When I quit smoking 33 years ago it was among the most difficult challenges of my life. I had gone through heroin withdrawal numerous times between the ages of 16 and 51 – maybe as many as 30 times. But heroin withdrawal, for me, didn't even hold a candle to the pain of quitting smoking cigarettes.
At the time I quit, I was living with a chain smoker, which made it more difficult for me to quit. When I stopped, we were both in recovery. But when I suggested that maybe she quit smoking, she said something to the effect that she had quit everything else that she enjoyed and that she certainly wasn't going to give up cigarettes.
When I said that cigarettes were probably going to kill her she replied that at least "she would die with some flavor on her lips." And that was the end of my efforts to convince her to stop.
She's still alive today but has numerous health problems that her doctors attribute to her heavy smoking habit. She's had more than one heart attack and has had a pacemaker implanted. However, it hasn't convinced her to quit smoking.
Now I know that I'm quite judgmental about smoking. But it's had a heavy impact on my family. At least seven of my family members – mostly aunts and uncles – died slow, painful deaths from the effects of smoking. COPD and emphysema ravaged their bodies. They literally suffocated from being unable to get enough oxygen. It was painful to see them go that way.
And this comes up for me today because one of the addictions that many of us addicts and alcoholics hang onto is smoking. We have staff members and clients who have health problems because of their smoking – and many of them have been clean and sober for several years. Even though they quit, they didn't stop in time. And many years of smoking had an irreversible effect on their lungs. All we can do now is pray that they recover.
Below are resources to help those who want to stop smoking.
American Cancer Society
Toll-free hotline: 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345)
American Lung Association
Toll-free hotline: 1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872)
MedLine Plus – Stop smoking support programs (from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health)
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