to quit, but I have never been a smoker so I'm not sure of the best advice to give her. So any help would be appreciated, really.
Reply

hortense was starred hortense was unstarred

Plum-Pie
05/03/09

@hortense: I don't know how old she is, but lots of my friends stopped when they left university or within a couple of years of leaving.
Reply

Plum-Pie was starred Plum-Pie was unstarred

fgg_1
05/03/09

@hortense: I'm guessing the "DO YOU WANT TO DIE? DO YOU? THESE THINGS ARE KILLING YOU, AND YOU WILL DIE IF YOU KEEP SMOKING. DOOOO YOOOOUUUU WANT TO DIE?!" spproach wouldn't do much good.
Reply

fgg_1 was starred fgg_1 was unstarred

ChickyOnly
05/03/09

@Plum-Pie: I agree with this. I think it becomes harder to be a regular smoker out in the working world - you worry more about smelling like smoke at work, fewer and fewer of your friends will smoke, and the health issues start becoming more real and less hypothetical.
Reply

ChickyOnly was starred ChickyOnly was unstarred

hortense
05/03/09

@fgg_1: I've tried that before, to no avail. She's 26 and has been smoking since high school.
Reply

hortense was starred hortense was unstarred

haguenite
05/03/09

@hortense: You need to WANT to quit. For real.

I believe there are degrees of addiction, and I probably didn't get the worst kind, but once I put my mind to not smoking anymore, it was relatively easy. I stayed away from friends who smoked for a week or two. I changed my daily routine (don't leave for the bus 10 minutes early, make sure I was just on time so I didn't feel the urge to light up while I waited).

The physical stuff lasted only 5 days or so, and you just need to grin and bear that. As for the psychological stuff, I posted a note that had all the shit I've already gone through and survived on it to my closet door, and below it I wrote "You made it through all this, and now you're gonna let cigarettes beat your ass?!"
Reply

haguenite was starred haguenite was unstarred

happysquid
05/03/09

@hortense: I quit smoking after I went through an intense time when I was smoking a pack + a day... couldn't even breathe, had to lie down on a couch for 2 days. I think that every time your sister gets sick, it's a chance for to kinda "reboot" and start from scratch. So getting a cold makes it a lot easier to quit. Just tell her to keep that in mind - that every time she gets really sick it could be a blessing in disguise.

Actually, this may is my 1 year anniversary of quitting!
Reply

happysquid was starred happysquid was unstarred

PersonalBest
05/03/09

@hortense: This is going to sound pessimistic, but I don't think you can really do much per se, aside from being there for her when she decides to quit. This is going to sound supercheesy, but when we decide to quit any kind of addiction, the choice has to come from within, or else it doesn't truly stick. In the grips of addiction, people are more than likely to ignore good, sensible advice, even from loved ones.
Reply

PersonalBest was starred PersonalBest was unstarred

YourScreenplaySucks
05/03/09

@hortense: Honestly, the only thing that got my cousin to quit was bombarding her with information about the aging/cosmetic effects of smoking. The internal effects simply seemed too abstract for her. Only the idea that she was affecting her physical attractiveness really seemed to scare her. Sad, but true.
Reply

PrarieMuffin
05/03/09

@happysquid: This is what did it for me. I always said I would be one of those people who smoked into their seventies--until I got the mother of all chest infections. For the first time in 7 years, cigarettes just tasted bad. It was a "now or never" situation, and I decided to take advantage. It's amazing how quickly the benefits built up: I can breathe better, my skin looks fantastic, and best of all, I have $300 extra dollars in my bank account.
Reply

PrarieMuffin was starred PrarieMuffin was unstarred

LaComtesse
05/03/09

@hortense: I got my baby sister (she's 17) to quit by asking her to imagine any smoker over the age of 25 that she knew. I then asked her to give an honest mental assessment of how she thought they looked, smelled, etc. when they smoked and whether she found that attractive or cool.

What has always deterred me from smoking is the knowledge that it's consumerism at its absolute highest form. You are buying into the most ridiculous marketing possible. It's a product that very few people like their first couple times, but you keep using it based on the image that has been marketed to you, and then you do it enough that you are literally addicted to the product of an evil corporation that could eventually kill you.

But, I agree completely with @haguenite:, you have to want it on your own.

