How to ensure your success with giving up smoking
The Great American Smokeout is just two days away and if you’ve decided to quit smoking we want to congratulate you! There are steps you can take to ensure your success with giving up smoking this year.
1. Designate your quit day – mark it on your calendar and tell others about it so they can support you.
2. Plan your entire day – know when you’re going to get up, who you’re going to hang out with, and what you’re going to eat. Change your routine from the everyday. Take a different route to work, eat in a different place, drink tea instead of coffee.
3. Plan ahead for when you think the urge to smoke might come and decide how you’re going to handle it.
4. Keep active and drink lots of water and juices.
5. Buy yourself a treat – do something special to celebrate your success.
6. Take one day at a time and remind yourself of why quitting is important to you.
7. Enlist the help of a professional. Visit www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/greatamericans/smokeout.asp to have someone from the American Cancer Society’s Quitline personally contact you.
And remember to take things one day at a time. Every day that you remain smoke free is a step closer to a healthier life.
20 minutes after quitting: Your heart rate and blood pressure drops.
12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.
2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation improves and your lung function increases.
1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.
1 year after quitting:The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
5 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.
10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker's. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decrease.
15 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker's.
*Taken from The American Cancer Society
Tagged with: Drink Lots Of Water • Drink Tea • Heart Rate
Filed under: Health & Fitness
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Facts About Lung Cancer -
Lung cancer is a common and potentially fatal type of cancer. Here are some interesting facts about lung cancer:
About 219,000 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States. Over 103,000 of the new cases of lung cancer are women and almost 116,000 are men.
Most people associate lung cancer was smoking, but that is not the only way to get lung cancer. The second leading cause of lung cancer is exposure to radon. Causes of lung cancer include asbestos, exposure to radiation, air pollution, scarring from tuberculosis, and secondhand smoke.
Lung cancer is one of the most deadly types of cancer. Lung cancer is responsible for over 160,000 deaths per year. The deaths from lung cancer are more than twenty-eight percent of the annual cancer-related deaths.
Within five years of diagnosis, eighty-four percent of those who are diagnosed with lung cancer die. Lung cancer affects more African-Americans than other races, and African-Americans are more likely to die from lung cancer.
Early detection is an important part of preventing death from all types of cancer. About eighty-four percent of the cases of lung cancer are only diagnosed after the lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Since lung cancer is a very deadly form of cancer, one would think that a significantly more money is spent on lung cancer research than for less deadly cancers. Less money is spent on lung cancer research than research on other cancer types.
A smoker's risk of dying from lung cancer can be decreased by up to seventy percent by quitting smoking. Smokers who quit smoking still have an elevated risk of lung cancer. About fifty percent of lung cancer cases occur in smokers will already quit smoking.
One study showed that smokers to quit smoking decrease their lung cancer risk by one third within the first ten years. The longer a person who used to smoke has abstained from smoking, the more of their risk of smoking is reduced. If a person used to smoke of stains from smoking for more than thirty years, their risk of lung cancer is the decreased to only ten percent.
Quitting smoking , eating healthy diet, and exercising regularly are ways to help prevent lung cancer. Avoiding exposure to smoke and toxins that can cause lung cancer is considered the way to reduce the risk of lung cancer.
Radon testing kits are available to test the levels of radon in the home. If the home is found to have elevated levels of radon, there are corrective measures that can be taken including ventilation systems at the foundation of the house.
About the Author:At our prescription drugs dictionary website you can find out more about the long term effects of Adderall and along with many other prescription drugs. - Conditions, diseases, Drugs, Health & Fitness, medicine
Choosing a charity to donate 
Jill Brennan asked:Donating a car to charity can seem like the easy part of the equation. Choosing a charity to donate to on the other hand isn't always so simple. Two popular choices for car donations are the American Cancer Society and Father Joe's Villages. You know that both do great work in the community but suppose they are both your favorite picks for their car donation programs. You only have one car. How do you decide which is best?
