Hi um I half-smoked 3 cigarettes this week, and I'm a singer, and I was looking up vocal care tips and it said that smoking severely increased the risk of throat cancer, which I already knew but it didn't occur to me when i did it. I'm really freaking out, and I'm showing some symptoms like swallowing feels weird?????? and my throat is dry??? is it because i'm panicking or could i have gotten cancer??? please i get really bad anxiety about my health, I did it bcause I was feeling depressed and I do self destructive things when i get low. Thank you so much
There is no possible way for you to contract any kind of cancer in only a week from smoking 3 cigarettes. For things like cigarette smoke, you need to be exposed to it for an extended period of time (years of heavy smoking usually) before your chances of contracting cancer from it increase significantly. Even then, it would take weeks to months or longer for any significant cancer growth to occur. The symptoms you are feeling are almost certainly because you are panicking, especially if you just started feeling them after reading about this. Or maybe you're catching a cold. But it's got nothing to do with cancer from three cigarettes you half-smoked over the last seven days or so. Todd