Providence Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Forms & Information
If you smoke, one of the most important steps you can take to improve your health is to quit smoking. Providence Health & Services supports you in this effort. The resources below can help you stop smoking for good.
From the experts
Q: "My 65-year-old father has been smoking for decades and refuses to quit. He knows smoking causes cancer but says quitting will do no good because the damage is already done. Would quitting now do anything to reduce his risk?"
Q: "I quit smoking 15 years ago after smoking a pack or two a day for 28 years. Now I want to do all I can to lessen the effects of my earlier bad habits. Are there any dietary measures, supplements or other strategies you know of that may help prevent cancer?"
Q: “I’m 17, and I've smoked twice in my life, both times last month. Now I’m coughing and my chest has a raw feeling to it. I’m not coughing up blood and I don't have shortness of breath, but I did hold the smoke in my mouth, and I breathed a little second-hand smoke, too. Could I have lung cancer?”
Q: "Both of my parents smoked their entire lives and never developed lung cancer. My father's parents were the same. With this family history, do I still need to worry about lung cancer? I only smoke about a pack a week."
Q: "How long does it take for lung cancer to develop, and can I determine when mine started growing?"
Q: "My father was exposed to asbestos at work when he was young, I heard asbestos is a risk factor for lung cancer. What is his risk?"
Q: "What is the real risk of getting lung cancer if you smoke cigarettes and is there a "safe" smoking level?"
Q: What is a bronchoscopy and why is it used to detect lung cancer?
You already know that smoking is unhealthy. The word has been out since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964. One out of four smokers will die from their tobacco addiction. More than 420,000 will die this year. It is the single most preventable cause of death or illness in our country.
Many teenagers and adults think that there are no effects of smoking on their bodies until they reach middle age. Smoking-caused lung cancer, other cancers, heart disease, and stroke typically do not occur until years after a person's first cigarette. However, there are many serious harms from smoking that occur much sooner. In fact, smoking has numerous immediate health effects on the brain and on the respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, immune and metabolic systems.
The scenario plays out in countless rural emergency departments around the country: A patient presents with a serious illness that requires specialized expertise to treat.
Imagine, for a moment, being inside your lungs, watching the millions of tiny hairs called cilia do their job of filtering out impurities. Then, observe as the smoke from one cigarette invades the lungs, paralyzing the cilia for 24 hours.
Let’s get specific: Reivew this chart to remind yourself of the risks of smoking and the benefits of quitting.
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