Participants: James Marcum & Charles Mills
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP00020A
|
00:17 Today's program is aimed directly at smokers.
00:19 We love you, God loves you... 00:22 The only person not loving you is YOU - Stay tuned.. 00:27 I'm Dr. James Marcum... 00:30 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:34 Do you want solutions to your health care problems? 00:37 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:40 Well, you're about to be given the "Ultimate Prescription" 00:45 What's killing us? 00:46 That's the question we're answering 00:48 on this series of programs 00:49 focusing on the major causes of death on this planet. 00:53 Any paramedic will tell you that 00:55 there are 2 things that need immediate attention 00:57 after an accident... 00:58 Is the person breathing? 01:00 Is the person bleeding? 01:02 If they can open an airway and stop or slow any bleeding, 01:05 there's a good chance that the injured individual 01:07 will survive the trip to the hospital. 01:09 Well I'm pretty confident that anyone watching this program 01:12 isn't bleeding but are you BREATHING? 01:15 I mean, REALLY BREATHING... 01:17 Dr. Marcum, tell us about 01:19 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease... 01:22 Yeah Charles, why we're talking about that is because 01:25 that's one of the leading causes of death, 01:28 not only in the United States, but in the entire world. 01:31 "Chronic" - something that's been going on 01:33 for a long period of time. 01:35 "Obstructive" - blocking something. 01:37 Usually an airway. 01:39 "Pulmonary" - relating to the lungs. 01:42 So anything that blocks the airways in the lung 01:45 is termed "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" 01:48 And, whenever we talk about what we call "COPD" 01:52 frequently with that comes the word that causes 01:56 much of the COPD we see and that's cigarette smoking... 02:00 And for a while, we talked a lot... 02:03 I can remember 10 years ago, we used to talk a lot about 02:05 cigarette smoking. 02:06 There used to be programs, 02:08 you know, 5-day programs everywhere! 02:10 Smoking Sam! Yes, it's Smoking Sam! 02:12 The programs used to be everywhere, 02:13 and then all of a sudden, it dropped off a little bit, 02:16 but we still see, in our death rates, 02:19 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 02:20 still being up there... 02:22 And that's because the generations that smoke 02:24 are getting older now; 02:25 they're having more chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 02:28 which is where the air cannot move in and out well; 02:30 the alveoli are damaged; 02:32 they get real short of breath; 02:34 their cilia doesn't pull mucus out of their body 02:38 because they are paralyzed, 02:39 so they are more prone to having infections. 02:42 They are also more prone to having cancer... 02:45 But we use do hear a LOT about that, 02:46 but we're not hearing as much, but we NEED to... 02:49 because a recent article last week said, 02:51 "Our teenagers are still smoking cigarettes. " 02:54 It's still something that's very popular. 02:57 And years ago, when cigarettes first started, 02:59 that was the cool thing to do! 03:01 And then people have been wrapping tobacco 03:03 for years and years and years... 03:05 And yet the substances in those cigarettes 03:07 damage our upper airways. 03:10 It damages our cilia; it damages our taste bud, 03:13 it damages our alveoli. 03:15 The chemicals in cigarettes, nicotine, also damages 03:19 our blood vessels; 03:21 also makes us more prone to heart attacks; 03:23 more prone to high blood pressure; 03:25 more prone to cancer and more prone to death 03:28 because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 03:30 ...And that's one of the worse deaths you can imagine, Charles! 03:33 I have some people that they just CANNOT quit smoking. 03:36 I remember this little old lady... 03:38 She looked like she was 80, but she was really 55. 03:42 Because smoking causes you to be wrinkled, 03:44 makes you look a lot older. 03:45 And she couldn't quit smoking. 03:47 Well what happened is her lungs became damaged. 03:49 The alveoli got bigger and bigger. 03:51 She was more prone to infection. 03:52 She was short of breath ALL the time, 03:54 yet she continued to have those cigarettes. 