Hypnotherapy and Laser to Quit Smoking

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Is hypnotherapy or laser is effective to help you stop smoking? Well ... If you are a smoker and if you seriously care to your health, one of the best steps that you need to do immediately is smoking cessation. Unfortunately, it is usually a real challenge because you usually have been dependent on nicotine.

However, smoking is deadly habit that can generate a lot of serious health problems (read also some smoking side effects) -- therefore once again you need to stop from it as soon as possible. Today, there are more options to help you quit from this unhealthy habit. For example, you can try with Nicotine-Replacement Therapies (NRT). Some popular products of NRT include nicotine sprays, inhalers, nicotine, gum, and nicotine patches. These products will help you to provide safely nicotine replacement for your body without using tobacco, so thus the urge to smoke can be reduced /managed.

Smoking Side Effects for Men and Women!

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There are a lot of smoking side effects either for men or for women. Cigarette smoking can be categorized into one of common causes that can lead to nicotine dependence, and this is very bad for your health. People with nicotine dependence are often linked to many health complications. They have much higher rates of developing some types of cancer, heart disease, and even stroke than do other individuals who don’t have nicotine dependence.

You might also be interested to read the previous posts about health benefits of quitting smoking timeline and about free-quit smoking patches, before continuing!

Cigarette smoking can generate physical effects & mood-altering effects in the brain that are usually temporarily pleasing. That’s why this unhealthy habit can make smokers want to use more & more tobacco continuously which then eventually will lead to dependence. 

Free Quit Smoking Patches | Nicotine Replacement Therapies

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What are quit smoking patches? Where and how you can get them for free? Are they effective to help you stop smoking? As well we know that there are a lot of strategies and methods to help smokers quit smoking. Some studies found that smokers who have a program to stop smoking are more likely to succeed when they also use /involve long acting & immediate-delivery ‘Nicotine-Replacement Therapies’ (NRT). Before continuing, you may also be interested to know more about benefits of quitting smoking timeline!

NRT includes nicotine sprays, nicotine inhalers, nicotine lozenges, nicotine patches, and nicotine gum. NTR is a kind of therapy that works by providing nicotine for smokers but without using tobacco, which then will help for smokers to manage their nicotine withdrawal. In other words, the use of NRT will help reduce the urge to smoke, so thus will be helpful to encourage your success rate of a quitting smoking program. (Read also the previous post about effects of secondhand smoke)!

Second-hand Smoking Facts | Effects of Third-hand Smoke

You might very clearly understand that cigarette smoking is very bad for the health (read also some hazards of smoking). But did you know that second-hand and tri-hand smoking also can affect the health?! Second-hand smoke is a term used to describe a situation when we accidentally breathe the cigarette smoke that is resulted from another smoker. It is also familiar called as passive /involuntary smoking! (You may also like to know about quitting smoking timeline!)

And for third-hand smoke, it is often considered to be residual chemicals (like nicotine) left on a variety of objects in the room by tobacco smoke. If there are some common indoor pollutants in the room, there is a chance for this left residue to react with them which then eventually may result a toxic mix. And this new toxic mix can be potential health hazard for anyone who is exposed to it -- particularly for kids!

Quitting Smoking Timeline | More Health Benefits

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If you are a smoker, tobacco cravings to smoke are something that can be very powerful. This is one of reasons why you cannot stop smoking easily. However, this bad habit is not good for your health -- each time when a craving to smoke strikes, always remember that it will be short-lived (read also smoking side effects)! Quitting smoking timeline varies from person to person, but your health benefits will begin just 20 minutes after you stop smoking! 

You usually feel strange at first when you stop smoking. This may include feeling of tense, dull, or even you may feel that you are not yourself. These signs are normal because your body is beginning used to adapt without tobacco /nicotine -- but don’t worry, this usually only lasts about one or two weeks!

How to Prevent Tuberculosis | Causes and Risk Factors

There are many frequently asked questions associated with tuberculosis (TB), such as what is the cause of the disease? What are factors or conditions (risk factors) that can put you at higher risk of having this disease? And eventually what you should do to prevent tuberculosis? Before continuing, you may also be interested to know more about signs and symptoms of TB!

