What is your doc's opinion & your own experience?

[Denni]

Originally Posted by TropicalBob

My usual doctor wasn't available today to see me for a chest congestion issue so I got a new doc. As he took a history on his laptop, I told him of my e-smoking since January 2008. He did not show interest. No cigarettes? Nope. No cigarettes. And that was all that seemed important to him. I could have told him I was eating lawn clippings to avoid cigarettes, and I suspect he would have approved.

A nurse said she was planning on quitting cigarettes soon, said she'd heard of e-cigarettes. I showed her my Dura-C. Conversation over. She did not ask where to buy one, what they cost, what's in them, etc. To those I met today, the only important thing is to quit cigarettes -- and e-cigs aren't on any approved NRT list.

I really expected more interest. But until these have some kind of regulatory approval, those in the medical profession are not likely to enthusiastically recommend them. Doctors just don't recommend unapproved therapies or devices. I put my toy back in my shirt pocket.

I guess they can't officially endorse them, but some will point them out to patients who simply can't quit the analogues. It seems that some docs are open to the harm-reduction approach, rather than the all-or-nothing attitude. Here in the UK, we may get the NHS interested if a few surgeries recommend this approach, and before the NRT guys get wind of it and start a counter-campaign