03:56 Well, I remember putting her on a ventilator AGAIN. 03:59 Finally got off the ventilator and we had to trach her 04:02 so she could get air in and after that 04:04 she would smoke cigarettes through her tracheostomy. OH MY! 04:08 That's how powerful this habit is. 04:10 And what we want to know is... 04:12 we want to talk a little bit about this disease, 04:14 and also let people know there is hope, there is help. 04:17 We don't want this disease to take you away, 04:19 and if you might be especially a young person 04:21 that's thinking about smoking cigarettes, 04:24 we hope you never do that... 04:25 there is no real reason to smoke cigarettes. 04:27 I can't think of any good reason that you can't 04:29 substitute something else for it. 04:31 Yeah, in other words... There is no BENEFIT other than 04:33 you think you look cool. 04:35 It's almost a mental benefit. 04:37 Now people will smoke cigarettes, I understand, 04:39 to make them feel calmer... 04:41 How does it do that? 04:44 Well, you know, the cigarettes have hundreds and hundreds 04:48 of chemicals in the body... 04:50 You hear about tar and nicotine, 04:52 but when something is lighted, 04:55 and all these fluorocarbons get in us, 04:57 it makes a lot of other chemicals. 04:59 But yeah, some of these chemicals, they say... 05:01 make a person feel calmer, but you know what... 05:04 they might feel calmer in the brain, 05:06 but the rest of the blood vessels, the rest of the body 05:08 is anything BUT calm. 05:10 It's crying out... "Nicotine is constricting 05:12 my blood vessels - it's causing heart attacks" 05:15 And when they get older, the people can't breathe. 05:17 When you see someone that has smoked their whole lives, 05:19 and you say... "Would you do this again?" 05:23 They say... "No, if I could go back, I would have never 05:25 had that first cigarette behind the barn with my buddies 05:29 when I smoked several. " 05:31 Now, our society all around the world, we're doing better. 05:34 There are areas where you can't smoke. 05:36 At first, they used to be able to smoke in the hospitals! 05:39 Can you believe that? Yes 05:40 And people, for a while, could smoke in restaurants, 05:43 and now that's not the case. 05:46 But we still see a lot of people smoking cigarettes, 05:48 and did you know, Charles, if you live with a smoker, 05:51 you get secondhand smoke. 05:53 And if I smoke 2 packs-a-day and live with you, 05:56 you're going to get a pack a day! 05:57 And that's still damaging your body in many, many ways. 06:01 So sooner or later, all these chemicals damages the lungs, 06:05 and unfortunately, we have some inhalers that help with that. 06:09 We have oxygen... but the real solution to 06:11 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is to get a person 06:15 to quit smoking the cigarettes. 06:17 Now let me bring up a common complaint of people who 06:21 are trying to stop smoking. 06:23 They say, "If I stop smoking my cigarette, 06:25 I'm going to gain weight; I'm going to become fat" 06:28 "Cigarettes are keeping me slender" 06:30 Is this TRUE? 06:31 Well, you know, when they're smoking, 06:33 they're usually not eating. All right 06:36 Well they can't TASTE their food! 06:38 It damages their taste bud - it doesn't taste as good. 06:40 And nicotine is a STIMULANT! 06:43 So it does speed up the body. 06:45 So, yes, that is because most people will gain weight 06:48 if they eat more. 06:50 And, you know, through the years... 06:51 But they recognize food... this tastes pretty good, 06:54 I want to eat more... Okay, I can see where that would happen. 06:55 But you know what, Charles, I think, in the smokers, 06:59 they know it's not good for them. 07:00 They know that this is not the best thing to do... 07:04 and they know it and what we need to do find new ways 07:07 to help them do better. 07:09 And we can tell, by looking at the young people smoking, 07:12 that we haven't got through to everybody 07:13 because people are still smoking now. 07:15 Now sometimes, the government can tax more cigarettes, 07:19 raise the price of it and that helps some... 07:21 Makes it more expensive. 07:23 We've had different drugs through the years, 07:25 but it never made sense to me where you trade one drug 07:28 and its side effects for another one. 07:30 One of the drugs they use causes seizures, 07:33 and one they use - depression. 