I need serious help.

three years ago I got told I had a heart murmur and was told that I should give up smoking, they said that even though it wasn’t the cause my smoking wasn’t going to help, so I did a little research, found out what caused fatty blockages and nasty shit like that and what spices were good to help combat it all, decided to go vegan instead and cut back on my smoking, I smoke half as much as a used to (a pack of 20 lasts me a week now) and I feel grate because im cutting out most of the shit that comes from eating meat and dairy, it sounds like a drastic way to go about things but it works, and it also ment that I didn’t have to give up smoking which I really enjoy

Ok, instead of being an asshole like some people on this thread, I'm going to tell you what I know, being that I'm an ex-smoker with the same heart abnormality as you:

If you quit, DON'T START AGAIN.
Stopping and starting really strains your heart. By this I mean that the heart won't know what the fuck you're trying to do and will overcompensate- which isn't good at all.

As others have said, exercise. Unfortunately tho, we have to kind of take it easy, as anything vigorous can cause the skipped heart-beating to get worse, but at least it will get your blood flowing and get endorphins working. Plus, I've never felt like smoking after I had worked up a sweat.. it just doesn't fit.

Another thing that will help is avoiding as many associations with cigarettes as possible. For example, I'd always have a cigarette or two with my morning coffee, so for 6 months I drank tea instead.

With the money you save on cigarettes, you could try any number of nutritional suppliments made for smokers/ex-smokers. These generally consist of B1, B2, and vitamin C.

If you really start to break down and need something to smoke, I suggest you DON'T smoke weed. At least for me, that only made me want cigarettes more. What worked for me was buying a corncob pipe, and some mullein leaf. Mullein leaf smoke isn't (terribly) harmful and will really help get the mucus out of your lungs... sometimes uncomfortably so.

Good luck. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about it in my journal.

[Edited on Jan 03, 2005 by xer0yne]