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Subscribe to RSSIt took asthma, COPD, emphysema and finally, lung cancer to get Toni Manes, a retired cosmetologist, to try to quit smoking.
Unfortunately, the 58-year-old was so hooked, she couldn't kick the habit even after part of her left lung was removed.
"I remember my surgeon told me 'If you ever smoke again, your husband should break your fingers,'" says the Philadelphia resident, who was diagnosed and had surgery in 2010. "And I was like, 'Okay, I'm not going to smoke again.' But then I came home from surgery, recuperated for a few weeks and started up again. I couldn't help myself."
According to a new study in the American Cancer Society journal CANCER, Manes is just one of many patients who've found themselves smoking after diagnosis.
Researchers looked at 2,456 lung cancer patients and 3,063 colorectal patients and discovered that at time of diagnosis, 38 percent of the lung cancer patients and 15 percent of the colorectal patients were smokers.
Courtesy of Toni Manes
Lung cancer patient Toni Manes continued to smoke after her diagnosis.
Five months later, despite a cancer diagnosis, 14 percent of the lung cancer patients were still lighting up (ditto for 9 percent of the colorectal patients).
'Why stop now?'
"People think it's a no-brainer and are surprised that cancer patients continue to smoke after they're diagnosed," says Elyse R. Park, a clinical health psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and lead researcher for the study. "But people still struggle to quit even after they're diagnosed. There are a lot of barriers to quitting, including a lot of stigma."
Park says many of the people who can't quit are "hard-core" smokers, i.e., they smoke a high number of cigarettes a day. Many, also, are surrounded by other smokers.
"These people are nicotine addicted, so it's tough for them," says Park. "They also have a lot of self-blame for causing the disease. There are feelings of fatalism. They think, 'Why stop now?' And a lot of people are very judgmental about lung cancer patients causing their own disease."
According to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America, 60 percent of new lung cancer diagnoses happen to non-smokers, 15 percent of whom have never smoked a day in their life (the rest are former smokers who quit 10, 20 or even 30 years prior to diagnosis). The American Lung Association estimates that active smoking is responsible for close to 90 percent of lung cancer cases; radon causes 10 percent, and occupational exposures to carcinogens account for approximately 9 to 15 percent.
Manes says following surgery, she went on to do three rounds of chemotherapy, followed by radiation. And even though she continued to smoke throughout, she worked with her oncologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital on ways to quit.
"We tried everything," she says. "Hypnosis, Chantix, patches, cessation groups, acupuncture, the gum, the lozenges -- and none of that stuff did anything for me. I was depressed and didn't want to face that I had cancer. I saw a death sentence for myself. What difference did it make if I smoked or not?"
Park says she hopes her study will pave the way for more smoking cessation programs and treatment options for patients who are smoking at the time of their diagnosis.
"One of the reasons it's hard to quit is that people think they have enough to worry about," she says. "But it's the best time to quit because it has the potential to improve their cancer treatment, from breathing easier and feeling less fatigue to reducing the chance of infection after surgery."
Parks says studies also show that quitting smoking can increase the efficacy of chemo and radiation and may even double the chances of survival for lung cancer patients.
"We're hoping to integrate evidence-based tobacco treatment into cancer care," she says. "So you don't just ask a patient, 'Do you smoke, yes or no?' But you try to get them to quit as part of their treatment. It's a tough time, but we're hoping to find ways to sit with patients and get them pharmacological and behavior counseling treatment."
The good news? There's some evidence Park's approach might just work.
"On October 31, 2011, I got a sinus cold again and with every puff, I was choking," says Manes. "So I put on a patch and humbled myself before God and begged him to help me. I needed some kind of inner strength. On the 31st of this month, it'll be three months that I've been smoke-free."
