The American Cancer Society says the younger you start smoking, the more addicted you become. Rodney Benjamin, Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine Physician at South Miami Hospital, believes younger people are more vulnerable, because they don´t have any sense of their mortality. He points out it is a scary age for dangerous behavior and…...

According to Dr. John Eustace, Medical Director of Care & Counseling at Baptist Health South Florida, people are now into the opiate era. Substances such as hallucinogens or cannabis have been around forever and they´re going to be around forever, since history began, he says. Alcohol and tobacco, too. The specialist affirms the important thing…...

Dr. Veronica Palmero-Gonzalez, Pulmonologist with South Miami Hospital, explains nicotine is highly addictive. "If patients are already smoking, they have a hard time quitting. There's also a lot of pressure and advertisement in society that make people start smoking, which is one of the goals that we try, as physicians, to prevent." Women's risk…...

The 5 A's of Smoking Cessation are asking, advising, assessing, assisting, and arranging. "Number one is asking the patient whether the patient smokes or it has smoked in the past and getting details will be important", explains Dr. Veronica Palmero-Gonzalez, Pulmonologist with South Miami Hospital. The following is advising the patient to quit smoking as…...

E-cigarettes could be seen as a step to start quitting smoking, but Michael Hernandez, Critical Care & Pulmonary Medicine Physician, at South Miami Hospital, says there are no conclusive studies that to reduce the use of conventional cigarettes might help the use of electronic ones. "In regards to cessation, it doesn't quite succeed patients who…...

The first myths about smoking is that nicotine replacement therapy does not work, but Dr. Veronica Palmero-Gonzalez, Pulmonologist with South Miami Hospital, says it works. “There’s plenty of research showing that when you add these methods to the plan when quitting, they increase their rate of successful and also decrease the chances of smoking again…...

A lot of people try to quit smoking several times, but eventually succeed. Michael Hernandez, Critical Care; Pulmonary Medicine Physician at South Miami Hospital, says quitting smoking is really though. "That's why I tell adolescents don't get started, because the earlier that you're addicted the harder it is to quit because your brain has not…...

Exposure to tobacco smoke, people with asthma who smoke, occupational exposure to dust and chemicals, exposure to fumes, age, and genetics are risk factors for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Dr. Keith Jamal Robinson, Pulmonologist with Baptist Health South Florida, says only 20% of smokers develop COPD. "But the folks who have a diagnosis, 80%…...