Announcement
Being the responsible adult I am, and also because I needed prescriptions for my medication, I went to se the pulmologist yesterday. I hadn't been there for four years -- last time was during the month I spent in Vienna between Ankara and Skopje -- and so of course there was the obligatory spirometer (that the word?) test. Which, I hasten to add, was fine.
Still, the doctor (who is a reasonable guy) said that my bronchial tubes were ever so slightly narrower now than four years ago, and asked in a friendly, non-judgmental manner whether I could imagine quitting the cigarettes. I said, well yes, I'd already been thinking that 20 years was enough, but I'm horribly afraid of the weight gain. Wouldn't it maybe be sufficient to reduce to the four or five a day I really enjoy?
Yes, he said, that would be perfectly fine. He doesn't object to a maximum of five a day (cigarettes BTW, not packets, just in case that wasn't clear).
The thing is, I'm not overly keen on quitting, but I'm *extremely* keen on staying healthy. My family -- both sides as far as I can tell, except for those wiped out by the Nazis -- are all an extremely long-lived bunch: my paternal grandmother and both of her surviving (the Nazis, not the cigarettes) sisters were between 95 and 100 when they died, my maternal grandparents over 90, and my maternal aunt, who died two years ago, was 88 -- a heavy smoker but she didn't die of lung cancer. So there is a relatively high probability that I may live for another 40 years. It's going to be a long life, and I want it to be a healthy one, also because in a few years, public health care is likely to crash at more or less the same time as pension funds, i.e. good health care will be increasingly difficult to come by, and it's going to become horrendously expensive -- even the public sector, because there's no way they can avoid making people pay for at least part of it.
Therfore it's one thing to break a leg (unpleasant, but not cost-intensive) and quite another to need long-term, expensive care. A powerful motivator, if ever I saw one.
So I went to the pharmacy to enquire about e-cigarettes.
Not only are they quite costly, they also don't give off nicotine. So what do I need them for, I asked the pharmacist.
Well, she said, so you don't miss your cigarette.
But, said I, what I'm going to miss if I reduce my smoking isn't the act of holding something and sucking on it, it's the bloody nicotine! If I need something to suck on, I'll procure some celery sticks, which are a) healthier, and b) cheaper.
So I ended up buying nicotine chewing gum. The funny thing is, I'd considered using it already earlier but given up on the idea because I'd always thought it tasted awful (like a hybrid of tobacco and mints, don't ask me where that came from). As it turns out, it tastes of mint (or fruit, as you prefer), and it works a treat. You have to chew until the taste turns peppery, then store it in your cheek until the peppery-ness subsides, then chew again etc.
I think I'm correct (well of course I do) in assuming that it's not the mechanics of smoking that are my problem, but the nicotine intake. Besides I have the advantage of being a) clever, and b) a very rational sort of person -- if I feel like smoking I simply ask myself, OK is this one you need because you need nicotine, or is it one you would enjoy? If it's the first -- easy, I pop a gum into my mouth. If it's the second, I merely need to ask myself if I couldn't postpone the pleasure and have a chewing gum instead. The answer to this question is very seldom "no"; usually the gum will do. What I need to do, though, is disassociate the notion of "pleasure" from the notion of "smoking". So even if the answer is "yes", I'll sometimes choose the chewing gum instead of the cigarette -- this way, "pleasure" gradually becomes associated with "nicotine" instead of "smoking", which is a positive first step. Once I've successfully accomplished this first step, I can work on reducing the nicotine.
If I succeed, I'll be saving quite a lot of money; right now, even with fewer cigarettes, I still have to buy the chewing gum, which isn't exactly cheap. But once I can actually reduce the nicotine, the total expense will also decrease, which isn't too bad, either.
A further step towards cost-cutting was made today: I went to see my insurance guy. As I expected, there isn't much I can do about my household insurance -- if my flat is completely destroyed, I'm going to need the € 93.000 to rebuild and rebuy everything. The accident insurance, however, is a different matter (and more fool me, because I never really looked into it...): I got it in 1986, i.e. almost 30 years ago, when I wasn't yet employed, and when it was still unclear whether I'd marry and/or have a family. Hence the astronomic sum of € 435.000 I'd get in case of total invalidity, plus the insurance money for whoever inherits after me, and the guarantees for income, rent payments, etc. Given that I don't have children and am a civil servant, I don't need most of that. So we'll wait till next spring, and then look for a model that fits and will of course be less expensive. Also, I'll be paying monthly rates (without additional cost, because I've been their client for almost 30 years), which is preferable to having to shell out a few hundred Euros once a year.
In jeans-buying news, I got a new pair on Friday. I hate trying clothes on at the shop, and so I just bought a size 40 at Zara and tried them on at home. My eyes almost popped out from the surprise -- the bastards were TOO BIG!!! So I went back today and, because I couldn't find any jeans I liked, I bought two tops. I'm not very well equipped with elegant-ish, long-sleeved tops you don't have to iron, so I was glad to find two of those. I reckon I'll be needing them also in winter, because if the hot flashes continue, turtlenecks are impossible to wear, even the feel-good, viscose ones.
