IH, Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Here in the US we're celebrating thanksgiving. Just wanted to say thanks to everybody here at the forum.

It might sound cheesy, but I am grateful for the community here. I was thinking about it earlier today and realized this forum has kind of changed my life. I was going into business. All of the great posters here who inspired me to do research honestly revitalized my interest in health and the sciences. Its why I'm back in school and trying to go into medicine. So IH had a huge part in a decision I made to change my whole life path. Pretty cool.

So again, happy thanksgiving, and thanks to all the people here, especially those who shake up my routine ways of thinking.

And this goes for you Canadians too. Go enjoy the day, your families, and dat bird.

Thanks, AS!

I'm from Canada but to me this is the real Thanksgiving. (But hey, I want to become American so go figure!)

AS54 did you quit smoking? Three weeks for me now. It was incredibly easy this time around. I hardly even got any cravings either.

Nope not yet. Here's lookin to the new year! Haha.

Congrats and good for you though, man. That's a tough nut to crack, and glad to hear you had an easier go of it this time 'round. The return on investment is huge, if only I could think of it in those terms  .

Happy celebration for all of you, who celebrate this day. Enjoy it!

It's ordinary day here, so i better go back to work, lol...

Yeh, thanks. I feel better already. If it's of any benefit to you, I chain smoked throughout the week before giving up, and this made me feel very nauseous and I didn't want to look at another cig again (not at that point anyway). This was the kick in the ass I needed to break the habit, and it worked very well. I got the odd craving during the first week, but it was nothing overpowering at all.

Anyway, sorry for hijacking your thanksgiving thread LOL

Why quit every smoker I know has a great head of hair and great physiques it seems there is some sort of anti- estrogenic pro testosterone effect from smoking idk mabye the hormonal profile of a smoker from the start favors T/E that's why they choose a risky behavior in the first place.

Thanksgiving thread is tobacco thread. 

Vince Clortho wrote:Why quit every smoker I know has a great head of hair and great physiques it seems there is some sort of anti- estrogenic pro testosterone effect from smoking idk mabye the hormonal profile of a smoker from the start favors T/E that's why they choose a risky behavior in the first place.

Yes, I noticed this fact too. I am really interested in this "bad! habit. I wonder how is it possible that smokers have usually full head of hair and great physique. It is worth to create a new thread.
However, this is offtopic, so sorry for this. BTW. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

In physiology, with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,such as early emphysema sufferers (who dont know it yet))and chest infection sufferers (bronchitis theres what are called pink puffers, and blue bloaters.  i pasted a definition below, but basically the pink puffers are muscular, because of all the work the chest muscles have to do to breath.  its like a workout.  the blue bloaters have a barrel chest.

"pink puffer" is a person where emphysema is the primary underlying pathology. As you recall, emphysema results from destruction of the airways distal to the terminal bronchiole--which also includes the gradual destruction of the pulmonary capillary bed and thus decreased inability to oxygenate the blood.  So, not only is there less surface area for gas exchange, there is also less vascular bed for gas exchange--but less ventilation-perfusion mismatch than blue bloaters.  The body then has to compensate by hyperventilation (the "puffer" part).  Their arterial blood gases (ABGs) actually are relatively normal because of this compensatory hyperventilation.  Eventually, because of the low cardiac output, people afflicted with this disease develop muscle wasting and weight loss.  They actually have less hypoxemia (compared to blue bloaters) and appear to have a "pink" complexion and hence "pink puffer".  Some of the pink appearance may also be due to the work (use of neck and chest muscles) these folks put into just drawing a breath.

A "blue bloater" is a person where the primary underlying lung pathology is chronic bronchitis. Just a reminder, chronic bronchitis is caused by excessive mucus production with airway obstruction resulting from hyperplasia of mucus-producing glands, goblet cell metaplasia, and chronic inflammation around bronchi.  Unlike emphysema, the pulmonary capillary bed is undamaged. Instead, the body responds to the increased obstruction by decreasing ventilation and increasing cardiac output. There is a dreadful ventilation to perfusion mismatch leading to hypoxemia and polycythemia.  In addition, they also have increased carbon dioxide retention (hypercapnia).  Because of increasing obstruction, their residual lung volume gradually increases (the "bloating" part).  They are hypoxemic/cyanotic because they actually have worse hypoxemia than pink puffers and this manifests as bluish lips and faces--the "blue" part.


once u know and understand this, pay attention to smokers, u can usually tell which way they are heading. are they pink, skinny and muscular?, or are they bloated and blue. personally when i was a smoker, i was headed for being a blue bloater, and i had many bouts of bronchitis, which i told myself was from other things but i was in denial.

im smoke free now, but hooked on NRT which can cause major hairloss apparently, so im not sure if im better off but anyway.