what does everyone think about smoking and cf?

Tricia,

Smoking is never good for the lungs of a CFer. As one doctor explains to me that I know, smoking in the lungs....it's like a very very hard plaque that forms in the lungs of a smoker. With CF, this could only make it worse cause the sputum of a CFer is much like plastic at times. I had pulled very hard plastic like stuff out of my boys nose at times....yuk!. Put those two hardening things together....wow that could be bad.

Smoking is going to make your CF 10X worse, and remember the damage that is caused by smoking, is unfixable. Please try hard to give up. Or your going to end up having some real problems.

hi my names olivia 18 with c.f. even before i found out i had cf, i hated people who smoked i could not stand them. now that i know i have cf and know what cf alone does to you and your lungs, i differently would not put smoking on top of that. and they say smoking for an average person is not good... imagine what it is doing to you. i dont have friends that smoke and if anyone of my friends did or family memeber i would feel as if that is a smack in my face.

How could anyone think that smoking is not bad for someone with cf? Smoking is bad for people without cf. I cant stand to see people smoking and damaging a perfectly good set of healthy lungs. The things people take for granted!

 

Sorry but I have to say this: THAT IS INCREDIBLY STUPID!!!!!!!!   BIG NONO!

Back in the day.......Ok actually about 3 years ago, about a year before I left work, a year after I'd started.

I was smoking, just when I went out, I needed a cig. It was through my depression days, when I was rock bottom. I needed to do something to punish myself, without leaving any visable marks. It was my lungs that were really upsetting me, so it was those I felt I had to punish. and boy, did I punish them. I went from smoking nothing to smoking 20 a night. And I was going out nearly every night, and getting wasted so I could punish my liver aswell.

I wanted to die, I wanted rid of myself, and I knew how harmful smoking would be too me.

It was the most stupid thing ever,and I regret it so much. I did do what I set out to do. I harmed myself. It wasn't long before I was coughing up black/brown gunk. My lung function went from 107% FEV1 and 113% FVC to 66% for both.

It had a major impact on my lungs. I'd started getting regular 3 monthly chest infections, before taking up smoking, but now it was even worse. Now I was really struggling with my breathing, and going through a shed load of ventolin.

I still  struggle with my lung function now. It generally resides around 85%, which is a HUGE drop from what it used to be. I have a bigger problem with asthma than what I used to. Smoking really ruined my lungs, and I wish I'd never started.

It's not hard to quit. My fiance managed it in a day, and hasn't had a single smoke since. He'd been smoking for years and years. You just have to have the right attitude to it. If your there thinking, well it can't effect me that much. Trust me it CAN and most probably will. If it hasn't started to effect you yet, trust me it will one day, in a snap. I will forever regret smoking. Remember that every cig cuts 5 minutes off your life, of a normal person. PWCF have short lives to begin with, why make it even shorter?

I smoked for a couple of years when I was 19-21... It was very easy to quit because it began to hurt so bad whenever I smoked that I couldnt get through a cigarette without coughing like mad. I DEEPLY regret ever smoking. My lungs went from fairly good to not so good and I cant help but wonder how well I would be now if I had never smoked... I probably would have a few more years than Im looking at now. Smoking sucks. You should quit... but you wont unless you want to and believe me, I know smoking is fun but it so isnt worth it. You will regret it, especially if you enjoy living and breathing.

I would just like too add, hurray for smoking bans!!! I know I used too smoke, but that's when I was punishing myself, and it didn't matter that I couldn't breathe.

Now that the laws just been turned in the UK, it is so much easier, and more pleasant too go for a drink or go for a meal. One thing I could never stand, was the smell of smoke while I was eating. Plus the atmophere seems too have changed too.

Hurray for public smoking bans!

I don't have CF either, but I am a former smoker. I quit ten years ago, and when I get allergy problems I still need medication to help loosen things up so I can cough them out. When you quit your lungs begin to heal, but they are never as healthy as if you hadn't smoked.

I used the Nicoderm patches, and was lucky to be able to quit on my first try. Even though smoking would probably make my ulcerative colitis symptoms much better, I will never smoke again. Quit now, the longer you wait the harder it will be.