Good luck!
Reply

LaComtesse was starred LaComtesse was unstarred

badmutha
05/03/09

@hortense: I have to agree with the "Get her while she is down" thinking. I quit several years ago when I was very ill, stayed quit while I was trying to have babies, only to pick it up again after the children were safe on the outside. Damn addictions.
Reply

badmutha was starred badmutha was unstarred

PersonalBest
05/03/09

@PersonalBest: Thing is, smoking is such a terrible, universally-reviled habit, that I think a lot of smokers have a kind of built up defense mechanism against quitting advice. When a smoker is told "smoking is terrible for you", even in a friendly, concerned way, we have the tendency to think "Of course I know it's bad for me!" and not take the comment seriously.
Reply

PersonalBest was starred PersonalBest was unstarred

chacha
05/03/09

@LaComtesse: Absolutely agreed. And another big benefit -or, I should say, reason to feel good- of quiting, for me: one step closer to living in a way that's coherent to my beliefs, making amends with my body, connecting better to nature.

Easier said than done, of course, but thinking of my non-smoker self as a happier me.
Reply

chacha was starred chacha was unstarred

chacha
05/03/09

@chacha: hit "enter" too fast.

Meant to say that thinking of my non-smoker self as a happier me helped me quit.
Reply

chacha was starred chacha was unstarred

LaComtesse
05/03/09

@chacha: Good for you :-)
Reply

LaComtesse was starred LaComtesse was unstarred

misspell
05/03/09

@PersonalBest: Yes, it's a sky-is-falling issue for smokers. I always sort of begrudgingly listened to people when they told me how bad it was, and pretty much ignored them. Yes, she has to want to quit, but it's possible to talk some sense into her in moments of weakness - though I think an ex-smoker would have a little more leverage, just because they'd be able to relate to her addiction and speak her language, so to speak. It's always tough.
Reply

misspell was starred misspell was unstarred

MeganGlass 就是一个古代的三明治
05/03/09

@haguenite: Absolutely. Even more than wanting to quit, though, I think you have to be READY to quit.

@hortense: For me, being ready meant giving myself a good year to get used to the idea that I was going to stop smoking. I'd been wanting and trying to quit for a couple of years but never made it past a month. I quit when they banned smoking in bars here in OR. The first week I locked myself inside and pigged out to cope, but since then it's been surprisingly easy going. Hopefully you can get your sister on board with a program like that. Good luck to both of you.
Reply

Stabby McStabberson
05/03/09

@hortense: this is extreme, but my mom quit when she saw a film of an autopsy of a young smoker. the lungs - they were black and rotted out. it brought home what was going on inside her body in a way just hearing about tar and lung damage didn't.

*this was in the '60s, before the causative link between smoking and lung cancer was made public. seeing a black, rotting, cancerous lung might be even more compelling, as would the grisly details of death by lung cancer entails.
Reply

bananastand
05/03/09

@Plum-Pie: Well, there's the kind of smoker that can just be all, "College is over! See you later, Parliaments!" And then there's the kind that can't and end up smoking for years and years.

Man, I wish I could have been the former!
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

bananastand
05/03/09

@happysquid: Congrats on a year!
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

Jack_Burton
05/03/09

@hortense: Tell her that food tastes better, water tastes better, and partners taste better (and yo to them).
Reply

Jack_Burton was starred Jack_Burton was unstarred

bananastand
05/03/09

@Jack_Burton: Food DOES taste better when you quit. Which is why it's sooooo hard not to gain weight...
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

Devonna
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Whenever I read about studies like this, I want to light up. Or depressing anti-smoking ads.

I can't deal with someone telling me which vices I'm allowed to have.
Reply

Devonna was starred Devonna was unstarred

nessalicious
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
I wish I could give up. I'm down to my last 6 a day, but they're so hard to get rid of!
Reply

nessalicious was starred nessalicious was unstarred

misspell
05/03/09

@nessalicious: When I was doing the reduction thing, I also got stuck at 6. I had a different experience than ShinyMcShine. I couldn't do 2, or 3 or 1. I had 6 or I had none. You can do it. Easy does it.
Reply

misspell was starred misspell was unstarred

bananastand
05/03/09

@nessalicious: @misspell: I was also stuck at six for, like, ever. I'm on day 13 of no-smoking. Like misspell, it was six or nothing for me.

It's tough, but worth it. I feel so good and the cravings are slowly going away. It's true, though, that you have to be ready to quit.

