| Life always offers choices. In this case it wasn't
a choice of whether or not to smoke, but a choice between leading a normal
life without giving into that irritable desire that made one tremble with
the anticipation of fragrant smoke slowly invading the lungs. But the
choices weren't plain black or white. Life is never that simple. Jay Kadapatti
faced an uphill task the moment he decided-- "Enough is enough!"
A social worker working with the Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre at the
Anand Gram Society, Jay was a chronic smoker for the past fifteen years.
And like all chronic smokers, had always tried to give it up some time
or the other. "It got to a point where I was smoking two to three packets
a day. My breath and even my clothes would reek of cigarette smoke. I
wasn't even enjoying smoking anymore, but craving kept the habit strong,''
says Jay.
Jay started smoking when he was in college. "It wasn't peer pressure.
I just wanted to try out something new," said Jay. Starting from two to
three cigarettes a day, Jay progressed to something like two to three
packets. By this time he also discovered that he had high blood pressure.
There wasn't a correlation between smoking and his BP, but nevertheless,
Jay decided that he would have to limit his smoking and even toyed with
the idea of giving it up altogether.
"By now, I had also begun to feel a social misfit and even had problems
interacting with people. I felt extremely conscious of my breath and smell
and was rather by. A lot of people kept persuading me to give up smoking
entirely, and this time I felt that I was ready," says Jay. He went to
Igatpuri with another friend to try Vipassana and possibly stop smoking.
"I was still puffing away till I reached the aram gates. Then I had to
throw away all my packets. Once inside there was no way I could get cigarettes.
I was there for fifteen days, and though it was very tiring emotionally,
it did help."
However, the urge was still too potent. Jay tried to fight it one night,
but relented and was smoking again. Around this time, he met Dr. John
Almeida, who persuaded Jay to try the nicotine patch to stop smoking.
"Initially I tried it on for 24 hours. When that didn't help either, Dr.
Almeida told me to put it on for another 48 hours. I feel that my craving
definitely subsided and I was progressively able to stop smoking altogether."
It was finally two protracted months of resisting that enabled Jay to
come clean. And its been five months since he has not touched a cigarette.
How does it feel now?
"I feel definitely healthier. I've gained weight too, and I no longer
feel uneasy in company," says Jay. He's definitely got his act together,
but there were definite moments where the will battled with the senses.
"There was a time when I never went out for a trip without my pack of
cigarettes. When I was trying to quit using the nicotine patch, I was
supposed to go out of station for an assignment. This made me panic. What
if I started smoking again? I could cheat. Smoke and wear the patch. No
one would come to know. Finally, I made the best decision. I didn't go,"
says Jay. And he's been resolute ever since.
Does it then boil down to a matter of choices? Jay feels that if more
awareness about the negative aspects of smoking were demonstrated, it
was enable more people to resist. Popular culture, he feels is also to
blame for young kids wanting to conform. "Cigarette companies sponsor
sports and create employment. Does that mean they are good," he says countering
an argument about white and black choices an individual has the power
to make. "Youngsters are very impressionable. It's also how the media
choose to portray smokers," says Jay. Though he feels that today's youth
seem to be more aware, he stills wies more stringent rules be made for
cigarette companies to prevent selling their highly addictive products.
As of now, he's happy. What matters is that he's finally won. True life
offers choices. But when you finally manage to come to terms with their
harer realities and make the final choice -- that's commendable in itself.
Not only because of the principle. But because of the knowledge that life
is worth living and enjoying and good, healthy things are definitely better
than the bad.
LONDON, Jan. 21 —Anglo-U.S.
Group PowderJect Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Friday,
it and BOC had completed plans to manufacture commercially a needle-free
device which injects drugs at supersonic speed.
BOC Group Plc, a Briti
Industrial gases group, will produce the power source for the device,
which injects powdered drugs “painlessly” through the skin at 1,700 miles
per hour (2,736 km/hr), or more than twice the speed of sound.
Can Be Used By Anyone
Powderject says the injection system, powered by BOC’s
helium micro-cylinder, can be used by anyone and is therefore ideal for
people such as diabetics who have to inject themselves regularly with
insulin. The helium in the delivery system acts as the energy source which
when released breaks a membrane and releases the fine, powdered drug particles.
BOC will be responsible for building, managing and funding the first commercial-scale
micro-cylinder production facility, start production in early 2002. Powderject
said BOC would add further plants around the world as the business grows.
“This large-scale manufacturing agreement reflects the great progress
we have made in assembling the infrastructure required to commercialize
our innovative technology,” said Paul Drayson, Powderject founder and
chief executive officer.
Stop lighting up, or risk extinguishing
the flame of life!!!
The manner in which one lives in many ways reflects
how healthy one really is.
One needs to take a look at one's lifestyle, and take control of it by
making crucial choices with the aim of improving one's health. Smoking
results in several illnesses. They include heart disease, high blood pressure
or hypertension, stroke, and even lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis,
emphysema and lung cancer.
Smoking also leads to oral and nasal cancers and also those of the throat,
larynx, stomach and even, for that matter, the urinary bladder. Despite
this compelling evidence of the health hazards of smoking, those who have
been smoking for a long time, think they are unable to quit. Actually,
if one makes up one's mind, smoking need not be a life long habit, and
even those who have been "lighting up" for many years would surely realize
the immediate health benefits that would accrue if one did kick the smoking
habit.
|
sunset because he was
incapacitated with severe coughing fits. And this wasn't only because stumped tobacco companies reeled under a free on slaught of legal hassles. It's also because awareness made individuals realize the fall outs of heavy smoking and the potential risks to their health.
Chemotherapy
