Time o give up? - medical
Time o give up? - medical
Author
Discussion

bilko2

Original Poster:

1,693 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Iv'e been suffering with a problem when trying to get to sleep lately, my brother says it's stress but i don't think so. I think it's smoking related.

It's weird realy, i get into bed and start to relax and after a while i feel a an inward wave developing. It's a cross between 'bed spins' and a kind of vibration inside my veins. It's quite scary like my heart is threatening to miss a beat. Often i cant stand the buildup and i turn over so it goes for a while and then starts again.
Also there is a general numbness/tightness in my arms as associated. After a while it seems i drop off and sleep normally.

I have phoned my doctor and as usuall have to go there for 8am tommorrow to book an emergency appointment for that day. also i phoned nhs direct and i don't quite know how to describe it to the nurse when she/he phones back.
I have been a slave to smoking for the past 20 odd years and it angers me that i find it sooo hard to give up. I managed once before for a year so i could be with the woman i loved but went through a week of horrible tearfull depression and got hooked on nicotine chewinggum for a year.
Not looking for sympathy here as i know i have been on a self destruct course with smoking but i am worried i may have enphasyma ( sp) of that fatty stuff in my arteries causing a blockage or something.
Damn smoking and my abscence of will when it comes to it. there are somethings i find so difficult to do, Adhd related i think but i hope the doctor can help.

jimothy

5,151 posts

266 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Allen Carr's book.

Give it a whirl - only £6 and a staggering success rate!

.Flyer

434 posts

279 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Bought the Allen Carr book for my mum for mother's day (better than flowers ); she has been smoking for 40-odd years and gave up for a while after a triple-bypass ... started again not so long ago

Hopefully this'll be the kick she needs ...

shadowninja

79,983 posts

311 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
What is that book about? (Just being nosey)



If you are desperate to give up smoking and based in Surrey, give me a shout. I can help...

Davel

8,982 posts

287 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Try not to worry too much and see how you get on at the Doctors.

bilko2

Original Poster:

1,693 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Thanks
Just talked to the nurse. I wish there was a physical/external thing i could tell her but there isn't and as such she can't help. I hope the doctor can be more conclusive otherwise i feel this could lead to real problems. I am actually getting scared to go to sleep
BUG*ER!
I don't know, i am hoping it's something as easy as too much caffein ( always a cup of tea ) but it's a hard one for them to diagnose.

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Does anyone else have a feeling BrucieBabe will be along shortly?

soir

2,277 posts

268 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
I've heard the allen carr sessions (assume www/allencarr.co.uk) are very good 80+% success rate

Think it's about £150-200 and you get your money back if unsucessful.

(It's basically looking at smoking in a different way, rather than scare-tactics, some subliminal (SP) messages..)

That's were I'll be going as soon as I can prize my brain and arse off the sofa...(keep putting off)

lunarscope

2,901 posts

271 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
If you manage to stop smoking be careful you don't go from "the frying pan into the fire" and start eating crisps.

wolves_wanderer

12,950 posts

266 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
lunarscope said:
If you manage to stop smoking be careful you don't go from "the frying pan into the fire" and start eating crisps.


From the fire to the frying pan surely?

mr_tony

6,351 posts

298 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
much easier way to give up - go stay in northern canada for 2 weeks. It's impossible to smoke indoors and at night when you're out drinking you have to leave your beer inside and stand out in the cold for a ciggy. My habit dropped overnight from 10-15 a day down to 2 a day. (And every time I light up now I feel cold!)

Frankly at 2 a day theres not much point carrying on so figure I'll just stop this week

Good luck giving up!

Plotloss

67,280 posts

299 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Sounds like you are missing an ingredient in your fags.

Sweet dreams

bruciebabie

895 posts

265 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
BliarOut said:
Does anyone else have a feeling BrucieBabe will be along shortly?


