adding shame to public coughing...

[etezete]

Hi guys,

first I wanted to post this on the coronavirus thread, but then I thought, na, the thread is already that big and my thought might only be a minor one, but nevertheless, it works around in my mind:

Did you also see strange reactions to people coughing in public, or is it just me? In the last week I witnessed several incidents when people coughed. In the tram yesterday, for example, a girl coughed, briefly and not even loudly, and two other peeps got up and seated a little more distanced to her.

I myself am a smoker with the typical smokers cough in the mornings. I got looks, several times, when I coughed (of course into my ellbow) publicly. It is a strange feeling after a while. Shame on me, today I got up much earlier than usual, for my smokers cough being over when I leave the house.

We own a shop, are allowed open, and my husband is really concerned that customers would stay away when one of us has to cough at work. It is insane. Even if we ourselves are of totally other opinion concerning this corona madness, we somehow have to comply to that madness.

Several weeks ago I started taking Sodium Bicarbonate, my cough got much better, but is still there. What I want to say is: I feel somehow under pressure to get a grip on that cough because of this madness. And that feels very strange. And I am certainly not the only one, so I wonder whether other people feel the same pressure now.

 

[Ansuz]

Now that you mention it, and I had not really consciously noticed it until I read this, but yes. Except with a twist. Since I'm no longer one with "the cough" because I quit smoking twelve years ago specifically because of the cough I admit I'm probably casting "the look" at someone coughing in public. Although I do remember coughing and wheezing from smoking cigarettes for 30 years myself ) I admit it definitely draws my interest and direct attention now. What a wild connection...sorry if I offended at the store....

 

[Ysus]

Yes, I do feel strange, too. I don't have a cough but often use a handkerchief (and an old fashioned fabric one for that matter) because when it's a little cold out there I need to have one at hand. At the supermarket I now find myself trying not use it but then the sniffling starts. I do not look around me to check if people react - no need to feel even more awkward. Normally I use quite a bit of humour but that, too, has been failing me lately (people are so freaked that I am much more careful now). Sigh.

 

[Agron]

Hi guys,

first I wanted to post this on the coronavirus thread, but then I thought, na, the thread is already that big and my thought might only be a minor one, but nevertheless, it works around in my mind:

Did you also see strange reactions to people coughing in public, or is it just me? In the last week I witnessed several incidents when people coughed. In the tram yesterday, for example, a girl coughed, briefly and not even loudly, and two other peeps got up and seated a little more distanced to her.

I myself am a smoker with the typical smokers cough in the mornings. I got looks, several times, when I coughed (of course into my ellbow) publicly. It is a strange feeling after a while. Shame on me, today I got up much earlier than usual, for my smokers cough being over when I leave the house.

We own a shop, are allowed open, and my husband is really concerned that customers would stay away when one of us has to cough at work. It is insane. Even if we ourselves are of totally other opinion concerning this corona madness, we somehow have to comply to that madness.

Several weeks ago I started taking Sodium Bicarbonate, my cough got much better, but is still there. What I want to say is: I feel somehow under pressure to get a grip on that cough because of this madness. And that feels very strange. And I am certainly not the only one, so I wonder whether other people feel the same pressure now.

Id look at it like this:
Now is a good time to get that cough in check. Look at it as a glass half full. Im a heavy smoker btw. and Im not preaching...

Its like all these families that are forced to be more together have a chance to work out their issues and become stronger family units or start taking even more pills and booze and in the worst cases porn... Did you hear that pornhub is making its services free during this "crisis"? Thats strange! Usually those beautifull people cant see past their dollar bills and you would expect that now they would raise the prices of their wares?

 

[anka]

Let me throw in my two cents about this:

I myself am a smoker with the typical smokers cough in the mornings.

I can't help but think that the typical smokers cough is only typical for smokers doing something wrong when it comes to their love for tobacco. If I presume that it really is no sign of illness because you say that the morning cough is over after sometime then you should investigate what the cause might be. I am sorry to hear that you experience that nonsense public shame but take it as an opportunity which you will turn into making your joy of smoking even bigger.

When your body is in order and you smoke responsibly, you should experience no typical smokers cough.

You are perhaps overdoing it. Smoking when walking fast? Smoking too much, i.e. during work without actually enjoying it?
And how is your fitness? Do you experience lung problems during physically demanding activities? How about during EE breathing exercise? (3-stage breathing & warrior's breath in particular)

Try to write down list of activities during day, how much you smoke etc. It might also be the strength of your favorite tobacco - maybe you need a milder one. But if you like smoking you need to find your way of doing it right. Then you will wake up perfectly fine and your life will be easier yet another bit. If you smoke excessively, cutting down on usage will prove beneficial financially too (tobacco is a precious commodity, not cheap these days, not to mention time of crisis).

Can you give us some details?