07:34 Another thing that didn't make sense was the nicotine gum! 07:38 Instead of inhaling it, you're chewing it! 07:42 Then they had the patches... 07:44 And I had one fellow that came in... 07:45 He had a heart attack because of a spasm. 07:48 Nicotine causes spasms. 07:49 Well he wore the patch which he got some nicotine buzz on that, 07:54 but then he smoked too! 07:56 So I mean it was like taking a double whammy. 07:59 So you talk about medications that can kill you... 08:01 Well, you take a nicotine patch and you continue to smoke... 08:04 and you have vasospasms, it precipitated his heart attack 08:08 But it's a major issue in America; 08:10 it's damaging lungs; it's one of the leading 08:13 causes of lung cancer. 08:15 Cancer throughout the body is triggered by 08:17 these chemicals that we get. 08:19 It turns on these cancer genes in our body, 08:22 and the ways out there are not working, 08:24 so we want to talk a little bit today about ways that will work 08:29 and what I do with my smoker to help them quit smoking. 08:32 It almost sounds like we're not necessarily dealing with 08:36 a tobacco problem... we're dealing with a habit. 08:39 We're dealing with something that they are just hooked on 08:43 and they can't get off. 08:44 It's an addiction and it changes the chemistry of the brain. 08:47 The brain says, "I have to have this, if I don't have this" 08:50 ...They say it's the most addictive substance 08:52 that's known to man - is nicotine and cigarettes. 08:55 The devil does a pretty good job when he comes up with 08:58 ways of trapping us because when we smoke, 09:02 and when we affect our brain and our chemistry like that, 09:05 we really can't fully comprehend God's presence in our lives... 09:09 We really can't fully see His leading. 09:12 We don't have that emotional connection that's so important 09:15 that God wants to have with us. 09:17 So the devil has made this WEED that can come between us and God 09:23 and he doesn't care if we're sick or if we DIE. 09:25 He just wants to make sure that we are sick and die 09:27 without GOD in our lives. 09:29 Right, and that's excellent how our mind changes... Yes 09:34 And when the chemistry of our mind changes, 09:36 no matter what the addiction is, 09:37 whether it be alcohol, 09:39 whether it be addictions to cigarettes, 09:41 to drugs, painkillers; we see addictions to that. 09:44 We see addictions to things like cocaine, methamphetamines. 09:48 Some people are addicted to things that don't seem so bad 09:50 like food... television! 09:53 Anything that can addict us, can pull us away from that 09:55 relationship and that relationship is the true path 09:59 to getting someone to quit smoking cigarettes. 10:03 The people I've talked to on this topic of addiction, 10:06 they seem to be quite universal in saying... 10:08 "The way that you overcome an addiction is to transfer 10:12 your desires to something else" Right 10:15 If you have a cigarette addiction, 10:17 what are some of the transfers that we can make 10:19 that seem to work for your patients. 10:20 Well, when a patient comes in to me, 10:22 the first thing I do is I tell them... 10:24 "Listen, I love you, and because I love you, 10:27 I want to help you quit smoking. " 10:30 And for some people, it happens just like that! 10:32 For some people, most people, 10:34 it's more of a journey to quit smoking. 10:37 But I'd say, in my patients, there's about a 90% quit rate. 10:40 And it's nothing special; I've learned from some of the 10:44 programs I've worked with in the past.. 10:46 I come in and first I say, "I love you," 10:47 "I want you to quit smoking" 10:49 and I try to educate them about the cigarettes. 10:51 I say, "You know, the money you can save, you can take a trip... 10:54 A trip to Hawaii on the money you spend on 10:56 cigarettes every month! I tell them... 10:57 "Do you want to have another heart attack?" 10:59 "Do you want to put your relatives 11:00 through this; do you want to put your children?" 11:01 So after we're done educating, the first thing I say is... 11:03 "Listen, let's just start with one thing 11:05 to help you quit smoking. " 11:07 I'm going to pray for you for one month, 11:09 and we'll come back next month. 