zianuray | Entries tagged with smoking

1) I'm allergic. Very uncomfortable, have had brief exposures land me in the ER on O2 for a few hours with eyewashes and such, and likely other things that I don't recall. It's enough that having a smoker in the vehicle with me is a problem, though I can USUALLY manage it for 10 minutes or so before I have to pull over and cough until I can breathe again.

2) My bio-mother smoked 2 packs a day for over 20 years. She died of complications of chronic emphysema.

3) My bio-father and his second wife smoked heavily up until their deaths of cancer which had metastasized from the lungs to include bone and brain.

Tell me again why you "can't" quit? If it's suicide you're after, a gun or rat poison would be cheaper, faster and less painful. Same if you're trying to kill me, and if I do croak from your fumes, I swear by all you hold dear that I WILL haunt you. You will not be able to sleep nor rest, your pets will be in a constant furor, and your kitchen appliances will refuse to work. Especially the coffeepot.

I've actually had someone tell me that if I'm soooooo hoooorrribly allergic to smoke that I can't sit through lunch at a diner next to someone who is actively smoking and leaving the cigarette in an ashtray between us (and refused to move it to the other side of her plate at a polite request) that I should just never leave the house and go on disability, as it was her RIGHT to smoke anywhere anytime she pleased, including the grocery store and, if applicable, the ER. Even with my eyes visibly swelling and reddening from the irritation, and the server commented on that as she was boxing my order to go. (Small place, no non-smoking section, and that generally doesn't help anyhow, unless it's an entiirely separate sealed-off area with a separate ventilation system.)

So I can't even get library books anymore. Time before last I was on a waitlist, got notice, and went to pick the book up as usual...got it home and opened it...and the last several people to have checked it out seem to have been smokers. Even before I noticed the smell, my eyes started burning and watering. Yeah, sure, wrap it in paper and baking soda in a sealed bag for a week or so...that's not the point. I don't feel I should have to decontaminate books in order to read them. The next time (most recent and last, so far, in the last 3 years) I had a book on order, I opened it AT the library before checking it out...and the same thing happened. I looked up at the clerk with tears (from the irritation, not anger nor sorrow) running down my face and said "I'm sorry; I don't think I'll be coming back. Send this to the next person and let's hope they're not allergic to tobacco smoke."

And no, just the fact of someone being a smoker does not mean that a book they've read is toxic to me -- I've lent several of my own to people who smoke. They just keep their habit and my book apart. It's when the book stays in a smoky environment for long enough to absorb the particulate and irritants that there is a problem.

I love libraries.

I love library books.

Until I get hold of another book that has recently spent time a a smoking environment, and my eyes sting and tear until I cant see to read the book.

Bleargh.

Found on Craigslist:

Reply to: serv-xqkxe-1081799829@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-03-19, 7:51AM CDT

With the increase in cigarette taxes that will hit April 1st now is the perfect time to quit smoking. And what could be better than to quit for FREE. That's right at Reflex Chiropractic and Acupuncture we are currently conducting a FREE clinical trial with electroacupuncture and auriculotherapy for smoking cessation. We only have 25 spots remaining so please call us now at (417) 877-9404. This trial involves receiving non-needle acupuncture to the ear with microcurrent that has been shown in other trials to be 80-85% effective.

So if you are serious about quitting smoking please call us today to set-up your initial visit.

Reflex Chiropractic & Acupuncture, PC
1730 E Republic Rd Suite I
Springfield, MO 65804
(417) 877-9404
www.reflexchiro.com

Location: Springfield, MO
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
License info: Chiropractor and Certified in Acupuncture

PostingID: 1081799829

*********************************************************************************************

Nota Bene:

I have no stake in this place/practitioner.
I did interview with Dr. Shannon when I first started looking for a massage room to rent -- he never called back even to let me know I did not get it.

Happy Birthday Party tomorrow,

ericcaptdrake !

DH and I were going to try to make it, but between the smoking and the plague we decided not to risk it.

cattinsley , I still have the little bottle for you...don't know when we'll be able to catch each other! Call or email if you get a chance!

Current Mood: disappointed

'Tis the season and parties abound, and I turn down many invitations for one reason.

I've even passed up chances to go to musical events at very pretty venues very near me (like a certain winery in Billings) *waves to

ericcaptdrake *

It's not that I don't like you, or someone else who is invited, or your cat.

It's not that we have different religions and I'm being stuffy.

It's because I have a health challenge, I've been told it's an allergy.

I've gotten up and left restaurants and taken my order to go if it was too late to cancel it.

I can't go to (most) bowling alleys, which is a pain b/c DH likes to bowl and the one time we went, I was sick for two days afterward.

I've had to quit going to bars, even the ones with outdoor patios.

It's not that I don't like you, or (as has been postulated on insufficient evidence) that I think I'm "better than" someone else.

If I'm exposed to cigarette smoke, my eyes start watering and swelling, my throat begins to burn and swell, and THEN I notice the scent. (Next day, I may or may not be able to keep food down or stand up.) I know there's a problem before I know what the problem IS. It's NOT psychosomatic.

At Lilies' War, I had to leave an OUTDOOR class because the wind was blowing the instructor's cigar smoke right at me.

