Anyone else been lying to their doctors? Even by omission? For the last few years, I never admitted to my doctors that I had been smoking again. Whenever I had a doctor's appointment, I always made it early in the morning and waited to shower until the last possible second so that I could smoke right before the shower so that my dr wouldn't "smell the smoke" on me. When asked about smoking I usually lied. I said " I used to be a smoker" or "maybe sometimes when I have a drink". It was stupid because there is no doubt they could smell my smoker's breath when they got close to me. Not only was it stupid, it was flat out dangerous to not tell the truth to the professionals tasked with my health.
About a month before I quit, I made a promise to myself to be honest. To be honest and own my addiction with my head held high. I've kept that promise even before my quit date and to be honest it was freeing. But it didn't even compare to how I felt yesterday.
I have been trying to find a new primary care doc and I had an initial appointment yesterday with one. As we talked about my history, I shared my smoking story and also got to share my quitting story. Boy did that feel good.