Both the American Cancer Society and Father Joe's Villages are worthy recipients of donations. In fact, both organizations would willingly tell a benefactor that either charity will make good use of any donated auto. A person who decides to donate to either charity should make sure, however, that the donation is going to be used for the designated organization. The best way to do this is to deal directly with either the American Cancer Society or Father Joe's Villages. Using a third party for charitable car donations can mean that the charity will not receive the full value of the contribution.
Some charities may claim that every penny received goes to the benevolent works of the foundation. But this is not possible as all charities have running costs which they need to fund. The American Cancer Society and Father Joe's Villages are registered charities whose financial statements can be investigated through the Attorney General of any state. If you want to know exactly what percentage of their donated funds these charities use for expenses contact either the charities direct or your state Attorney General.
Given that the American Cancer Society and Father Joe's Villages are both reputable charities that abide by federal rules for charitable car donations, are there any factors that make one of the charities a better place for your auto donation? The main difference between the programs of the American Cancer Society and Father Joe's Villages is that Father Joe's allows you to designate the charitable function to which the proceeds from your donation will be given.
As mentioned in the beginning, the decision to donate your car to charity can be the easiest facet of the whole arrangement. You only have one car so you have to make a choice. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable with your choice. In the final analysis it may be worth your while to visit both charities and get a first hand view on which is the best fit for you. That way you'll be able to see for yourself the work they do and which resonates more strongly with you.
- Benefactor, Financial Statements, Reputable Charities
American Cancer Society statistics 
Patrick Hamouy asked:There is nothing that puts more fear in people than a diagnosis of Cancer. Statistically speaking, we now have one in two chances (male) or one in three chances (female) of getting cancer before the end of our life (American Cancer Society statistics for the year 2003). At the beginning of the 20th century, statistics gave us one in 500 chances of getting cancer.
All cancers considered, if you have a primary cancer (in one location only) the most optimistic statistics only give you 28% chances of recovery. If you have metastatic cancer (in more than one location) then your chances of recovery are 0.1% or in other words, one chance in one thousand to recover - (statistics from Dr Philip Binzel book "Alive and Well" published by American Media).
The news is bleak to say the least. However, as we will see later on, this need not be the case.
Ever since I can remember, I have read newspaper articles, heard claims on TV or radio, reporting new "wonder" cures on the war against cancer. Victory against this terrible disease was, according to these reports, just around the corner. Why is it then that so many people are still dying from this disease? Are the 600 UK cancer charities (The largest UK charities being Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer Research Campaign and Institute of Cancer Research) lying to us?
The "American Cancer Society" is the richest charity in the world. All debts paid, it would still have half a billion dollars in the bank!
Linus Pauling, the winner of two Nobel prizes, seemed to think so when he said: "Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud and that the major cancer research organisations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them."
What is Cancer?
Modern researchers have for many years been exploring the virus connection at a cost of billions of dollars and pounds. The pitiful result is that "no cancer that was incurable 25 years ago is curable today and that, for the most common cancers that kills 90% of patients today chemotherapy is no better than snake oil" (The Cancer Handbook. What Doctors don't tell you publication. By Lynne Taggart).
When you are diagnosed with cancer, what the doctor is really saying is that you have one or several tumours in your body and that at least one of the tumours contains some cancer cells. They see the tumours as the enemy that has to be fought and destroyed and all their efforts are directed against eradicating the tumours.
What is a tumour though? A tumour is only a symptom; it shows that something has gone wrong in your body and that your immune system is no longer available to fight it. Many researchers claim that we all have tumours in our body and that several times in our life we get cancer. However, we do not all die from cancer. The reason is that our body's defence mechanism spring into action when a tumour is formed and gets rid of it or at least neutralises it. If cancer cells are beginning to form, these are killed off by our immune system and all is back to normal.
However if for some reason our immune system is severely deficient and we are unable to fight off the formation of the cancerous cells, then disease spreads.
