Nicotine helps memory/Alzheimers/Parkinsons?

[Seabrook]

Every time I want to know if something is good or bad, or if I want basic facts, I always google "Benefits of *****" or "Dangers of *****". I was goofing around earlier today and googled Benefits of Nicotine. Apparently, there is a lot of research going on with nicotine. I read an ezine article that said people using nicotine have better memory and lower incidences of Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Has anyone ever heard of this before? Just curious, as Alzheimers runs in my family line. Maybe I shouldn't try to wean myself down to 0mg nicotine? I've gone from 24mg down to 11mg, but now this really has me curious. Anybody have any input? Please and thanks.

 

[gashin]

Yes! There is a lot of studies done that prove the many benefits of nicotine on preventing Alzheimers and Parkinsons and even helping with ADD and schizophrenia.

 

[yvilla]

Anybody have any input? Please and thanks.

Seabrook, yes nicotine's potentially beneficial effects, especially with reference to Alzheimers and Parkinsons, has been discussed quite a bit. Here is an article written by fellow forum member and CASAA board member Vocalek, that adresses this; note that her references are also all links to the full sources.

Casaa.org - Harm Reduction

 

[Automaton]

Nicotine is a drug. Pretty much all drugs have positives and negatives.

This goes for pharmaceutical drugs. This goes for "every-day" drugs (sugar, caffeine, alcohol, etc). And it even goes for illegal drugs.

Drugs are drugs are drugs. They all have potential benefits and dangers, depending on the person using them, the dose, what it's mixed with, what sub-category of the drug it is, etc.

Nicotine is helpful for a whole variety of ailments including preventing dementia-related disease, preventing Parkinson's, helping with bowel irregularities, and (in the short term, anyway) alleviating some mental illnesses.

Nicotine is also dangerous because it is wickedly addictive, extremely poisonous, and in the long term actually makes your mental health worse.

At the end of the day, I'd rather be not addicted than addicted. But that isn't a reason to deny the fact that nicotine has some good qualities.

P.S. If you're concerned about your family history of Alzheimer's, eating lots of fresh fruit has also shown to help prevent Alzheimer's later on.

 

[Seabrook]

That's amazing, I had no idea. Thanks for the link, yvilla. I'm going to read all those tomorrow when I'm a little fresher, LOL. Well, I'm too young to get Alheimers I think, but it always helps to have a plan. I noticed on one of those google side ads that they make nicotine water for a smokeless option. I've never heard of that either.

MistressNomad, I do get 8-10 servings of vegs/fruits per day, and about 50 percent of my diet is raw in fruit smoothies and vitamix soups, and still I notice feeling much better since I quit smoking. And I agree w/you about each drug has its pros and cons.

 

[nasti]

nicotine water? like ejuice + juice?

 

[suddenly]

I sure wish it would help memory. But then again it probably dosen't cure dead brain cells lol

 

[Kent C]

Helps arthritis too, esp. if you're a heavy smoker. The anti-inflammatory aspect of nicotine at work:

Nicotine may slow progression of rheumatoid arthritis | Reuters

Cigarette smoking and radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis -- Finckh et al. 66 (8): 1066 -- Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

and:
Rheumatoid arthritis patients who smoke have a higher need for DMARDs and feel worse, but they do not have more joint damage than non-smokers of the same serological group -- Westhoff et al. 47 (6): 849 -- Rheumatology

There were two swiss studies backing the 'less pain and less joint deformity' but I can only find the one above.

All that said, it is also known that one is more likely to develop rh. arthritis if you begin to smoke.

Moral of the story - if you don't want arthritis, don't smoke, but if you develop it anyway, smoke heavily ;-)

 

[Seabrook]

nicotine water? like ejuice + juice?

It came on the market a couple of years ago I guess. Nicotine Water

I just googled nicotine water and got a lot of hits. I haven't read all of them yet, as I've been too busy today.

 

[Seabrook]

...

All that said, it is also known that one is more likely to develop rh. arthritis if you begin to smoke.

Moral of the story - if you don't want arthritis, don't smoke, but if you develop it anyway, smoke heavily ;-)

Did you mean vape heavily, or does it have to be smoking heavily?

