Diabetes Alert Day is held every year on the fourth Tuesday of March to call attention to diabetes and to encourage everyone to find out if they are at risk. While diabetes is often a hereditary condition, it is still possible to develop diabetes even if you have no known history of it in your family. In addition, Type 2 diabetes is often preventable through regular medical checkups and a healthy lifestyle.

Find out if you are at risk by taking the Type 2 Risk Assessment. The risk test, in English or Spanish, is available by calling the Association toll-free at 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or by visiting www.diabetes.org/risktest.

If you have diabetes, it is important to understand that using tobacco puts you at higher risk of aggravated diabetes conditions, developing additional chronic health problems and shortening your life span.

Tobacco use and diabetes may cause:

Vascular Disease:  Tobacco use damages blood vessels throughout the body. People with diabetes who smoke are 11 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than people who don’t have diabetes and don’t smoke.

Neuropathy:  Tobacco use increases the risk of nerve damage in people with diabetes. This can result in impotence in men, digestion problems, and loss of feeling in your feet.

Retinopathy:  Tobacco use increases the risk of blindness in people with diabetes.

Peridontal Disease:  Tobacco use increases the chance of tooth decay in people with diabetes.

For help quitting tobacco products, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

People across the country will be coming together to kick the spit tobacco habit. For help quitting tobacco products, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Quitting the use of tobacco products improves the health of your entire body and saves sometimes thousands of dollars a year.

Quitting cold turkey, or gradually cutting back may seem like the easiest way to stop, but most cessation web sites discourage these approaches because there is less success. Less than 10% of smokers succeed at quitting cold turkey. Generally it is recommended that several approaches be used, such as behavior modification and nicotine replacement therapies (like the patch or gum).

Be sure to talk to your physician about your choice to quit smoking even if you aren’t going to use a prescription drug. Nicotine replacement therapies, such as the patch or gum, could interfere with medications you’re taking. Your doctor may have other resources to share.

An excellent resource is the Indiana Tobacco Quitline. The Indiana Tobacco Quitline is a free telephone-based helpline for smokers and tobacco users who want to quit.

Just call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for FREE help and support.

A trained Quit Coach will help you design a personalized quit plan. Those who enroll will receive 2 free weeks of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (Patch or Gum).

You will also receive a Quit Kit of materials to help you stay on your plan. Services are available in English and Spanish with translation services offered for other languages.

www.indianatobaccoquitline.net

 How do we take steps to insure we are taking care of our mental and physical health during the holiday season?

Knowledge is Power

It is important to understand potential pitfalls so we can move through recovery from nicotine addiction and be prepared for what may or may not come. Planning ahead will help with our success..

Take Care of Yourself First

During the holidays, we are prone to overextend ourselves. There is more to do and we can become fatigued and cranky. This can put us in danger of relapse.

Get Enough Sleep

When we are tired, everything else suffers. In addition to getting 7-8 hours sleep a night, add a power nap during the day. Being well rested helps us to better handle stress.

Drink Plenty of Water

Drinking water helps to remove nicotine from your system. Poor hydration leaves us achy and tired, so be aware of your water intake and make sure you get enough.

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Try eating more vegetables and less meat. A Duike University study showed that fruits, vegetables and dairy foods made cigarettes taste worse. Meat, coffee and alcoholic beverages, according to the study made smoking more desirable.  

Avoid alcohol while you are trying to quit

Not only do people find alcohol a trigger, because they often smoked in social settings with a drink, but alcohol will lower your ability to say no when that craving strikes.

Exercise

Exercise will help get your metabolism back on track, as well as help to clear out your lungs. With all of the hustle and bustle this time of year, getting enough exercise is easy. Park at the back of the lot when shopping, use the stairs rather than the escalator, and hit all of the aisles at the grocery store. Exercise provides energy and a better attitude. Use it to your advantage.

Take a Multivitamin

Getting the extra boost of a daily vitamin is good insurance when you’re busy and meals are hectic and sometimes lack proper nutrition.

Breathe!

Deep breathing is an immediate fix for stress and you can do it anywhere. Breathe in through your nose for a count of three and exhale through your mouth for a count of three. Repeat this for a few minutes, and the tension in your body will begin to fall away.

