Smoking might influence 17 different sorts of cancer of which lung cancer is the most obvious and often. Besides this cancer in throat, gullet, mouth cavity, oesophagus, pancreas, stomach, kidney and bladder are also smoking diseases. Smoking also causes chronicle cough, bronchitis and other diseases on lungs. It influences other specific diseases like asthma, angina, fever, shiver,... Inhaling of tobacco smoke is harmful also for the heart and veins, because nicotine is one of the leading causes of heart attack and tobacco smoke itself narrows coronaries. Besides, smoking does harm also to other veins and accelerates sclerosis of arteries, which causes bad circulation in legs. This is why some smokers after the age of 40 feel pain in the calf. They have to stop often, while walking, until the pain similar to a spasm is over. The disease progress is very obvious if the smoker doesn't give up his bad habit. Lately, there are more and more people, whose legs have to be cut because of the total artery obstruction.
Nicotine does harm also to digestive organs because it demolishes the
balance of acids in stomach. Its consequence is abscess on stomach.
This disease can be cured in case that person stops smoking.
Long-lasting smoking can also cause impotence by older smokers and
is also the cause that the skin gets older and wrinkled earlier.Lately, the cause of smoking on health of new-borns is more and more pointed out. Actually, children whose mothers have been smoking during their pregnancy weigh less when born and they also can be born less developed. Nicotine influences woman's fertility, which is often lowered, but there are also more abortions within mothers - smokers than within non-smokers.
It is well known that a smoker who smokes 10-20 cigarettes a day lives on average 5 years less than a non-smoker does. Some smokers even like this statistic, because they do not want to live in this world very long. But they are not aware of dying, which is often very slow and even painful.
One of the most important bad consequences is passive smoking. Smoker's organism is usually used to poisonous substances whereas the non-smoker's organism is not. This is why smoking does harm also to non-smokers. It has been found out that a non-smoker living with a smoker who smokes about 20 cigarettes per day inhales the same quantity of tobacco smoke as he himself has smoked 3 cigarettes per day. It's also dangerous when a non-smoker drives car when others in the car smoke. This can really weaken driver's physical ability, he can also get pains in eyes and headache. Passive smokers are especially endangered people with asthma, hearth diseases and other sensible people.
Smoking has lots of harmful consequences but they are not all so bad. It has been proved that the organism after giving up smoking starts repairing the damage. Real recovery is seen within about 5 years after giving up smoking. And about 15 years later the mortality of ex-smokers is similar to the one of non-smokers.
About 50 years ago, lung cancer was still a very rare disease.
Sometimes it was found out during the autopsy on a dead body but was
otherwise described rarely. However, the number of people ill of
cancer increases every year and even more rapidly as the number of
people with any other cancer disease. Lung cancer is more often a
man- than a woman-disease.Chances for going down with lung cancer depend on the cigarettes smoked per day. An average smoker risks about 10X more to get lung cancer than a non-smoker does, however, a passionate smoker who smokes few packets per day risks even 20X more. The same chances grow also with smoking years. Statistics show that with the doubling years from 10 to 20 the risk increases for 16X. It has also been shown in several experiments that tobacco smoke includes substances that cause cancer.
To treat lung cancer it must first be found out. For this an X-ray
picture of chest is very important, where doctors can distinguish
unusual shadows in lungs. X-ray is recommended to all smokers after
40, who can notice some changes in their cough or they can even go
down with pneumonia. Although, similar shadows can also be signs for
other diseases. In case the doctor predicts lung cancer the
treatment goes on with other methods. If the cancer is detected
very late there are only few chances to get over. Such patient is
treated with radioactive rays, what usually stop cancer-expansion,
embellish pains and lengthen patient's life.Only by giving up smoking you can partially reduce the danger of falling ill of lung cancer.
All over the World chronicle bronchitis is the most common chronicle lung disease. There are a lot of things that affect it and the most serious is smoking. In the late age it is almost everyday disease, which can be recognised by continuous cough and mucous, sometimes even purulent expectoration. Patients treat their chronicle bronchitis usually only as oppression and not as a disease although it can lead to death. We can search the reason for such behaviour in fact that people know the cause of their trouble - cigarette, but they just cannot give it up.
Chronicle bronchitis affects work ability, invalidity and also mortality. It is well known that chronicle bronchitis is almost the most common cause for staying out of work.
The beginning of the chronicle bronchitis has its foundation in the fact that lungs are not successful anymore in fighting against harmful influences from the surroundings. One of them is the air, which comes into lung constantly, and brings a lot of gases and physical particles in, what all comes to alveoli. Considering the level of air pollution, which is not very high, non-smokers do not have such problems with breathing some poisonous substances. On the other hand, air pollution very rarely affects smokers, because they are much more affected by inhaling tobacco smoke, which consists of 100 million more harmful substances and parts as the
most polluted air in London after the great catastrophe. In that time
about 4000 people died, smokers however inhale these poisons day
after day. Still, lungs can fight against these factors when they
still have some power. But when the concentration of the substances
becomes too high and the mucus does not secrete fast enough it must
be secreted by a man, by his constant chronicle cough. The mucus
which has some time been kept back in respiratory pathways is a
perfect place for multiplication of bacteria. This can be a cause
for gasping, when patients after longer physical work claim to
get gasped very fast. For example, first patient gasps by a quick
rise on few stairs, but later because of the trachea contraction
he gasps already after an easier work.Chronicle bronchitis can change the structure of respiratory pathways so much that it can curtail lungs' and heart's function.
The number of people sickened of chronicle bronchitis can fall only when the air pollution gets lower or when smokers give up their habit. Still, if they will not be totally safe from chronicle bronchitis, they can at least be saved from everyday cough up of mucous expectoration, which stands still in respiratory pathways during the night.