What needs to be done to fight the tumour is not so much to remove it (surgery), burn it (radiation) or poison it (chemotherapy) as all these will weaken our immune system (damaging both our liver and kidneys to a point where it is difficult for our body to fight off any health problem). But to find out why the tumour formed in the first place and remove the cause.
Fighting it according to Dr Binzel is no good, our body now has in its memory the recipe to form tumours and uses the negative ingredients we feed it with to form new tumours and it will rarely stop doing so unless we remove the cause. The lack of positive ingredients (Vitamins, minerals and essential enzymes) to fight off the tumour is just as important.
Let me compare this reasoning with the simple example of a tooth infection. There is no point in taking painkillers to fix the tooth. I grant you that they will probably relieve the pain but I profess that they will not cure the tooth. What needs to be done is to get rid of the infection with antibiotics or have the tooth removed.
What do cancer cells feed on?
Several factors such as diet, negative emotions/ stress and environmental toxins are usually responsible for the development of cancer. Dietary speaking, cancer cells need food to survive. Dr Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize for scientifically proving that cancer feed from the fermentation of sugar:
"in cancer cells [the feeding] is replaced by an energy-yielding reaction of the lowest living forms; namely, a fermentation of glucose" (quoted in prevention - May 1968).
According to Macrobiotic medicine theory, cancer cells also feed on animal protein (all types of meat, especially chicken but also very much on dairy, eggs etc..)
Detecting cancer
Currently, surgeons often perform a biopsy when cancer is suspected. A biopsy is a way of extracting a quantity of matter from a tumour and test it to see if it is cancerous. The problem with this method is that if the tumour is cancerous and the tumour is punctured, there is a definite risk that the cancerous liquid will spread to surrounding cells and spread the cancer around the body (Roger Delin - medical analyst - Philippines.
Breast cancer is often diagnosed using a mammogram. The main manufacturer of mammographic equipment is a company called "Smarlight Mammographics". They state: "We expected error rates to be around 30%, but the wide range of results (10%-90%) was an eye-opener." Amazing admission from the largest manufacturer of what is considered as the ultimate test to detect breast cancer. Unbelievable !
It is interesting to learn that autopsies have shown that many undetected cancers were present in the body of people who died from other causes. This makes a mockery of medical statistics and confirms that in fact a substantial number of cancers are never detected and do not obligatorily cause death.
A Swedish study has revealed that 15% of major cancers were not revealed before death and around half were of a type normally considered fatal (ref: wddty).
Modern approach and progress on cancer
The modern approach to treat cancer is surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormones and immunotherapy. The percentage of oncologists (cancer doctors) who would not participate in chemotherapy trials is an alarming 75% (due to its toxicity). (John Robbins
- Cancer Research Fund, Dollars And Pounds, Imperial Cancer Research Fund
A survey of the American Cancer Society 
Deborah Smith asked:A survey of the American Cancer Society says that three out of every four
American families have at least one family member diagnosed with cancer. A cancer diagnosis affects not only the cancer patient, but also their family, friends & co-workers. Any kind of relationship with a cancer patient should provide them with some amount of support, proving you to be an understanding person, who is able to appreciate their situation.
A cancer diagnosis can be a real crisis; everything seems to going in a haphazard way. There is also a need to provide a superficial feeling of ‘the helping hand’, as you struggle to comprehend your own feelings. Escorting a cancer patient to navigate the maze of details like finding an oncologist, understanding their treatment options, furnishing health updates etc are a few of the important functions that you ought to perform.
Below are some tips to help you cope when someone you love is diagnosed with cancer:
• One way to keep the mind free from being vulnerable and besieged is to offer support. Taking things in a pragmatic way such as driving them to treatments or doctors’ appointments, running errands, baby-sitting, doing household work etc helps a lot. Ask them what they are most concerned about not being able to do.
