Ex Tobacco User Cancer Risk??

[GavonKH1993 0]

I'm 23 years old and have smoked cigars occassionally, smoked cigarettes occassionally (sometimes chain smoking them) and used snuff for a period of 5 years or so. Ive smoked the cigars and cigarettes for maybe 3 of those years. Lastly for maybe the last year or so I've done some mild to moderate drinking once or twice a week.

 

The major part of my tobacco usage was the snuff, with the worst of my habit being in 2014, when I was consuming up to half of a tin a day. Since 2014 i cut back to maybe 2 to 4 dips a day, some days i would not use at all.

 

About 10 days ago I quit cold turkey due to reading some rather frightening material about smokeless tobaccos effects. I'm now having some severe anxiety over what I've potentially done to myself and may even be dealing with some hypocondria type symptoms.

 

I've been to the doctor as of Wednesday with some neck pain, earache and a feeling of one side of my throat, like my tonsil area, feeling swollen when I swallow & told him for the first time about my tobacco use and he claims my mouth tissue looks very healthy. He looked into my throat and felt my neck and did not find anything suspicious but did not scope my throat. My throat isnt sore nor am i hoarse or anything like

I'm horrified of what could be as I cannot tell if my symptoms are real or imagined, I've been googling non stop about it and I'd like to ask anyone that could help me with this, what are the odds of cancer of the throat or someplace like that given my past usage tally??

[bin_tenn 1252]

You're twenty-three years old and you have very minimal tobacco use history, relative to those who are lifelong users before they develop cancer and other tobacco related illnesses. I personally think your chances are (extremely) slim to none. The number of LIFELONG tobacco users who develop tobacco related illnesses and diseases is already quite slim, so your five years is almost nothing.

Don't touch the stuff again and you'll most likely be fine - not just now, but later in life, too. Yes, there are horror stories about people using tobacco for 5-10 years and developing cancer at 30-35, but those stories are pushed around because of how rare they are. Those are not common occurrences whatsoever. I'd say they likely have strong family history of cancer, too, most likely.

You'll be fine. Kick the habit. I need to quit as well, but it's proven to be very difficult. -_-

[utrocket09 115]

To develop anything serious from snuff you would have to have been a lifelong user. Earache and he like could be a minor infection.

[Mark G 1187]

Well for starters, congrats on quitting the tobacco, you have instantly cut your chances of illness. Like Bin_tenn said, you're young and the chances of any long term damage are small. You have followed the thought pattern to anxiety which is 'fear/fearfull thought/reacting to fearfull thought/anxiety/fear.  Any aches and pains you have will be either entirely unrelated or caused by the anxiety over illness.  The brain/mind are incredibly powerful things and can mimic any condition you fear. You're off the stuff, take a positive from it, you're already repairing and tiny damages smoking and snuff caused.