Smoking is a life saver

Hello all,
I was a heavy smoker of 20/day for about 11 years, then quit cold turkey 2.5yr ago and soon after came down with colitis out of nowhere. Ive been using nicotine patch treatment of late with some positive results and it got me thinking that nicotine may be the answer. Ive been struggling badly with joint issues as well as the UC symptoms recently and it made me finally decide once again to try a smoke. I just came back home from a 2 week vacation in which i fired up maybe 20-25 cigarettes total over the 2 weeks. The results were outstanding!! The next day after my first smoke in 2.5yr i had 1 trip to the bathroom, with 1-2 trips in the days to follow. The best results ive ever had since being diangosed, the key now is to only have a couple smokes a day and not fall back into the pack-a-day trap. Its kinda insane to think that smoking is the lesser of the two evils, but anythings better than what ive gone through the past 2.5yr and i cant tell you how pleased i am having made this discovery. I just may have my life back :)

Yup, it's been helpful for some but not necessarily for all and it's an individual choice so it's up to each person to weigh the risks.

:)

Living with someone (husband) who has Stage 4 lung cancer it would not be a hard decision for me.  BUT - it is personal and I could certainly see why one might decide to smoke/continue to smoke.  Neither disease is fun or easy!  Just be careful to do what is right for you.  Weigh the other risks you have, etc.  Glad I don't have to make that decison.

ElaineNY

Well the good news is that apparently since researchers discovered that it's specifically the carbon monoxide in tobacco that seems to aid with inflammation in the colon, they are looking at reproducing a drug that will mimic/have the same effect without the negative side effects from smoking.

There is always gonna be something that will kill us, death is inevitable...and where I live the government makes way too much money in taxes to ban cigarettes all together, they just put in bylaws so there are less public areas where anyone can smoke, which even though I'm a smoker (6/day enough to maintain feeling better IBD symptom wise) I'm fine with those bylaws, I don't even smoke in my own house, only outside (winter time in the garage).

:)

I'm smoker but it looks like smoking doesn't affect my UC :( I would smoke even 20 cigarettes a day if it helped, because being on prednison is not too much better than being a smoker, but you never know... I'm trying to stop smoking now, because if you have some chronic illness you have much higher risk of getting cancer and it could be even skin or lung cancer, not necesary colon cancer. It is somehow connected with number of cells that travels through your body and can mutate into cancer and people with chronic inflamation have much higher number of these cells in blood.

     I mentioned the nicotine patch to my GI doctor last year while being hospitalized with UC.  He was totally against it.  Now, I am not sure whether he was thinking the nicotine patch would  help and therefore less money for him, or, for my welfare in not contracting lung cancer.

Well its def. good for people who have somewhere to go and need to empty out in the morn I think it helps the colon empty out...

I smoked maybe half a pack for a year before I quit. I was diagnosed a few months after.

Recently my doc noted that he, "Can't tell you to smoke to care for your UC..." But it was encouraging for the day. I guess you just decide- Live with UC or die with Lung cancer.

I hope they do more research to find a safe alternative for us.

Good Luck.

Nicotine doesn't cause cancer, it causes heart problems. It's the tar and other products of combustion in the smoke that irritate the lungs and produce cancer over time.

And I seriously doubt anyone would give up ten years of their life and work the sort of hours medical students/residents do just so they could withhold helpful treatments to make more money from you. They could make a lot more money as a lawyer, a crooked investment counselor or a scam artist. Doctors usually won't, however, recommend any unproven treatment because their liability is too great due to the prevelance of said lawyers.

There are plenty of non-smokers that stink too, not everyone is very good with personal hygiene but I'm not here to judge people based on how they smell or the choices they make when it comes to smoking or what they smell like from smoking. Cancer is something one can get even without being a smoker or being around second-hand smoke. BTW, not every smoker necessarily smells like smoke all the time either, typically the heavier the smoker the stronger the smoke smell, but some of us do wash our hands after every smoke and even brush our teeth more than once a day...and those of us smokers that do care how we smell might even use breath freshners too...I'd rather kiss an ashtray than someone who's breath smells like their butt hole.

If people are chosing to smoke because it helps their colitis or even just because they enjoy it (even knowing full well it MAY kill them) then that's their choice and just so everyone knows, obesity/over-weight health issues happens to be pretty high on the list when it comes to health expenses so do we go around judging people that are obese, no because that's considered rude even though they are slowly killing themselves too with food but smokers get judged because it's a filthy habit well there are plenty of filthy habits that should be banned and they're not because if no one eles hasn't noticed, it's filthy habits that make the world go round (make people richer) and as always, that's what everything boils down to.

:)

You're lucky then cuz I've met people with breath that smells like poo, literally (and I know someone that has pee smellng breath)...I heard a few yrs back that there is a "smoking gene" as well, on the news I heard about it, don't know if there's any current articles on that but I'll have to look into it...I know the varying degrees of why some people are obese but that still doesn't change the burden on health care systems (smokers often get the brunt of that), but I know smokers that don't stink, I know non-smokers that do.  Smoking is an addiction like food is for some people.

smoking gene link...

http://www.apa.org/releases/smoke99.html

:)

I used to work in public health and did a lot of work with anti-tobacco, so you know where this is going.... LOL.. I know how desperate people get with this disease though. I smoked in high school but quit because of bad allergies.
There are nicotine patches, gum, and such. From what I read, it is the nicotine that is the factor, not the rest of the junk that comes with the cigarette. Smoking is so horrible for your health. I hope people will take heed of the other posts on the dangers of cigarettes before smoking. I watched so many in my family die from the effects of smoking. God bless.

Smoking for whatever reason is a personal decicion, but especially if it's done for a medical purpose like UC. I can tell you as a non smoker of 9 years, I woulod definately try smoking again before I would have surgery.
I would never judge anyone for smoking no matter what their reason anymore than I would judge someone by what they weigh.
I do know that already being about 20 pounds overweight, if I would go on Pred, and gain the usual 30 pounds everyone mentions that would make me obese, and in very dangerous health. My blood pressure would skyrocket, my knees and hips would be shot, and I would be huffing and puffing as bad as if I smoked. Also tough on the heart when you are that heavy.

Far as I'm concerned, a cigarette for me will come before Pred also.