• Some questions posed at the doctor if and when you accompany your loved one to their appointments will definitely not go amiss.
• Don’t get startled if any change occurs in their behavior and mood.
• Cancer medications, sickness, and stress can cause your loved one to become arrogant or morose. For example: - Generally this kind of behavior is seen in skin cancer patients. So you need to maintain some amount of tolerance while dealing with a cancer patient.
• Keep them as active and independent as possible, which will help your loved one to regain a sense of confidence and control over their life.
• Be practical and realistic in terms of daily requirements. Get enough sleep, eat properly, and take some time off for yourself, because you will not be able to work in times of help or need if you are exhausted and sick.
• Take care of yourself and your needs; it will be easier to meet the needs of your loved one.
• Ask other family members and friends to help. They will appreciate the opportunity to do so.
• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Accept that there are things that are beyond your control.
• Be assertive instead of aggressive. Assert your feelings, opinions, or beliefs instead of fuming, being belligerent or passive.
• Fight stress, learn to relax. Exercise regularly.
• Avoid confrontation; feel at ease with their answers.
• Join a support group for friends and families of cancer patients
Remember that you are not alone if someone you love is diagnosed with cancer. You are likely to experience a conflicting range of emotions, including disbelief, anger, relief, worry and even guilt. Fears of mortality, puzzling family roles, having your own needs met, and uncertainty about the future can surface when your loved one is diagnosed with cancer. These are customary feelings which may prove to be a problem. It will hence be beneficial to talk to others who are undergoing the same problems. These were some common points led down by American cancer society.
- Cancer Medications, Feelings, Oncologist
Chronic diseases and pregnancy Speaking about health before pregnancy, we mean way of life, nutrition, physical activity, habits, and also possible chronic diseases, such as heightened blood pressure or diabetes. If you have such diseases, then you just have to visit a doctor beforehand. You know, this may complicate pregnancy, bring harm to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor which medicinal preparations and in which doses you take. Doctor will recommend you tests and observations you should pass, for example, X-ray photography. Try to discuss all questions you have for the moment.
It is much simpler to think over a strategy of treatment before pregnancy and then worrying about complications.
Diabetes
Diabetes - it is a disease, appearing as a result of lack of insulin in organism, this hormone is produced by pancreas. If you have diabetes, it will be more difficult for you to become pregnant. Moreover, diabetes can influence passing of pregnancy seriously. First of all, it can become a reason of miscarriage or giving birth to a dead baby. Secondly, women suffering from diabetes can give birth to babies with inborn defects.
You can reduce risk of such complications due to constant control of sugar content in blood during pregnancy. If you don't care of your state, then diabetes while pregnancy may turn out to be dangerous both for you and your future baby. Majority of complications, connected with diabetes, are displayed during first trimester, i.e. during first 13 weeks of pregnancy.
Pregnancy may cause complications of state while diabetes, what will require increase of insulin doses. This can be easily determined with help of test on sugar content in blood. Majority of doctors recommend taking a special care of this disease development during at least 2-3 months before conception. This will help to reduce probability of risk of miscarriage or other problems. Probably, you will have to pass tests on sugar content in blood several times per day, to control disease completely and avoid possible complications. Past experience shows that women, suffering from diabetes, had serious problems with conception and passing of pregnancy. But die to complete and constant control even women-diabetics can count on successful result of pregnancy and delivery.
If in your family there were cases of diabetes or you have slightest suspicions as for your own health, pass tests before pregnancy surely.
Asthma
About 1% of pregnant women suffer from asthma. It is impossible to predict influence of pregnancy on asthma. Half of women, suffering from this disease, notice no changes during pregnancy, about 25% feel even slight improvement, and the rest (25%) observe worsening of state.
Majority of anti-asthma remedies are safe for pregnant, but it is still better to consult a doctor as for preparation to take. Almost all who suffer from asthma know what may become a reason of fit, so avoid contact with allergens before getting pregnant and during whole pregnancy. Try to control your state yet before pregnancy.