Febreeze doesn't help, that makes it worse. Hotels, take note: Odor-masking sprays simply ADD TO the particles in the air, they do NOT reduce them.

"But Zia, we don't smoke inside!"

No, but the smoke is in your hair and clothing and lungs and seeps out through your pores and into your couch and curtains and carpet, and from there it wafts up and gets me. Not as bad as if you allowed smoking inside, but enough.

And if your smoking area is somewhere sheltered that everyone has to walk through to get in? It hovers. I was SO glad when the factory added an entrance away from the smoke shack. This includes places like hospitals and stores where there's a place to sit-n-smoke right at the entrance -- I've gone clear around the building looking for another entrance when the cloud was thick enough to see.

"Oh, let's take my car! We can roll down the windows!"

Again, it's already in the upholstery and dash and carpet. Even if I rode with my head out the window like Ol' Duke, it would get in my clothes and into me. I know, it's been tried.

And you're not getting in my car unless it's an emergency, and I don't mean that you've run out of smokes and want a ride to the 7-11. An emergency involves bleeding or high fevers or broken bones, and then you'd probably prefer an ambulance anyway.

I do appreciate invitations to the parties, and I'm not being rude when I decline -- I DO want to be there. I just don't want to be miserable while I'm there and sick for days afterward.

And I do NOT think you are necessarily a bad person if you smoke, regardless of prior experiences I may have had.

I'm not about to tell anyone they can't or shouldn't smoke. That's your choice. My public persona believes strongly that you have the right to smoke, but also that I have the right to not be basically poisoned by your choice. Therefore, I stay away from places where I know I'll be exposed to more than I can handle.   It's like seafood or nuts, right? If you're allergic to nuts, don't eat 'em. And ask if I've been eating them recently before kissing me ;)

If you WANT to quit, I have an aromatherapy blend that I'll gladly share with you. Concocted BY REQUEST, and it has helped several people at last report.

I've actually spoken out publicly in favor of allowing Springfield bars to continue to allow smoking inside. There's got to be a limit somewhere, right?

Oddly, cigarettes and cigars affect me the most -- pipe smoke is somewhat less an irritant, and cannabis affects me hardly at all. Do NOT ask how I know this last bit as I won't tell. (And no, as far as I can tell, I don't get a "contact high" from just being in the room either.)

Of course, if you want to appear hospitable but don't want me to show up, you now know how to ensure that! .)

this is behind a cut so i can point out that self-pity-parties are never pretty.

( Why i don't like cigarettes, by Zia )

i think it started when she remarried. she'd always smoked, since before i was born, but not in Gramma's house. then she met him, and he smoked too, and they got married, and i had to go with her since she was mom.

and he smoked.

and i got burned.

and when she asked, he'd say "oh, she was playing with the lit cigarettes and did it to herself."

(now, cigarette burns tend to hurt. just a bit. and they itch even while they still hurt, so you can't really scratch because that'll hurt worse!)

keep in mind, she's a nurse. an RN.

if YOUR kid is burning himself, the kid has a problem, right?

if your husband is burning your kid, the husband has a problem, right?

but in her world, this was OK. anything else would have meant she wasn't "in control of the situation."

at the time, of course, i didn't understand that part. i knew i was being punished--sometimes for things i did 'cause i didn't know i wasn't supposed to do 'em. sometimes for not doing things i hadn't known i was SUPPOSED to do. sometimes for doing something today that was required yesterday but forbidden today--with no notice given of the change. sometimes because "you know why, don't make me explain it."

he crushed out a cigarette on the back of my hand right in front of the checkout clerk at the Alden's. i didn't cry or yelp. i made sure i didn't leak tears until he was looking away, then i swiped them on my hand real quick 'cause if the clerk had seen and asked....well. once of THAT was enough.

he got me in the corner at the house and shoved one up my nose. the burn from that didn't show, so that was OK. i didn't have to field questions.

see, i was a bad girl. i deserved it. i had to be punished.

Gramma and Grampa would come and get me (and Sis, generally) every weekend i can remember. When i was in second grade and Sis was 2, one time they bought up $40 worth of groceries. keep in mind, this is 30 years ago. that was a LOT of food. they told us it was so us kids would have something to eat in the house.

as soon as they left, he told me to keep the kid (Sis) quiet. he loaded all the food they'd brought in the car and took off. he came back less than an hour later with 2 cases of beer and 2 cartons of cigarettes.

then he told me to fix the kid a bottle of sugar water to shut her up. i was bad. i couldn't keep Sis from crying. i couldn't make her be not-hungry. it was my fault.

he's dead now. has been for several years, i was told. no, i had nothing to do with it.

she died about 3, maybe 4 years ago. i went to the funeral to make sure she was really dead this time. she's faked suicide attempts several times. starting in nursing school. she told her twin brother, and her shrink, and then her parents: "i figure how much i can take so if no-one finds me, i'll wake up in a day or two."

now ain't THAT a healthy mind? and she made RN????? and people wonder WHY i don't trust doctors, nurses, hospitals......???????????????????????

and cause of her death -- something about emphysema. Of course, that had NOTHING to do with the two-pack-a-day-for-over-20-years habit. Oh no....