how does smoking cause emphysema?
112101
The constant exposure to irritants, tar etc.. causes the alveoli ( the air sacs inside your lungs that expand when you breathe in ) to lose their elasticity...as a result less oxugen is absorbed in these sacs resulting in a shrinking, hardening of these sacs, and a decrease of oxygen intake.  This is why most emphysema patients are on oxygen to help them breathe......This is emphysema
912969
All I can tellya from having watched a person die from emphysema is the effects are first inconvenient, then horrible, then torturous.  This person dragged an oxygen tank everywhere  for ten years then died a horrible slow painful death.  The effects are that the lungs can no longer absorb oxygen because they become like coral reefs.  The skin, glands, organs, bones, suffer.  The person ages doubly fast.  When I see young people smoking, I want to suggest they just take the quick approach and jump off a cliff, but instead, I patiently walk on.
299715
Honestly, I have never heard of it.\n\nHowever, one of the things that smoking does is make your blood platelets stick together...While you're smoking, this increases your risk of stroke, which is why it's a bad thing.\n\nMaybe your platelets have un-stuck, making it easier for the blood cells to come thru small openings caused by the periodontal disease?\n\nReally, that's pretty much a wild guess.  I think you should call your dentist.
123426
(Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article is just plain lazy.)\n\nThe answer to your question is: No, there is no cure for emphysema, but it is possible to slow down the disease and make it easier to live with the symptoms.\n\nYou can find some information here http://www.lung.ca/diseases/emphysema.html or but entering the word in any search engine.
464097
i've never heard of this...however, since smoking can cause blood vessel constriction, this means reduced blood flow to areas of your body, and less blood flow means less white blood cells flowing to let's say, your face, which normally would've helped ward off the bacterial infection (which is a cause of acne.) hope this helped and made sense!
291890
A smoker has increased risk of respiratory and vascular complications. Smoking actually creates a tar substance in the lungs and decreases the persons capacity to take in oxygen. Also smokers veins and arteries are constricted from chemicals in the cigarettes. This puts them at a higher risk for blood clot causing stroke.
83905
There are so many things that smoking does to the body. The really sad fact is that it does not just hurt the smoker. It really does effect all persons around them. \nA smoker has increased risk of respiratory and vascular complications. Smoking actually creates a tar substance in the lungs and decreases the persons capacity to take in oxygen. Also smokers veins and arteries are constricted from chemicals in the cigarettes. This puts them at a higher risk for blood clot causing stroke.\nMothers who smoke when they are pregnant usually have smaller babies. A nonsmokers umbilical cord (which supplies nourishment to the baby) is usually about wide as a roll of quarters and the smokers umbilical cord is about as thick as a pencil. \nChildren who grow up in the home of a smoker are at higher risk for developing asthma and/or allergies. They can develop lung cancer just as easily as the actual smoker can. Not to mention that growing up with parents who smoke puts them at higher risk for becoming smokers themselves. \nI have a grandfather that smokes. He is eighty. The last several years he has been on oxygen. He wakes up at night because he can't get his breath. He has a barrel chest because that is what your body does to try and help you get more oxygen. Your lungs try to get bigger so they can take in more oxygen because the cigarettes have destroyed portions of the lungs over the many years of smoking. Some people would say he has made it to eighty and that is a long time for a smoker to live. You have to keep in mind that most of his family lived into or close to their 100's. They say that every cigarette takes five minutes off your life. There is no telling how long he could have lived if he had just been able to stop smoking.
190285
The answer is NO!!!!!  You are playing with wild fire.  Smoking is only going to make your asthma symptoms worse and eventually you may end up with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD).  This means you will end of needing oxygen everywhere you go, depending on inhalers and breathing machines to keep you going and will be gasping for breath until the end of your life.  It is a nasty way to die.  By smoking you are playing Russian Roulette with your life.  Is it worth it to continue smoking????  My answer is NO!!!  Talk to your doctor and get the patch to help you quit smoking.  Also, stay away from 2nd hand smoke too for your lungs life.
