So...I had an annual checkup this morning. I'm 32 and had been smoking for about 16 years. I quit before last thanksgiving and switched to e-cigs. I don't have any health problems, and really didn't before I quit smoking, either.
So, I'm going through my history with a nurse practitioner when she asked me, "Do you use tobacco products?" I told her that I quit smoking in November and have been using electronic cigarettes since. So she said, oh, trying to use those to quit?" So I told her that I wasn't really interested in quitting vaping. She then went on to tell me about how dangerous nicotine is with all the carcinogens and how toxic nicotine is for the body because of it's chemical makeup. I proceeded to ask her what studies she knew of that I didn't that concluded that nicotine was toxic in small doses. She didn't have an answer, she just went back to how it's a dangerous chemical. I then compared it to caffeine and she told me that caffeine was found in nature and wasn't man made. I looked at her with serious curiosity and asked her if she was aware that nicotine was found naturally in tobacco plants and wasn't a synthetic, man-made drug. After that, she looked like she was in deep thought for a second and said, "I guess you're right."
At that point, I explained to her how I have researched and been unable to find any legitimate studies that show serious health risks related to nicotine use and that the side-effects were comparable in seriousness to those of caffeine. I further explained how much less nicotine was ingested into the body when using an e-cig as opposed to an analog. She was utterly amazed. I had to hand her one of my home-made business cards with basic info and CASAA's website. I told her she should definitely check out CASAA if she really wanted to know what e-cigs were about.
I'm confounded at how medical professionals can talk so authoritatively about something they have no conception of. It's just like politics. It really scares me to think that these are the people that are treating our illnesses and we entrust them with our lives.
/Rant. Thanks for listening.
So, I'm going through my history with a nurse practitioner when she asked me, "Do you use tobacco products?" I told her that I quit smoking in November and have been using electronic cigarettes since. So she said, oh, trying to use those to quit?" So I told her that I wasn't really interested in quitting vaping. She then went on to tell me about how dangerous nicotine is with all the carcinogens and how toxic nicotine is for the body because of it's chemical makeup. I proceeded to ask her what studies she knew of that I didn't that concluded that nicotine was toxic in small doses. She didn't have an answer, she just went back to how it's a dangerous chemical. I then compared it to caffeine and she told me that caffeine was found in nature and wasn't man made. I looked at her with serious curiosity and asked her if she was aware that nicotine was found naturally in tobacco plants and wasn't a synthetic, man-made drug. After that, she looked like she was in deep thought for a second and said, "I guess you're right."
At that point, I explained to her how I have researched and been unable to find any legitimate studies that show serious health risks related to nicotine use and that the side-effects were comparable in seriousness to those of caffeine. I further explained how much less nicotine was ingested into the body when using an e-cig as opposed to an analog. She was utterly amazed. I had to hand her one of my home-made business cards with basic info and CASAA's website. I told her she should definitely check out CASAA if she really wanted to know what e-cigs were about.
I'm confounded at how medical professionals can talk so authoritatively about something they have no conception of. It's just like politics. It really scares me to think that these are the people that are treating our illnesses and we entrust them with our lives.
/Rant. Thanks for listening.
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good for you!
