Tuesday
Sep022008
Don't let apathy rule
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 I have just written a piece for the Telegraph's Ways and Means blog. Title: "The Government's 'denormalisation' of smoking is Orwellian". I have no idea who actually reads these things but it's important that we take every opportunity to make our voices heard - in numbers. You have to register but if you feel the same as I do please take a moment and add a comment. Click HERE.
Reader Comments (21)
Right. I'm in.
I can't access the site.
Have just signed up and left my comment Simon. Hope plenty more do too.
I've just posted too.
Sorry to digress...but this is important!
I've just heard this on my local news.
Rampton Mental Hospital where 70% of patients smoke, are being allowed to bring a test case against the smoking ban.
Their argument is, that since you are allowed to smoke in your own home, and the hospital is their home...then they should be allowed to smoke.
If they win their case...then this would open the door to further test cases.
Why hasn't the hospitality trade got together and brought about their own test case...they have the money, and even if they were to lose it would raise the profile of our fight against the smoking ban!
Because the pubcos are sucking up to the government Chris.
Money money money u see. nothing else matters.
I thought a case had already been brought by a Psychiatric Hospital,in fact I think it was Rampton, and it was thrown out by the court. They were going to appeal, but I believe there were issues there too.
Sorry I haven't got the full info, but this was something that I was interested in, being a sufferer of depression. I have not been hospitalised, but it does not stop the fear and panic that if I were, would I be able to smoke?
It is horrendous what this ban has done to adversely affect many mental health suffers and others who, previously, were coping and had not seen a doctor or even perhaps acknowleded or even realised they had a problem that had a name! The influx of patients to psychiatrist lists was tremendous and puts a huge strain on what is the poor relation in the NHS.
Now the government want to get more people, particularly those with mental health issues, back into work, but they have caused most of the problems in the first place and are not putting the support network in place to cater for people who work.
I do still work, but at times it is very hard to get out of bed and go to work and it is also extremely tiring, as you are constantly putting on a facade to hide it from people that you are actually ill and suffering, but there is still a stigma attached so we do hide things as much as possible.
Sorry to have rambled on, but as you can see, it is something very important to me and many other sufferers.
I'll smoke where-ever, when-ever i feel like smoking. Stuff non-smokers. My freedom, my choice. Asthmatics and infant babies can get the hell out of my way if they don't want some of soothing tobacco smoke. Game on you non-smokers.
Lyn, what I have always admired about you is your honesty concerning your own struggle with coping mechanisms. When I suffered from Clinical Depression for several years in my 20's, I became aware of the total lack of understanding from many people fortunate enough to have not suffered mental illness, (or who are not aware that they actually are mentally ill themselves).
There are still a great many people today who still think of serious mental illness as if it is demon possesion. There are also those who think 'depression' is just the feeling when you are having a bad day, and you should just 'pull your socks up'.
I was re-educated back in my 20's, realising that, whatever life experience and genetical makeup had caused it, to become truly depressed, anxious and many other things, took on physical manifestations, using up the natural 'coping mechanisms' and having to replace the chemical imbalance with medication while you attempted to understand and deal with the cause.
In the 1980s' the Conservative Government closed the Mental Hospitals to save money, introducing 'care in the community'. No understanding of mental illness. Where are a lot of those people who would be in secure mental hospitals now that they do not exist? They are either on the streets or in prison, where they would never had ended up if the institutions had still existed where they could be kept safe, secure, and given their medication.
When I was suffering from severe psoriasis and other conditions like asthma in the 1990s', I discovered that it was acute anxiety and stress.
As a person who has suffered from, and fully understands mental illness, the thing that breaks my heart most about this ban is the forced giving up smoking in secure institutions. As I said, I have acute anxiety. I am very fortunate in that I am able to cope without medication. Wait a minute though, besides the red wine which I am enjoying at this very moment, my cigarettes are medication. I can honestly say that on the several occasions in my life when I have stopped smoking, my anxiety, stress and depression have become unbearable. I may die younger than I would have because I smoke, (maybe not, who knows fate), but am convinced that I could well be dead already if I didn't, if not dead, a miserable, sick man.
I know exactly where you are coming from Lyn.
From the 'mind' web site.
