No Smoking Community

Ketak Thakur, 36-year-old chain smoker, stopped smoking during lockdown for fear of getting infected with coronavirus and dying due to respiratory inflammation and collapsed lung. He shares his tips on quitting smoking.  I started smoking in 2007. I was on a visit to the USA. One evening, I was attending a party and my friends persuaded me to try one cigarette. I didn’t want to smoke, but there was a celebratory mood all around, and I didn’t want to be a dampener. हिंदी में पढ़े : मैंने…

Shalini Mehta who kicked the habit in April, 2019 after smoking for three decades shares tips on how to kick the butt successfully. I had been a smoker for over 34 years of my life that is two-thirds of my life! At the time of kicking the butt, my life was a prisoner of my habit; it controlled almost all aspects of my life! I was smoking close to 2-3 packets a day! From there to being smoke free, am putting down a few of the things I did or that helped me in my journey of being a non smoker. I…

Dr Shital Raval talks to Dr Prakash C. Gupta, Director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health on the risks and misconceptions associated with Vaping. Vapes are the latest replacement for cigarettes that are gaining huge popularity amongst the millennials. Also called e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, mods or ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems), they are available in various sizes and shapes often disguised as regular cigarettes, pens or USB drives as seen in the popular brand products by…

If you have decided to quit smoking but are not sure how to go about it, here are some tips from those who successfully quit smoking. Don't miss the benefits of stopping smoking. And how to handle withdrawal symptoms. The reasons to quit may vary.  As people have shared in their experiences, they tried to quit multiple times and eventually succeeded when their health got affected - either a heart attack or COPD. In some cases it was for family reasons - either due to the wife being…

Atabuddin Mondal,53 from Chakdaha, West Bengal has been suffering from Bronchogenic Carcinoma, and is now in a better form after going through chemotherapy cycles. He shares his experiences of handling the Big C. Please tell us about your condition. I have been suffering from Lung Cancer. When were you diagnosed? I was diagnosed on 25/02/2018 with Bronchogenic carcinoma,1st stage. What were the early symptoms? Being addicted to smoking, first came the change in voice and then I had a…

And QUIT SMOKING. Akhileshwar Sahay, a seasoned industry veteran, has been living with bipolar disorder for the last 2 decades. In this interview, he talks about his troubled journey with multiple chronic illnesses including COPD, Depression, Diabetes and his commitment to removing stigma related to mental illness.  How did your bipolar disorder start? What were the early symptoms? Bipolar disorder is not like influenza that it is diagnosed at once. Its roots are biological and I was…

Dr Rajam Iyer, pulmonologist and palliative care physician, gives us an overview of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, a treatment to help people quit smoking, and strongly recommends its promotion among smokers and the need to test it for smokeless tobacco (bidi) users. What is Nicotine Replacement Therapy? Nicotine replacement therapy is a treatment that smokers can benefit from. As smokers are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes, that causes physical dependence, NRT helps in controlling the…

Anar Chaudhari, 40, who quit smoking after nearly 20 years, says it requires immense willpower and resolve to kick the smoking habit and shares her journey of quitting smoking and the benefits she has observed. Smoking on an Impulse I started smoking when I was 22. It was out of sheer curiosity. There was no peer pressure. I didn’t have anyone compelling me to try. Nor was there any stress in my life. Actually, I used to really love the smell of tobacco and cigarette smoke. It held great…

Dr Lancelot Pinto, consultant respirologist and smoking cessation therapy specialist at Hinduja Hospital, spells out 10 nicotine withdrawal symptoms and offers solutions to deal with them effectively. The first step in dealing with symptoms related to smoking withdrawal is recognising these symptoms and acknowledging them, and it is very important that both the patient, and their loved ones recognise these symptoms. Recognizing these symptoms allows one to step back, accept these symptoms as…

On World Lung Cancer Day, consultant respirologist at Mumbai's Hinduja Hospital Dr Lancelot Pinto highlights 10 common symptoms of lung cancer. Lung cancer accounts for about 13 per cent of all new cancers in India, with smoking being by far the leading cause of the disease. Individuals who currently smoke, or have smoked in the past, those who have a family history of lung cancers, and those who have been exposed at work to asbestos are at a particularly high risk for lung cancer, compared to…