Author: Dr. David Busby

Smoking is one of the most preventable burdens worldwide in terms of health and finances. Many smokers suffer from various ailments brought on by chemicals in the smoke. In addition to the health expenses they would incur from cigarette smoking, smokers will also have to deal with the increasing taxes on cigarettes – the Australian government’s mandate that strives to push out tobacco from anyone’s monthly budget. Facing this issue, many Australian smokers are moving on to nicotine vaping products (NVPs) from their local pharmacy. Given a motivated smoker only has to take 1 to 3 puffs of their NVP…

Most people smoke because they believe it relaxes them or gives them great relief from the stresses of life – something that’s quite untrue. But, the consequences of smoking are very real, severe, and lethal. You only need to look at the packaging warning labels on cigarette packs to know how tobacco smoke affects your lungs, stomach, skin, heart, and other organs. It isn’t a pretty sight at all. As you may well guess, smoking over the years and decades will increase the risk of developing various lethal diseases and pervasive disorders. In this post, let’s take a look at…

You’ve done it. You’ve embarked on a journey towards wellness by stopping smoking. Congratulations! While many quit-smoking aids can make the journey easier, such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products and pharmacy-sold nicotine vaping products (NVPs), it’s important to remember your body is still adjusting to the absence of nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical that makes you want to light a stick. Depending on how long you’ve been smoking, you might feel mild to severe withdrawal symptoms.  Sometimes, these symptoms can manifest as physical pain – your muscles and joints feel weak and slightly painful when you move. This…

Smoking is highly addictive because of nicotine – although this is a relatively harmless chemical, it keeps tempting you to light another stick and inhale all the other bad chemicals.Each cigarette contains thousands of chemicals that are dangerous to your lungs, stomach, blood, and other organs in various ways. Smoking is also a major cause of cancer – each stick contains 69 chemicals known to be carcinogenic to humans.Despite knowing this, many smokers consume tobacco products – after all, nicotine is highly addictive and hard to detach from. But, knowing the dangers of smoking has indeed helped many motivate smokers…

Unknown to many, smoking can indeed impair a smoker’s vision, and it’s not just because the smoke gets in your eyes (though that does negatively affect your eyes too). Cigarette smoke contains 7,000 chemicals, with over 69 of these known to be carcinogenic. Each time a smoker inhales this smoke, they not only risk damage to their eyes, but also their stomach, lungs, blood health, and various other organs and systems. The chemicals you inhale can accelerate the growth of cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and many other conditions that can make things go beyond blurry and uncomfortable. Let’s take…

Thinking about your iron levels lately? Like most people, we don’t always remember to stop and think about things like this. But, if you’ve been a smoker for quite some time, you should definitely be asking yourself, “Does smoking affect my iron levels?” Smokers are at the highest risk of suffering iron deficiency-related conditions due to smoking, along with a host of other problems it can cause in their heart, lungs, and stomach, along with their sexual needs and ability to conceive. In this post, we’ll learn more about how smoking affects your iron levels and what you can do…

The biggest issue of illegal nicotine vaping products (NVPs), aside from having unidentified chemicals and compounds, is exposing teens, children, and non-smokers to nicotine. A survey by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation found that 1 in 5 young adults between the age of 18 and 24 have tried vapes, with around 32% of 12 to 17 year olds using vapes regularly. A NSW survey in 2021 revealed that more than half of teens who use single-use, disposable vapes had never smoked a cigarette before. There are also reports that children as young as 5 years old are exposed to these…

When you hear ‘blackmarket,’ something sinister and dangerous comes to mind. Typically, blackmarkets are associated with the sale of illegal drugs, alcohol, weapons, contraband, and other products deemed dangerous and falling outside of any regulation. This concept of a blackmarket also applies to illegal nicotine vaping products (NVPs). Criminal parties importing and distributing these products in the country have flooded the local market with vapes of very questionable quality and safety. Illicit NVPs (such as those in convenience stores and tobacconists) are imported under the radar, just like illicit tobacco and drugs, and are made as cheaply as possible for…

The dangers of smoking couldn’t be any clearer. The 7,000 chemicals and 69 carcinogens contained in cigarette smoke will shorten your life by days with every single pack. Cigarettes also contain nicotine – the highly addictive chemical that keeps smokers coming back and causing severe withdrawals during quitting attempts. Due to its historical and near-exclusive connection to smoking, many people believe nicotine to be highly dangerous, often mistaking it as a cancer-causing chemical or something that can cause other lethal effects to the body. The truth is, nicotine isn’t responsible for the harmful effects of smoking, nor does it cause…

Nicotine gives you a small boost of energy, which can mask the signs you need to eat. But, is the addiction to nicotine worth it? Once you start, tobacco and nicotine addiction becomes very hard to shake off, even when you know you’re inhaling 7,000 chemicals (69 being carcinogenic) with every puff of a cigarette. While it’s reported that vaping is relatively safer compared to smoking tobacco, is it really practical to use vapes for weight loss? In today’s post, we’ll dig deeper into it. Appetite Suppression and Nicotine Cigarettes and vapes have one thing in common – they both…