For Diabetes Smoking is a Bad Idea
I was attending an education meeting at the diabetic clinic and the nurse was very emphatic "for diabetes smoking is a definite no-no!" she said. When one of the other people said his father smoked the nurse commented "I'll give you a note to say he's got to stop smoking around you!"
She went on to explain that diabetes thickens the walls of our arteries and smoking - even passive smoking - makes it worse. The reduced blood circulation then leads to other problems; heart, kidneys and nerve damage in the extremities, such as feet and hands. This could mean infections leading to amputation. (95% of diabetics needing foot amputations are smokers!)
Since then I've discovered for diabetes smoking can also...
- Cause a stroke, miscarriage or still-birth because smoking cuts down the oxygen reaching your blood vessels.
- Makes you more susceptible to getting colds and respiratory infections.
- Doubles your chances of getting limited joint mobility. It's no fun trying to bend, climb stairs or lift something with a painful joint.
- Increases the risk by 3 times of death from heart disease compared to those who don't smoke.
- Raises your blood sugars. That means controlling your diabetes is even more difficult.
- Increases your blood pressure - which is not good news. And if affects your cholesterol levels as well. And not in a good way!
And, of course, as we all now know, smoking has been shown to contribute directly to cancer.
Want to Quit Smoking?
If you, or someone you live with, smokes and you want to quit smoking it can be one of the most difficult decisions to stick to. There are many different quit smoking aids, but I was impressed by this website because they don't offer nicotine patches to stop smoking.
Instead they use a unique variety of traditional herbal ingredients in a simple patch that is designed to eliminate your craving for nicotine. From what I can tell, it seems to be a much gentler way to quit smoking.
They claim these all-natural Nicocure patches are fully effective 97 percent of the time - so worth a look, don't you think?