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View Full Version : I Don't Want To Give Up Soda ,Caffine and Smoking.



looking4answers
24-11-09, 00:10
Im 55. I have had a wonderful life and worked hard and gone through tremendous amounts of hardships and stress. I have been retired for a few years lucky enough to do it.

At this time in my life I should be able to kick back and relax and have fun. My blood pressure is just slightly , very slightly above normal. We have been monitoring it for about a week now.. Its almost always right at above normal.

Ok.. I read that caffeine is bad for it. My mother drank coffee all my life and always had a pot on. She had medical problems but only went to the doctor every so often. He would give her meds and she wouldn't take them.

She stayed busy and kept going, hobbling here and there in the heat even.
The year she died I had gone for a visit prior to that and ask for a cup of coffee and she said she didn't have any. I was shocked she had quit. After all the years of drinking coffee and then just quit? Weird.. She died the very same year. I think the coffee kept her sharp and kept her veins open but thats just me. I have been drinking coffee since I was about four years old.

In the past few years I drank perhaps 30 to 40 cups a day and in the last few years that I have had more medical problems I have only been drinking about three cups a day. I just got tired of the taste and only find that I like it first thing in the morning and at lunch and afternoon. Could this drive my blood pressure up that much. How come Im feeling worse now in the last couple of years since I haven't been drinknig it.?

I don't want to give up what little coffee I drink. I also drink soda's ..They are mostly caffeinated .. Some are usually not like 7up and sprite but they are all no sugar diets.. I drink a couple a day to help with my digestion.
I don't particularly like soda's but they help me from having lots of gas and helps digest my food.

Third I do smoke. Not sure Ill ever give up smoking.. Maybe cut down.. but not give it up. I don't drink ever. I don't use drugs besides what the doctor gives me and hate to even take them then.. I dont eat salt .,I exercise and my weight is about perfect.. I eat lots of fruit, veggies and nuts and also broil my food and don't eat lots of food high in fat. I do have a piece of low sugar frozen cake in the evenings sometimes.. and sometimes no desert at all . but other than that am I really going to die from these little things I do ?

What is I ate just bland food ,drank ony water, don't smoke and don't have a cup of coffee three times a day and a about two soda's a day . I live to be say oh 98 ,then what kind of life do I end up with . Boring and bland and not worth living but it was long so I could remember the fun things I used to do. ? Personally I think they can't find anything but good about coffee and the sugar industry and tried to destroy the synthetics market for diet products by saying it gives you cancer and well I can't really say about the smoking because I really don't know but my grand father outlived three doctors that said he would die if he didn't stop drinkng and smoking. He lived to 93 and had a wonderful life?


So what is a person suppose to do.. Just sit in a dream state don't move because they may run their blood pressure up. Eat bland food and don't do anything else ? Sounds like a great life to me ? Is this what everyone thinks life should be ? Im sorry im just a little frustrated and worried and don't know which way to turn. I have done nothing that I know about in recent years that would hurt me other than smoking and drinking coffee and thats about it.. Why should I quit now? Will I really live that much better of a life and longer? what does everyone think? .

Anxious_gal
24-11-09, 01:32
30 cups a day? wow I am shocked!
I LOVE coffee too, but more than too cups a day makes my heart race and then it stops me from sleeping.
It's safe to say you have a caffeine addiction. If you over do anything it is going to bad for you.
I smoke too, hope to someday give up.
smoking kills it is a FACT, there is always some aunt, brother, friend who lived to be 1 0000 and smoke a million ciggies a day.
the chemicals in tobacco are dangerous and harmful, smoking causes lots of life threatining illness's, but I'm sure your aware of that.
smoking and caffeine are stimulants they both will makes your heart race ad will cause high blood pressure.
you know in your heart you should cut down at the least.
but see to change anything your going to have to want to change.
if your suffering with anxiety I'm a 100% the coffee and smoking are triggers.

