Problem-Based Questions
Question 1: I always smoke when I feel stressed. Should I commit more or less effort at work or at home to manage my stress level?
It is a very good question. It seems that you are interested in taking control of the approach to every situation you face. My recommendation is to, first of all, avoid unhealthy habits, smoking is one of them. These habits only make new complications and as they don’t directly tackle the cause of your stress, you will be having effects.
Question 2: What are the health risks of smoking and do you think my lung cancer is the cause of my smoking?
Smoking raises the possibility of developing more than 50 health conditions. Lung cancer is one of the very significant health conditions that can develop as a result of smoking. I wonder if you could or you want to quit smoking it would be a very healthy change for your medical condition.
Question 3: What options do I have that can help me quit smoking? Will quitting smoking help me in lowering my health risks even if I already have lung cancer?
As you know what your stress triggers are, you are able to subsist with the burden and you could potentially change your reaction. Here are some of the techniques that will help you to quit smoking; talking to other people, and connecting with others helps you to share your feelings which causes a reduction in your stress level. Take control of the situations you are facing and you can do it by being positive all the time and accepting what you cannot change (Islami, Torre & Jemal, 2015). And yes when you quit the root cause of your cancer it will help you recover from your disease.
Question 4: What symptoms might I experience after quitting smoking and how can cope with those symptoms?
That is a very wonderful question seems like you want to take a great step forward in bettering your health. Nicotine is a drug in tobacco that affects the brain in different ways like mood-boosting, reducing appetite, etc. but on the withdrawal of nicotine you might experience intense cravings for nicotine, tingling in the feet and hands, insomnia, and weight gain sometimes (Carter et al, 2015). Some of the suggestions which I give you to cope the symptoms are not to be around with smokers, to remind yourself that these feelings are temporary. Self-meditation is the key. You can use some nicotine replacement products like nicotine gums which can be used as nicotine replacement therapy.
Critical Issues: Positives
- Sven is eager to see a glimpse of the positive side of his life and his wife Nancy is helping him out in every possible way which is very positive for Sven and his family.
- Sven is 35 years old man and mentally aware of his disease and is ready to digest the harsh memories of the past and look forward.
- Quitting smoking lets Sven breathe more easily. It will also add years to Sven’s life and boost the chances of a healthy happier old life.
- Sven is now under a self-meditation process that will help him to cope with his stress and stay away from his smoking addiction.
- Sven is trying to accept the things which he cannot change and trying to take control of the situations by being positive which shows how hard he wants to fight his cancer and wants his stress-free life back.
Critical Issues: Negatives
- Smoking assists the human body to control its weight & some of its credit goes to nicotine. After quitting smoking Sven may experience a gain in weight (Cheng et al, 2016).
- Sven still sometimes shows some signs of depression and takes stress when he feels alone which will only go away with time and self-medication.
- Sven is not very well aware of the diseases which can be caused by stress and smoking which in a short time he cannot learn. He needs to spend more time in rehab to learn how to manage stress on a daily basis.
- While some things in life cannot be changed or whipped away, there is this abusive event in Sven’s life that will be affecting him for a very long time.
- Dizziness and frustration may also cause by quitting smoking for some early days.
References
Carter, B. D., Abnet, C. C., Feskanich, D., Freedman, N. D., Hartge, P., Lewis, C. E., … & Jacobs, E. J. (2015). Smoking and mortality—beyond established causes. New England journal of medicine, 372(7), 631-640.
Cheng, T. Y. D., Cramb, S. M., Baade, P. D., Youlden, D. R., Nwogu, C., & Reid, M. E. (2016). The international epidemiology of lung cancer: latest trends, disparities, and tumor characteristics. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 11(10), 1653-1671.
Islami, F., Torre, L. A., & Jemal, A. (2015). Global trends of lung cancer mortality and smoking prevalence. Translational lung cancer research, 4(4), 327.
