Smoking can cause nearly 50 different diseases, and this happens due to a large number of chemicals in it. These consequences are responsible for causing cancer in various organs, lung diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema, and cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
Even people who smoke or people who don’t smoke, but inhale the smoke of others, can suffer from a disease related to this habit because the toxic substance of cigarette smoke has a high ability to cause inflammation and genetic changes in cells.
In addition, not only the traditional cigarette, that’s okay, but also industrialized versions smoke, chewing, straw, pipe, cigar, and hookah. Here are 10 diseases that are caused due to Smoking Cigarettes.
1. Pulmonary emphysema and bronchitis
Emphysema and bronchitis, known as a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, arises because of the cigarette smoke and causes inflammation in the tissue that lines the airways, leading to permanent damage and reducing the ability of the lung to perform air exchange efficiently.
The main symptoms that arise in this type of disease are shortness of breath, chronic cough and pneumonia cases. The shortness of breath, initially, to make efforts, but as the disease worsens, can arise even when you’re stopped. Understand how to identify and treat COPD.
2. Heart Attack
The smoke causes inflammation in the wall of blood vessels, therefore, increasing the chances of developing cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack, STROKE, thrombosis, and aneurysms.
The person who smokes are more likely to have high blood pressure, chest pain, present as angina, and plates of fats in the vessels.It also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially if associated with other situations of risk, such as pressure high, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
3. Sexual Impotence
Smoking causes impotence in men either by changing the release of hormones that are important for the intimate contact, such as by inhibiting blood flow that pumps the blood to the muscle that keeps the erection. Quitting smoking usually revert the problem partially or wholly.
4. Rheumatic Diseases
Smoking not only increases the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, with the presence of pain, swelling and redness in joints, especially in the hands, but also increase the gravity and difficulty of treatment.
Other rheumatic diseases and autoimmune diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and lupus, for example, are more likely to develop in people who smoke, due to increased inflammation and dysfunction of the body’s cells.
5. Gastric Ulcers
The cigarette increase by 4 times the odds of developing a stomach ulcer, as well as other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as gastritis, reflux, and inflammatory bowel disease, due to increased inflammation in the mucosa of the stomach and intestine.
It is therefore common that people who smoke have more symptoms such as stomach pain, burning sensation, bad digestion and intestinal rhythm changes.
6. Visual Changes
Substances in cigarette smoke also increase the risk of developing eye diseases such as cataracts and macular degeneration, to increase the chances of dysfunction and inflammation of the cells.
Cataracts cause blurring or vision with the blurred aspect, which makes the visual capacity, especially at night. Have macular degeneration causes changes in the center of vision, that can get worse over time.
7. Memory Changes
Cigarette smoking is associated with increased risk of developing dementia by both the Alzheimer’s and brain damage resulting from micro-AVCs.
The dementia is caused memory loss syndromes, worsening over time and can cause changes in behavior and also in communication skills.
8. Pregnancy Complications
In the case of the pregnant women who smoke or inhale cigarette smoke, cigarette toxins can cause several diseases, such as miscarriage, fetal growth retardation, premature birth or even death of the baby, so leaving this habit is the key.
Thus, it is important to note the presence of bleeding, severe cramping or changes in the growth of the uterus.
9. Bladder Cancer
Much of the tobacco carcinogens that enter the circulation need to be eliminated to pass through the urinary tract, increasing the chances of developing bladder cancer.
Some signs that this type of cancer can present are bleeding in the urine, abdominal pain and weight loss.
10. Lung Cancer
When cigarette substances come into contact with the fine tissues of the lungs that make the respiratory changes, there is a risk of cancer arising from the inflammation and dysfunction induced by them.
Lung cancer causes symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing with blood and excessive or thinning. However, often the cancer is silent and only causes symptoms when it’s advanced, so it is important to stop smoking as soon as possible, in addition to regular follow-ups with the pulmonologist.
Other Cancers
Cigarettes cause nearly 20 types of cancer, so in addition to lung cancer and bladder, increases the chances of many other types, such as:
Mouth cancer;
Cancer of the larynx;
Stomach cancer;
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The cervix;
Leukemia.
This happens because the carcinogens of cigarettes are able to interfere with the genetic information of the cell, in addition to causing inflammation.
In the case of suspicion of a disease caused by smoking or live with someone who smokes, it is important to schedule an appointment with your general practitioner or pulmonologist to be made tests and guidelines necessary to prevent or treat these situations.
How to prevent diseases caused by cigarette
The only way to prevent these diseases is to stop smoking because the risk will only decrease to avoid substances of this habit. Although it is difficult to leave this addiction, one should bear in mind the importance of this attitude to health, and make the first move. Check out some tips on what to do to be able to stop smoking.
If it is difficult to achieve alone, there are treatments that can aid in smoking cessation, prescribed by the pulmonologist, as nicotine patches, in addition to attending support groups or have a psychological counseling.
Normally, when you stop smoking, the risk of diseases, especially cardiovascular and cancer, has a large decrease. So the risk is 50% lower after 2 years without smoking and there are no more risks when the person is 10 years without the addiction.
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