Remember

Smoking has been involved in everything we did in our lives. It only makes sense that your first smoke-free holiday season might trigger associations that bring on cravings. That awareness, along with a little preparation, will keep you in the driver’s seat with your quit program, should urges to smoke come at you out of nowhere. Remember, you’re teaching yourself a new way of living, and it takes some practice.

Recovery from Nicotine Addiction is a Process…and part of that involves learning how to negotiate the special occasions in our lives smoke-free. Stick with it, and by the time the holidays roll around next year, smoking won’t even be a concern.

Before you light up, think about exactly why you want that cigarette. Is it a psychological smoking trigger like an argument, or is it when you are driving in the car or after eating a meal? These are called triggers. Triggers are usually people, places, or things you associate with smoking. If you learn to deal with these triggers when they occur, you will be well on your way to quitting.

What could you do instead of lighting up this cigarette or grabbing for a chew? If you have a plan, it makes your attempts easier. For example, change your habits. Use a different route to work, eat breakfast in a different place, or get up from the table right away after eating.

Here are some tips to help you avoid your triggers during the Great American Smokeout.

1. Deep breathing
2. Drink ice water (water helps flush residual toxins out of the system – it helps)
3. Delay smoking. If you delay, the urge usually passes in a short time
4. Do something else that isn’t connected with smoking

In addition, you can:

• Use self-talk
• Focus on YOUR reasons to quit (decide on 4 or 5 reasons that you feel are important to quit – be specific)
• Change your routine.
• Call another person for support if you are tempted
• Exercise

 In the Morning: Don’t just lounge in bed. Get up. If you usually go out for a smoke, then eat breakfast, change your routine. Shower first, then eat breakfast, and kip the smoke. Keep gum, straws, or flavored toothpicks to help curb the cigarette craving.

Coffee:  Coffee, soft drinks, or alcohol can increase your urge to smoke.

After a Meal: Freshen up! Leave the table after a meal and brush your teeth. Use some baking soda or mouthwash for that extra clean feeling. When eating out, choose places that don’t allow smoking. Eating several small meals instead of one or two large ones will help keep your energy in balance and help prevent the urge to smoke a cigarette or chew tobacco. Avoid sugary or spicy foods.

Stress: Overworked? Overwhelmed? Exercise or get busy. If there’s a deck of cards nearby, play alone or ask a friend. Hobbies help, too. Put together that 1,000-piece puzzle. If you can’t get away, try deep breathing. Imagine filling your lungs with fresh, clean air.

Boredom: Talk to someone who will support you in your efforts to quit smoking and chewing. Do other activities that will engage you in some way. Change your surroundings by getting up and walking around. Or start researching a new hobby you’ve always wanted to try.

Social Event: Get busy! Keep your mind occupied by helping the host or hostess. Offer to hang up coats, refill platters, or introduce guests. Be sure to bring along friends who don’t smoke, dip, or chew so you’ll have someone to talk to when you get the urge. Stay away from alcohol by sticking with soda or punch and munching on low-calorie snacks. Instead of grabbing a cigarette, grab a plate of grapes, celery sticks, and cheddar. In a recent study, smokers found that cigarettes tasted worse after they drank water or juice and after they ate fruit, vegetables, or dairy products. If you need something in your hand, try a long straw or lollipop stick.

Before Bedtime: Chill! If the sight of your pillow makes you want to puff, take five. Put on your favorite songs. Relax and visualize yourself as a successful non-tobacco user. You’ve come too far to quit now—you can do it!

Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. November 19^th is the Great American Smokeout. To help you quit, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or go to www.IndianaTobaccoQuitline.net

Dr Robert Stewart (King’s College London, UK), who isn’t connected with the study, said in an interview that the data are convincing and consistent with those from other studies that have screened community populations for this disorder.

“In general,” Stewart said, “there is now a large body of evidence that indicates that what is bad for the heart is bad for the brain—that is, that the well-known risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke are also risk factors for dementia.”

Read more about it at http://www.theheart.org/article/993633.do

“For smokers trying to quit the habit, James Watkin of Valparaiso may be the perfect role model. After more than 50 years of smoking cigarettes, Watkin quit smoking last year at the age of 77. His example proves the point that it’s never too late make new, healthier choices.

            Even when he began smoking in the 1950s, Watkin knew that it wasn’t a good choice for his health. However, he began smoking while serving in the military in Korea from 1953-1954.