Once you get the infection of bacteria that cause tuberculosis, the symptoms doesn’t develop quickly. The bacteria of this disease are very slow moving, that’s why the progress of the disease and symptoms usually develop slowly. Even there are some patients who don’t experience any sign of the disease until many years after they were infected.

Signs and Symptoms of TB | Types of Tuberculosis

One of potentially serious infectious health problems associated with the lungs is tuberculosis or TB. It can occur due to the slow-growing bacteria in the lungs or in other areas of the body that have lots of O2 (oxygen) and blood. The signs and symptoms of TB are usually related to the condition /type of the infection itself. Patients who have latent TB are more likely to experience no any symptom. The signs of tuberculosis usually begin to occur in the stage what we call as ‘active TB’ or when latent TB becomes active TB.

If active tuberculosis left treated, it can be very dangerous and will lead to a fatal accident. It typically affects the lungs, but there is also a chance for the disease to spread to other areas /parts of the patient’s body through the blood flow. (Read also how to prevent tuberculosis, before continuing!)

Signs and Symptoms of Emphysema | Treatment Options

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What are signs and symptoms of emphysema, and what are the currently treatments to treat this health condition? Well, emphysema is one of popular COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), which is usually pretty common in smoker. The disease can make patient be difficult to take a breath. Another popular type of COPD is chronic bronchitis which is usually characterized by a long-term cough (followed with mucus). Some individuals with COPD may experience a combination of both diseases.

You might also like to read the previous posts about pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension, before continuing! There is about over 10 million people in the United States who have COPD. In fact, both chronic bronchitis and emphysema are the 4th leading number of death in this country.

Causes of emphysema other than smoking!

In fact, smoking is bad activity that dominates the cause of this disease. Some studies found that emphysema risk is 6 times higher in smoker if compared to individuals who don’t smoke. But unfortunately, the exact mechanism why smoking can destroy the lung (particularly for the air sac lining) is still not known.

But, there are also some heavy smokers who don’t experience emphysema. It suggests that more studies are required to confirm and find clearly answer why some smokers have this disease, while other don’t. However, smoking is very bad for health, and all smokers will experience many bad effects that can lead to potentially life-threatening.

In essence -- many cases of this disease is usually caused by exposure to airborne irritants over time (long-term exposure), including; silica dust, air pollution, manufacturing gas/fumes, and marijuana/tobacco/cigarette smoke.

Other causes may include:

1. Long-term exposure to smoke of cooking fire due to poor ventilation.
2. Frequent exposure to amounts of secondhand smoke, particularly for high amounts of secondhand smoke.

Another cause is lack of AAT (alpha-1 antitrypsin)! It is one of pretty common causes of emphysema in children (young age) or adults who don’t smoke. AAT is a kind of protein that naturally circulates in the blood. It can give a significant contribution to protect white blood cells from destroying normal tissues.

AAT deficiency is often associated with a certain genetic condition. Individuals with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiencies and they are also smoker, their risk of having signs and symptoms of emphysema will increase significantly. Some experts believe that there are about 3-2 percent of patients with emphysema also experience alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiencies.

In addition, patients who suffer from emphysema due to AAT deficiencies usually also experience problems associated with liver.

How do you get emphysema disease?

The disease can occur when there is irreversibly damaged in your lungs (the delicate linings of air sacs (alveoli)). And as mentioned before, this condition is often caused by the toxins from cigarette smoking. The damaged lungs develop over years.

When the air sacs of your lungs are destroyed /damaged, the sacs become bigger in size due to the breakdown of their walls. The larger size of sacs can lead to poor amounts of O2 in the blood. And then this condition will lead to breathing-problems, especially shortness of breath which tends to be worse over time. And unfortunately, the damaged alveoli cannot be reversed /replaced!

