New study: Quitting Smoking Gradually May Be Best Option

[DrMA]

http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/01/30/quitting-smoking-gradually-may-be-best-option/80557.html

«Regular smokers experience an almost dementia-like condition in the early hours after quitting, as suggested by brain scans. This can be quite an unpleasant experience, and is probably one of the reasons why it can be very difficult to quit smoking once and for all.»

 

[sofarsogood]

If the researchers used cigarettes in their study perhaps nicotine is not the culprit or is only part of the story. The science seems to be pretty good that nic is not addictive to people who never smoked. The evidence for that is nicotine gum and patches are for sale over the counter and have been for 18 years. That would never have been approved by the FDA if nic was habit forming.

When I started vaping my cigarettes declined immediately from 25 to 4-5 with no effort. I've seen lots of other people report the same. I deliberately left those 4 cigarettes alone and focused on learning how to vape. At about 6 weeks I let my cigarettes run out. I felt some craving to go buy more but never did. I suspect that a big part of my success was the withdrawal symptoms were easier to tolerate because I was certain I would never stop vaping so the worst relapse would be back to 4 cigarettes. I think the likely prospect of relapsing is demoralizing. vaping is different from all the other stratagies for quiting because it addresses the relapse issue.

 

[DaveSignal]

nicotine is absolutely addictive. And will hook people who have never smoked too. When I first quit smoking, I was using snus (lots of it all day)... it was great and I was still addicted. I've stopped smoking completely before just using the patches.... but I never did well when I tried to drop down to the lower nic patches.... sometimes I would cheat and wear two of them. Now I vape, all day, and love it. I am still addicted, but I find it enjoyable to regularly appease my addiction. If I wasn't addicted, I wouldn't have anything to look forward to when I take my vape breaks.

 

[LaraC]

A 6-month trial to see if nicotine had an effect on people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was conducted used Nicotrol patches.

The researchers conducting the study did not find nicotine to be addictive in people who had never smoked, nor even in the small number of non-smoking former smokers who were included in the trial.

The lead researcher, Dr. Paul Newhouse, later said that nicotine:

“seems very safe even in nonsmokers. In our studies we find it actually reduces blood pressure chronically. And there were no addiction or withdrawal problems, and nobody started smoking cigarettes. The risk of addiction to nicotine alone is virtually nil.”

Dr. Newhouse also stated:

“nicotine by itself isn’t very addictive at all... [it] seems to require assistance from other substances found in tobacco to get people hooked.”


_________

Published in the Journal Neurology 2012 Jan 10; 78(2): 91–101.
(The official Journal of the American Academy of Neurology)

Nicotine treatment of mild cognitive impairment
A 6-month double-blind pilot clinical trial

P. Newhouse et al.

From the Abstract: Methods

Nonsmoking subjects with amnestic MCI [mild cognitive impairment] were randomized to transdermal nicotine (15 mg per day or placebo) for 6 months.

________

From the Full Study: Methods - Medication

Transdermal nicotine was begun utilizing a 5 mg Nicotrol® patch (Pharmacia/Pfizer) transdermal delivery system, in sizes of 10, 20, and 30 cm2 each containing 0.83 mg/cm2 of nicotine, releasing 5 mg, 10 mg, and 15 mg, respectively, over 16 hours or matching placebo. Treatment (active or placebo) was titrated to 15 mg by day 21. Subjects were contacted by phone during the first week and returned after 7 and 28 days to monitor side effects and medication compliance.

________

From the Full Study: Discussion

There was no withdrawal syndrome and no subjects continued to use nicotine products. Thus, in this nonsmoking population, there was no evidence for abuse liability of transdermal nicotine. Only nonsmokers were utilized for this study to simplify dose-ranging. As former smoking status was not a focus of this study and the number of former smokers was small, an analysis of prior smoking status and efficacy was not performed. Whether these findings of cognitive enhancement would apply to individuals with substantial histories of tobacco use or active smoking will require further study and potentially different dose ranges.

 

[VNeil]

Thanks, LaraC for that. I wonder why that wasn't blazened across the media when it was published?
/sarcasm off/

 

[sofarsogood]

The question of nicotine addiction is relevent to the kids issue. The anti people aren't interested in the fine points. How many kids who never smoked are experimenting with 0 nic. How many are trying vaping with nic. How many of them finally lose interest. Does either group who lose interest have withdrawal symptoms. Good research might find kids are not getting addicted to vaping because it's not addictive to people who never smoked. If that is the case then may be it's better to be more permissive with vaping than cigs so the kids who experiment do it with something that is NOT addictive. The anti people seem to have no interest in that possibility and I'm not aware that it's being studied. If there are going to be special provisions to protect kids we ought to find out what is protective.

Likewise an opportunity is lost when smoking restrictions are increased if vaping rules are not more permissive. My favorite example is a college camus where outdoor smoking and vaping are banned. They ought to try being more permissive with vaping to see if that getts people off cigarettes. When nobody is interested in that potential it tells me the restrictions have nothing to do with public health.

 

[renacer]

I remember my first cold turkey quit. I could have punched someone in the face for wearing an ugly shirt. Not a good experience.