Posted on 07/29/2011 6:16:58 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Who says smoking cigarettes is so bad ... well, aside from the World Health Organization, Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and every medical board and association on the face of the Earth?
But should smokers be fortunate enough to dodge all that cancer, heart disease, emphysema and the like, they will be uniquely protected — for reasons unexplained by science — against a handful of diseases and afflictions.
Call it a silver lining in their otherwise blackened lungs. Although long-term smoking is largely a ticket to early death, here are (gulp) five possible benefits from smoking. Breathe deep.
1. Smoking lowers risk of knee-replacement surgery
While smokers might go broke buying a pack of cigarettes, they can at least save money by avoiding knee-replacement surgery. Surprising results from a new study have revealed that men who smoke had less risk of undergoing total joint replacement surgery than those who never smoked.
The study, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, appears in the July issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. What could be the connection? Knee-replacement surgery was more common among joggers and the obese; smokers rarely jog, and they are less likely to be morbidly obese.
After controlling for age, weight and exercise, the researchers were at a loss to explain the apparent, albeit slight protective effects of smoking for osteoporosis. It could be that the nicotine in tobacco helps prevent cartilage and joint deterioration.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
SheLion and Max McGarrity (aka Spinner.) Max is how both SheLion and I wound up here. When I got the call we had lost Max, She Lion was one of the first I called. I didn’t want her reading it here or elsewhere without knowing.
BTW, smoking wasn’t the cause of us losing either one of them.
Every time I see a smoking thread I think of her. *sigh*
I bumped it - good call - great memory...
I know. I also understand.
Cigarette smoke has anti-inflammatory properties. Way long ago, it used to be considered helpful for asthma, because it lowered the inflammation. Tobacco smoke lowers the immune response, which in pneumonia can be the source of symptoms, same with asthma.
When my step mother quit smoking, she immediately began to have allergy problems she’d never had before.
Yep. Same with my mom. No problems until she quit smoking, then developed Chron’s disease. Not to mention, she put on weight which she still carries. As a doctor, I always tell people to not smoke. But the fact of the matter is smoking has SOME beneficial effects. For example in schizophrenics. The long term effects are bad, obviously. But there’s a reason people have smoked for centuries. They were getting some kind of medicinal relief.
I didn’t know there was a benefit to schizophrenics...
They’re not sure whether it is a cause or correlation, but schizophrenics report that it helps control their symptoms. About 50% of pt’s with schizophrenia (now often diagnosed as bipolar) smoke. Supposedly smoking also shows some benefit in Alzheimer’s as well.
I’m a retired nurse, and at one time worked on an Alzheimer’s unit. I recall a patient who used to have a cigarette in the afternoon with a cup of real coffee, and was able to have a short coherent conversation as a result, although it didn’t change her basic disease progression. Too bad she couldn’t live with her smokes and her caffeine all the time, might have slowed it down...
I’m a smoker, about 5-10 per day depending on the stress level. No doctor has ever told me to quit.
Also, I’m thinking that for patients with metabolic syndrome, keeping the weight down might help mitigate some of the cardiac risk factors as well as delaying the onset of diabetes.
My Dad died last year of congestive heart failure and the only thing that eased his coughing in the last two months of his life was taking a drag on a cigarette.
Now more than ever it is critically important for Conservatives to have Free Republic as our online resource where we can discuss the real news, not the news as the current administration's public relations spin machine is spewing it.
We need Free Republic because it's the online site where Conservatives can discuss, defend and make cogent arguments about all Conservative issues.
Free Republic is not just a site where Conservatives give voice to opinions in often heated discussions. Free Republic also serves as a rallying point where Conservatives can align with other Conservatives and get involved in making our strongly held opinions heard above the fray of leftist bleating.
Conservatives on Free Republic become involved and remain involved in grassroots activism, all while making the steps necessary to return our country to its Conservative principles and standards.
Please click here to help keep the lights on at Free Republic.
Where is she institutionalized, a bar?
Nanny State PING!
If ya gotta choose one or the other, that's the right way to go.
Well, if ya GOTTA be institutionalized....
Glad you find it amusing. No, she hasn’t been institutionalized in a bar. She’s spent all of these years in state psychiatric centers, and has most recently been in adult assisted living facilities for the past 10 years. She suffers from organic brain damage, schizophrenia, and dementia among other things, all caused by the aging process, the effects of alcohol on the brain, as well as the long-term effects of the psychotropic drugs she’s been medicated with.
IIRC, Bob Dole said he never would have survived the war without smoking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.