smoking

[gefmayhem]

A couple of questions for all youse diabetics.
I know 3 type 1 and 1 other type 2 diabetics and we all smoke.
It varies from 'social' in the pub to quite heavy, 10 to 20 fags a day.
The type 1s I know are really up to speed over diet, injections and general lifestyle but they still smoke.
Personally I love a fag with my drink and as I'm in a strange city, I find that go out for a fag helps me meet a lot of new people.
So, the questions.
Have you ever smoked?
Do you still smoke?
how many a day (average it out over a week if necessary)?
Type 1 or 2?

Recently I've improved my diet a lot, inceased exercise but still love my fag.

thanks in advance

 

[DiabeticSkater]

I smoke between 10 and 20 cigs a day. Always enjoyed smoking and find it a great stress reliever. Keep getting hassle from the docs about smoking but hey who wants to live a miserable life.
I'm type one and coming up to my 30th year with no complications really. Eat very healthily and exercise most days. I skateboard whenever possible. I'm a hardcore viking vert skater.

 

[Dennis]

I was diagnosed as Type-2 in 2002 and gave up smoking in 2006. I used to smoke 25 to 30 small cigars a day. For the 4 years that I was both a smoker and a diabetic, I used to get told constantly by the surgery diabetes support team that I should stop. Yeah, yeah I thought, the usual anti-smoking scaremongering tactics.

Then I did a bit of research and found that my chances of getting retinopathy were 300% higher than a non smoker. My chances of losing a toe or a foot were 200% higher, and my chances of a heart attack were 600% higher. I decided the odds were just too great and I would really love to see my 3 grandchildren grow up, and not from a wheelchair, so I joined a "Stop Smoking" group run by my local surgery and have never looked back.

It wasn't easy and of the 15 who started the course, only 4 of us finished it. I don't know how the other 3 are doing but I have not had one since - like an alcoholic I know that just one smoke and I would be hooked again.

The money that I saved in the first year alone paid for a fabulous holiday for me and my wife to Singapore, New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

I'm not going to lecture you. I know from personal experience that its bloody hard. Every day, even 2 years later, I crave a smoke, but every day I am glad that I did it.

 

[DiabeticSkater]

Smoking marijuana can be very beneficial to a number of diabetic complications which are otherwise are untreatable.

 

[Dennis]

. . . a number of diabetic complications which are otherwise are untreatable.

Can you give us some examples? I've never come across a diabetic complication that is not treatable.

 

[DiabeticSkater]

Diabetic Retinopathy (Eye Disease)

High blood pressure

Stomach Nerve Damage (Gastroparesis)

Diabetic Neuropathies

 

[DiabeticSkater]

Have any of you smokers out there found that when you stop smoking the control goes AWOL?

 

[timo2]

Cookie Monster says "Keep off the grass!"
(and stop pinching his cookies)

 

[KimSuzanne]

I've smoked on and off for 10years ish - social at first but currently smoke 10 - 15 a day dependant on work. No problems with my heart, cholesterol has never gone above 4 and I'm Type 1 coming up 19 years.
Tried to give up numerous times and my control always goes mad - my GP even knows when I'm trying to give up between the diabetes and the withdrawl I'm a quivering wreck in a minor breakdown after a week!

 

[Dennis]

Diabetic Retinopathy (Eye Disease)

High blood pressure

Stomach Nerve Damage (Gastroparesis)

Diabetic Neuropathies

I'm sorry but none of these is untreatable.

Diabetic retinopathy can be completely reversed by bringing blood sugar levels under control, but can also be treated surgically or by an injection of triamcinolone

High blood pressure is treatable and many people on this forum take hypertensive medication

Gastroparesis is usually treated by Metoclopramide, Cisapride, or Erythromycin

Diabetic neuropathy is also reversed by bringing blood sugars under control, although there's a shed load of medications that can also be used.

You'll just have to find another excuse!! :wink:

Incidentally marijuana actually increases blood pressure not lowers it. An extract from cannabis that can lower hypertension (cannabigerol) has recently been discovered by an Israeli scientist but is still under trials and won't be commercially available for years. (Also it has no hallucinatory effect.)

 

[totsy]

i did smoke about twenty a day and stopped smoking on the day of diagnosis,while ill in hospital i thought that was a good a time as any lol,its been 4 yrs and i still sometimes want a ciggy but wont risk it..