To find out the damaged air sacs (alveoli), below is helpful picture from ‘HealthWise’:

Image credit © to Healthwise

Signs and symptoms of emphysema

The signs of emphysema are the term used by doctor to help make a diagnosis. These signs are usually asked by doctors to identify this disease and its stage level. And for the symptoms of emphysema, they can describe what a patient feels when having this disease.

#Signs of emphysema

Many signs of this long-term (chronic) lung disease usually develop or can be clearly noticed at the advanced stages. Some of these signs may include:

1. Oxygen (O2) deficiencies in the blood (hypoxia /hypoxemia).
2. Malnutrition! In advanced stages of emphysema, muscles tend to slowly waste away.
3. Hypercarbia! This is a kind of health problem that usually characterized by too much CO2 in the blood. This is caused by a failure condition to properly exhale CO2.
4. The body’s patient creates an excessive red blood cells & hemoglobin to carry O2 in the blood. This is often familiar called ‘Polycythemia’.
5. Low O2 in the blood may also lead to the rounded tips of the fingers (or familiar known as ‘clubbing’).
6. In severe stage, lack of O2 in the blood may also cause blue-tinged lips (cyanosis).
7. Difficulties in breathing also can make patient take rapidly-breathing via pursed lips.
8. The lung expansion can cause larger rib-cage, particularly from front to back -- this condition is also familiar known as ‘barrel chest’!

#Symptoms of emphysema

The symptoms are slowly progressive, in other words they tend to get worse over time (particularly for smoker who don’t stop smoking). If you have been diagnosed with emphysema and you are smoker, you need to quit smoking as earlier as possible!

Either smokers or nonsmokers will experience the slowly loss function of lungs with age. But smoking can accelerate this process!

The onset of emphysema usually occurs slowly & gradually. Individuals who are a smoker, they usually start the symptoms in their 45-60 of the age. But unfortunately, the progression of this disease is still not easy to be predicted.

Some people can experience emphysema in faster progress, while others can get it slowly. Some experts believe that genetic may has a significant contribution why some individuals are more susceptible of developing emphysema. This factor may also affect the slowly/quickly progress of emphysema symptoms.

One of the early symptoms of emphysema that can be noticed is you become winded /windless during a previously routine activity. And generally, shortness of breath is the most common symptom of emphysema. It usually results from structurally changes/alterations in the lungs.

Other common emphysema symptoms may include:

1. Many patients also experience cough, and sometimes may also be one of common emphysema symptoms for smokers who have stopped smoking.
2. Wheezing is also another symptom that usually shared with certain health condition, like asthma. And bronchodilators are one of common medicines to treat wheezing. Talk more with your doctor /healthcare provider for more in-depth information!
3. Patient feels breathless when doing certain activity or exercise. And at severe stage, it also can occur at rest. Feeling breathless may be caused by the poor performance of muscles that responsible breathing. In people with emphysema, these muscles tend to work harder and therefore will be tire out more quickly.
4. Chest pain or tightness. It can occur more often during period of breathlessness or when patient doing an exercise. It also may be one of coexisting heart disease symptoms.

And decreased libido, mood disorder (like depression), problems in sleeping, weight loss (lack of appetite) are other less common symptoms which usually will occur more often for people with emphysema at advanced/severe stages.

Emphysema life expectancy and treatment options

As mentioned before, once the air sacs (alveoli) of your lung get damaged -- it is so difficult to reverse or replace them. Therefore, there is no cure for emphysema. However, there are a lot of things that can be explored to manage or relive the symptoms and eliminate the progress of the disease to get worse.

There are 3 popular treatment options for people who have emphysema; medications, therapy, and surgery.

For medications, the common treatment options may include:

1. Antibiotics, which are usually one of common options to treat bacterial infection, particularly if patient experiences pneumonia. This bacterial infection can make COPD or emphysema worse!
2. To relive shortness of breath and coughing, bronchodilators are usually recommended by your doctor. But unfortunately, this option usually cannot work effectively as well as in treating chronic bronchitis or asthma.
3. Another option to help relive shortness of breath is inhaled steroids. But sometimes it may also lead to some side effects, such as; can trigger high blood pressure and weaken the bones.
4. Cessation drugs to help patients who are smoker to stop smoking as earlier as possible.
5. Furthermore, doctors may also recommend using montelukast (a kind of anti-inflammatory medication).