 

[Kate51]

Thank goodness, I smoked all those years for a good reason!
I have RA, I also have ADD....yes, people do seem to gravitate to nicotin readily (cigarettes most usually)(usually called a "predisposition) because it is a feel-good thing, we self-medicate without realizing it. The arthritis is taking a toll, however, but I am 63, and always worked too hard with my hands, finger joints especially affected.
It's the SMOKE in smoking that will kill you.
So, ½ my Mom's kids have ADD, both of mine, and 3 out of five of my Grandkids are ADD...two with ADHD.
Now there is a nicotine treatment for ADD victims, closely related to both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It does seem to smooth out neuron function in the brain from short-term and long-term memory recall problems...the "wandering" interrupts that result in forgetfulness, attention-span problems, absent-minded, confusion, etc. Nicotine helps me multi-task like 'normal' people do. Nic stops some of the 'mis-fires' associated with all those maladies. Not kidding. I can do well on 6mg/ml ejuice for a couple days, but then go back to 12mg because I definitely see a difference in brain function between those two tiny amounts. Expecially in short-term memory recall and staying focused. ADD is especially something that takes exceptional concentration and self-training to cope with effectively, very taxing. To be 'normal'. I always loved History in school, but can't remember names and dates to save myself. I'd stay up all night going over and over them, but by test time it was gone again. Very frustrating and embarrassing. There are a great many people with this problem on ECF.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/tags/nicotine.html

Here's a few tagged threads to look at.
So I will stick with my vapor for awhile yet!

 

[Kent C]

Did you mean vape heavily, or does it have to be smoking heavily?

A bit of a joke.... but it's the nicotine - so both or either one. The follow up is, of course, that despite the benefits of the nicotine that no doctor would recommend smoking.

I told my doctor about these studies and he said 'well that would be great if someone could get the nicotine without all the tar, carbon monoxide and the other stuff'.

That's when I pulled the 510 out of my pocket. "What's that??"

"This gives you the nicotine without all the tar, carbon monoxide and the other stuff." And he let me demonstrate. He said, he didn't have a problem with that, and was pleased that I had quit smoking cigarettes, which he had been advising for years. (to no avail).

 

[Automaton]

Nicotine is a valid way of treating a lot of ailments. It's just a shame that cigarettes are the most common way of getting it.

And this, of course, is why doctors would never give someone nicotine for any ailment. It's not the fact that it's addictive - lots of pharma drugs are just as addictive as nicotine. It's the delivery system that's always been the issue.

I sort of alluded to this in another thread, that I know why I started smoking. I even made a decision to do so.

I traveled a lot over the course of the last few years. I was really broke for most of it. I had some stuff happen, and wound up with really severe mental health problems. I'd always had a propensity for "madness," but I had found homeopathic ways of dealing with it well. I was still "eccentric," but I was happy and functional, so I didn't really care if people thought I was weird.

But this was too much. I tried to get help, but due to being foreign they didn't want to take my insurance, and I got turned away.

I went back to my study in psychology. What can help with mental illness?

Nicotine.

So I tried it. And it worked. It worked REALLY well. I was on a schedule of smoking 2 cigarettes every half-hour, and that made me functional enough to keep going.

I knew I would become addicted. At the time, that didn't matter. What mattered was getting immediate relief.

And cigarettes did that. I don't regret that decision, even now, in a much better mental frame of mind.

It's just a shame that at the time, the only cost-effective way to get that much nicotine was to smoke cigarettes.

Hopefully now I can remedy that situation.

Love,
Cassie

 

[Seabrook]

MistressNomad,

I would be (very much) interested in hearing your results once you have been vaping a month or two to see if it delivers the relief you described as well as cigarettes did. I never really realized nicotine had any benefits whatsoever. Thanks for sharing your story, as this is truly amazing.

 

[D103]

Hey Kate, you probably already know this but an interesting link POSTER of ADD / ADHD Famous People - Every School Needs Some - Donate to your favorite school. Famous People with ADD Poster. ADD Poster, ADHD Poster. shows you are in a really remarkable group of fellow comrades. It is very encouraging that nicotine is being studied for it's many possible benefits to a variety of difficulties - the more this is researched the better for all of mankind.

 

[Kate51]

D13, THANKS for that, I put it in my bookmarks.
That poster would be a great thing in the kid's upstairs hallway...it pertains to them all!
My youngest grandson is finding great resources in karate classes, and is loving it. He is finding many ways toward self-control and concentration, and Big deal! (He's one with ADHD.) They couldn'd do the meds anymore, he was just a zombie. Quiet, but not interacting at all, sort of a stranger in the room. And above all, not learning. Nuts to that. He'll be in 5th grade this year, so looking for a big improvement.

 

[nesf]

Nicotine is a valid way of treating a lot of ailments. It's just a shame that cigarettes are the most common way of getting it.