@ShinyMcShine: Awesome, you can do it! We'll nic-fit together. :)
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

misspell
05/03/09

@bananastand: Day 13! You're almost in the clear. Week 3, for some reason, is tough. You can do it.
Reply

misspell was starred misspell was unstarred

bananastand
05/03/09

@misspell: Thank you!
Reply

bananastand was starred bananastand was unstarred

YourScreenplaySucks
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
OK universe! Smoking, alcohol, unprotected sex - everything fun is worse for us. We're baby incubators and must keep the slate clean & purified. I GET IT.

I wish I could sue evolution for sex discrimination.
Reply

Steve Holt's Mother Part Deux
05/03/09

@Your Screenplay Sucks: I'm with you, "Your Screenplay Sucks & Steve Holt's Mother Part Deux v. Evolution."
Reply

happysquid
05/03/09

@Your Screenplay Sucks: FUCK YEA I agree with you. It's all BOOLSHIT, ALL OF IT!

Reply

happysquid was starred happysquid was unstarred

YourScreenplaySucks
05/03/09

@Your Screenplay Sucks: I would also like to sue Faux Pity for discrimination against enlightening discourse.
Reply

greengrey
05/03/09

@Your Screenplay Sucks: I want in on this lawsuit. I would also like to call the espca on people abusing high horses.
Reply

greengrey was starred greengrey was unstarred

YourScreenplaySucks
05/03/09

@greengrey: We need to start our own law firm.
Reply

ChickyOnly
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
Working at a pharmacy for years, I witnessed a 33 year old woman die of lung cancer essentially before my eyes. It can happen, even at such a young age. The saddest was that after she died, her mother was so addicted that she continued buying herself packs of Marlboro 25s every day.

Women are also much more likely than men to get lung cancer without ever having been smokers.
Reply

ChickyOnly was starred ChickyOnly was unstarred

haguenite
05/03/09

In reply to Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer
You know, I quit smoking 16 months ago, and it's only starting to get hard now. I'm so much more tempted to light up than I was a year ago. It would be nice if someone researched how that works. But perhaps I'm the only one with that problem.
Reply

haguenite was starred haguenite was unstarred

Plum-Pie
05/03/09

@haguenite: Are you more stressed now than you were then? Did you do 'one day at a time' when you first stopped and now you're 'Agh, this is the rest of my life without it'?

Congrats on your 16 months anyway - my dad had to have 7 strokes in 48 hours to be inspired to quit.
Reply

Plum-Pie was starred Plum-Pie was unstarred

haguenite
05/03/09

@Plum-Pie: Ha, you've seen my Facebook status updates; I'm definitely stressed and yes, probably more so than last year. Also, it seems like such a long time until the day I can light up again, which is my 75th birthday.

7 strokes in 48 hours. That's awful!
Reply

haguenite was starred haguenite was unstarred

PersonalBest
05/03/09

@Plum-Pie: As an ex-smoker turned smoker again, I can attest that stress is definitely a factor in starting up again. I stopped smoking for several months a couple of years ago, then was in the middle of a terrible situation, and my first instinct was to run out and buy a pack to soothe me. It snowballed from there.
Reply

PersonalBest was starred PersonalBest was unstarred

Plum-Pie
05/03/09

@haguenite: Yeah - he had to relearn how to walk although he's 95% recovered, 5 years on.

Ha! One of my great-aunts had to stop drinking after getting hepatitis, she promptly recommenced smoking (1 a day)... and lived to almost 80.
Reply

Plum-Pie was starred Plum-Pie was unstarred

gherkinfiend
05/03/09

@PersonalBest: @haguenite: I gave up for a year and a half and it was the stress that got me started again. And now it's just habit keeping me there.

I am working toward quitting, but I like the idea of setting a start date on my 75th birthday. It seems less daunting that way...
Reply

gherkinfiend was starred gherkinfiend was unstarred

badmutha
05/03/09

@PersonalBest: I feel you. I quit for years and then had one when we were out with friends. BAD EFFING IDEA.
Reply

badmutha was starred badmutha was unstarred

misspell
05/03/09

@haguenite: I've experienced that too - I think it's an insidious remnant of the addiction, sneaking in to convince you that the hard work is done and you could totally have one if you wanted one, just one! But of course that's a lie.
Reply

misspell was starred misspell was unstarred

Earlier discussions Other discussions Show all discussions Show featured discussions only Start a new discussion

#lungcancer

Jezebel

SUBSCRIBE TO Jezebel

Female Smokers More Likely To Develop Lung Cancer

Bad News

Login

Reset Password

Register

Submit Your Comment