Why people with mental health problems smoke
One study asked smokers from the general public about their reasons for smoking. In their responses, enjoyment, boredom relief and stress relief scored highest. When people with schizophrenia were asked the same question, habit, relaxation, making social contact, pleasure and addiction were the most frequent answers. [25] Why people with mental health issues smoke more than the general public is not yet fully understood. [26] A number of factors are involved and research is ongoing.
It may be that nicotine through smoking is used as a form of self-medication. It is thought that nicotine helps to alleviate some of the positive (or 'active') psychiatric symptoms (such as voices, delusions and confusion) and the negative psychiatric symptoms (such as withdrawal, inertia and lack of motivation) and that it improves cognition. [27] Smoking might also help to alleviate some of the side effects of antipsychotic medication, such as Parkinsonism and sedation. [28]
Smoking might be used as a mechanism to cope with the stress of having a mental health problem; to cope with being isolated and bored; to create a feeling of being in control; or to deal with financial difficulties
Thank you Timbone, I am sure your post was not easy, but hope you enjoyed your wine and smoke!
I go on holiday in just over 2 weeks and am already getting stressed and up tight about what might or could happen at the airport! So much for holidays being relaxing! I do relax once there, one of the reasons I insist we go for 10 days instead of just one week, but unfortunately, the fear of being 'trapped' whilst homeward bound usually has me just as up tight and stressed as before I went!
I am so pleased for you that you coping without medication. I am sure I did for years, relying mostly on my 'sanity sticks', now I am still on quite a high dose of medication and I believe it will be a few years yet before I can come off it, if ever that is!
So much more needs to be done to help people like us. Talking therapies and groups can be extremely helpful, but need to be organised and run properly and sensitively and with adequate support. They also need to be available out of normal working hours, so as to be readily available for those of us who work full time, despite the struggle! As usual, though, finance is the problem.
Like most things, if you have the money and can afford private counselling you have far more chance of getting over the debilatating phases of depression, etc, than if you can't afford it and just have to rely on medication and seeing your psychiatrist once every couple of months!
Sorry, I have rambled again, but this is all so relevant to smoking and smokers as so many do suffer depression, and many of the people who smoke are very possibly just keeping the depression at bay for now, it only takes that last straw, as it did for me. Take away their cigarettes and that is likely, for many, to be that last straw.
Take care Timbone and I hope your self medication continues to work for you.
Lyn
I hope that what I have to say is OK because it is not primarily concerned with smoking. It is about Depression.
I had a senior position with a Bank which involved lots of serious problem solving. I never had an significant problem in my job.
When I retired, I had to look after my wife who has a serious, incurable illness (MS). After a while, I found myself becoming more and more vaguely angry and more and more vaguely tense. Finally, my body 'broke' and I started having sudden rapid heart beats for no apparent reason, going suddenly very hot, noises which would normally be quite acceptable becoming horribly loud, and, oddly, if I bent down to pick something up, literally seeing the ground come up towards me!
Can you see the difference between my job and my home life?
The bank problems were soluble and I could leave them at the bank at the end of the day.
My wife's problem was insoluble and I had them with me always.
When I went to my doctor, he said that I was lucky not to have had a nervous breakdown and immediately put me on Seroxat. The problem was that the constant anxiety and tension had altered my brain chemicals. The Seroxat put this problem right.
That was some fifteen years ago and I am still on the medication, but much reduced.
I have learned to cope with my wife's illness in the following significant ways:
1. To be clear in my mind what I can do and what I cannot, and what I am willing to do and what I am not.
2. To have a strong discipline in daily routines.
3. To get as much outside help as possible from the powers-that-be while retaining my/ our independence.
4. Not to be ashamed. I told my friends about the problem and joked that I was on 'brain' pills.
Notice how I have been able to convert an insoluble problem into a soluble one by 'thinking laterally'. Sounds simple, but I as sure that Timbone would agree that, when you are caught in the trap of Depresson, it is very difficult to see the problem never mind the solution.
Suffice to say that the fact that I have gained control of the situation has enabled us (as a result of good planning and organisation and 'staying cool') to go abroad for holidays three times a year for the last several years.
As regards the smoking aspect, since we both smoke, I would hate even to contemplate what might have happened if we had not been able to. Whatever anyone may say, smoking (the drug, nicotine, if you wish) is a solace - and you can take this drug, in small doses, all day every day if you wish without any SIGNIFICANT harm.
