What thw Doctor told my Father In Law about Ecigs!!!!!!!

[NurseCin]

This is just my observation as a nurse... Ive noticed that it IS getting harder for Dr's to get those big pharma kick backs. In a normal Dr's office on a weekly basis some big pharmaceutical company is coming in and feeding the whole office some huge catered lunch trying to push their products. Not to mention all of the freebies and Drs and nurses get ( I honestly LOVE the free pens because they write the best! haha!) I have noticed in the last year that these same drug companies are making HUGE cutbacks and not spending the money that they used to. I'm thinking its getting pretty tight for them. I also took the oath to "do no harm" and I would give ANYONE that smoked info on e-cigs if they wanted based solely on that fact that they have made ME feel so much better. I'm living proof that your health can improve because of these. I went to the periodontist this past week ( do people realize what smoking does to your teeth, gums and bone?) I told him about how I had started vaping. First he gave me a high five and then proceeded to tell me that my gums were MUCH healthier than one week ago! Anyway thats just my "rant" on the whole thing...sorry so wordy, guys!

 

[Automaton]

This is just my observation as a nurse... Ive noticed that it IS getting harder for Dr's to get those big pharma kick backs. In a normal Dr's office on a weekly basis some big pharmaceutical company is coming in and feeding the whole office some huge catered lunch trying to push their products. Not to mention all of the freebies and Drs and nurses get ( I honestly LOVE the free pens because they write the best! haha!) I have noticed in the last year that these same drug companies are making HUGE cutbacks and not spending the money that they used to. I'm thinking its getting pretty tight for them. I also took the oath to "do no harm" and I would give ANYONE that smoked info on e-cigs if they wanted based solely on that fact that they have made ME feel so much better. I'm living proof that your health can improve because of these. I went to the periodontist this past week ( do people realize what smoking does to your teeth, gums and bone?) I told him about how I had started vaping. First he gave me a high five and then proceeded to tell me that my gums were MUCH healthier than one week ago! Anyway thats just my "rant" on the whole thing...sorry so wordy, guys!

So Big Pharma's on the run, eh? Good to hear, heh.

Certainly, we hear of doctors and other medical personnel every day on the forums who are either recommending e-cigs, or happy their patients have switched. I believe there is even a collective of physicians promoting the use of e-cigs, isn't there?

There are still good ones, as with anything. The education industry is the same way. Most teachers have the insane testing regulations breathing down their neck, and allowing it to hamper how they teach. But some out there are still taking their job seriously, and teaching the way it should be.

I haven't yet visited a doctor since switching to e-cigs. I'm hoping they'll be one of the good'uns when I do...

P.S. You're absolutely right about dental damage. I'm 21, and as far as the "important" organs go, have likely sustained no permanent damage from smoking. But my gums really took a beating, even just from smoking a few years. I would say it's the first thing you injure from smoking.

 

[5cardstud]

I guess the other thing about it is, there may be a more intriguing reason that the rush to put out information about how bad vaping is - because "they" know it isn't really bad. Everything under the sun is analyzed for "safety" - food, drinks, analogs, drugs (legal and illegal), etc. Kinda like how vitamins are not "regulated" and can be sold from store shelves - maybe vaping isn't "good" for you, but perhaps it's been studied behind closed doors, and found to be basically harmless (other than the nicotine). The people/organizations who want to ban pv's and everything that goes with them, may have one single motivation - to keep people on analogs and the "approved" money making methods for trying to quit.

Nice avatar.

 

[NurseCin]

Most Dr's are probably uninformed to begin with and consider vaping the same as smoking analogs....just no fire at the end. They need to be informed even if its from one of their patients before they make judgement. Can you imagine how much Chantix is prescribed right now to patients wanting to quit smoking??? Those same people are going insane and committing suicide too. Look at the commercials on TV today....lawyers with their torte cases against big drug companies....these lawyers are WINNING those cases! The drug companies cant afford to pay off their lawsuits! Hence the cutbacks.

 

[FreakyStylie]

Most Dr's are probably uninformed to begin with and consider vaping the same as smoking analogs....just no fire at the end. They need to be informed even if its from one of their patients before they make judgement. Can you imagine how much Chantix is prescribed right now to patients wanting to quit smoking??? Those same people are going insane and committing suicide too. Look at the commercials on TV today....lawyers with their torte cases against big drug companies....these lawyers are WINNING those cases! The drug companies cant afford to pay off their lawsuits! Hence the cutbacks.