Hypertension
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, can cause complication both of mother's and unborn baby's health. For women it is connected with risk of refusal of kidneys work, probability of hypertensic crisis or headache. Increase of a future mother's blood pressure may become a reason for decrease of blood inflow to placenta, what will lead to delays of fetus development, i.e. a baby will weigh less, than normal while birth.
If you had high blood pressure before pregnancy, then you just have to take care of it during all 9 months. Probably, gynaecologist will send you to therapeutist's or family doctor's observation with this purpose.
Before making a decision to become pregnant, women, suffering from hypertension, should consult a doctor. Some remedies against high blood pressure are safe for pregnant, some are not. On no account quit taking pills and reduce dose without a doctor's prescription! This can be dangerous. If you plan giving birth to a baby, ask you doctor about remedies you are taking against high blood pressure, and about safety of taking these medicines during pregnancy.
Heart diseases
During pregnancy load on heart increases about 50%. If you have sick heart, it is necessary for your doctor to know about it before you become pregnant.
Some heart diseases, such as mitral valve prolapse, can seriously complicate passing of pregnancy. Probably, you will even have to take antibiotics before delivery. Other heart diseases, such as inborn heart disease, may seriously influence state of health. In this case pregnancy and delivery are sometimes contra-indicated.
Consult your doctor as for heart diseases before you become pregnant.
Kidneys and urinary bladder diseases
Infections of urinary system, in particular urinary bladder, often appear during pregnancy. If you don't cure disease in time, infection may pass to kidneys, causing pyelonephritis.
Infections of urinary bladder and pyelonephritis may lead to premature birth. If you ever suffered from pyelonephritis or repeating infections of urinary system, this should be determined before pregnancy.
Stones in kidneys also may complicate passing pf pregnancy. This disease is accompanied by severe pains in lower part of belly, so it is quite difficult to diagnose it during pregnancy. Moreover, stones in kidneys may become a reason of appearance of infections of urinary system and pyelonephritis.
If you ever had some only infection of urinary bladder, you should not worry a lot. But you still should inform your doctor about it. He will decide whether you need to pass more careful observation before pregnancy.
Thyroid gland diseases
Thyroid gland diseases may appear both because of excess or lack of thyroid hormone. Excess of hormone is called thyrotoxicosis. In this case metabolism in human organism is speeded up. This may be caused by Graves' disease. Thyrotoxicosis is usually cured with help of operation of medicinal remedies, reducing content of thyroid hormone in organism. If you don't cure this disease, there's rather high level of risk premature birth and giving birth to a baby with low weight.
You can carry our treatment during pregnancy too: there're quite safe preparations, which pregnant women may take.
Lack of thyroid hormone - hypothyroidism - is usually caused by disease of autoimmune origin. In this case thyroid gland is damaged by anti-bodies, which are produced by your organism. While hypothyroidism taking of thyroid hormones is prescribed. Not cured hypothyroidism threatens with sterility or habitual noncarrying of pregnancy.
If you have thyrotoxicosis or hypothyroidism, you need to pass through observation before pregnancy, to determine doses of medicinal remedies, necessary for treatment. In the process of pregnancy your necessity in preparations may change, and then you will have to pass another observation.
Anemia
Anemia means that there's lack of haemoglobin in your organism. There're several reasons and in connection with this several kinds of anemia. Symptoms of anemia are weakness, giddiness, lack of air and pale skin.
During pregnancy necessity of organism in iron and iron-containing substances increases. If in the beginning of pregnancy you suffer from lack of iron in blood, anemia increases this lack. So you need to take vitamins and preparations, containing full choice of microelements, necessary for organism.
One of specific types of anemia - sicle-cell disease, which is passed genetically: it is mainly spread among black population. If you suffer from sicle-cell disease, your organism is deprived of oxygen. Passing of this kind of anemia can be very painful, and it also may serve as a reason for other diseases and complications during pregnancy. Sicle-cell disease cannot be cured and may be passed to your baby. Women, suffering from sicle-cell disease, have very high percent of miscarriages and infections of urinary system. They also may suffer from high blood pressure and painful hypertension strokes.
