Smoking cessation can damage your health

A study reported in 2007 that found that abrupt smoking cessation can kill is worth repeating here in the interests of balance. Usually the message about quitting is that you can't lose, but nothing is ever simple.

Dominic Lawson's story in the previous post of a middle-aged man suffering a fatal stroke during his time in hospital after being forced to leave all his tobacco at the door provides a case in point. On one hand he is a 'typical' case of a smoker who dies prematurely following a stroke. On the other he is a heavy smoker who is going through the trauma of a small operation, who has been suddenly and unwillingly deprived of tobacco. Presenting smokers with the trauma of forced withdrawal when they are already facing hospitalisation and possible surgery is barbarism in my book, even without the clear possibility of an adverse health outcome or death.

So far I haven't found many further references to this, but here is one.

H/tip Kin_Free.