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Well all I have to say is the anti-smoking/bash the smokers/hate the smokers/kill the smokers campaign that started waaaay back in the late 1800's has been successful. great job! Problem now is for all of you potential killers who want to withdraw medical treatment for anyone who has ever smoked a day in their life, THAT could be very legally tricky because how do you punish someone for using a highly addictive drug that is COMPLETELY LEGAL. Anybody else see a serious rights issue here? Anybody else see huge lawsuits here against both state and federal governments and insurance companies? It's a very slippery slope that type of attitude because where does it truly end? a fall and a bruise and you are cancelled from insurance...or worse Insurance companies start doing genetic testing. Think it can't happen? what about having children? That is very risky and would drive MY insurance rates up, so uuuhh....sorry no more kids for you non-smokers.
To the Qween of' hearts. One reason people get mad is that when we try to walk into the entry of a store, and smokers are standing next to the doorway, we have to breathe, and end up breathing the smoke into our lungs. Sometimes there are no other entrances, and smokers are standing next to them. When I'm driving, and have my vent open, or windows down to get fresh air, and smell smoke, I'm forced to breathe it. Because I can't possibly stop breathing until the stop light changes. It smells horrible. I'm forced to breathe it into my lungs, and my hair, car, and clothes smell like the cigarrettes. I don't like it. And other non-smokers don't either. What about our rights to clean air, and not being exposed to your bad habit affecting our health?
Doctor says to his nurse "This guy has terminal cancer. How can we make his last days more miserable?
I know! We'll make him quit smoking"
Nobody can make anybody quit smoking. Smokers have to want to quit. But, I shouldn't have to suffer, and pay for someone else's bad health choices.
Thank you Dick-1345097! Another CT Scan next month...fingers crossed. Feeling good and glad to be alive. I know you understand that! :) God bless you and best wishes for your continued good health! Feisty helps a lot. I always say..you never know how strong you can be, until you have to be strong. Cancer sucks. Stay strong!
It's probably easier to continue to smoke than face some "Death Panel" under ObamaCare.
How can anyone afford to smoke, with the high cost of cigarrettes now, anyway.
About 95% of the people who have cancer and have chemo or radiation are gonna probly gonna died quicker with the treatments any way. Open your minds and google RUN FOR THE CURE. The Indica strain of marijuana made into hemp oil cures cancer. when ingested the cannibinoids in the oil attach to receptors in you brain and tell the cancer to commit suicide. There are 2 reasons Marijuana is illegal, #1 to keep the private prison system full and #2, the medical big pharma industry can't have US growing our own cure, there is no money in it for them. So get some seeds, grow your own and start saving your family and friends lives.. RON PAUL 2012
people call it a "bad habit"... it's not. A "bad habit" is picking your nose and eating it... this is a HUGE addiction that most can not rid themselves of. It's terrible.
STOP and think for a moment!!
There is Millions upon Millions of dollars in TAXES collected from the smokers of this country EVERY YEAR.
What will they increase the taxes on for you to pay if and when EVERYONE stops smoking? Will you piss and moan about that??
Probably.
It's been proven that THC in cannabis kills off cancerous cells..also proven that lung cancer doesn't come from cannabis..People that smoke cigarettes should also smoke cannabis, to help keep them healthy.
Summer before last my little sister who ironically was an rn for hospice was diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread throughout her body. she did attempt for a short while to quit but gave up after a few days. at first it was not only difficult for me to understand but also dug up anger on my part that i kept to myself. she passed away a year ago next week and i now can totally understand why she kept smoking at the end. she had no chance of living and quitting at that point would have done nothing to extend her life and for the short time she had left she would have had to deal with the withdrawl side effects from smoking on top of everything else. i would give anything to have her back and she would still be her IF only congress and the fda had taken appropriate action decades ago when the link to cancer was discovered. so many thousands have died since and thousands more to come and all because of money and greed. i hope they raise the taxes on cigarettes so high that nobody will be able to afford them as they are plain and simple death sticks and a means to a slow and inevitable suicide. everyone, every retailer, every wholesaler that sells them is guilty of assisted suicide/murder period.
We smokers just want to be left alone to die..........okay? Same for we who both smoke and drink and have sex and breathe air. We just want the freaking government out of our lives......okay? I don't want to be part of some study and I don't want knuckle-heads doing research that is wasteful. Smoking causes all manner of physical ailments and we all know that by now. The end of life begins at birth. What happens in the interim is the choice of each individual. Geeeez.
