At the respiratory disease club activity program, which recently took place at Le Van Thinh Hospital (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City), dozens of patients were shared knowledge about tobacco by doctors – “silent killer” as well as hearing the wrong thoughts that many people have related to habits smoking.
Agent causing a series of diseases cancer
Specialist 2 Quach Minh Phong, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Le Van Thinh Hospital, said that tobacco addiction is a mental-physical disease caused by the interaction between nicotine and the body. The effects of nicotine on the brain’s “reward and punishment centers” are the main addictive mechanism of cigarette smoking. Once in a state of addiction, the patient will feel a strong urge to smoke.
Within just 10 seconds of smoking, nicotine will affect the brain. Cigarette smoke also contains Carbon monoxide (CO) which reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the body’s tissues. Notably, 90% of the toxins in cigarettes will be absorbed into the lungs when used. In addition, other organs such as the mouth, nose, esophagus, stomach, etc. are also affected.
Regarding the harmful effects of cigarette smoke, it is the cause of a series of cancers such as: lung cancer in the head area. face, neck (tongue, salivary glands, throat), pancreas, kidneys, bladder, genitals, anus…
Doctor Phong cited a case of a male patient who was addicted to cigarettes and had a habit of holding cigarettes in his lips. when smoking. When the patient had unusual symptoms, he went to the doctor and was found to have the disease cancer in the sinus and throat area causing damage to the tongue requiring urgent surgery to remove the tumor.</p >
In addition, the patient suffers from coughing, wheezing, and frequent recurrent respiratory infections. and irreversible bronchial damage causing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma. The man had to undergo a long and painful treatment process.
Research by the American Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) over 10 years on 1,400 patients 15-34 years old addicted to smoking death from tobacco (autopsy) shows that patients have early damage to blood vessels before showing heart disease, stroke and other vascular diseases.
In addition, tobacco also affects affects reproductive health damages the DNA of sperm, causing risk of fetal defects…
Is smoking small cigarettes less toxic?
Also according to Dr. Phong Through actual treatment, he discovered that there were many patients who were dependent on cigarettes but did not know they were addicted.
Someone said I promised the doctor that I would not be addicted to drugs. I asked him when he usually smoked, but he said he only smoked after eating and drinking coffee. So what is addiction?
I instructed him to “quit smoking obsession” by asking the patient to stay home for a minimum of 12 weeks (the time point for nicotine levels in the blood to be can be completely excreted through urine according to research) If you want to drink coffee, just stay at home and let your wife make it to avoid smoking alone or with friends outside.
After the deadline “We check the tests again to see if the patient has really quit smoking or not,” said Dr. Phong.
Many people have the habit of smoking when drinking coffee (Illustration: Hoang Le).
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Another misconception that many people have today is the thought that smoking small cigarettes with less nicotine content will be less toxic and healthier than large cigarettes.
Doc Dr. Phong affirmed that once addicted to nicotine, smokers of small cigarettes will have to inhale more deeply and inhale more strongly and many times than smoke multiple cigarettes to meet the required amount of nicotine. This habit makes it easier for cigarette smoke and toxic chemicals to enter the lungs.
No matter how rich a patient is, they will end up in the hospital with lung cancer.” Because treatment is very expensive. If you run out of money, you will run out of breath, so let’s say no to smoking,” the doctor recommended.
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