 

[etezete]

Let me throw in my two cents about this:


I can't help but think that the typical smokers cough is only typical for smokers doing something wrong when it comes to their love for tobacco. If I presume that it really is no sign of illness because you say that the morning cough is over after sometime then you should investigate what the cause might be. I am sorry to hear that you experience that nonsense public shame but take it as an opportunity which you will turn into making your joy of smoking even bigger.

When your body is in order and you smoke responsibly, you should experience no typical smokers cough.

You are perhaps overdoing it. Smoking when walking fast? Smoking too much, i.e. during work without actually enjoying it?
And how is your fitness? Do you experience lung problems during physically demanding activities? How about during EE breathing exercise? (3-stage breathing & warrior's breath in particular)

Try to write down list of activities during day, how much you smoke etc. It might also be the strength of your favorite tobacco - maybe you need a milder one. But if you like smoking you need to find your way of doing it right. Then you will wake up perfectly fine and your life will be easier yet another bit. If you smoke excessively, cutting down on usage will prove beneficial financially too (tobacco is a precious commodity, not cheap these days, not to mention time of crisis).

Can you give us some details?

I have this cough for a long time now, I have to admit. It caused me reducing and reducing the amount I smoke. Several years ago I went to my GP and asked about it. He told me that I should be happy I can cough, because that is the normal reaction of the lung to cough out particles. Even then I doubted whether this could be the full truth, but somehow was ok with it. So the cough became normal.

Now I do not smoke at all during daytime, only in the evenings. It is about 6 to 8 cigarettes per evening. The cough in the morning is over in about an hour - which does not mean i cough one hour permanentely though. it is on and off. I tried a lot, but best results showed when starting with SB. It is four or five weeks now that I take it and almost immediately the cough became better and better. But is still there.

I smoke a light tobacco (pepe easy green), roll the cigs myself.

 

[Agron]

I have this cough for a long time now, I have to admit. It caused me reducing and reducing the amount I smoke. Several years ago I went to my GP and asked about it. He told me that I should be happy I can cough, because that is the normal reaction of the lung to cough out particles. Even then I doubted whether this could be the full truth, but somehow was ok with it. So the cough became normal.

Now I do not smoke at all during daytime, only in the evenings. It is about 6 to 8 cigarettes per evening. The cough in the morning is over in about an hour - which does not mean i cough one hour permanentely though. it is on and off. I tried a lot, but best results showed when starting with SB. It is four or five weeks now that I take it and almost immediately the cough became better and better. But is still there.

I smoke a light tobacco (pepe easy green), roll the cigs myself.

The only tobacco I found that Im not coughing from and is smelling like real pure tobacco, although a bit stronger, is lucky strike medium strenghth (the only one of three thats available here in CT).. ALL other are seem like of lesser quality and are either perfumed or you can detect some additive on that tobaccoo. And its way harder to find local "illegal" grown which were a great source of cheap smoke in the past...
Maybe your brand is a problem. I say that because the amount youre smoking shouldnt be a problem. Maybe you have bad air quality where you live?

 

[etezete]

yes, thank you Agron, maybe you are right. I tried a lot of light tobaccos, even lighter ones, and didn't like many. I even tried to grow my own "farmers" tobacco, the one you don't have to ferment. With no success because snails loved it so much that the small baby plants were gone after one night. I also think that it cannot be the amount, and the tobacco is additives free.

 

[anka]

In the area where you are you should be able to get Manitou tobacco. You can give it a try. Basically everyone I gave it to was really happy with it (they just have two kinds, orange & green, one is their blend, the other pure Virginia, both organic). I suppose you tried American Spirit which is the most available brand in Germany. The amount you smoke is perfectly fine so I am curious what it could be. As Agron mentioned, how about the air quality? Maybe would you have any mould / high humidity in the house? Do you ventilate before going to bed? Is you husband smoking much more in the evening? What is SB by the way?

 

[etezete]

In the area where you are you should be able to get Manitou tobacco. You can give it a try. Basically everyone I gave it to was really happy with it (they just have two kinds, orange & green, one is their blend, the other pure Virginia, both organic). I suppose you tried American Spirit which is the most available brand in Germany. The amount you smoke is perfectly fine so I am curious what it could be. As Agron mentioned, how about the air quality? Maybe would you have any mould / high humidity in the house? Do you ventilate before going to bed? Is you husband smoking much more in the evening? What is SB by the way?

right, air quality, I forgot. Well, this might be a point because the air in my hometown is said to be the third worst in Bayaria (which i find a little hard to believe, but I still believe it is not the best at all). And I live right in the city center. On the other hand I have a small garden, with high walls around it and two huge trees, and trees filter a lot of particles. High humidity no, more the contrary, besides the bathroom. It is the on the coolest and wettest side of the house and there are several spots where black points are showing frequently. I treat them with spiritus, which dries it out and you can rub the dots away.

My husband smokes even less than me, and we do not smoke in the bedroom and are fresh air fanatics, so to say. I am a smoker, yes, but I hate cold smoke smell in the rooms - especially because I do not smoke daytime, so i open the windows regularly. Baut then again, with lousy air quality (so they say) outside, this might be not the best. The air does not smell bad though, no metallic or "dirty" smell.