I say SIGNIFICANT because I truely believe that the ailments attributed to smoking are much more to do with the appalling atmospheric polution in the 40s, 50s, 60s before the clean air acts were passed (why else the predominance of lung conditions etc in big cities and industrial towns of the North?) and genetic predisposition. By the way, my wife and I are 67 and 69 respectively and, despite her ailment, slimish, sturdy and in reasonable good health.
Finally, if any one out there has the same sort of life problems (apparently insoluble), symptoms (rapid heart beat etc) and feelings of anger and tension, GET TO YOUR DOCTOR. TELL HIM THE FACTS. TAKE THE MEDICATION. DO NOT BE ASHAMED. FIND A WAY TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM.
I have grown to really dislike politicians. They seem to lose sight of reality. For example, they say that the answer to youth unemployment is, at great expense,to introduce a system where outside agencies (at great expense) coach youths in the art of writing CVs, encourage them to write for jobs, place them in non-jobs (such as charity shops)(unpaid!) and penalise them by withdrawing benefits if they rebel. Why does it not occur to the politicians that (as Keynes said), the answer to unemployment is for the government to, literally, CREATE jobs!
This also impinges on the immigration problem.
The PM said "british jobs for british people". So, what has the government done to stop non-british people flooding the jobs' market? Nothing.
It seems obvious to me that, if we stopped immigration:-
1. Everyone who wants to work would have a job.
2. Wages would rise as labour shrank.
3. Industry would 'innovate' if the supply of labour shrank. But bear in mind that Industry 'innovates' to cut costs (ie, wages, anyway).
4. Immigration makes sense, not to supply cheap labour, but to supply skills in short supply.
5. Contrary to what one might think, our international competativeness would be maintained not by cheap labour but by a reasonably contented, well paid, productive workforce.
Sorry to go on, but what I am saying - silly laws, bad judgements, inadiquacies - is true, in'it?
Hello James - you have done so well to come to terms with and work with and around your problems and those concerning your wife's illness. Good for you too for getting away several times a year. I often wish, when we go abroad, that we didn't have to come back, I find that so depressing, on top of the depression I already have!
Anxiety played a big part for me too and sometimes the anger can be so frustrating that I think we can turn it on ourselves, having nowhere else to direct it.
Your posting was extremely well put, interesting and definitely pertinent. And, yes, you are right that 'silly laws, bad judgements, inadiquacies - is true', certainly in my opinion anyway.
I wish you and your wife well and am so pleased that you have been able to find light at the end of your tunnel. Many of us are still trying and sometimes get a glimpse, which, I guess is what keeps us going!
Take care
I have read every post on this thread. I was diagnosed years ago with depression. I took 3 months of work, took the tablets. Lost weight, started going out again, went back to work and handed in notice and went to Uni. Stopping the tablets which was against my doctors advice – but I felt great. Now over 10 years later, I think because of the 2nd class citizen that I am made to feel because I smoke, I went self-employed (work from home now). I have only been to a pub once since the Scottish ban (for a funeral). I rarely have contact with friends. Suffered a bad car accident early this year which has left me scared of one of the few pleasures left. I am now fatter than ever. I wonder now if I did stop taking the tablets too soon. Or am I just a casualty of the smoking ban.
I think the smoking ban. I was brought up that mental illness meant give yourself a shake. But, my Depression and treatment brought home to my whole family what a debilitating illness this is. To stop patients from smoking in a place which is there home is despicable. It this not a case for European Court for Human Rights??
Sorry may I add, I don't want people to think I gave up work because I could not smoke there. I have worked in smoke free Offices since the 80's. I think it's more the - Oh you’re going for a fag break comments. Also - being told how I kill people (by 4 x 4 drivers). Comments like, Oh back already that was quick, but don't you think you should stop. For F sake my Working day smoking hasn’t changed for over 15 years, why all the comments now. It’s depressing.
This government should get their noses out of what dosnt concern them. I smoke i enjoy smoking and these anti smoking facsists can get stuffed.
Lyn,
Thank you.
Lyn, Mags.
Be assured that there is CALMNESS to be had. The word 'calm' is a lovely word. It describes a mental state of ACCEPTANCE of the way things are. Not in a subserviant sense, but in a realisation that whatever actually is, is.
