Memory Failings by Middle Age that Lead to Dementia..Linked to Smoking

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   Creativitaposted 16 years ago

   "Poor vocabulary and low verbal fluency" are hallmarks of the early dementia suffered by smokers. Smoking is thought to lead to cognitive deficit and cognitive decline, known risk factors for the subsequent development of dementia.
   
   Since cigarette smoking is a modifiable risk factor, something smokers can DO SOMETHING ABOUT, it behooves the tobacco-nicotine addicted to come to terms with that fact, now, and to take action to protect their overall health. 
   
   For, not only do smokers risk COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, e.g. bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, and early death due to respiratory compromise), and Lung Cancer; now they must add Dementia - this brain/mental faculties' destroyer - as a cautionary tale to spur them to quit cigarettes. 
   
   This link between early-occurring dementia and cigarette smoking was reported in a June '08
   issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.  While another study, published August 15, 2007 in the American Journal of Epidemiology had obviously found the dementia-smoking connection earlier.
   
   Does anyone in this forum feel the same as I do?  Hurrah!  Now cigarette smokers have an upclose and personal motivating reason to quit smoking; whereas before these reports, many of the dangers of the smoking habit were visited on smoke-exposed nonsmokers.  Now that early dementia is risked by smokers themselves, this new and powerful motivating factor should help the habituated to quit once and for all.     What do you think?  Creativita

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      guidebabaposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Hi ! Seems like I have become a CHAIN Smoker. Please suggest how to quit ?
      

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         Creativitaposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Stop smoking chains! LOL (But I digress.) 
         There are many ways to quit smoking.  But you have to start with a strong motivation - just like in any other habituation or addictive condition.
         1. There's hypnosis...which seems to work in a very short time, sometimes one session.
         2. There are nicotine patches with "step-down" dosages that gradually withdraw your body from its nicotine attachment.
         3. I believe Acupuncture can also help in quitting cigarette smoking.
         4. And there are behavioral changes you can make where you substitute other pleasurable but nonharmful activities for your automatic hand-to-mouth smoking ritual. 
         These new activities can be guided by and supported by a quality psychotherapist; so seriously consider this avenue of professional help...especially as adjunctive to medication (see "nicotine patch," above), acupuncture and hypnosis.  Psychotherapy has been scientifically proven to change brain structure for the better and to alter neurotransmitters (brain chemicals modulating moods, feelings, and addictions) toward improved balance. And these latter changes can assist you in making your nicotine withdrawal phases much more comfortable as well as producing personal growth for lasting comfort in your nicotine-free life to come.
         
         Note: Anything you are doing that doesn't have a positive effect on your life will interfere with brain plasticity (flexibility) and neurotransmitter balance.  Since the cigarette smoking addiction leads to the early occurrence of dementia, such cognitive losses in middle-aged smokers reflect chronic damage to the cerebrum and anomalous interference with the neurotransmitter system.  You have to stop smoking gradually, but start NOW!
         (You may wish to read my article "Psychotherapy Works: Scientifically Proven" as well as many other emotional health and therapy hubs at PSYCH NEW YORK.)  -Good Luck in you
         quest to quit, Helen

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            Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

            Link please.

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2. 34

   Creativitaposted 16 years ago

   Hi Zarm,  we are not allowed to "self-promote" in these forums.  So I can't include a link here.
   But, if there is any topic you are interested in that may appear on HubPages, you can search for it on your HubPages site and then click "Search."   -Creativita

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3. 59

   Courtney_CollinsDposted 16 years ago

   Hmm... weird... I've been smoking since 14 and get checked up regularly by doctors, who all say I'm perfectly healthy. Another case, my great grandma smoked all her life and lived to be 92, her husband, who never touched cigarettes, died at age 72.
   
   Another case, I smoked all through out my pregnancy, my son was born at a wopping 9 pounds 2 oz. and couldn't have been healthier, now my bro's girlfriend didn't smoke at all during her pregnancy and had a 4 pound baby that was premature.
   
   I believe smoking has different effects on different people. I don't think medical science can really pin point what effects cigarettes will have on a person unless they test every person that does in fact smoke. I come from a family of smokers, believe me, we have our fair share of health problems but none of them are tied into smoking. Unless of course medical science wants to try and say diabetes is tied to smoking, however that came from my grandpa's side which is filled with non smokers...
   
   Interesting though, very interesting. Not enough to make me change my life style though.

