Hi all,
I've smoked for the past 45 yrs...amazing that i'm still here to write about it! Several months ago developed laryngitis...was misdiagnosed with something not very serious...put on 2 courses of antibiotics, but voice issues remained. Went to new ENT for sinus issues 2 months later who discovered a "lesion" on vocal cord. Biopsy 3 days later revealed dysplasia of this lesion. As I understand it, this is a pre-cancerous condition which the dr will monitor very closely. Needless to say, the dr gave me the "stop smoking!" order. Amazingly, during those two months...I felt as though something was wrong...and i doubled up on smoking! I felt so stressed and it was obvious smoking more was not helping, but i couldn't seem to help myself. I was making myself miserable
As of today, I have not smoked for 14 days, but have been using patches, so i suppose i can't consider myself "nicotine free". I want to stop using them...SOON! Yes..I miss the cigarettes, but I still have my determination to quit forever and it is slightly easier than I thought it would be.
I have some questions...if anyone can help me. Can the nicotine that i'm getting from the patches do anything to the mucous membranes in my body by going through the bloodstream? Also, I wonder if a dysplastic lesion can be reversed, or, stopped from progressing, if no longer smoke?
Thanks for any help.