SB = Sodium Bicarbonate, or in Germany "Kaiser Natron". It is something one should have around the house ALWAYS.

 

[anka]

Ok, thanks for the explanation! :) I sure have and use SB too. And when you say it helped a lot with caugh, I am thinking... SB improves oxygen transport by widening arteries thus allowing oxygen enter cells easier and lowering their pH. There could be some connection between the air and cough in your case. Perhaps air filtering machine could help another bit. And how about air condition in your work place? Some people really get serious chronic problems from that.

Edit: You should have one ciggie in the morning and one on your lunch break

 

[Alejo]

I have noticed the same reaction, on other individuals and on myself as well. Which should be rather interesting to observe at a macro level.

coughing is such a normal thing for humans to do, it’s necessary and it’s sometimes vital. And also, it’s sometimes unconscious, you just cough and move on. Now that they have brought all this attention on to it, people are slowly self censoring their coughing. Which should be rather interesting to observe as time goes by, you can’t spend that much time completely stressed about suppressing such a normal function and not pay the price.

And I’ve caught myself doing just this, when I went shopping earlier and I noticed that everyone was wearing masks and gloves, I kind of told myself “yeah, I better not cough in front of these people”.

And I think that’s an interesting place to observe, because at the level of facts, you know that the risk to your wellbeing isn’t really in the form of a virus, so you’re not behaving to adjust for it, but you’re aware of the fact that the risk comes from everyone else around you thinking that the risk of the virus is real, so you adjust to them as they would represent a far larger risk to your life than anything else.

So in that sense, knowing better protects you by being aware of what people in the current state of hysteria are capable of and so you adjust, because acting in a way that simply disregards that knowledge, just because you know you hold the truth, might be a bad idea. Brave perhaps, but not a very good idea.

 

[etezete]

I have noticed the same reaction, on other individuals and on myself as well. Which should be rather interesting to observe at a macro level.

coughing is such a normal thing for humans to do, it’s necessary and it’s sometimes vital. And also, it’s sometimes unconscious, you just cough and move on. Now that they have brought all this attention on to it, people are slowly self censoring their coughing. Which should be rather interesting to observe as time goes by, you can’t spend that much time completely stressed about suppressing such a normal function and not pay the price.

And I’ve caught myself doing just this, when I went shopping earlier and I noticed that everyone was wearing masks and gloves, I kind of told myself “yeah, I better not cough in front of these people”.

And I think that’s an interesting place to observe, because at the level of facts, you know that the risk to your wellbeing isn’t really in the form of a virus, so you’re not behaving to adjust for it, but you’re aware of the fact that the risk comes from everyone else around you thinking that the risk of the virus is real, so you adjust to them as they would represent a far larger risk to your life than anything else.

So in that sense, knowing better protects you by being aware of what people in the current state of hysteria are capable of and so you adjust, because acting in a way that simply disregards that knowledge, just because you know you hold the truth, might be a bad idea. Brave perhaps, but not a very good idea.

yes! this is an important point. All be careful! Don't tell people you are storing food, don't tell that you are prepared. The C's told us clearly in the last session to convey information in a careful way, so let's do it!

 

[youlik]

То, что здесь описано и моя проблема тоже. Стаж курения у меня вполне почтенный, более 30 лет и, соответственно, такое явление как "кашель курильщика" мне хорошо знакомо. Надо сказать, что совсем свободно, в этом смысле, я себя не ощущал никогда. Всегда присутствовало осознание, что окружающим людям, например в общественном транспорте, неприятны подобные проявления. Теперь же, в связи с известными событиями, вся эта проблема стала более отчетлива. Надо сказать, что ничего из ряда вон выходящего я лично не пережил, отчасти из-за того что передвигаюсь в основном на автомобиле, реже на общественном транспорте. Да и кашель, собственно становится трудно контролируемым, как правило к концу и после целого рабочего дня, на что оказывает влияние общая усталость и экология нашего уличного пространства.

Translation
What is described here and my problem too. My Smoking experience is quite respectable, more than 30 years, and, accordingly, such a phenomenon as "smoker's cough" is familiar to me. I must say that I have never felt completely free in this sense. There has always been an awareness that people around us, such as on public transport, are not comfortable with such manifestations. Now, in connection with known events, the whole problem has become more distinct. I must say that I personally have not experienced anything out of the ordinary, partly due to the fact that I move mainly by car, less often by public transport. And the cough, in fact, becomes difficult to control, usually towards the end and after a whole working day, which is influenced by General fatigue and the ecology of our street space.

 

[Agron]

@etezete and @youlik
I forgot to mention before, and you could maybe use this to get rid of the cough. Lungs are re-generating every 45 minutes. So a good tactic is to have just one cigarette and then do a pause of 50 minutes. In that way you can raise the capacity of your lungs too.