 

[TROUBR]

Thankfully I gave up when 7 wks pregnant with my son (now 4 years old) and before I became type 1. I used to smoke about 20 a day from the age of 19 'til nearly 34. I had never tried until that pont but had always said I would do it if was was pregnant and I did. I always said if I wanted one I would have one but haven't so far but now it would take a lot to make me need one that badly. Although I have to say that I still miss it (in the car more than anywhere else oddly enough) and when ever I am on a motorway and reach roadworks it always jumps into my head as I used to always light up when I hit roadworks (don't ask why I just did!).,

 

[DiabeticSkater]

ggjnjg/3445hg/h;/kkk/;jjyj5355

 

[DiabeticGeek]

And complications will occur at some point in some patients regardless of control. Its just a matter of time.

That may be true of smokers - because for physiological reasons they are going to find control much more difficult. However, this is absolutely not true for all diabetics. Complications are caused by high blood glucose. If your control is tight enough, you shouldn't have high blood glucose! For many people getting an A1C comfortably within the range of non-diabetics is an achievable objective. There is no reason why a diabetic with normal levels of blood glucose should ever get complications. Even if you do get complications then, provided that they don't get too advanced, many of them are reversible if you can normalise your blood glucose. Have a look at Richard Bernstein's web site as the domain name suggests it is all about normalising blood sugar and avoiding complications.

 

[DiabeticGeek]

Anyway I love smoking ciggys and have a very happy and healthy life.

I'm lucky, I have never smoked (and it is simple dumb luck) - so I don't have anything to miss. I don't have any problem with smokers, and respect their decision to carry on - just so long as it is an informed decision. Pretty much everyone is aware that smoking is dangerous. Just so long as you are aware that it is substantially more dangerous for a diabetic than for other people, then that is fine. If the pleasure you get from smoking ciggys is greater than the pleasure you get from having a functioning body then carry on smoking. We all know of 90-somethings in perfect health who attribute long life to regular cigarettes and whisky. They have beaten the odds - maybe you will too. Good luck.

 

[timo2]

There is no reason why a diabetic with normal levels of blood glucose should ever get complications.

Ah, if only that were true, my friend. For type 1s, the lack of C-peptide (normally produced
as an insulin byproduct ) means that complications can be encountered despite good control.
C-peptide plays a critical role in the long term maintainance of blood vessels. Good glycemic control will be an enormous help in delaying complications, but to a greater or lesser
extent, for nearly all type 1s, they will eventually arrive.

Be lucky,
timo.

 

[loopy-loo]

hi there,

I've just celebrated my 3yr smoke free anniversary (by buying a new pair of shoes).

I had smoked from the age of 14, through being diagnosed type 1 and through a pregnancy
I did try on many occassions to give up and would succeed for about 6mths, but then a stressful event would happen and would use it as an excuse to start smoking again.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until the day my mum told me she had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer that I finally realised what a complete idiot I had been. She was also a lifelong smoker. She died 6 months later, and it was the most distressing thing I have ever been through, and do you know what - the last thing I wanted was a fag, which just goes to show that it is **** to say they relieve stress.

I am now lucky to have another baby, but sadly my mum never got to meet him.

I wish you the best of luck in life and I hope very much that you dont get any smoking related diseases, however I think your stacking the odds against yourself, especially when your body is already dealing with diabetes.

Regards

Lindsey x

 

[Brillo]

I'm a Type 1 diabetic, and I smoked for 15 odd years or so, but gave up 2-3 years ago. I used to be a hardcore, heavy smoker, and was convinced I'd never be able to give up. I had tried various ways to give up though (mainly due to the fact that everyone I wanted to date hated smoking), but nothing worked. I tried nicotine replacement therapies, Alan Carr's 'easy way to stop smoking', but none of them helped, until I found out about Zyban (which doesn't always agree with everyone), but that really helped me quit. I also had a wonderful and supportive boyfriend (now husband), and that more than anything else, really helped me stop. I would really recommend you stop smoking. It's out of fashion and horrible. You stink (sorry, but it's true). There are so many reasons to give up smoking, and so few to continue. I have better and healthier friends now, and I avoid hanging out with smokers. I know it's so difficult to give up, but it's really worth it. Please, please, please do try to give up. You'll feel so much better for it.

 

[AmberAnn]

Having been an off and on smoker for half my adult life...smoked through stress times in my life..didn't smoke when pregnant and whilst kids still at home...Gave up smoking after I retired..too darn expensive when ones income is suddenly slashed in half...result I gained weight..learning to drive and ceasing work all contributed to me gaining weight...result at almost 67 got Type 2.........it happens...Still have lost some weight...saved some petrol by walking more got used to a really healthy diet..and yesterday managed to watch a Chocolate Demostration without sampling the produce...Hey ho life goes on...Smoke Free Sugar Free :lol:

 

[DiabeticSkater]

I really like calculated risks. I spend most of my days involved in extreme sports which could leave me crippled. But I love it and will never stop. I do believe that If I am to die diabetes will kill me off before anything else but I doubt it. According to all the "science" I should have a number of complications but I don't. So what does that say?