Recover from Smoking?

Yes, you will recover. Swim hard and you'll do far better than that. When it comes to self-destructive addictions like smoking, there is no better antidote than substituting a healthy addiction, like swimming. I was a smoker for 9 years.. quit many times for up to 6 months at a time. When I quit for the last time I set myself a goal of completing a triathlon. I started swimming 5 days a week, plus running and biking. Aerobic exercise every day became my new routine. Any time I felt the urge to smoke I would exercise instead. That was 3 years ago. I did enter and complete my first triathlon 9 months after quitting, and was 11th out of the water. Since then I've done 3 other triathlons and swim regularly with the local Masters group. I'm still not very fast, but my times are steadily improving and my cardiovascular capacity is not a limiting factor. I was told last year by my doctor that I have an "abnormally high" lung capacity. I have no doubt that this is due to swimming. Enough rambling about me, my point is that if you dedicate yourself to an aggressive exercise program, you can quickly heal your lungs and reach new levels of fitness that you never thought your body was capable of.

I will be villified for this, but I am a smoker, have been for 14 years. I didn't smoke during college (picked it up post). 3 years ago, I came within 1 second of my college 100yd times. 58 100 ***. What I really like, are the disgusted looks I get at Nationals when I am standing outside the pool, in my suit, taking a drag. Entry Fee into Nationals, $35; Pack of Smokes, $5; Six Pack of beer, $7; Beating non-smokers who have something to say about my habbit, priceless. Seriously, I will agree that my distance swimming has been somewhat affected.

My brother Bob a great sprint swimmer and waterpolo player was a chain smoker, lit a cig. in the morning. He never lit another match he relit his cigs with the one he finished. He would leave his burning cig on the seats around the pool and after his 5o would start smoking it again. The only time he had to relight was when he played waterpolo. He died at 74 years of age but not from lung problems or cancer He was hit in the stomach and died of a heart attack.

Originally posted by geochuck My brother Bob a great sprint swimmer and waterpolo player was a chain smoker, lit a cig. in the morning. He never lit another match he relit his cigs with the one he finished. He would leave his burning cig on the seats around the pool and after his 5o would start smoking it again. The only time he had to relight was when he played waterpolo. He died at 74 years of age but not from lung problems or cancer He was hit in the stomach and died of a heart attack. I suspect that his smoking had something to do with the heart attack. As far as the healing of lung tissue, most all of the cells in your body are in a constant state of regeneration except for a few spots. One of them is certain areas of the brain and I think certain portions of your cardiac muscle are also lifelong/static. I suspect that you will regain much of your lung function but I don't know about all of it. I know we have a few MD's or DO's on here..perhaps they can clarify or set me straight. Either way you are doing yourself a great service by quitting. Congratulations. You should be proud of yourself.

Since 90% of people who get lung cancer are going to die in the next 12 months (or some other obscenely short amount of time) no matter what they do, I can't say I really blame them for continuing to smoke.

scyfreestyler Don't get me wrong I think my brother was asking for trouble. My other brother Bill was told by a doctor that he should quit smoking, I harped on him to stop smoking he always said the doctor did not tell him to quit smoking they told him he should stop smoking, of course he died from lung cancer.

Originally posted by GoRedFoxes I will be villified for this, but I am a smoker, have been for 14 years. I didn't smoke during college (picked it up post). 3 years ago, I came within 1 second of my college 100yd times. 58 100 ***. What I really like, are the disgusted looks I get at Nationals when I am standing outside the pool, in my suit, taking a drag. Entry Fee into Nationals, $35; Pack of Smokes, $5; Six Pack of beer, $7; Beating non-smokers who have something to say about my habbit, priceless. Seriously, I will agree that my distance swimming has been somewhat affected. I do not think that smoking can affect your speed, at least not in years, but it will affect everything else in your quality of life in the long run (and the people you live with), it is not guarantied that you get cancer but it is like playing the Russian roulette. I am sorry to sound so disagreeable but I have a couple of family very bad experiences because of this habit. :(

Originally posted by GoRedFoxes I will be villified for this, but I am a smoker, have been for 14 years. I guarantee you that there will come a time when you wish you had quit, but it will be too late. Try putting a price on that.

Originally posted by gull80 I guarantee you that there will come a time when you wish you had quit, but it will be too late. Try putting a price on that. I couldn't agree more with that statement. Just because things feel ok now, does not mean that they will continue that way. Some people are much less affected than other (many in my family have lived to ripe old ages), but it always gets you in the end if you keep on smoking. Unfortunately, quiting is an extremely hard thing to accomplish. Hook'em Blue

Originally posted by gull80 I guarantee you that there will come a time when you wish you had quit, but it will be too late. Try putting a price on that. Good way to put it. I have lost two grandparents to smoking in the last 5 years...one just two months ago. The first suffered from very advanced emphysema where she could barely breath on her own and she refused to be placed on a bi-pap. Her suffering was intense as was that of the whole family who could only watch. My grandmother who died just months ago suffered from emphysema, pulmonary hypertension, congestive heart failure, pneumonia (white out), dried out kidneys, etc... Smoking certainly played a major role in her suffering but by the time these conditions manifested themselves it was far too late. Quit when you are still "healthy".