Once you give up smoking...

[JFK]

...how long before it gets out of your system, so to speak? I am 24 and have been a regular smoker since age 14. Basically my cousin who is about 32 and a regular smoker has just got cancer and I have decided to give up. After I give up am I still at higher risk of cancer than people who have never smoked? Or after X years would I be in the same condition as if I had never smoked in my life? I don't fancy the idea of dying within the next 10 years so hopefully by quitting the fags I can lead a nice long life. Cheers, JFK

[smudge]

When my husband gave up smoking, his Doctor told him it would take 10 years.

[wildwood]

After 2 hours - the nicotine is out of your system
6 hours - your heartbeat and blood pressure goes back to normal
24 hours - carbon monoxide is our of your system and your lungs work better
2 days - your sense of taste and smell improves
2 weeks - the gunk in your lungs loosen and you may cough a bit
2 month - blood flow improves
1 year - you've halved your risk of death from sudden heart attack etc.
5 years - you are almost as riskfree as one who never smoked. There may be some permanent tissue damage but if this has not given trouble so far, it is unlikely to in the future. Whatever, the advantage of giving up the fags at any stage will improve your health. If you are a anxious person, use the patches and see your doc for lorazepam or something.
In ten years of smoking there is every likelyhood you have not done any permanent damage (yet). I have just stopped myself (after smoking 350,000 cigarettes in 42 years) and have been a non-smoker for 15 days and counting. Good luck.

[JFK]

Thanks Wildwood that's exactly the info I was after. I am confident I can give them up, the only problem for me will be when I have a few beers in the pub, but I'll just have to deal with that. I'm not normally one who plans for the future but the thought of dying young before I've had the chance to see my kids grow up etc is quite terrifying. Plus by giving up I will save about �100 a month which I can use to fund my gambling addiction instead ;-)

[smudge]

Perhaps my husband's GP was trying to frighten him into giving up smoking, saying it would take 10 years, but it certainly did the trick. He used to suffer badly from bouts of bronchitis every winter, but since he gave up 4 years ago, he's felt much healthier, well done & good luck.

[flashpig]

One of my friends is giving up. He thinks he is doing pretty well with the addiction thing, apparently what is messing it up is habit. You know, like in the pub, or lunch breaks. The thing he is doing is to smoke these flavoured herbal cigarettes. I don't see how breathing in burning anything can be good for you, but apparently it is better for him than tobacco and they taste flipping nasty, so when the time comes for him to stop them that won't be any problem. I feel a bit bad because I came back for the holidays and was one of the only ones still smoking. I am feeling it might be time to give up myself. What tissue damage can you get? I know it is never to late, so they say, but I always feel like it might be too late. Ridiculous because I am a mere child.

[rekstout]

My dad has gave up smoking 12 months ago after 36 years on the weed and his GP said it would take about seven years for the effects to comlpletely go. He used gum and my mum to keep him on the straight and narrow and is really happy now (as are we all) but it did take a heart scare to motivate him to quit.

[enigma]

I stupidly started smoking at 15 believing that I was well in with the 'cool' crowd. I reached a point where I outgrew them but I was left with an addiction to nicotine. I stopped at 21 , shortly before I fell pregnant with my first child but stupidly started again on a night out with friends where I accepted a dare that I could smoke a ciggy and not be hooked .... I ended up buying 20 ciggies the next day ! The turning point came for me though when my daughter was three and I took a really bad asthma attack in front of her (my slight asthma had become aggravated by my smoking)and couldn't draw breath at all. It was just her and I in the house as my hubby was at work and she became hysterical , screaming and tried to get a stool to climb up on my kitchen worktop in a bid to reach the top of my kitchen cupboards to get my inhaler , which would have been well out of her reach but she could have injured herself trying to help me. It took all the strength I had to stop her and get my inhaler by myself and the frightened look on her little face when it was all over was enough to make me crush my packet and vow never to put another one in my mouth ever again. That was four years ago and every so often I still get a slight notion for it but I just need to think of her frightened little face to remember why not to. I also feel a lot better health wise , fitter and more in control of my life - I'm not sitting in the cinema waiting for the film to end so that I can nip out for a smoke.

[Kay]

My hubby gave up smoking last year as a lung function test showed he had the lung capacity of an 80 year old and he's only 47! His recent test level was that of a 60 year old.He had smoked since he was 14!