And this, of course, is why doctors would never give someone nicotine for any ailment. It's not the fact that it's addictive - lots of pharma drugs are just as addictive as nicotine. It's the delivery system that's always been the issue.

I sort of alluded to this in another thread, that I know why I started smoking. I even made a decision to do so.

I traveled a lot over the course of the last few years. I was really broke for most of it. I had some stuff happen, and wound up with really severe mental health problems. I'd always had a propensity for "madness," but I had found homeopathic ways of dealing with it well. I was still "eccentric," but I was happy and functional, so I didn't really care if people thought I was weird.

But this was too much. I tried to get help, but due to being foreign they didn't want to take my insurance, and I got turned away.

I went back to my study in psychology. What can help with mental illness?

Nicotine.

So I tried it. And it worked. It worked REALLY well. I was on a schedule of smoking 2 cigarettes every half-hour, and that made me functional enough to keep going.

I knew I would become addicted. At the time, that didn't matter. What mattered was getting immediate relief.

And cigarettes did that. I don't regret that decision, even now, in a much better mental frame of mind.

It's just a shame that at the time, the only cost-effective way to get that much nicotine was to smoke cigarettes.

Hopefully now I can remedy that situation.

Love,
Cassie

I had quite a similar experience. I've bipolar disorder and suffer from chronic anxiety without medication. Before I went on meds in my late teens one of the few things that really helped calm and settle me was nicotine. As well as the psychological bits and pieces like having something to do with my hands etc the effect of the drug itself was very much welcome.

An absurd amount of people with mental health issues smoke, upwards of 75% in some studies on people with schizophrenia if I recall correctly, and genuinely one could say we need the drug. If vaping works as well it seems to be doing for me, there might just be a way to give these people a way to fulfill their habit and get the psychological and chemical help they need while removing the dirty side of the traditional delivery system.

 

[Seabrook]

I had quite a similar experience. I've bipolar disorder and suffer from chronic anxiety without medication. Before I went on meds in my late teens one of the few things that really helped calm and settle me was nicotine. As well as the psychological bits and pieces like having something to do with my hands etc the effect of the drug itself was very much welcome.

An absurd amount of people with mental health issues smoke, upwards of 75% in some studies on people with schizophrenia if I recall correctly, and genuinely one could say we need the drug. If vaping works as well it seems to be doing for me, there might just be a way to give these people a way to fulfill their habit and get the psychological and chemical help they need while removing the dirty side of the traditional delivery system.

A LOT of vapers and new vapers are converting their friends and family. Looks like this vaping is spreading like wildfire. That's good news.

Say, you're from Ireland, and I just read an article from the Irish Times yesterday. I'll put the link here at the end. Anyway, it looks like cigarette sales has dropped by 40 percent in Ireland. Yesterday I googled the words, "Cigarette sales have fallen" just to see what would come up. A lot came up -- also in the UK and all through Europe. Here's that CURRENT article from the Irish Times. Cigarette sales 'down 40 per cent' - The Irish Times - Wed, Jun 30, 2010

 

[nesf]

A LOT of vapers and new vapers are converting their friends and family. Looks like this vaping is spreading like wildfire. That's good news.

Say, you're from Ireland, and I just read an article from the Irish Times yesterday. I'll put the link here at the end. Anyway, it looks like cigarette sales has dropped by 40 percent in Ireland. Yesterday I googled the words, "Cigarette sales have fallen" just to see what would come up. A lot came up -- also in the UK and all through Europe. Here's that CURRENT article from the Irish Times.

Cigarette sales have dropped in Ireland because smuggling cigarettes has become a huge industry over here. We pay 8.50 Euro per pack, $10.60 at today's prices. You can pick up a pack of smokes in Spain or Poland for the equivalent of 3 to 4 Euro, so there's massive smuggling from those countries to this country. All down to a misguided and shortsighted over taxation of cigarettes by our Government, they pushed the price past the point where the average person stoops to buying smuggled goods. 10 years ago there was very, very few smuggled cigarettes in this country, now the place is awash with them.

 

[Seabrook]

Yep, looks like the Chinese have saved our lungs and saved our bank accounts. Now let's see what the rest of the world can do to kick it into high gear! 10 to 1 the first race is on already for the best atomizer dupe or replacment. And we've already gotten over the hurdle for the proprietary batteries with mods. Here we gooooo ........... wheeee! Anybody got tobacco plants growing in their back yards yet, LOL?