666169
Heart Disease and Stroke\nSmoking causes fatty deposits to build up in the blood vessels, leaving them narrow or blocked. This leads to heart disease or stroke. About 40% of deaths due to heart disease before the age of 65 are related to smoking. \n\nCancer\nCigarette smoke contains more than 50 cancer-causing substances. \nSmoking is the most common, preventable cause of lung cancer. Smokers are 22 times more likely to develop lung cancer. 90% of all lung cancer cases in Singaporean males occur among smokers\n\nThe longer one smokes, the greater the risk of developing cancers such as cervical and breast cancer, cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney and bladder. \n\nChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)\nSmoking narrows the airways and destroys the air sacs in the lungs. This makes breathing difficult. Smoking is the most common cause of COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD is the 6th largest cause of death in Singapore.\n\nBone Loss and Osteoporosis\nOsteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to lose density and become brittle, leading to hip, spine and wrist fractures. \n\nWomen who smoke are 50% more likely to suffer from osteoporosis than non-smokers. \n\nRe-productive and Sexual Health\nSmoking increases the risk of infertility in both men and women.\n\n  Men  \n  • Smokers are 50% more likely to suffer from impotence or erectile dysfunction. \n  • Smoking reduces the volume of ejaculation, lowers sperm count, distorts sperm shape and impairs sperm mobility.  \n\n   Women \n  • Women who smoke may experience early menopause and more menopausal symptoms. \n  • Smoking may lead to decreased egg counts due to destruction of eggs in the ovaries before the eggs reach maturity.  \n\n   • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm delivery, and low birth weight. The smoke inhaled (either directly from a cigarette or from second-hand smoke) by a pregnant woman goes directly to her baby's lungs. It prevents as much as 25 % of oxygen from reaching the placenta.\n \n\n\nSecond-hand Smoke\nAbout 90% of the smoke from every cigarette ends up in the air as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). \n  ETS \n  • causes lung cancer in people who have never smoked before.  \n  • causes heart attack, especially among the spouses of smokers. ETS also increases the risk of repeated heart attacks if one has suffered from heart attack before. \n\n   • increases the risk of heart disease, lung disease, asthma, allergies, sinus problems, blood vessel disease or worsen the symptoms if one is already suffering from these.
392529
contributes to many types of cancer, emphazymia and other breathing problems. Besides the fact that cigarettes are really expensive and addicting and makes you smell bad. It also affects the people around you.
478662
ANY amount of smoking is harmful to your body. \nThis is from an article by Marie Claire magazine called "what smoke does to your body"\n*Causes strokes. Nicotine reaches the brain 10 seconds after you inhale\n*Gives you bad breath and yellow teeth. Associated with gum disease and mouth cancer\n*Gives you a two times higher risk of heart attack than a non smoker. Just one to five cigs a day can double your risk\n*Raises risk of breast cancer if you started smoking within 5 years of your first menstral period\n*Raises risk for stomach and peptic ulcers\n*In addition to lung cancer, smoking raises risk tenfold of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), a collection of fatal lung diseases\n*increases the odds that you wont ovulate or concieve. Smoking when pregnant increases miscarriage risk by 39%\n*Smokers have more severe PMS and 50% more cramps\n*the longer you smoke, the higher your risk for cervical cancer and colar rectal cancer\n*Hardens your arteries, raising odds for high blood pressure and heart attacks\n*Smoking can dampen libido by constricting blood flow to your clitoris\n*smoking may make bones thinner and more fragile, raising your risk of fractures\n*prematurely ages your skin by 10-20 years
190278
The same chemicals that are being sucked in by a smoker are being burned and released into the air as smoke as the cigarette/cigar (etc) is burned. In the case of cigarettes, second-hand smoke can be bad if it is prolonged or very often.  The chemicals are breathed in and can damage the lungs, or can be processed into the bloodstream where they can damage cells.  For people who have asthma or other breathing problems, second-hand smoke can worsen their difficulty breathing.  For infants and young children, second-hand smoke can damage developing lungs and cells, and cause lung or heart problems if severe.
350828
Nothing good! The nicotine causes a temporary feeling of well being, but it is addicting. There are also many other chemicals in it which are harmful. Inhaling these chemicals harms the lungs,organs that are a major detoxifier of the body. That's why smoking kills: the lungs are damaged and the bodies ability to detox itself is greatly diminshed=everything else being gradually poisoned in the body. Cancer is created from the damaged, mutant cells in the lungs...the cancer also spreads to other parts of the body via the circulatory system (capillaries in the lungs and surrounding tissues)...then the body is so toxic it breaks down completely-and dies.