My father died last year from a Thoracic Aneurism, his arteries were knackered from a lifetime's smoking. I was there when he died, his heart pumping all his blood into his chest cavity.
A friend of mine in Scotland had a heart attack and his wife saved him with CPR, he had an Aortal Aneurism which now leaks, he had a stroke and lost a big lot of motor skills and the doctors want to take his legs off because they have virtually nil circulation. All, as he readily admits, caused by smoking. Yet he still cannot give up no matter what he does. Nicotine is terrible in the way that is so addictive. I hate the damage that smoking has done to my friends and family. I hope bilko2 is allright, that the doctors find nothing and that he is successful in giving up the evil weed.

BliarOut

72,863 posts

268 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Sorry to hear all that...... But I have to say that's a far more reasoned arguement than your normal "all smokers are stupid" posts.

Perhaps it makes it easier to understand your passionate dislike of smoking, but like you said, it's a very powerful addiction

Perhaps, rather than funding the government through taxation some of the cigarette companies money would be better chanelled into finding an effective method to counter the addiction.

It's no accident that the chemicals they add to the tobacco increase it's addictive qualities, yet does the government react? Too right they don't, they have a vested interest in us smokers supporting the economy regardless of what they say in public.

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

290 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Apart from trying to give up, try not to have a fag when you are about an hour away from bed - it's a stimulant after all.

Are you totally sure it's not stress related? Try having a warm bath before bed (works for my 14 month old )

I'm no expert, but a friend is at high risk of Emphathingy, and you can hear him breathing 100 yards away. I would have thought you would have been wheezy. Your Doc will try to get you to quit anyway, whatever it turns out to be. Good Luck.

He said puffing away on a Dunhill as he types

968

12,439 posts

277 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
bilko2 said:
Iv'e been suffering with a problem when trying to get to sleep lately, my brother says it's stress but i don't think so. I think it's smoking related.

It's weird realy, i get into bed and start to relax and after a while i feel a an inward wave developing. It's a cross between 'bed spins' and a kind of vibration inside my veins. It's quite scary like my heart is threatening to miss a beat. Often i cant stand the buildup and i turn over so it goes for a while and then starts again.
Also there is a general numbness/tightness in my arms as associated. After a while it seems i drop off and sleep normally.

I have phoned my doctor and as usuall have to go there for 8am tommorrow to book an emergency appointment for that day. also i phoned nhs direct and i don't quite know how to describe it to the nurse when she/he phones back.
I have been a slave to smoking for the past 20 odd years and it angers me that i find it sooo hard to give up. I managed once before for a year so i could be with the woman i loved but went through a week of horrible tearfull depression and got hooked on nicotine chewinggum for a year.
Not looking for sympathy here as i know i have been on a self destruct course with smoking but i am worried i may have enphasyma ( sp) of that fatty stuff in my arteries causing a blockage or something.
Damn smoking and my abscence of will when it comes to it. there are somethings i find so difficult to do, Adhd related i think but i hope the doctor can help.



It does sound a lot like anxiety type symptoms to me, but it's worth getting an MOT by your GP to make sure there are no problems. Sorry to be the harbinger of doom, but yes your arteries are almost certainly damaged from smoking and your lungs almost certainly will have a reduced capacity and compliance due to fibrosis from smoking.

Sorry pro-smokers, no judgements but pure fact.

bilko2

Original Poster:

1,693 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
Thanks for all the positive response.

I checked out the Allen carr website and i'm giving them a call tommorrow, there is a clinic in maidstone which is less than an hours drive from me. A lot of the stuff he says makes sense, lets just hope he can help me produce the goods this time.

Sorry to hear about your father Bruciebabe, i know there are an awfull lot of people that suffer from illness that would normally be linked to smoking however they do not. And to hear that someone readily puts their life in jepody all for the sake of a fag must be truely angering and sadening.

I just deleted a load of stuff about the government and addiction to smoking in general in light of one single fact. I have to help myself on this one.


