How to recover as an ex-smoker ?

[Someone here]

I didn't smoke for two months now and I couldn’t be more happy 

Since quitting my breathing has  improved. This is  great accomplishment My sense of smell has improved too.  and my asthma has not been an issue, which feels amazing. My general well-being has improved. The chronic pain I possess from too much nicotine burning in my lungs has ceased . This could be attributed to the fact my blood is more effectively circulating throughout my body as the carbon monoxide levels within my body have re-stabilised.

Overall I feel like I'm getting my shit together in life ..health wise ..financially..sex life ..etc . I would say my life finally "works ". 

However I want to understand how to heal and recover the damage as an ex-smoker ? How to erase All the damage I've caused to myself from years of smoking? 

Just trying to get a sense of something here. If I'm a smoker and I quit, the Internet tells me it takes 1 month for my lungs to start healing if I totally quit. I assume the lungs are healing bit by bit every day after quitting and it takes a month to rebuild lung health enough to categorize the lung as in-recovery. My question is, is my understanding correct?

If that understanding is correct, if I reduce smoking to once a week will the cumulative effects of lung regeneration overcome smoke inhalation? To further explain my thought, let's assume I'm starting with 0% lung health. If I don't smoke, the next day maybe my lung health is at 1%. After a week, I'm at 7%. If I smoke on the last day, let's say I take an impact of 5%. Next day I'm starting at 2%, then by the end of the week I'm at 9%. Of course these numbers are made up nonsense, just trying to get a more concrete understanding.

Thanks 

[UDT]

Your lung health is not a mathematical formula where the "rate of healing" is a linear graph over time dude.

Stop smoking and never smoke again, your lungs get enough barrage through environmental pollution. If you smoke, smoke once a month or so at a special occasion and never let it become a habit. 

Also, its not just your lungs.

The alveoles in your lungs diffuse all the stuff tiny enough into your blood circulation where it systemically affects your body. Cant separate the body into parts. On the other hand its enough for one "part" of the body to fail you for you to die.

 

Lungs gone? Well your perfectly healthy heart and liver are useless for you. 


Heres a good rule: How you do one thing is how you do everything. 

[Nilsi]

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Nilsi

[Asayake]

Drink enough water so that your pee clearly every 2-3 hours, you can start every day out with drinking 3 glasses of water(1 liter in total) before you do anything else. Do light cardio, don't overexert yourself just go on walks and do light yoga to get the blood flowing. Avoid oil & fatty foods, it worsens blood circulation. Eat a lot of fruit, vegetables & grains so you get enough vitamins, phytonutrients and energy. Get enough sleep so your body can recover, if you're feeling tired, eat a couple of fruits and if you're still tired take a nap if possible.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Asayake

[Michael569]

If you were 0% you'd be stone cold ?

Just make sure not to smoke ever again and cut away any mates who social pressure you to do it 

The soft tissue of lungs and alveoli has insane regeneration capabilities as long as you stop destroying it. Don't forget that smoking also affects the issues of the entire oral mucosa as well as laryngopharyngeal area. All these areas have increased cell turnover and higher risk of malignancy in smokers and ex smokers.

You are never going back to the same level of COPD and neoplasms risk as someone who has never smoked but permanent quitting is going to go a long way.

 

[Someone here]

17 hours ago, UDT said:

If you smoke, smoke once a month or so at a special occasion and never let it become a habit. 

This has NEVER worked.  It's all or nothing. 

I learned that just about 2 weeks after you quit, a second round of mind games start to hit your brain pressing thoughts like “I can just have one…” which lead to failure.

[Someone here]

16 hours ago, Asayake said:

Drink enough water so that your pee clearly every 2-3 hours, you can start every day out with drinking 3 glasses of water(1 liter in total) before you do anything else. Do light cardio, don't overexert yourself just go on walks and do light yoga to get the blood flowing. Avoid oil & fatty foods, it worsens blood circulation. Eat a lot of fruit, vegetables & grains so you get enough vitamins, phytonutrients and energy. Get enough sleep so your body can recover, if you're feeling tired, eat a couple of fruits and if you're still tired take a nap if possible.

Thanks . Yes I think drinking enough liquids and eating fresh veggies and fruits (which are rich in fiber ) can work as a detox to toxins in the body .

[Someone here]

16 hours ago, Michael569 said:

If you were 0% you'd be stone cold ?

Just make sure not to smoke ever again and cut away any mates who social pressure you to do it 

 

 

. I told all my family and my girlfriend the same thing . not “I'm trying to quit,” but “I don't smoke anymore.”

It was a huge mental shift. And it worked.

Telling everyone In my life that I did not smoke kept me accountable. Counting time made me accountable to myself. Cleaning my room, my clothes, hell my life, made it a real change rather than “something I was trying to do.”

16 hours ago, Michael569 said:

regeneration capabilities as long as you stop destroying it. Don't forget that smoking also affects the issues of the entire oral mucosa as well as laryngopharyngeal area. All these areas have increased cell turnover and higher risk of malignancy in smokers and ex smokers.

Yeah man,I regret every single cigarette I have put in my mouth .

Does that mean that some of the damage is irreversible? 

Are There thresholds at which smoking does cause irreversible damage?, but they vary individually. I think The most common scenario is where it sets in after years or decades of regular smoking. It’s a cumulative, progressive deterioration of the organism, not a sudden onset where it goes from zero to irreversible all at once. But I've been smoking since I was 16 in high school to impress girls and appear more of a "bad boy " to attract girl's attention lol.

16 hours ago, Michael569 said:

You are never going back to the same level of COPD and neoplasms risk as someone who has never smoked but permanent quitting is going to go a long way.

If I wait for months and years without smoking a single cigarette..will that make my organs detox naturally ? I simply  want to remove as much as I can the toxins in my body from smoking 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Someone here

[Michael569]

49 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Does that mean that some of the damage is irreversible

Cells have a limited number of times they can replicate. I don't exactly know what the main factors in this are, telomere length probably being one of them. Have fast and how efficient we are at repairing tissues is largely going to be defined by your genetics rather than anything else. 

52 minutes ago, Someone here said:

re There thresholds at which smoking does cause irreversible damage?

Once you have scarred tissue such as in people with emphysema, that is irreversibly damaged and irreplacable. Scar tissue does not become malignant  (I think) but it can impact tissue functionality (e.g. wheezing, difficulty breathing when under tension and possibly even reducing lung volume) 

Lessor damage can probably be repaired, but again, the localised tissue is going to be impacted for the rest of your life which means you need to pay more attention to your lifestyle than life-long non-smokers. 

53 minutes ago, Someone here said:

But I've been smoking since I was 16 in high school to impress girls and appear more of a "bad boy " to attract girl's attention lol.

That's probably how it starts for most guys

 

[ZenAlex]

You may never completely recover, the only thing you can do now is given up drinking and smoking and live as healthy a lifestyle you can and reverse as much damage as possible, but you may not be able to reverse all of it.