Birth control and smoking: any advice?

I have a couple of questions here 🙂
Does anyone else smoke while taking Yazoo pills?
How does smoking affect things—or how do you find you handle it?
Have any of you found yourselves cutting back on cigarettes or anything like that?

I don’t use Yazoo, but I am on the pill and I smoke. Honestly, I haven't cut back at all. I stayed right where I was because I wouldn't call myself a heavy smoker or anything. A pack usually lasts me about three or four days—sometimes less, sometimes more. I actually brought this up with my gynecologist to see what he thought. He told me that smoking is bad for you regardless, but it wouldn't change how the pill works for me. I think it even says on that little insert you get inside the pill box (you know, the one with the instructions, ingredients, and all that stuff) that women over 35 shouldn't be smoking while taking them anyway.

Smoking combined with birth control pills ramps up the risk of thrombosis and blood clots, which can lead to things like strokes or pulmonary embolisms. I haven't personally taken Yazoo, but if you look at the inserts that come with Yasmin, for instance, they lay out those risks pretty clearly. It seems like every young woman who died suddenly while on Yasmin was a smoker. Nobody really hit the nail on the head regarding that specific connection when the scandal first broke.

Angela Wright said:I don't take Yazoo, but I am on the pill and I smoke. I haven't cut back—not really—since I wouldn't call myself a heavy smoker anyway. One pack usually lasts me about 3 or 4 days, though sometimes more or less. I actually asked my OBGYN about this. He told me that smoking isn't healthy, obviously, but that it wouldn't change how the pill works. I think even the fine print in the little pamphlet you get with the prescription—you know, where they list the ingredients and instructions—says women over 35 shouldn't smoke while taking them.

A pack lasts me just one day, which is a ton—and my doctor keeps telling me I need to quit or at least cut down. Plus, the Yazoo instructions say not to take them if you smoke, so I'm getting a little worried about things like pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks, or strokes. I've heard stories about girls dealing with lung pressure or this terrible cough that's way worse than usual, so...
I'm only 22—it says the warning is for anyone over 35—so is it okay if I smoke just a little bit?
Maybe 3 or 4 cigarettes a day until I can quit for good?
Just enough so my pack lasts 3 or 4 days?
Because I know one pack a day is way too much, whether I'm on the pill or not.
*Sorry for the long post!

What kind of topic is this? You already know it shouldn't be a question in the first place. What do you want us to tell you? How many cigarettes are acceptable? 😁None at all.

I drank Logitech for seven straight years without a break—nowhere near thirty-five—and smoked a pack a day. (I quit during my pregnancy.)
My gynecologist told me I could continue smoking until I'm thirty-five, but absolutely not if I start taking birth control.