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      Uninvited Writerposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      I can from a family of smokers. My father died of heart problems at age 57, my mother died of cancer at age 72, my grandmother died of cancer in her 70s.
      
      In this day and age I think it's very irresponsible to smoke while you are pregnant.
      
      I hope you will stay healthy...
      
      

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4. 61

   knolyourselfposted 16 years ago

   Comon - smoking 5 years ain't going to hurt you. Its when you
   been smoking 20, 30 or 40 years. But I agree with you everyone is different. 'Only the good die young'. Depends on
   how much one smokes and for how long. But have to believe that too many cigarettes for too long is going to get most.

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5. 34

   Creativitaposted 16 years ago

   CIGARETTE SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO BOTH SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS
   
   Despite your protestations, Courtney...you need to stop kidding yourself.
   
   Medical science has ALREADY PROVEN THAT OVER 95% OF LUNG CARCINOMAS ARE CAUSED BY CIGARETTE SMOKING!!!  And that's only number ONE.
   
   2.  A large number of children and adults with COPD (CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE) in the forms of chronic bronchitis, asthma and ultimately emphysema suffer these debilitating conditions due to OTHER PEOPLE'S CIGARETTE SMOKING...as well as their own cigarette smoking, if they are smokers. 
   
   No one said your smoking during gestation could cause stunted growth in your fetus, then newborn child.  Where'd you get that idea?  So the fact your child was a good weight at birth proves nothing relative to the dangers of cigarette smoking.
   
   But, do Watch Out that your own child isn't being exposed to the smoke emanating from the ends of your cigarettes and that you don't exhale any of your smoke near your child, or you will definitely put him at risk of asthma and bronchitis!)  Asthma is not an inocuous disease.  There are 10,000 annual deaths from asthma.  And cigarette smoke is one of the villains that triggers bronchospasm episodes (asthma attacks), so it IS A KILLER!
   
   3.  As to your over 90 grandparent who smoked NEAR THE 70-YEAR-OLD WHO DIDN'T.  Give us all a break.  The spouse who was a "nonsmoker" had to have been smoking all those years the effluent smoke of their spouse's cigarettes.  Shame on you for not realizing this!
   
   THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "SECOND-HAND SMOKE."  That's a euphemism - used as a publicity stunt by the tobacco industry - to hide the fact that anyone in the line of the end of a lit cigarette and the exhalations of smokers in close proximity, at bars, at restaurants, at conferences, in the street outside buildings, IS AT RISK OF THE NEGATIVE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM EFFECTS OF CIGARETTE SMOKE DUE TO TOBACCO, NICOTINE, AND THE VARIOUS OTHER TOXIC PARTICULATES THAT MAKE UP THE INNARDS OF CIGARETTES!
   
   Courtney, the above is a cautionary tale for you.  If you continue to delude yourself about cigarette smoking, so be it!  But don't tell me your doctor said it's okay for you to smoke.
   And don't tell me the 90-year-old who smoked for that many decades was in perfect health, with lungs that were able to get a normal supply of oxygen.  That is not believable to this medically-experienced clinical healthcare professional.
   
   Yes, there are many conditions where different patients react differently to different medications, for example; and different people are allergic to different allergens, for another example.  BUT CIGARETTE SMOKING DOES NOT FALL INTO ANY OF THOSE CATEGORIES OF "It's okay for you to do it because you 'react differently than others.'"  That's nonsense on stilts when it comes to cigarette smoking.  There's nothing good about it at all and the sooner you lift the veil from your eyes about this subject, the sooner you'll find a way to quit this health-robbing, life-shortening addiction.  And remember, even if you are convinced that it doesn't negatively affect you, you can be sure it negatively affects other people's lungs when you smoke anywhere near family, friends, co-workers and strangers!
   
   And, now that we know it also shortens the cognitive viability of smokers so that they get dementia earlier than other folks (when maybe they wouldn't even have gotten brain loss at all if they hadn't smoked), WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU WISH TO HOLD ONTO YOUR SMOKING WAYS?        I am Helen Borel, RN,PhD  (a.k.a. Creativita)

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      Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Again, links please.  All I see is mindless dogmatic ramblings.  If you have authentic medical links from websites then please post your sources.  I am not asking for self promotion, I am asking for authentic links from reputable medical sources that would uphold the claims laid out here in your assertive posts.