Time for a chewing gum, I think.
So this means no more ten-minute-escapes from my reflux-ridden office mate??!! Bugger. I hadn't thought of that...
Still, the doctor (who is a reasonable guy) said that my bronchial tubes were ever so slightly narrower now than four years ago, and asked in a friendly, non-judgmental manner whether I could imagine quitting the cigarettes. I said, well yes, I'd already been thinking that 20 years was enough, but I'm horribly afraid of the weight gain. Wouldn't it maybe be sufficient to reduce to the four or five a day I really enjoy?
Yes, he said, that would be perfectly fine. He doesn't object to a maximum of five a day (cigarettes BTW, not packets, just in case that wasn't clear).
The thing is, I'm not overly keen on quitting, but I'm *extremely* keen on staying healthy. My family -- both sides as far as I can tell, except for those wiped out by the Nazis -- are all an extremely long-lived bunch: my paternal grandmother and both of her surviving (the Nazis, not the cigarettes) sisters were between 95 and 100 when they died, my maternal grandparents over 90, and my maternal aunt, who died two years ago, was 88 -- a heavy smoker but she didn't die of lung cancer. So there is a relatively high probability that I may live for another 40 years. It's going to be a long life, and I want it to be a healthy one, also because in a few years, public health care is likely to crash at more or less the same time as pension funds, i.e. good health care will be increasingly difficult to come by, and it's going to become horrendously expensive -- even the public sector, because there's no way they can avoid making people pay for at least part of it.
Therfore it's one thing to break a leg (unpleasant, but not cost-intensive) and quite another to need long-term, expensive care. A powerful motivator, if ever I saw one.
So I went to the pharmacy to enquire about e-cigarettes.
Not only are they quite costly, they also don't give off nicotine. So what do I need them for, I asked the pharmacist.
Well, she said, so you don't miss your cigarette.
But, said I, what I'm going to miss if I reduce my smoking isn't the act of holding something and sucking on it, it's the bloody nicotine! If I need something to suck on, I'll procure some celery sticks, which are a) healthier, and b) cheaper.
So I ended up buying nicotine chewing gum. The funny thing is, I'd considered using it already earlier but given up on the idea because I'd always thought it tasted awful (like a hybrid of tobacco and mints, don't ask me where that came from). As it turns out, it tastes of mint (or fruit, as you prefer), and it works a treat. You have to chew until the taste turns peppery, then store it in your cheek until the peppery-ness subsides, then chew again etc.
I think I'm correct (well of course I do) in assuming that it's not the mechanics of smoking that are my problem, but the nicotine intake. Besides I have the advantage of being a) clever, and b) a very rational sort of person -- if I feel like smoking I simply ask myself, OK is this one you need because you need nicotine, or is it one you would enjoy? If it's the first -- easy, I pop a gum into my mouth. If it's the second, I merely need to ask myself if I couldn't postpone the pleasure and have a chewing gum instead. The answer to this question is very seldom "no"; usually the gum will do. What I need to do, though, is disassociate the notion of "pleasure" from the notion of "smoking". So even if the answer is "yes", I'll sometimes choose the chewing gum instead of the cigarette -- this way, "pleasure" gradually becomes associated with "nicotine" instead of "smoking", which is a positive first step. Once I've successfully accomplished this first step, I can work on reducing the nicotine.
If I succeed, I'll be saving quite a lot of money; right now, even with fewer cigarettes, I still have to buy the chewing gum, which isn't exactly cheap. But once I can actually reduce the nicotine, the total expense will also decrease, which isn't too bad, either.
A further step towards cost-cutting was made today: I went to see my insurance guy. As I expected, there isn't much I can do about my household insurance -- if my flat is completely destroyed, I'm going to need the € 93.000 to rebuild and rebuy everything. The accident insurance, however, is a different matter (and more fool me, because I never really looked into it...): I got it in 1986, i.e. almost 30 years ago, when I wasn't yet employed, and when it was still unclear whether I'd marry and/or have a family. Hence the astronomic sum of € 435.000 I'd get in case of total invalidity, plus the insurance money for whoever inherits after me, and the guarantees for income, rent payments, etc. Given that I don't have children and am a civil servant, I don't need most of that. So we'll wait till next spring, and then look for a model that fits and will of course be less expensive. Also, I'll be paying monthly rates (without additional cost, because I've been their client for almost 30 years), which is preferable to having to shell out a few hundred Euros once a year.
In jeans-buying news, I got a new pair on Friday. I hate trying clothes on at the shop, and so I just bought a size 40 at Zara and tried them on at home. My eyes almost popped out from the surprise -- the bastards were TOO BIG!!! So I went back today and, because I couldn't find any jeans I liked, I bought two tops. I'm not very well equipped with elegant-ish, long-sleeved tops you don't have to iron, so I was glad to find two of those. I reckon I'll be needing them also in winter, because if the hot flashes continue, turtlenecks are impossible to wear, even the feel-good, viscose ones.
Time for a chewing gum, I think.
So this means no more ten-minute-escapes from my reflux-ridden office mate??!! Bugger. I hadn't thought of that...