Another kind of anemia - thalassanemia is also passed genetically. If some of your relatives suffers from thalassanemia or you suppose you can have it, check it before pregnancy.
Lupus
Lupus is a vascular disease of autoimmune origin. This means your organism produces anti-bodies that may destroy your organs or influence functions of these organs negatively. Lupus can affect different organs, including joints, kidneys, lungs and heart.
This disease is hard to diagnose. One woman of 700 in the age from 15 to 64 years suffers from lupus. Among black women it is met more often, in one case of 254. As a rule, lupus more often strikes women, than men, especially women of genital age, i.e. from 20 to 40 years.
Lupus treatment is highly individual and usually means taking if steroids. It is better not to become pregnant during fit of this disease, as miscarriages are extremely often among women suffering from lupus. Risk of giving birth to a dead baby also increases.
Babies, born from mothers, suffering from lupus, can have rash. They also can have different heart diseases. Premature birth and delay of pre-natal development of fetus are also quite possible.
If you suffer from lupus, consult your doctor before pregnancy definitely.
Epilepsy and epileptic seizures
Epilepsy - is a chronic disease, characterized by different kinds of seizures (fits). Most often epilepsy is displayed by big and small epileptic seizures. Chance of giving birth to a baby with epileptic disease can be 1 of 30 for women, suffering from epilepsy. Such babies have risk of in-born diseases, probably, connected with medicines, which a future mother took during pregnancy.
If you take medicines against epilepsy, it is very important to consult your doctor before pregnancy. Discuss doses and type of medicines, which you take, as many preparations, relieving seizures of epilepsy, cause in-born diseases in babies. However, there are safe remedies for fetus, for example, Phenobarbital.
Seizures can be dangerous both for mother and fetus. So it is especially important to take remedies precisely according to a doctor's prescription during pregnancy. On no account reduce dose or quit taking medicine yourself, without a doctor!
Migraine
About 15-20% of all pregnant women suffer from migraine. Many women notice improvement of health during pregnancy. If you are going to take pills against headache during pregnancy, check with your doctor how much they are safe for you and future baby.
Cancerous growths
A question of probability of cancer's influence on pregnancy depends on the fact which organ it stroke and how wide is growth. Breast cancer is most often form of cancer, met among women. If you had breast cancer, this will not influence pregnancy anyway, and pregnancy, in its turn, will not cause breast cancer.
Many doctors advice to wait 2-3 years with childbirth after breast cancer treatment. It is very important to discuss case history and method of treatment with your doctor yet before pregnancy. Situation may become quite complicated, if you are pregnant and pass treatment at the same time. Many medicines and remedies against cancer are not safe for future mother and baby.
Other diseases
We examined only some chronic diseases. However, any disease can be dangerous for future baby. So if you suffer from some chronic disease or have to take medicines constantly, discuss it with your doctor.
General rule is following: it is better not to take medicines or pass any medical treatment at the moment of conception and on early stages of pregnancy. Laying of all organs and tissues of a baby takes place during 1st trimester of pregnancy, and during this period you need to protect a future baby from harmful influences of medicines or observations. You will feel better and calmer, if you solve all these problems before pregnancy.Yana Mikheeva is the creator of Baby Health Directory - Pregnancy, Birth, Parenting and Baby Care resources. Are you going to get pregnant? Visit our friendly resource and read information on pregnancy and parenting, painless childbirth, growth and development of a baby, baby health, safety, signs of pregnancy.
She also has All about women site where you can find articles on various subjects, such as: diets, receipts, health, cellulite, figure, aromatherapy, wholesome food, psychology of relationships, pregnancy, parenting, fashion and many others.- Chronic, diseases, Pregnancy
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