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6. 61

   knolyourselfposted 16 years ago

   Just as an aside, I had neighbor a while back who had emphysema so bad from smoking he could not walk a block. He told me it was not his fault. He worked in Germany for the US, in some sort of civilian capacity and said he wouldn't have smoked so much if the cigarettes
   were not so damn cheap, PX price probably 20 cents a pack. Had a girlfriend who volunteered for hospice. Two of the patients there were dying of lung cancer. What did they do all day? Sat out in the lobby and smoked. Guess that's called dying in the saddle.

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      Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Guess that's called lack of self control.  I have smoked for 6 years and I can bring myself down to 2-3 unfiltered cigarettes in a day, and endure the headaches that can be quite severe at times.  That is because I try to moderate my "habit" when my lungs take too much.  Pyschologically and chemically addicted?  Prolly, but that doesn't mean I will spend the rest of my life competing with the local chimney.

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         Mishaposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Actually you are making your life harder this way. If you smoke - smoke, if you quit - quit. The moment you put a cigarette down, you start suffering, and suffer till you light up the next one. Take a time to watch yourself, and you'll see this.

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            Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

            You are correct that it is suffering, but it is minor for me.
            
            I don't quit because I don't want to, so far all I have seen is black and white propaganda when it comes to ANY form of tobacco.
            
            The problem with black and white, is that it doesn't make room for color.

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7. 34

   Creativitaposted 16 years ago

   Zarm,
   1. I stand on my medical/healthcare credentials and my clinical expertise with lung cancer, asthma and emphysema patients whose lives were devastated because of cigarette smoking by themselves and/or the people around them!  Disfiguring surgery, severe respiratory disability, and death have been their rewards.  Kindly don't condescend to me!!!
   
   2. If you actually stop smoking, the fogginess will lift from your negatively judgmental brain and you will then not be so rude as to mischaracterize my knowledge and experience in the hostile way you have misguidedly chosen.
   
   3. Did you ever hear of Google?  Well, then, Google the various related subject matter I have cared enough to spend substantial time and talent writing about here and you will get all the data you need that supports my contentions (written about above).
   
   4. Where'd you get the notion that in the Forums we are supposed to provide you, the benighted reader, with treatises, dissertations and theses replete with bibliographic documentation merely because you choose to question facts that are so widely known, for so many decades, and that are common knowledge worldwide?
   
   5. Do me a favor: Do not communicate with me (and certainly not in your hostile manner) until you've made the effort to research the hazards of cigarette smoking yourself.  And, if you should find any scientific or clinical evidence that contradicts anything I have written about above, let me know....In fact, let the whole world know.  We wouldn't want cigarette smokers to stop smoking if your research finds scientific evidence that cigarette smoking is safe for you, and safe for you to expose your loved ones and friends to, now would we?
   Again, these are my credentials (what are yours?)   -Helen Borel, RN,PhD (with decades of clinical experience and expertise)

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      Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Do me a favor, post links to resources and articles that show what you are saying is true, or gtfo as a fraud who will not substantiate his/her claims.
      
      Links that substantiate what you are alleging in a topic in this forum are not a violation of the terms of service, many people in other forums make claims and then post links to other reputable sites which uphold the claims they are alleging.  These people do not post these links in regards a hub they wrote, they post these links in regards the topic they have started about a given subject, or in regards to a post someone else has made and these links do not serve as promotion of their hubs, they serve as verification of facts and resources related to the topic and or discussion in question.  Posting links in order to substantiate claims is done so that people reading and participating in these forums can know they are not consuming unverifiable information.
      
      If you do not post links in this manner as every other responsible adult on this forum does, I will regard you as a fraud and treat you as such.

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8. 64

   Mishaposted 16 years ago

   I don't tell you to quit, I know all well it's absolutely useless. When you decide to quit, you will quit.
   
   And I too think this propaganda is idiotic.

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      Zarm Nefilinposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Your a smart guy Misha, I hope for my own sake that I don't wait until it is too late to quit.
      
      Hopefully my "smoker's moment" will come sooner rather than later.

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9. 69

   Bonnie Ramseyposted 16 years ago

   First of all, I will say that I am a long time smoker. I know that it is bad for me and I don't want to even debate that fact. My problem with all of the information that the medical experts publish over and over seems to give people the impression that smoking is basically the only cause for all the lung diseases in the world today and that is bullcrap! I hear and read all this crap about second hand smoke yet there are other things that have severe effects on people with lung diseases and disorders.
   
