Cigs ARE A BAD IRRITANT!! (Who knew??!! LOL just kiddin!)

[ChrissySunshine]

Hi again all! I was doing really good (well, really just OK...LOL) not smoking last week. I had quit on Monday, and you know what?? I WAS BEGINNING TO FEEL BETTER....after 5 days I had ALOT less pain. Then on Saturday, I decided to test my theory ...are the cigs really harming my bladder or not? At the beach with a smoker, so I said, let me try this out. I had that cig, then another later that day. My pain was starting to return, but not too bad. Soooo.....big confession here.....I bought a pack Sat. nite...not what I usually smoke, I got Merit Ultra Lights. I thought I could maybe just have them for if I really needed one. Wellllll, (as you smoker's reading this might be able to relate to), I smoked almost the whole pack yesterday! ARG!!! This time I KNEW my pain was directly related to the cigs, cause I had done nothing different, and by Sunday night I was back in my same old pain again, the Vicodin not helping, severe pain!!!
Sooo, I'm thinking alot of my pain is due to smoking!!! (I'm not gonna become a terrible reformed preachy ex-smoker...don't worry! LOL Just want to share my experience with you.) I had my last 2 cigs this am, took a shower, and I've got the patch back on. Thank goodness, the patch is not bothering me....so it must be all the CHEMICALS in the cigarettes that are irritating the heck out of my bladder! I'm back on it....I've now got to finish proving the theory (for me anyway!), and hopefully my pain will get better again, as I've stopped AGAIN!!
I'm curious to know if anyone else's bladder pain subsided when you quit smoking cigarettes? This could be ... HUGE!!!

[armslee]

Chrissy,
You are an awesome guinea pig girl! Ok, let me know how the patch thing works out. I may be willing to go down that road soon.

Have you ever watched the (1st) Blue Collar Comedy Tour? Bill Engvall does a skit about trying to quit smoking. He says that he tried the patch, but it hurt when he pulled it off his lips. He tried the gum, but it wouldn't stay lit. So then he tried Acupuncture.....the end of the skit is him lying on the table with needles sticking in him and the acupuncturist comes in, sticks a cotton ball on the needles in his thighs and lights them on fire! Now all he can think of is that his legs are on fire and he can't smoke them!!!!
Oh well, that was my stab at humor for the day.
Seriously, let me know how things turn out. I have only quit cold turkey. But I am a weak baby now, and I will need a pacifire this time 'round!

[ICNDonna]

My bladder also felt better when I quit smoking. I would never even consider going back. It would be like sticking my hand in a fire --- I won't do that either, since I know it would also cause pain --- and I'm not fond dof pain.

Hang in there! You can do it!

Hugs,
Donna

[sandramac]

Crissy I quit for 2 years and started again,due to weight gain and stress!i noticed no difference at all in my pain.none!im still in pain daily,with or without smoking hugs Sandra

[ChrissySunshine]

Thanx all for your info and support! I had 2 cigs yesterday, and 2 today (yep, been cheaten....slippin...no plans to continue smoking)...IT IS SOOOO HARD....it was such a stress reducer for me! I'm in ALOT of pain, it's not better yet, still the same old pain....Today, I'll do better, and hopefully FEEL better soon!!
Sandra ~ Sorry to hear you went back!! I can relate though, as I quit for 4 years before....it was stress that made me go back too, and I've been smoking ever since!! I'm trying hard to deal in other ways, relaxation, deep breathing, I've also been reading alot lately. (Just got another book today.)
THE ABSOLUTE TOUGHEST PART for me right now is I can keep my mind off cigs better if I'm doing stuff, keeping busy around the house. BUT....and that's a big BUT!! (LOL...irony,huh?) IC is preventing me from doin all that!! I'm in so much pain, I need to rest....lay down. I also need to keep busy to keep my mind off cigs!!! What a catch 22, huh? Oh well, got to try to keep my mind occupied then, cause my body sure can't handle it right now!

[Pernie]

Your a big inspiration Chrissy. Hearing that quitting reduced yours and other peoples bladder pain is a huge incentive to quit. I'm so sick of discomfort and pain. I think the pain of quitting will be well worth a reduction in bladder pain. I did quit once for 6 month and it was really hard but I have got to do something to help ease these symptoms.

[icnmgrjill]

Chrissy,

Any doubt that the chemicals in cigarettes are harmful to the bladder is proven by one simple fact... the #1 cause of bladder cancer is smoking. You think IC is bad??? It's nothing compared to how devastating bladder cancer is. I was just working with a bladder cancer patient yesterday and she was in agony.

Remember, urine is one way that our body disposes of excess and harmful chemicals from the body. Thus, the bladder must hold those toxins until we can pee them out. That said, the bladder lining was never designed to tolerate the chemical load that smokers put in their urinary tract and bladder... which is why it develops cancer, chemical cystitis after chemo, radiation cystitis, etc. etc. My best IC friend ever, Diane, recently died at the age of 37 due to complications from smoking that not only destroyed her bladder but also her lungs.

So.. please... I beg of you... don't cheat anymore. The bladder isn't superhuman... and everytime you smoke, you damage it. Nuff said!

Jill ::still missing Diane badly:::

[ICNDonna]

I have a friend who quit smoking by holding her breath. That's right --- she held her breath.

When she wanted a cigarette really bad, she would hold her breath as long as she could --- until she began to feel funny --- she said it gave her the same feeling as inhaling smoke from a cigarette. That tells me something; every drag on a cigarette is depriving your body of oxygen.

Donna