Nicotine and Memory Problems

[stevo_tdo]

Steve: Use other alternatives. Seriously. Use them all!

You need nicotine. It does good things for your brain. You're not imagining benefits; they are real. E-smoking is not likely to EVER satisfy your nicotine needs, even at high levels in e-liquid. Get thee quickly to snus, dissolveables, nasal snuff, etc. Use them all!

How can anyone look at the Health New Zealand studies and think e-smoking is THE answer? It is only part of an answer.

You might even consider puffing, not inhaling, cigars or a pipe. Nicotine is not a demon, especially in your case. Use it to your benefit.

I believe that is the realization i came to last night. Looks like snus and e-cigs for me then. Good nicotine delivery from snus and the hand to mouth from the ecig.

Btw, I scoured through the tobacco alternatives section last night and think It'll be what I need.

[TropicalBob]

Good for you. You are on a track that many others using this forum should follow. Best of luck in finding exactly what fits your needs.

[dragonpuff]

I used to chain smoke like crazy. I'm very grateful now to be off cigarettes but my mind is wearing thin. I have schizophrenia and there have been plenty of studies on the benefits of nicotine, memory, and mental function. I would estimate that I get somewhere around ten times less nicotine then I did a month ago (based on the amount I vape, the strength of my juice, and the results of nicotine absorbtion from the New Zealand study). As my brain chemistry gets used to less nic it is becoming more apparent how much i need it.

Hell I can't remember words or places or names half the time anymore. I think i'm going to have to bump my nic juice way up there now. I didn't want to smoke myself to death with tobacco but at the same time papa needs his nic.

Steve, i can sympathize.

I have Bipolar I; it's technically called a "mood" disorder but the more severe varieties of it (like mine) cause major cognitive problems as well. Since i quit smoking and started vaping i've noticed my moods have calmed down a bit, but now when my moods act up or i don't vape for a while, the cognitive problems are worse, i'm having more significant confusion than i'm used to.

I had an incident yesterday that scared me. I was a bit sleep deprived and forgot to take my meds the night before. I got to class on time, but when i tried to get into the building, i couldn't cuz all the doors were locked! I didn't understand why the building would be locked when my class was currently in it, maybe something happened? I waited outside for a few min til i saw someone come out and asked him about it; he said it was open. I tried again... turns out i forgot to pull on the door when i turned the knob i showed up to class 5 minutes late, then failed the quiz because i forgot half the material

It never occurred to me i could get so confused i'd forget how to open a door or forget stuff i just learned yesterday...

Sorry, i just had to get that off my chest. My point is, my condition is treated based on it being a mood problem, so the moods are treated assuming the cognitive garbage is caused by mania or depression. Unfortunately, this only results in my mood being treated and my thought problems are still there.

That's where nicotine comes in. When i'm feeling tired and unfocused, flaky, moody and confused, i vape more, and it helps a lot. I've tried the same technique using NRT's, but the dose is so painfully low that it doesn't work at all.

Steve, i wanna suggest maybe try a higher mg content, that made a big difference with me. Also, keep in mind that the tobacco that you used to smoke contained an MAOI, which is a very effective antidepressant. Going off that could definitely change your mental functioning (something i'm going to explore once i find a new doc). It's worth looking into, at least.

(Hmm.. i'm wondering if i should've split this into two different posts...)

[Stubby]

I believe that is the realization i came to last night. Looks like snus and e-cigs for me then. Good nicotine delivery from snus and the hand to mouth from the ecig.

Btw, I scoured through the tobacco alternatives section last night and think It'll be what I need.

I can sympathize with your problems. I've been self-medicating for ADD since I was 14. That was 40 years ago. The one time I managed to quit smoking for three months I almost stopped functioning. Talk about a space brain, and no drugs needed.

The good thing for me is that I don't seem to need massive doses of nicotine. That has likely been my saving grace. I'm still in relatively good health even after 40 years of smoking. Snus gives me that sure steady dose of nicotine I need to keep functioning. God help me if my nicotine ever gets taken away. In a years time I would probably be a urine soaked bum sleeping on the streets instead of the bosses go to guy.

I still do miss that hit I get with cigarettes at times, and I still do think about them. But I'm doing okay without them.

[Kurt]

My biggest fear of quitting smoking was would I be able to keep up the intense mental work I have to do as a quantum chemist. So it was always, "Well, not THIS month, maybe next", which of course would never come.

Now with vaping I am getting all the mental focus and abilities that I got with analogs, but without the sickly feeling I also got, so it is WAY BETTER!! My fears of quitting smoking have gone up in a sweet plume of vapor. I am a couple of weeks into this world, down to 1 or 2 analogs a day from 1+ pack a day, and I am FAR more capable mentally than I was before. And I do not vape high conc nic...highest is about 12 mg. The combustion fog has lifted.

It seems nicotine lights up all the higher thinking areas of the brain, something about the central reticular core, which connects them all. No wonder I prefer being with smokers.

The reason BP won't go with nicotine as an AD or PD treatment is because the market says nicotine=bad, so they just won't entertain any R&D with it. Pity.

Kurt

[sunkissedbeach]

My father in law smoked three packs a day of unfiltered Paul Malls for fifty years.
He stopped smoking around ten years ago and around that time developed Alzheimer's.
He is in the very advanced stages now, it is very sad.

Update:

My Father in Law died on Oct 11, 09.
RIP Dad

[JamieJ]

Is there a study you can point me to in regard to nicotine improving memory? That sounds interesting! Did not know that!

[Jules22871]

Update:

My Father in Law died on Oct 11, 09.
RIP Dad

I am very sorry to hear that. My thoughts are with you and your family.

I have to get tested for MS soon. I have a lot of the symptoms, the main one being the optical neuritis. It has me scared to death since they found that and did some basic non-invasive testing. Reading this about nicotine and doing just a quick search on MS and nicotine has put me a little at ease over this. We'll just have to see what time will tell us all.

[frankie1]

SUNKISSEDBEACH: I am sorry for your loss. Please know our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[bratzdad]

Is this the juice forum?