   My Daddy passed away from emphysema and COPD. My mama also has COPD and yes, they both smoked. But here is the problem that I have with much of the popular publications on smoking. The information fails to mention that smoking was not the only aspect that effected my parents. My daddy owned a radiator shop and the doctor told him that even if he had not smoked, he could have contracted these diseases from the fumes he had inhaled over the years with that profession (battery acid). Same situation with my mama as she worked in a picture frame factory with paint fumes all day. There are many, many chemicals that effect you and the people around you that seem to go unmentioned in all of these reports. Many of them are things that you would never think about in your daily lives.
   
   For example, even after Daddy had quit smoking, he told me that being around smoking did not bother his breathing nearly as much as perfumes and colognes. Mama has the same problem. Everything in the house had to be unscented from shampoos to soaps, cleaning fluids, etc., etc. Once when Daddy was in the hospital, he had to run his respiratory therapist out of his room because he had chosen to marinade in cologne before going to work to treat people with breathing problems! When Mama or Daddy got around people wearing perfumes, colognes and other strong smelling products (even makeup), they would begin to smother completely and if not removed from the surroundings, would have suffocated!
   
   I have also worked with many cleaning fluids that have totally taken my breath for many years and have always (even before I started smoking) been smothered by strong perfumes and such. What I would like to know is why is it that the medical profession chooses to let things like this sweep under the rug and totally ignore what even the patients tell them and focus strictly on cigarettes?
   
   While smokers are looked down upon as if they are criminals, the rest of the population is free to smother anyone in their path with strong perfumes and colognes that they like to marinade in rather than to use sparingly. The cleaning staff at any public place you frequent choke you to death with pure chemicals that could fry an elephant's lungs and even medical facilities have a tendency to way overuse chemicals!
   
   I am just really sick of being made into a common criminal because of cigarettes when there are other things that have the same effect on those around you that people tend to ignore. I try to respect anyone around me who is bothered by my smoke and I will go elsewhere if they politely let me know it is bothering them. Do you think I have received the same courtesy from those who stifle me just by passing by me in public with their perfume and cologne marinades? Of course not! Because I am the criminal and they are these poor innocent bystanders that I am killing!
   
   I respect your prefession and the experience you have had with patients. But I have also seen first hand the effects of others, including the medical staff and the insensitive actions first hand on many occassions. It isn't just about smoking and second hand smoke the way that the medical experts tend to perceive.

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      MrMarmaladeposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      It does not worry me if you smoke, after all I use to smoke cigars up to 1973. Gave it away cold turkey as with Misha.
      I am slightly amused when someone say s one of my parents  was 93 and smoked and the other parent was only so old.
      Does this mean that everybody who buys a lottery ticket wins first prize?
      Val had 50 scratchies given to her last Saturday and her tickets won four dollars, which will be posted out to her.
      One person smoking to 93 does not mean  the rest of the world will survive as long if they smoke to 93.

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         Bonnie Ramseyposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Mr Marmalade,
         I think you have confused my post with someone else's. I wasn't the one who posted about parents living to 93 and I didn't post anything trying to say that smoking is not harmful. I have been smoking for almost 35 years so I am wel aware of the effects it has had on me over the years. I am just irked by the medical profession giving the impression that it is the only thing that causes lung diseases and such when there are many more harmful chemicals out there that go unmentioned.

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10. 64

    Mishaposted 16 years ago

    I don't think I'm too smart - I've just been smoking for more than 35 years and quit overnight when I felt like that My father still smokes at 75+, and is as healthy as it can be for that age - but both of my grandfathers had to quit to save their legs...

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11. 67

    trish1048posted 16 years ago

    Helen,
    This is in response to your responses to Zarm, and the ones that 'stood out', which I've cut/pasted to make my point:
    
    I take issue with the fact that you tell someone to 'Kindly don't condescend to me!!!', when, after reading your rants, you are guilty of the same thing.  I also would like to know who died and left you the authority on the ill effects of smoking?
    
    Hmmmmmmm,,,,,who's the one who is 'hostile' here?
    ' If you actually stop smoking, the fogginess will lift from your negatively judgmental brain and you will then not be so rude as to mischaracterize my knowledge and experience in the hostile way you have misguidedly chosen'. 
    Who are you to tell someone their brain is 'foggy' and they suffer from having a 'negatively judgemental brain'?  Who are you to tell someone they are 'misguided' in their thinking?  WHO is being judgemental here?
    