The best example of CALMNESS that I can give is that, in addition to my wife's illness as a problem, I found another one. I noticed that a funny little lump on my eyelid (which had been there for years) was growing and had started to bleed from time to time. Cutting a long story short, it was found to be a malignant cancer.
On my way home from the hospital on the day that I was told the news, I had a little think and the thought I had was, "Ah well, there we go then". I am sure that you will understand what I mean - in the space of 20 minutes or so, I came to terms with the reality.
When I got home, I told my wife and daughters the facts and told them where my money was invested etc and how to proceed when I pegged out. I became unbelievably CALM.
In the event, the lump was surgically removed and there was no apparent spread - and I am still alive.
Being CALM is a state of mind that can be achieved. I used to become irritated by having to help my wife to go to the loo etc. Then, one day I had these thoughts.
"Does this (helping her to the loo) hurt?" Answer: NO.
"Does it take a long time?"
Answer:No.
"Is it hard to do?"
Answer:No.
So what am I bothered about?
From then on, the problem diminished. I became calm - but I still have to remind myself that 'it does not hurt, it does not take a long time and it is not hard'.
I will re-iterate what I said - if you have the symptoms, your brain chemicals are upset and you need the medication to solve that problem. Work on being CALM. Take your time. Do not be ashamed.
So what has this to do with smoking?
You will have notices how the words I use are 'soft' words. I described nicotine as a SOLICE. I talk about being CALM. The words are 'soft' words and are the words which appertain to the pleasures of smoking. As I said, nicotine is a drug which can be taken all day, every day, in small,harmless doses, which is pleasantly calming. The government have been duped as a result of the fact that, although they are very clever people, they are mostly lawyers and therefore rely on ADVICE from others as regards the facts. E.G. In what circumstances should motorists be required to wear seatbelts? The government needs safety experts to tell them to make wearing seatbelts compulsary in all circumstances, regardless of whether or not that is true. And therefore, that it what they decide, whether it is correct or not. In the matter of smoking, however, the advice that they have received is skewed by special interests. In addition, MPs themselves are affected by their own preducises - some of them do not like cigarette smoke. Etc, etc - and, they did not actually know what they were voting for (definition of a 'public place' - I think that MPs did not realise that they were voting for NO SHELTER AT ALL - I think that they imagined the sort of situation that you have in Spain where bars have nice outdoor areas with clear, plastic sheeting which can be extended like an awning to keep the wind and rain out.
The oly thing that we can do is keep plugging away at it and TOTALLY REFUSE TO BE MARGINALISED AND CRIMINALISED.
It will take some time.
Thank you James.
I am so pleased your cancer was caught in time and that you are now free of it. My first husband was not so lucky and I lost him 12 years ago, just 3 months after being diagnosed.
I do feel, in the main, much calmer these days, almost complacent to some degree and am not sure whether or not this is the medication, although the dose has been reduced a bit from what I was on a year ago. I do find though that it does not take much to get me very wound up again, although I can come out of that state sooner than I would have done before - so again, maybe that is the way the medication is working.
I have just invested in an electronic cigarette to see if that, instead of tranquilisers, will assist me through the airport next week when we go on holiday as I get dreadfully fearful of being trapped in departures if the plane is delayed and as I am also extremely claustrophobic I can become quite irrational due to utter panic.
Like most other coping strategies, they work if there is enough warning, but sometimes the panic can overtake you before you have a chance to counter it, and once in its grip rationality just goes out the window! This is something that has only been happening to me since this ban was introduced, or more precisely, since it was agreed and many places started to implement it long before July 2007.
I find that one I am no the flight and we are moving it is easier to cope with as I am on my way to my destination, whereas hanging around in departure lounges is a kind of limbo and I am going nowhere!
I do appreciate your ideas though and will try and incorporate a little conscious calmness into my life.
All the very best to you and your wife.
Sorry - this:
I find that one I am no the flight
should read:
I find that once I am on the flight
Lyn, My husband has a fear of flying and gets very uptight while waiting at the boarding gates which sometimes can be hours, so he disappears from time to time to the loo where he has a fag in the cubicle. He has been getting away with it so far and it calms him down. I dont know if this would work in the ladies loo as I have never had the courage to try but its something to keep in mind if it all becomes too much in these nightmare days of air travel.
Hi, hope this comment works I'm still pretty new to this whole blogging thing.
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