What a great, well written testimony. I too, was where you were.
I knew the cigarettes were ruining my life. They were killing me.
Like you, I grew up going in the store to buy my father cigs. No note was needed. I just bought his Winstons along with my candy. I was always around him smoking and hated it. I would cough and fuss at him for smoking. I hated the smell.
Well, I started smoking when I was 15 years old, regularly when I was 18, stopped on and off for 2 years and started again non stop at 20. Everyone smoked. We even had a "smoking wall" at my high school.
My father had his first heart attack at 38. I was in 3rd grade and it was 1982. Back then, the doctors put heart attack patients in the hospital and on bed rest for 1 week. Nothing else was done. They knew of nothing else to do. He was released from the hospital and told to quit smoking. After he got home, for a few days, we noticed he was sneaking out to the pump house more and more. My mother, who was a non-smoker, finally told him if he was going to sneak around and smoke, he may as well just do it and stop hiding it. So back in the house he came, smoke and all. At 42, he had a massive heart attack and died. I was 13. At the time, I didn't understand that smoking probably caused his short life.
Myself and my brother lived around cigs smoke from the day we were born. My mother's father smoked, he died at a young age from heart disease as well. My mother never smoked, but was around 2nd hand smoke from birth also. At age 58, my mother woke up one Monday morning with severe shortness of breath. She went to the emergency room and found out she had had a heart attack. Upon further testing, it was discovered that the neck pain she had been experiencing for over a year and seeing a chiropractor for, was actually her having small heart attacks. By the time if was discovered, her heart was in really bad shape. She had triple bypass surgery and died after the surgery. This was in 2001.
By that time, I had been smoking for 13 years or so. I knew I had to quit. HAD TO!! Not only for myself, but for the health of my children and my husband. I tried everything available, to no avail. And I continued to try on and off since then for the past 10 years. I continued to smoke around my children and my husband. Do you see a pattern here in my family? I became a nurse in 1995. I know/knew better. I knew what I was doing to myself and my loved ones, but I kept doing it. I'm an addict.
On March 24th, 2011, I felt terrible. I had been reading this forum and researching, and ordered my Riva on that day. On March 25th, 2011, I was admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure and a heart rate of 144. I am 38 years old, the same age my father was when he had his first heart attack. After multiple blood tests, EKGs, being attached to a heparin drip all night, and a stress test, it was deemed that I had not had a heart attack. But, the warning signs were there. I had even started having the neck pain my mother had and was considering a chiropractor. Go figure. I was started on a small dose blood pressure pill, cholesterol meds (as preventative measure due to genetics), Xanax, and low dose aspirin. I came home on the 26th and didn't smoke. Boy was I a mean person!! My Riva came on the 28th and I haven't looked back.
Within one week, I was breathing better and had way more energy. I am exercising at least 4 days a week now for 1 hour a day. No shortness of breath. I am determined to be off of the blood pressure meds within 6 to 8 months. Hopefully. If not, that's ok. I feel great and my attitude has improved. I did not realize how badly I felt over the last year or two.
It has only been a little over two weeks, but I haven't stopped smoking for that long since I was 20 years old. I have several friends who are e-cigging it now instead of smoking. I feel better. I smell better. And hopefully, I have extended my life. Ecigs work!!!! They will get you off cigarettes if you want to. And from reading here, I see that sometimes it gets you off cigarettes even without trying to.
I don't plan to vape forever. I plan to lower my nicotine level slowly and eventually stop all together. At some point. I'm in no hurry. I do enjoy the act of smoking. It is pleasurable and relaxing to me. So, for now, I will continue to vape and enjoy it.