    ' Did you ever hear of Google? '
    Have you??????? here is a tiny excerpt from GOOGLE research: 'Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to bear an underweight child, but some women may carry a higher risk than others because of genetic susceptibility, researchers reported'.  So, the comment you made to a hubber about 'where'd you get the idea that smoking affects birthweight?' (or some such question) is obviously information that is out there, and has been for a very long time.  So much for your research.
    
    And here,,,,,,have YOU done ALL the research yourself?
    'Do not communicate with me (and certainly not in your hostile manner) until you've made the effort to research the hazards of cigarette smoking yourself'.
    
    'Again, these are my credentials (what are yours? Helen Borel, RN,PhD (with decades of clinical experience and expertise) '
    I think your EGO needs some deflating.  Are you a 'beknighted' (your word) authority'? Don't you think the above statement isn't just a tad condescending?
    
    As you can probably guess, I am a smoker.  My brain is not 'foggy', and I fully understand the health risks related to smoking.  When I started smoking, some FORTY years ago, there were no studies done.  There were no warnings about the harmful effects of smoking.  So, since you are obviously not a smoker, or worse yet, a 'reformed' smoker, you may or may not know the absolute addicting effect smoking has on a person, and, it doesn't take long to get a hold on a person.  Addictions of any kind are difficult to break, which is not to say one shouldn't try.
    
    In summation, I found your position to be extremely 'ranting' in nature as well as 'hostile'.  I do, however, respect your right to your opinion.  What I take exception to is your 'misguided' opinion of yourself as the 'know it all' authority on the risks of smoking.  If you don't like people's responses to your thoughts, then don't put yourself out here in the forums.  However, if you enjoy this platform to boast of your credentials, at least show fellow hubbers common courtesy and speak with some respect for someone else's opinion.
    
    My wish for you is that your life is free of addictions.
    
    Sincerely,
    Trish, with decades of life experience, and a V.N.P. (very nice person, which you may or may not agree with) 

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12. 0

    sandra rinckposted 16 years ago

    Hey ya'll smokers!  LOL. 
    
    A lot of things cause lung cancer breathing air can cause lung cancer, people who have never been around second hand smoke have developed lung cancer. Almost everything can cause some sort of cancer. 
    
    I think it is propaganda.  I mean I am fully aware that smoking cannot possibly be good, but clouding my judgment.  Naaa.  If anything I smoke when I am angry or somethng and it makes me calm.  Yeah!  If I were calm and then chose to smoke a cigarette to get angry, then I think that would be little bit of dementia. 
    
    Anyways, I know old people in their 80's still kickin and smoking those stoges.  I can say that smoking probably increases your risk for illness, but I cannot say that if you smoke you will get cancer. 
    
    Also their are more heart related deaths associated with obesity then smoking.  It's kinda funny cause I like to excersie and how I can still manage to run a couple mile with no sweat off my back is pretty amazing since I have been smoking since I was 13 years old and now thirdy.
    
    But like Bonnie said,  no one told me about the effects when I started and all that stuff out there that promises to get you to quick is crap.  If the medical association really thought that smoking posed a great risk, they would ban it, but they haven't.  Instead they use it propagate on other things that make money by feeding off our insecurities.
    
    I really dislike it when people look at me like I am some horrible person for smoking, like they are so high on thier horse or better than I am because they don't.  I don't look at someone who is obese and feel like I am better then them.  Plus knowing that I like to eat, really helps me get off my butt and excersise so that I can. haha. 
    
    Anyways maybe it was a bad joke, but I know that smoking and over eating are addictive things.  Anyways I am getting off the subject. 
    
    My favorite thing to say to someone who tells me that I need to stop smoking is:  I will stop smoking when you stop driving. 
    
    The way I see it is:  If you are stuck in a garage with a car running for an hour, it will  kill you.  If you are stuck in a garage with hundreds of cigarettes going, you will probably only puke. 
    Same with alcohol. 
    Drinking will kill you faster then smoking, and it really does cloud your judgement.  So when a heavy drinker tells me I should stop smoking.  I always say, drinking will kill you quicker. 
    
    Plus, I enjoy smoking.  The calming sensation, the taste of tobacco. I like it, I know it is probably gross but hey...

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13. 64

    Mishaposted 16 years ago

    If you don't drink and you don't smoke you are healthy when you croak

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       sandra rinckposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       LMAO

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