824498
The combinations of being stressed out and smoking are two big risk factors for infections and many illnesses.  Being stressed out lowers the effectiveness of your immune system so that it is easier for you to get an infection.  At the same time, being a smoker makes people more prone to chest infections.  This is because the lungs contain something called cilia, microscopic, finger-like projections in the lungs that help move mucus that contains debris and other things like bacteria that has been inhaled.  When someone smokes, the chemicals in the cigarette basically paralize the cilia so that they cannot move the mucus and bacteria up out of the lungs.  This is why smokers get what is known as smoker's cough.  It is their body trying to get rid of all the nasty stuff that has accumilated in their lungs.  \n\nSo, you have two risk factors against you, the stress and the smoking.  Next comes bronchitis and possibly pneumonia.  After that, your lung cells are at risk of mutating and becoming something between normal cells and cancer cells.  At this stage, you can still stop smoking and your cells can go back to a relitively normal state and your cilia will be active once again. But after lung cells have changed to cancer cells, they cannot be changed back but only distroyed to prevent more cancer cells.  I would very much so recommend you stop smoking.  It may seem in the short run that it is helping you cope with stress, but in the long run it is causing you more by allowing you to get so many chest infections and other problems in the future.  \n\nI know this all seems harsh, but it is the truth.  Better you find out the truth so that you can stop things from happening to you before they do.  I hope everything goes well for you.\n\nAnother thing, taking antibiotics too often can cause the germs in your body that do survive to become resistent to the antibiotics.  This can basically create a super germ that antibiotics can no longer kill, and if that germ multiplies, well then you have a stronger germ that can't be killed by antibiotics.  It also makes you more prone to germs in hospitals.  Some doctor's have been known to give out antibiotics way more than neccisary, so I recommend you to read the article i have provided in the sources below.\n\nEDIT: it seems to me you should go see a phyciatrist.  I know there are certain stresses out there that are unavoidable, but being able to talk to someone and possibly getting on a medication that can help calm you might help out.  And everytime you pick up a cigarette, try to make yourself think of some of the things I have said, mainly that the cigarette is making you more stressed in the long run and that you would be way more stressed out than you are now if you had pnemonia or lung cancer on top of all of that.  Best of wishes to you.
232371
Usually, people do not get emphysema at such a young age.  Make sure she gets tested for a genetic condition called alpha 1 trypsin deficiency.  In any case, her early diagnosis needs to be discussed with a pulmonary doctor.  And definitely, stop smoking.  Emphysema is progressive, but quitting smoking will slow it down. Cheers.
126182
There are so many things that smoking does to the body. The really sad fact is that it does not just hurt the smoker. It really does effect all persons around them. \nA smoker has increased risk of respiratory and vascular complications. Smoking actually creates a tar substance in the lungs and decreases the persons capacity to take in oxygen. Also smokers veins and arteries are constricted from chemicals in the cigarettes. This puts them at a higher risk for blood clot causing stroke.\nMothers who smoke when they are pregnant usually have smaller babies. A nonsmokers umbilical cord (which supplies nourishment to the baby) is usually about wide as a roll of quarters and the smokers umbilical cord is about as thick as a pencil. \nChildren who grow up in the home of a smoker are at higher risk for developing asthma and/or allergies. They can develop lung cancer just as easily as the actual smoker can. Not to mention that growing up with parents who smoke puts them at higher risk for becoming smokers themselves. \nI have a grandfather that smokes. He is eighty. The last several years he has been on oxygen. He wakes up at night because he can't get his breath. He has a barrel chest because that is what your body does to try and help you get more oxygen. Your lungs try to get bigger so they can take in more oxygen because the cigarettes have destroyed portions of the lungs over the many years of smoking. Some people would say he has made it to eighty and that is a long time for a smoker to live. You have to keep in mind that most of his family lived into or close to their 100's. They say that every cigarette takes five minutes off your life. There is no telling how long he could have lived if he had just been able to stop smoking. \nYou may not be able to talk him into quitting. Maybe you could talk him into atleast not smoking in the house and changing his clothes before holding the baby. This will atleast help the people who have to live with this be a little healthier. Good luck to you!
1124699
In the RN program we were taught that COPD can be caused by embolisms resulting from obesity. Please correct me if I'm wrong.