            “(The military) didn’t encourage it, but they didn’t say anything against it,” Watkin said. “If I hadn’t been in
Korea I don’t think I even would have started.

            Watkin remembers back when smoking was an acceptable social habit, but he never personally approved of it. When he was younger, Watkin remembers seeing commercials in which doctors advocated one brand of cigarettes over another.

            “Nowadays, if you found a doctor who smoked, he would be ostracized,” Watkin said.

            Although he smoked for many years, Watkin was aware of the health risks, especially after his brother, a nonsmoker, died of lung cancer. Watkin tried to keep his own habit in check.

            “I’ve met a few people that smoked three or four packs a day. A pack a day is all I let myself to. Even then, as the price went up it got expensive,” Watkin said.

            “We had kids, and I didn’t want to smoke in front of them,” Watkin said.

            Watkin says that none of his five children smoke. “They got tired of seeing their dad and what he did, and they never started,” Watkin said.

            “I’ve often thought, ‘Why did I keep it up?’” he mused. “It’s a habit I suppose, and you have a craving for it.”

            “Death was the furthest thing from my mind (when I started). But when you get to be my age…”

            Last year, after 55 years of smoking, Watkin suffered a severe heart attack that landed him in the hospital. Doctors blame his smoking habit for the life-threatening attack.

            “The doctor told me ‘Mister, you’re very fortunate you’re still alive. You had two arteries blocked and that’s because you smoked,” Watkin said. “That scares you, for a doctor to tell you that you’re lucky to be alive.”

            “That day my son came home with my wife, and I didn’t know it at the time, but they threw (my cigarettes) away.”

            While in the hospital, Watkin experienced his first day without cigarettes in more than five decades. Doctors had to call his wife to come to the hospital to keep him calm and get him through the first nicotine cravings. Watkin’s insurance helped him purchase a month’s worth of nicotine patches, and he has not smoked since leaving the hospital.

            “When you’re lying in the hospital and the doctor is operating on you, you just quit, cold turkey…I lost my desire for it. I realized what it cost me.”

            Watkin has seen many of his friends quit smoking as they got older. One former smoker used hypnotism to help him control his cravings for nicotine. “The best way to quit is don’t start. But if you do (start), just quit. There is help available.”

            He worries about the young people he sees just beginning the smoking habit.

            “I don’t see many people my age smoking anymore, it’s all young kids…There’s a certain amount of social acceptance,” Watkin noted.

            Since his heart attack, Watkin has also been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He doesn’t often leave his home other than to go to the doctor’s office or to church. But when he does encounter people smoking, he makes sure to share his experiences with them. “I’ve told half a dozen people I see, ‘Throw it away buddy, or you’ll end up like I did,’” Watkin said.

For anyone interested in quitting tobacco, the Indiana Tobacco Quit Line offers free sessions with a quit coach and 2 weeks of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy in the form of either patch or gum to those who enroll (1-800-QUIT-NOW).”

“The Food and Drug Administration, recently granted the authority to regulate tobacco as a drug, is taking aim at electronic cigarettes — battery-powered cigarette look-alikes that deliver nicotine and produce a puff of odorless vapor. Tests show that e-cigarettes contain “known carcinogens and toxic chemicals,” including diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, officials announced Wednesday during a teleconference. The FDA notes that the products have no warning labels.”

The Indiana Tobacco Quitline offers 2 FREE WEEKS of Nicotine Replacement Therapy – (PATCH OR GUM) for those who enroll

The Indiana Tobacco Quitline assists:

•         Tobacco users, in any stage of readiness to quit 

•         Pregnant smokers Smokeless tobacco users 

•         Former smokers who want relapse prevention support 

•         Friends and relatives of tobacco users who want to offer support 

If you need information about pharmacotherapy interactions and contraindications, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) dosages, etc., call the Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW for free information.

When you call the Quitline, a trained Quit Coach will provide:  

•         An assessment of readiness to quit 

•         A customized quit plan  Motivation and problem-solving advice 

•         Up-to-date information about nicotine replacement therapy

•         A Quit Kit, including materials in English or Spanish, tailored for your patient’s needs 

•         Referral to cessation services offered by local resources or by health plans

For more information, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or go to the website: http://www.indianatobaccoquitline.net