Don’t underestimate Nicotine…here are some facts!

Last updated on November 28, 2014

I am stunned by the number of e-cigarette users who are reading and following my blog and I wonder why?  I think e-cigarettes are “hip” and “cool” for the generations behind me; an old addiction with a modern look. Somebody send me an email, telling me “smoking e-cigarettes will be healthier for him, since it cuts out so many bad by-products…and then sooner or later he wants to quit anyway”.

Somehow I can’t stop thinking. If you want to quit, why don’t you just quit? It’s like an alcoholic saying well, now I cut out the unhealthy soda’s and all the sugary crap and I do shots only and go straight for the booze.

As for the ones using e-cigarettes without any Nicotine…”Hello”…let me tell you, now you can throw it all away, you stopped smoking. Again, it’s like an alcoholic who stopped drinking but continues to run around with an empty bottle (they don’t do that). So, make some sense and don’t waste your money just so that you can blow out hot air.

Nicotine addiction includes the following

Human genetics, early family experiences, environmental factors and societal influences appear to work together in complex ways, to set the addictive cycle in motion. At times tobacco can act as a stimulant and at other times it may produce tranquilizing effects.

Nicotine combines with a number of neurotransmitters in the brain and may contribute to the following effects:

Tobacco is as addictive as heroin (as a mood & behavior altering agent).

• Nicotine is:
  • 1000 X more potent than alcohol
  • 10-100 X more potent than barbiturates
  • 5-10 X more potent than cocaine or morphine
• A 1-2 pack per day smoker takes 200-400 hits daily for years. This constant intake of a fast acting drug (which affects mood, concentration & performance).. eventually produces dependence.

Pressures to relapse are both behaviorally & pharmacological triggered.

Quitting involves a significantly serious psychological loss… a serious life style change.

Possible withdrawal symptoms (after stopping nicotine use):

• Irritability, anger, hostility, anxiety, nervousness, panic, poor concentration, disorientation, lightheadedness, sleep disturbances, constipation, mouth ulcers, dry mouth, sore throat-gums- or tongue, pain in limbs, sweating, depression, fatigue, fearfulness, sense of loss, craving tobacco, hunger, and coughing (body getting rid of the mucus clogging the lungs).
• Symptoms may last from a few weeks to several months. After withdrawal subsides… urges for nicotine (for the effects of the drug) occur in response to all kinds of cues to smoke or chew.