Smoking

[choco]

I know I opened the gates which allowed MS into my life by smoking. When I read articles such as this it only confirms my belief http://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.co...ple-sclerosis/

[JerryD]

It is interesting that you mention your MS and smoking, as if smoking is the cause of your MS disease. I feel that 'smoking' is synonymous with death, disease and suffering.
There is nothing 'good' or positive about smoking tobacco products, IMO. Don't worry about what you did in the past. The past is past. Tomorrow is the only thing you can affect. Good luck

[choco]

Hi JerryD and thanks for your reply. Just to explain what I meant. No I do not think that smoking "caused" the MS per se however I do believe that it acted as the trigger for the potential to develop into actuality.

It has been shown that smoking will often act as the trigger if you have the propensity for MS. As with most diseases, there is normally a trigger of some sort (environmental, genetics, whatever) which will bring it to life. So yes I guess in one sense you could say that the smoking caused the MS insofar as that it brought the dormant potential to life.

There has been a lot of research done on this very topic, if you just Google smoking and MS you will see why I say what I do.

Just for the record I totally agree with you that smoking is synonymous with death, disease and suffering. I don't worry so much about what I did in the past only insofar as making sure that I don't repeat whatever that "it" was. MS takes away so much enjoyment from our lives that often smoking is one of the few "pleasures" left to those who do smoke. The ironic if not downright sad thing is that this one "pleasure" only accelerates and makes the MS worse.

[Thinkimjob]

If you have ever smoked, ever, even a sneaky one or two, and you get cancer or MS, or basically anything at all, it will be put down to your smoking.

My grandfathers both died in their 90s, and both smoked, a lot. Grandfather got three packets a day from the army when he fought in WWII; Grandpa, it was the only comfort he had when the Nazis occupied Holland.

"They died because they smoked", well, no, they died because they were really quite old.

Grandma, happy woman, age 93, ex-smoker, still alive and well. Nana, cranky old dear, non-smoker, dementia, dead at 89.

Now, obviously, smoking isn't at all good for you (though it calms nerves in war zones, and when the curtain is going down, I shall be lighting up again, and ooh I will enjoy it), but I wonder about the expense and research that goes into proving yet again, the evils of smoking which might be spent on finding out what else causes these things.

[J-Bo]

Well, I saw a link on that same page to an article that "Caffeine in Coffee Found to Reduce MS Risk," so maybe we're all at fault for not guzzling more coffee? I don't think any of this definitively proves that any individual's MS was caused by any one thing. Please don't beat yourself up over this.

[JerryD]

I like the quote from the good doctor! Here's another phrase from a 'good doctor'. Insanity is defined as repeatedly doing the same things and expecting a different result! Paraphrased, of course from Albert Einstein!
To your previous point, I feel that MS is hiding dormant in people and it rears its ugly head when the unfortunate victims life is too stressed and the body and mind can no longer adjust or accomodate. IMO and I am sticking to it ! lol