Ian

nubbin

6,809 posts

307 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
bilko2 said:
Iv'e been suffering with a problem when trying to get to sleep lately, my brother says it's stress but i don't think so. I think it's smoking related.

It's weird realy, i get into bed and start to relax and after a while i feel a an inward wave developing. It's a cross between 'bed spins' and a kind of vibration inside my veins. It's quite scary like my heart is threatening to miss a beat. Often i cant stand the buildup and i turn over so it goes for a while and then starts again.
Also there is a general numbness/tightness in my arms as associated. After a while it seems i drop off and sleep normally.



Very difficult to make a diagnosis on vague symptoms like this. Do you feel TATT (tired all the time)? Do you get any palpitations or fluttering from your heart? Does it occasionally miss a beat, or give a stronger beat, like a thump inside your chest.

Is your sleep pattern normal? What's your mood like (normal, up-and-down, irritable, changeable?) Any weight loss/gain? Are you enjoying life, or do most things seem like a chore, or do you feel like you can't be bothered with anything? Is there stress in your life?

I'm sure when you see your GP, that other symptoms like this will help him to tease out what's happening. Don't panic, you're not going to die (yet! )

bilko2

Original Poster:

1,693 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
WOW, nubbin you read my mind, i was just reading about palputations as that is the best way i can describe it. Bit like zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ..Boom, i think , although i am too scared to stick around for the boom so i turn over for it to happen 5 minutes later. I get the feeling that if i let it go boom then i will black out.
Yes everything is a chore from cleaning up to getting to bed i have to make consciouse efforts.
I am on leave at the moment till sunday but my normal shift pattern is hecktic.
I suffered from hyperventillating panic attacks when i was 16 due to a mix of personal and relationshi[p problems but non since. Now 33.
I cycle 12 miles a day when working with no great difficulty and from what i can tell my biological parents are an encyclopeadic volume of illness... ( cancer, heart problems and such ). I have suffered a huge syst on my neck though for most of my life which lead me to believe i missed the cancer bit, although i have steered clear of lanolin and wool on my neck for 5 years and have not had a reacurrance.
there was a time recently when i was mixing redball/lucazade/proplus cocktails to keep me awake at work even though i would get 8 hrs sleep a night.
I have found a better non caffein way now, ie keeping the light on.
To be honest i feel completely stupid now discussing this appericious buzzing now in the cold light of day, that is untill i come to go to sleep.
I was fully prepared last night to get up and spend 4 hrs in A and E untill i dropped off from overtiredness.
Anyway we'll ( i mean I ) see what the doc says.
Thanks all
Ian

bga

8,134 posts

280 months

Wednesday 2nd March 2005
quotequote all
968 said:


It does sound a lot like anxiety type symptoms to me, but it's worth getting an MOT by your GP to make sure there are no problems. Sorry to be the harbinger of doom, but yes your arteries are almost certainly damaged from smoking and your lungs almost certainly will have a reduced capacity and compliance due to fibrosis from smoking.

Sorry pro-smokers, no judgements but pure fact.


I get very similar symptoms when stressed/suffering from anxiety. The doc told me a few relaxation techniques (not those ) to help. He said it was unlikely to be physical as I don't smoke, drink moderately, exercise, normal bp etc.

The 2 things that really worked for me were

- Set aside time for mental relaxation before bed. Avoid mental stimuli like TV, reading, surfing the net for at least 1/2 an hour before going to bed (perferably 1 hour). This was hard as I spend 4 nights away from home and there's only so much you can do by yourself in a hotel room.

- Practice "relaxational breathing" which is to focus on breathing in a steady manner when in bed. Focusing on the breathing helps stop worrying about getting the symptoms.

I always found myself getting wound up because I wasn't feeling good & that would escalate etc. etc. It took a while but now it rarely happens - only when I am really stressed - and I can manage it most of the time.