Please help.

Okay, I am a college student who recently made a big mistake. I went with my friends to a hookah bar, a place where you can smoke tobacco out of a waterpipe. This is a fairly new way of smoking tobacco, and research is still out on the effects that it can have. Before that one time, I had never smoked anything. Since then (3 months ago), I have been anxious/depressed/panicky and cannot stop worrying. I constantly beat myself up about it, and it has taken over my life. I just can't live with the fact that I put my health at risk, I want to live and be with my family as long as possible. I live in constant fear that I am going to get lung cancer, and nothing helps. I really don't know what to do. I cry, I can't focus, I always worry.  I cannot keep living like this. Help! Any advice I can get?

[proudmom87]

Don't worry.. I don't think smoking once well harm you and any way. I started smoking six month after I had my first son cause of stress etc.. I wish i never started. Now its a bad habit to stop. I wish you luck, get better. Don't worry to much about smoking once... take care

[azalea82]

It sounds like this is quite distressing for you.  Your university likely has a student counseling center.  Perhaps you could call and make an appointment to discuss your concerns.

[birdie0907]

I read that most people spend 2 hours a day regretting some past event. That seemed perfectly logical to me, since I was in that class. For one thing, I felt that I was not perfect enough, so did not love myself. My imperfection was due to a past mistake, so I relived it daily.
If you don't love yourself you can't love anyone else, hard as that is for Westerners to understand. So many of us find it easier to try to love someone else which always fails if we don't have love for ourself, all the while being burdened with ourselves as an unwanted overcoat.

Rather than live / love I regretted incessantly. What is the benefit of that?

Then I mentioned the regret report to my friend. She cut me off before I finished discussing it and said that was a silly attitude toward life and said she didn't spend any time regretting.
She was right. You can't bring back the past so why think about it? From then on I threw that report out of my mind and adopted her approach.
You have your whole life in front of you, as long as it does you the favor of lasting. One smoking experience will not harm you, otherwise the streets would be filled with corpses each day, since most people have tried it. You are free to live every moment since you were smart enough to stop smoking before it hooked you, so why throw any moments of your life away in regret?

[therese83]

Dont worry

I lived in Kuwait and everyone smoked the hooka! They have hooka bars, I smoked it a few times,  you couldnt get cancer from smoking once.  I heard it is safer than regular cigarettes because there are less added toxins.  Relax about that.

smile!

[gwmclean]

Not to sound like a pro-smoking advocate, but there has never been any research that smoking causes cancers.  Rather it accelerates the mutation of the cels into cancerous cels.  Most of these studies are done over long periods of time.  I agree with the above posters that the chances of you get lung cancer from this one time are very remote.

[ILADVOCATE]

Well there are kinds of long terms effects of smoking not just cancer. But note I said long term. One time will not do that. I don't know if hookah pipes are safer. Perhaps. Clearly nicotine overall is not healthy in any form. But one time usage will not create this. Interestingly enough they are now developing antipsychotic agents that target the same receptors that nicotine does without harm because they found that it mitigated some of the symptoms of schizophrenia and that's why some people with schizophrenia or other psychiatric disabilities are chain smokers. Hopefully that will enable some people to stop smoking and also work as another class of medication in study.

[birdie0907]

Actually, 1 time usage can give you cancer, but the odds are like a zillion to 1 for each smoke. Each smoke that hits your lungs has a 30 year lifetime that must pass before you are safe from it, but the odds of one being cancerous are almost zero.

Smoke damage can be latent in your system for up to 30 years, which is why smokers have a false sense of security. Consider how much second hand smoke you ingest just trying to walk past street smokers, and a night with the hooka is negligible.

Smokers all think they will quit before the buildup gets to the cancerous level, but it doesn't work that way.

[espadrille58]

Willa,

Problems lie in substance abuse. To have tried something, and to have decided against allowing it to be a part of your liefstyle: that is normal, even healthy to be open to new experiences - so long as you are careful to be moderate, and certainly to only try things that are safe. Talk to your doctor about this; she can reassure you that a single experimentation is normal, and will not be likely to have adverse health impact in the long run.

That said, the bigger concern is how much you have allowed this to distress you. I understand how sometimes a mental thought process can become cyclical, but it doesn't have to. If/when you talk to your doctor about smoking, talk to them about how you've felt; this could be related to other issues, like depression.

That you tried smoking is normal; that you decided against it is commendable. Don't worry.

[John_jb1]

Hello,

I myself do enjoy the occasional hooka. Believe me, it's not as bad as you think. Smoking it just once will not effect you. I can PROMISE you that, and hold my life on it. It's not as bad as smoking regular tobacco. And most of the time it's not even tobacco you smoke, but shisha - it's basically some leaves with flavourings mushed into it.

You will be fine, if you're still un-easy, get a check up, that can help clear your mind.

- John -