Buying Death — Alcohol & Cigarette

Are you buying your death?

Feasting on: What Happens to Your Body After You Quit Drinking Alcohol? By Ashllyn T.

The Benefits of Quitting Alcohol.

I grew up with a mother who smoked enough cigarettes to cook two meals per day and a father who drank alcohol like water. I am aware of the dangers of both.

I stood in Walmart a few months ago in front of the cigarette aisle, and I read the warnings and dangers from the Surgeon General and the FDA about the dangers of cigarette smoking.

To protect the public health of the U.S. population from tobacco-related death and disease, the FDA provides information about tobacco products, including cigarettes, and the dangers they pose to the public. The harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke can damage nearly every organ in the body.

ARE WE BUYING OUR OWN DEATH?—Annelise Lords

Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases the risk of tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.

ARE WE BUYING OUR OWN DEATH? — Annelise Lords

Cigarette smoking is a well-documented risk factor for the formation, growth, multiplicity, and rupture of intracranial aneurysms: The risk of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and it has been estimated that 40% of aneurysmal ruptures can be attributed to smoking.

ARE WE BUYING OUR OWN DEATH? — Annelise Lords

My mother died of an aneurysm, so she bought her death.

I know a few smokers who died of lung cancer. Many females died of breast cancer, cervical cancer, and other cancers in a country with limited medical opportunities and not the best doctors. Most Jamaicans can't afford to get sick. And most don’t go to the doctor unless they are dying. We have a long list of herbal cures and remedies that we utilize before visiting a doctor.

My father wasn’t a mean alcoholic. I think he drank to cope with the cruelty my mother imposed on him. He died of renal failure.

DID HE BUY HIS DEATH TOO?

According to: https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

Short-Term Health Risks

Excessive alcohol use has immediate effects that increase the risk of many harmful health conditions. These are most often the result of binge drinking and include the following:

Injuries, such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, drownings, and burns.

Violence, including homicide, suicide, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence.

Alcohol poisoning is a medical emergency that results from high blood alcohol levels.

Risky sexual behaviors, including unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners. These behaviors can result in unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

Miscarriage and stillbirth or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) among pregnant women.

Long-Term Health Risks

Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of chronic diseases and other serious problems, including:

High blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems.

Cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box, liver, colon, and rectum.

Weakening of the immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick.

Learning and memory problems, including dementia and poor school performance.

Mental health problems, including depression and anxiety.

Social problems, including family problems, job-related problems, and unemployment.

Alcohol use disorders, or alcohol dependence.

After reading all of this, knowing humans who smoke and drink, I realized that many of us are buying our deaths.

How can something so deadly, be allowed to be available for human consumption.

“It’s your choice,” a voice behind me said. “You walked inside these stores and bought that drink and that smoke.” I quickly glanced around, but no one was there.

I am talking to myself again.

“Yes, all of us have a choice,” I answered myself. “And many humans chose to buy their deaths.”

Are you buying death?

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

It would say, “Why are you buying your death when life is so bbbeeeaaauuutttiiifffuuulll?”

Thank you for reading this piece. Please, let your heart speak, while enjoying more from some inspiring writers on this platform, whose links are below.

Feast on more from Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Enjoy more from Tara Kimes

Taste more from John Whye