The story makes sense. People who smoke use it as an emotional crutch. When you've used that same crutch for 30 years + it's difficult to give up. I would say to young people...don't marry a smoker if you are not one yourself. It will be a lifetime of heartache.
Lets have a little REE-ality check here. <> First off, verrrry few people are actually addicted to the Nicotine in their cigarettes, >>> as opposed to the 702 + different chemicals that are PRESENT, ... in their cigarette. >>> (ADMITTED to, by the BIG TOBACCO BOYS/HEADS) >>> ... on the NATIONALLY televised (60 minutes) aka: Morley Schaefer-Harry Reasoner SHOW.
SO then whyyyyy does the MEDIA & the MEDICAL "INDUSTRY", including doctors, LEAVE this FACT out when they are prescribing ZYBAN, nicotine patches, nicorrete gum & other crap that they KNOW is not going to FIX the chemical/drug problem!!! 702 PLUS in YOUR smoke >>> FYI ! <> nicotine my foot! hmmm
Nicotine Addiction is a chronic brain disease. It isn't going to go away just because someone gets cancer.
So for all of you folks who want to believe that smoking is a "personal" decision and we shouldn't be able to regulate it or put it out of business - you do realize that you are helping to pay the costs of all of these surgeries , etc...
Unless these folks are very wealthy and are writing a check they are using either insurance (which hikes rates to cover these things so you are helping to pay through higher insurance costs) and if you don't have insurance - well that's ok - because you are helping pay for the costs via medicare :)
According to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America, 60 percent of new lung cancer diagnoses happen to non-smokers, 15 percent of whom have never smoked a day in their life (the rest are former smokers who quit 10, 20 or even 30 years prior to diagnosis). However, and this is very important, after 15 years of smoking cessation there is no statistical difference for contracting cancer between people who have smoked and those who have never smoked. Quitting today can save your life and the longer you quit the better. I have quit for 8 years, 7 more years of non-smoking and not developing cancer and I may be one of the lucky ones. Quit today and maybe you can get lucky.
Am I one of the few who think perhaps that addiction is genetically-based? Okay, agree to disagree with me for a moment...but I do know of people who have never drank alcohol in their lives, yet have died of chirrosis of the liver; i do know of people who have never smoked who have died of lung cancer; and i also know of people on the other end of the spectrum who have terrible habits all around (a.k.a...me) who have very little consequences from their ill-advised non-healthy habits who will probably not die of those same habits until they (i.e., ME) give them up. And no amount of watching people die from those same habits has given me enough inner strength to give them up. I am a weakling; but I am also the type of personality that is akin to curiousity killed the cat. And I have been since I was wee little. Started smoking and drinking at the age of 13. Did all kinds of drugs in my 20s. Quit everything except smoking right-handed cigs and lite beer. Including a cocaine addiction that manifested just short of main lining and after self-referral to a 28 day rehab, only relapsed once in 20 years and managed to get right back on track. Alcohol...I have quit and can quit and yet, tobacco...not so much. EVEN after witnessing death by lung cancer. How awful a disease...both the addiction and the aftermath. And i've done Chantix (made me crazy and mean and really psychotic..but almost worked); cold turkey and aversion theraphy and patches and etc. ad naseum. I am a nicotine/menthol/tobacco junkie. But it's government sanctioned. As of this year, this day, it's not going to cost me my job or my license...."Excuse me, Ma'am...please pull over. I detect the smell of a cigarette in your vehicle." I'd be like, "shew...at least it ain't a leftie!" Please, Government of the United States of America, get real. It's all addiction. Whether it's nicotine, alcohol
(both of which you tacitlly sanction) or so called "hard core" drugs such as marijuana, you condone the use of legally sanctioned drugs and completely annihilate any discussion about soft core drugs such as pot...alcohol and cigarettes are far worse. Sorry, I unfortunately know what I'm talking about.
Good luck ,Great post,y love you!Thanks for the info it had cleared out too many things in my mind. Your recommendations are really good.