Posted by BobG (155.13.48.8) on February 03, 2000 at 04:54:08:
In Reply to: smoking CH - some clarification posted by gary on February 03, 2000 at 00:56:07:
This is from MY experience and/or opinion only. First I have to say I'm 53 years old, suffered clusters for about 27 years and smoke a pack a day. I do not think smoking is a good thing, quite the opposite and I will not try to defend it. It's a dirty, stinking, expensive, offensive habit. From the Cluster Survey Results we can see that approx half of us smoke which appears to say that we smoke more than the general public. But, that is just at this site, posted by computer. Does this really mean that CH sufferers smoke more than the general public or does it mean that computer users smoke more than the general public. I smoked many years before the clusters started. I've never smoked during an attack because I have other things on my mind and I might burn a hole in the ice pack. After the attack I may or may not smoke depending on how I feel at the moment. Smoking has never, in any way, made a difference in my attacks. In MY case I don't believe smoking causes, triggers, prolongs or makes clusters better or worse. I do very much agree with your paragraph on people having better health after quitting smoking and being able to get more air, thus more oxygen, into their lungs and we all know the affects of oxygen on clusters. Like you say, quitting might not help but sure can't hurt. Thanks gary, well said.