For surgery, this option may be the last choice which usually closely dependent on the emphysema severity. Some common types of this surgery may include:

1. Lung transplantation! It is pretty common option if the severe stage of emphysema doesn’t respond other treatments.
2. Another type of surgery is a surgery procedure to reduce the lung volume. This reduction is purposed to improve breathing by making the remaining lung tissue become more efficiently to work.

And for therapy, there are 2 common options; O2 (oxygen) therapy and pulmonary rehabilitation.

1. Emphysema, especially at severe stage can cause low volume O2 in the blood. Therefore, supplemental O2 therapy is needed for this case.
2. Pulmonary rehabilitation! It is more purposed to teach or train patient how to take a breath with the right techniques. Furthermore, people with emphysema at early stage tend to experience weight gain, while at late stage they tend to have drastically weight loss. Therefore in pulmonary rehabilitation, patients usually also will be educated how to keep their proper nutrition.

Note: don’t get a conclusion on your own to any signs or symptoms that you experience. To get clearly diagnosis and more treatment advices, you need to discuss more with a doctor!
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Reference: WebMD, MayoClinic, and ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Pulmonary Fibrosis Life Expectancy | Treatment

Pulmonary fibrosis is a term used to describe scarring in the lungs. It can occur when there is scarred/damaged lung tissue. This condition causes the lung work in difficulty ways so thus it cannot function properly. As the disease worsens, patients will be progressively more short of breath. How about with the treatment and life expectancy for those who suffer from this disease, and what else you need to know about this scaring in the lungs? Keep reading!

You might also like to read about types and symptoms of tuberculosis, before continuing!

Pulmonary Hypertension Symptoms | Risk factors | Prognosis

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is different than regular high blood pressure (ordinary hypertension). It is a kind of hypertension that usually affects the right side of the heart and the arteries (blood vessels) in the lungs. In other words, this type of hypertension affects the blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs. And there are some pulmonary hypertension symptoms and risk factors, let’s explore more!

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) in young men!

Though erectile dysfunction ‘ED’/(also familiar known as ‘impotence’) is relatively more common in older men, but there are also a few young men that experience this problem or even maybe much more than we would think! And unfortunately, some of them are more likely to choose certain drugs of impotence without a doctor’s prescription. What else you need to know about erectile dysfunction in young men? Keep reading!

You might also like to read about how to boost your sex with lifestyle approaches and fertility enhancers for men & women, before continuing!

A study in Chicago (Children’s Memorial Hospital) that involved about ‘234 men - the age of 18-25’ found that the percentage of participants who reported ever having trouble on keeping/getting an erection is about 13 percent. And about 25 percent for those who reported/found ever losing an erection control when putting on a condom! But this research does not explain how often those young men experienced erection problems.

How to Stop or Quit Smoking?

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We all completely and clearly understand that smoking is not good for our health. But there are still a lot of people (either men or women) who are addicted to tobacco and they feel so difficult to stop or quit from smoking. 

You have to trust on your ability to quit, use professional help if necessary!

Like written in the previous article, there are numerous hazards of smoking that can lead to disorders and diseases. Therefore, it is much better to quit smoking as earlier as possible.

Hazards of Smoking

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There is estimated around one of each 5 deaths in USA is caused by tobacco. Around 8.5 million of Americans suffer from chronic diseases and more than 435 thousands of individuals who lost their live caused by addicted smoking activities. Overall, there are a lot of hazards of smoking! Therefore it is much better for smoker to stop smoking as earlier as possible.

You might also like to know more about facts of second-hand smoking, before continuing! 

Smoker lives are claimed around 14 years shorter than the average non-smoker lives. Smoking is bad activity, and today it will lead to death risk for 650 million of 1.3 million alive (the world’s smokers), according to American Cancer Society.