hi all i was wondering how many of you with vhl smoke ,does anyone think that smoking causes any more damage than what it would do anyway, i mean would a tumor pop up because we smoke and it be a vhl one , isnt vhl a thing of its own so how would smoking effect it more, i get the kidney part of tumors but even if we dont smoke still cancer there , also stress , how does more stress effect vhl , does stress cause more to happen to us , i would be intrested in reading peoples comments on this
Hi, Lesley. I don't smoke, but there is kidney cancer research that shows that smoking causes tumors to grow more rapidly, and the people who smoked had more tumors.
There is a direct effect of the chemicals from smoking in the bloodstream that spurs the growth of tumors, and causes a number of other health problems.
Too much stress can also cause problems. We need to learn how to manage our stress.
However, it should not be a choice between smoking and stress. Yes, people do use smoking for stress management. However, there are much more effective ways of managing stress.
The chemicals you get into your bloodstream from the smoking cause a short-term drop in stress, but there is a kick-back effect that actually makes your stress worse -- and makes you need another cigarette, which costs money ... is it really worth it?
The cigarette manufacturers have doubled the amount of nicotine in cigarettes over the past few decades, making it even more difficult to stop smoking. However, with stop-smoking aids it is certainly possible, and it would be much better for your health in general if you would stop smoking.
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/smoking/information
And it's not just what you are doing to yourself. Second-hand smoke is also bad for the people around you.
http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Tobacco/ETS
A very long list of health problems are made worse by tobacco use. That's why your government and mine are working so hard to help everyone stop using tobacco -- tobacco is responbile for a very large percentage of health costs in both our countries.
You will find lots of articles about healthy kinds of stress management on our website:
http://www.vhl.org/aboutvhl/famindex.htm
Best wishes,
Joyce
ok thanks for your answer on this i cant see me giving up at moment but i will take what you said in mind, and yes i would agree that givin up is very hard now days , thanks for the advice
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