looking4answers
24-11-09, 01:56
Ok....If you read lol...I said I USED to drink 30 cups a day.. No more , I drink maybe three somedays I don't even finish them.. Im not sure why I don't drink that much anymore but I guess I lost the taste for it.. I only enjoy it a few times a day.. Yeah about the if you do anything ITs going to be bad for you . I believe it.. The smoking ..God the smoking..I suppose Ill quit when my heart stops beating.. It wasn't my brother that smoked and lived, he died of a massive cornary and didn't even smoke.It wasn't my aunt she died of cancer only at 80 and smoked more than I ever did.. It wasn't a friend, most of my friends for some reason don't smoke. It was my grandfather.. Thats genetic I hope. My father lived to be 80 and smoked and drank and died from heart problems from having rhumatic fever as a child.. I too had rhmatic fever as a child but other than giving me tackycardia every once in awhile I don't suffer with this too much but it does concern me since my father died at 80 with problems with this as a child. .I have known many people and its the truth so help me that died with lung cancer and never smoked a day in their life.It makes me wonder if just breathing the air causes disease..

Well my anxiety comes and goes..Sometimes im scared to death about dying, other times I could give a crap.. So not sure that comes under anxiety or not. .But the smoking well Im sure it needs to go but at 55 do I really want to give it up? i have smoked for 41 years , don't you think its probably caused its damage? By the way thanks for replying you are very kind to comment and tell me what you thought. Michael

Alisonj
24-11-09, 02:29
I can see you not wanting to give up certain things but they are all addictions. They all are harmful in there own way so you have to deal with whatever consequences come with the use of them. My father had a bad heart and gave up meat and many other things and prolonged his life. When he got sicker and knew that there was nothing much else he could do, he ate what he wanted etc. To me that is a different situation, if you are dying then its not going to to anymore harm, but if your healthy why do things that intentionally can harm your body??

looking4answers
24-11-09, 02:34
Hmmmmm Something to think about Alison thank you .. I guess if I get terminal then I can smoke again...or drink a little coffee or soda.. I wished my mom had continued coffee.. I think giving it up was one of the reasons she died. She had been in fairly good health over the years and died the year she quit coffee.. Thanks sweetie for your input always great to have someone answer you .. :-) Thanks

gtrgrl3369
24-11-09, 14:13
hello Looking, heres my take on all this..my uncle never smoked, drank or ate fatty foods, he rode bikes with Lance Armstrong and guess what? He found out he had cancer and died within 6 months. I personally believe its al in a persond disposition. I smoke, drink soda and really do eat fatty foods. I love my coffee, but I am a good weight walk everyday and in good health. I say that we should live how we want to with no regrets. I lived long enough with anxiety and panic and now that I am better, I am going to do as I please and have fun. Life is too short to always be worried about how we "should" live our lives instead of just living them. I say go with what makes you happy...Take care and brew that pot of coffee

mandyclare
24-11-09, 14:21
Caffeine should be avoided at all costs if you have anxiety issues. I dont touch it now drink caffeine free coffee and cola.

Great idea to give up these things.. you will feel loads better for it

Good luck
Mand x

looking4answers
24-11-09, 21:00
hmmm . well . .I have cut down my coffee intake. The soda is mostly caffine free which both of these items I don't usually drink enough to make a difference..I do smoke and suppose its going to be the death of me.. But Like gtrgrrl says you have to stop worrying at some point and live..I guess I have had my 55 years pretty healthy so I should stop worrying and start living.. But thanks to all that replied your comments and suggestions make me feel better..

xBettyBoopx
25-11-09, 03:10
Hi Michael

I might regret saying this but if you are going to be miserable and only exist instead of living if you give up ciggies, coffee etc, then carry on doing whatcha doing!!!

What's the point in living until you're 90+ if you're miserable. The only point about that statement is - that you don't know if you will be miserable, you just think you would be, right?

Els
xxx

looking4answers
25-11-09, 03:30
Hi Els,

No worries sweetie and you have a point.. I guess the best thing to do is to just keep doing the things I do and forget it.. My father in law is 82 and goes to the doctor they tell him he has high blood pressure ,they give him a prescription and he throws it away on the way home and announces the doctors will kill you .. Lol

But thanks for your comments..You know they are always welcome. Hope things are going well with you .. You are up pretty late.. take care and hope you are feeling well