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Health: Couging Up Blood

by Gary Lenz

Glendale, Arizona
United States

I had been limited at work to 2 to 3 cigs. a day because I was limited to 3 outside areas where I was allowed to "Burn One". I would then go to the bar and smoke 1-1 1/2 packs in three to four hours and choke and hack most of the night but the next morning was the most vicious. I would actually cough so deep and hard that I coughed up blood. I decided on Thanksgiving Day, 1999 to quit. In order to ease my anxiety to smoke while drinking I also quit drinking for a month. I then went to a bar and if I had enough to really want a cigarette I went home (where we didn't smoke in the house thus no desire). I had a Pulmonary Function Test done one year after quiting smoking and it showed that I have only 22% lung capacity for a man my age. I also gained 75 pounds (6'2" & 300#) and had a very difficult time climbing stairs without stopping to catch my breath every 8 to 10 steps. I'm now doing a nebulizer treatment every morning with duoneb and 3 inhalers and a singulair pill. I can now climb 20-25 steps before resting (still 300#). I am now in such a situation that when I go to a smoke filled bar I come home with a sore throat and later start coughing up phlegm all from second hand smoke. I think the biggest thing that keeps people smoking is that they refuse to give up the things that they like to do and have a cigarette while they "Try To Quit Smoking". I KNOW IT'S HARD TO QUIT BUT I DID IT!