11:11 So we come back next month after I've prayed for them, 11:14 and the second thing I say is, 11:15 "Listen, I want you to enter into a relationship 11:17 with the One that can help us break not only this addiction 11:20 but any addiction and if you can do this, 11:22 there's nothing in your life you cannot overcome. 11:27 I let them know I'm praying for them-I'm really pulling for them 11:29 And they're not a BAD person because they smoke. 11:31 You're still loved by God. 11:33 You're still very important. 11:34 So the next step I do is having them 11:37 have that relationship. 11:38 And I say, "You stick to it" 11:40 And they have to have some accountability! 11:41 Right down a text every day that you read. 11:44 Go over something every single day. 11:46 A friend of mine wrote a book called... "BreathWish" 11:49 which helps people quit smoking 11:51 and gives them texts everywhere. 11:52 His name is "Craig Ammerall" 11:54 I give them that book. 11:55 So they do that for a month... and I don't tell them to quit 11:57 Some people, even after just doing that, 11:59 they've overcome their habit... Some people have not 12:02 Then the next thing I say is... 12:03 "Listen, let's cut down the amount of 12:06 cigarettes you're smoking" 12:07 and pick a quit date. " 12:08 "And when you quit on that day, have a substitute. " 12:12 Now they're already in a relationship... 12:14 They already have people praying for them. 12:15 And I say, "Replace a good habit with a bad habit. " 12:19 And then, if you start smoking again in 3-4 days, 12:22 figure out what was it that triggered it. 12:24 What was it... was it a friend that did it? 12:26 Were you bored... you needed something in your hand? 12:28 And substitute... every time you start smoking again 12:30 have a substitute. 12:32 Like if you need something in your hand, 12:33 put something in your hand to twirl. 12:34 If you need something in your mouth, chew a piece of gum. 12:37 If you need to do something else, go for a walk... 12:39 so your body automatically, whenever you have that... 12:41 In it's craving, you have something to add to it, 12:44 and drink lots of water. 12:45 And then if you fail, don't give up. 12:48 Turn to the Ultimate Physician and say... 12:50 "God, I didn't do it this time, help me again" 12:54 Now, when people change, 12:55 people can't change just because they want to do it. 12:58 Because when they do that, they're becoming selfish, 13:00 and the chemistry of selfishness is not good either. 13:03 So I'd say it really takes the power of the 13:05 Holy Spirit in a life to make a change for the right reason. 13:09 And when this happens and they 13:11 start realizing that people love them... 13:12 and it might be a journey... 13:14 They might stop smoking 6 or 7 times 13:15 before they are finally able to kick the habit. 13:18 When they do that, they find such joy and relief; 13:21 almost all the programs that are out there 13:24 have this sort of message, you know, 13:25 they point to a higher power. 13:27 They point to substituting a good habit for a bad habit; 13:30 they talk about education; 13:32 water to flush out the system... 13:34 And in doing this, not only do you help teach them 13:37 how to break this addiction, 13:38 but you help them to have other power in their life... 13:41 And they really get that power from the Holy Spirit 13:43 taking away that habit that they don't want to have... 13:46 And this will work for any habit that we have. 13:48 If we go to God and say, "God please help us" 13:50 Now the worst thing I can see is people that give up... 13:53 "Oh, I can't do it... I quit for 2 days, then I started again" 13:56 Well this is a journey... 13:57 Figure out - well what caused you to start the habit again. 14:00 And ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life even more 14:02 and give you more power, more help, more substitutions 14:05 ...figure out what works for you. 14:07 And what I've noticed... 14:08 that one plan does not fit all, Charles. 14:11 Yes and that's important for us to know... 14:13 If it doesn't work for you, 14:14 Don't give us, look for another plan. 14:16 I hear you saying... Right All right 14:17 We'll take a short break and when we come back 14:19 we'll answer questions on this topic from the 14:21 heartwiseministries. org website, 14:23 so stay right where you are. |
Revised 2014-12-17