NOT SO!
I don't care if you're a Teenager! You are definitely not too young! Have you heard of Beurger's Disease?
Buerger's disease (thromboangiitis obliterans) is a rare disease of the arteries and veins in the arms and legs. In Buerger's disease, your blood vessels become inflamed, swell and can become blocked with blood clots (thrombi). This eventually damages or destroys skin tissues and may lead to infection and gangrene. Buerger's disease usually first shows in the hands and feet and may eventually affect larger areas of your arms and legs.
Buerger's disease is rare in the United States, but is more common in the Middle East and Far East. Buerger's disease usually affects men younger than 40 years of age, though it's becoming more common in women.
Virtually everyone diagnosed with Buerger's disease smokes cigarettes or uses other forms of tobacco, such as chewing tobacco. Quitting all forms of tobacco is the only way to stop Buerger's disease. For those who don't quit, amputation of all or part of a limb may be necessary.
Did you know that one sickerette predisposes ou to Cancer?
According to a study by U.S. scientists, all it takes is a few minutes – not years – of puffing on a cigarette to cause genetic damage linked to cancer, The Daily Mail reported.
"The effect is so fast that it's equivalent to injecting the substance directly into the bloodstream," the researchers said in findings described as a "stark warning" to the millions of people who smoke out there.
The lead researcher, Dr. Stephen Hecht from the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues followed 12 volunteers and tracked certain pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are a group of chemicals that are formed during the burning of coal, oil, gas, wood or other substances such as tobacco and charred meats.
Hecht zeroed-in on one pollutant in particular called phenanthrene, and found that it quickly formed a toxic substance in the blood that is known to “trash DNA, causing mutations that can cause cancer."
"The smokers developed maximum levels of the substance in a time frame that surprised even the researchers: just 15-30 minutes after the volunteers finished smoking," the study said. "These results are significant because PAH diol epoxides react readily with DNA, induce mutations, and are considered to be ultimate carcinogens of multiple PAH in cigarette smoke."
The study, which appears in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Did you know that you can get COPD as young as 25?
In 2000, 3.9% of the U.S. population between the ages of 25–44 were living with COPD.
If you're in your 20s or 30s
A diagnosis of COPD is rare at this age. “Although we don’t see COPD in children, we do realize now that children who have asthma may be at risk of COPD later in life because of the [lung changes] that result from asthma,” explains Dr. Schachter. Whether you think you're at risk or not, people under 40 can reduce their risk of COPD by avoiding cigarette smoke, dust, and pollution.
At this age, there is one especially vulnerable group—those with a rare genetic disorder called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Only about 100,000 people in the United States have it, but it makes the lungs (and liver) incredibly sensitive to damage and can result in an under-30 diagnosis of COPD (even in otherwise healthy nonsmokers).
The problem is that many people don't know they have the gene until COPD has been diagnosed. However, if you have family members with COPD, you are at greater risk of being a gene carrier.
Whether you have a genetic predisposition or not, experts agree that the best way to prevent COPD is to avoid smoking, which can set the stage for a COPD diagnosis in your 40s and 50s. Smoking is responsible for about 75% of COPD deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Even young smokers risk suffering heart damage. Damage to the cardiovascular system does not discriminate with age.
While most people equate smoking deaths to cancer and lung disease, in fact many more people will die from circulatory conditions from smoking than die from cancer or other lung diseases. Also, in general, they will die at much younger ages from these problems. We would have many more lung cancers than we do if smokers could live long enough to get them. When many people with fatal heart attacks or strokes are autopsied, there are often precancerous lesions found that indicate that if these people had a few more years to live they would have eventually succumbed to these smoking induced diseases.
Increased Stroke Risks Seen in Young People
Until recently, it was thought that teens and young adults accounted for 5-10 percent of all strokes. But a 2011 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that this proportion is increasing.
Researchers analyzed data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare and Utilization Project to find people hospitalized for stroke. Between 1995 and 2008, they found that the number of young adults ages 15-44 hospitalized for stroke increased by more than 33 percent.
The researchers also found that young stroke victims had high rates of traditional risk factors for stroke. Among ischemic stroke patients, nearly one in three of those ages 15-34 had high blood pressure as did more than half of those ages 35-44. One in four women ages 15-34 were smokers and so were one in three men ages 15-44.
Guess what the top 3 killers are in the USA?
(1) Heart disease
(2) Cancer
(3) COPD
What do all 3 of these have in common? Smoking related illness!
Protect your Quit as if your LIFE depends on it - because IT DOES! TODAY is a Great Day to Live Smoke FREE!
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