How many CE hours are doctors required to have each year? I would think that there plenty of courses/lectures/studies, since vaping is causing such an impact. Heck, just looking at google trends, and turning on the television, a layman can see that there is "something new" coming into the world. Doctors and other professionals should be ahead of the game, not playing catch-up. Thinking that doctors might just not know kind of worries me.

 

[NurseCin]

How many CE hours are doctors required to have each year? I would think that there plenty of courses/lectures/studies, since vaping is causing such an impact. Heck, just looking at google trends, and turning on the television, a layman can see that there is "something new" coming into the world. Doctors and other professionals should be ahead of the game, not playing catch-up. Thinking that doctors might just not know kind of worries me.

I honestly dont know how many CE hours are required for MDs. The use of Ecigs isnt FDA approved or has even been tested as far as I know. Im sure there ARE some out there that know about them and have based their own opinions on that knowledge but I honestly think ( just my opinion) that most are uninformed and have no basis to make judgement. I had to explain what I was doing to my dentist because he did not know. When he understood that i was inhaling nicotine without all of the tar and other chemicals, he was ok with it. We cant expect all of the medical professionals all over the world to know about this.

 

[Automaton]

Most Dr's are probably uninformed to begin with and consider vaping the same as smoking analogs....just no fire at the end. They need to be informed even if its from one of their patients before they make judgement. Can you imagine how much Chantix is prescribed right now to patients wanting to quit smoking??? Those same people are going insane and committing suicide too. Look at the commercials on TV today....lawyers with their torte cases against big drug companies....these lawyers are WINNING those cases! The drug companies cant afford to pay off their lawsuits! Hence the cutbacks.

It is an unfortunate reality that some doctors feel no need to educate themselves as our technological/medical landscape changes before making a statement. If the doctor in question doesn't know much about it, s/he should say "Let me look into it, I'll get back to you." Ignorance should never be an excuse in the medical field. That's how serious accidents happen. I almost got cut open due to an ignorant doctor. Thank goodness I do my own research, and get second opinions on something as serious as that.

Chantix is just insane. "Quit smoking and kill your mother in a psychotic haze while you're at it!" Fantastic. That's why I never tried it. It seems like most people have at least some really weird side effects.

I'm not surprised the plaintiffs are winning those cases - they should be. Chantix is one of the scariest drugs to ever hit the market.

And they prescribe that over e-cigs.

 

[NurseCin]

It is an unfortunate reality that some doctors feel no need to educate themselves as our technological/medical landscape changes before making a statement. If the doctor in question doesn't know much about it, s/he should say "Let me look into it, I'll get back to you." Ignorance should never be an excuse in the medical field. That's how serious accidents happen. I almost got cut open due to an ignorant doctor. Thank goodness I do my own research, and get second opinions on something as serious as that.

Chantix is just insane. "Quit smoking and kill your mother in a psychotic haze while you're at it!" Fantastic. That's why I never tried it. It seems like most people have at least some really weird side effects.

I'm not surprised the plaintiffs are winning those cases - they should be. Chantix is one of the scariest drugs to ever hit the market.

And they prescribe that over e-cigs.

The majority of Drs will probably not agree with that fact of inhaling nicotine....nicotine is not good for you but yes there are millions of people out there that are addicted to it. Compared to smoking analogs...some would say that was the lesser of two evils and be more tolerant. Those same Dr's lecture that caffeine isnt good either and recommend that their patients cut down or try to quit. There are millions out there addicted to that too.

 

[Automaton]

Well, they prescribe the patch and the gum. Those have nicotine. And some people do use them long-term.

Obviously, quitting cold-turkey or with a short-term regiment (such as the recommended use of the patch and gum) is ideal to a more long-term approach that includes the addictive substance - like vaping.

I don't necessarily think vaping should be a first-line of quitting. It is very likely to lead to long-term use.

But most of us here have tried the other options, and they have failed. Surely long-term vaping is preferable to smoking. This is the exact same reasoning behind doctors recommending a methadone program to her-o-in addicts who have failed to quit through other means, rather than letting them keep on taking her-o-in.

It's harm reduction. We all know that.

The question is, is it better to be dogmatic about it and say "nicotine is bad, quit cold or die," or to be realistic and take a harm reduction approach for people who can't quit that way?

Nicotine really isn't that bad. No nicotine is better, obviously. Especially considering smokers tend to have weakened hearts. But surely nic alone is preferable to smoking. As long as a doctor is being truthful about the risks of nicotine (you'll probably be ok, but it's not ideal, and we'd rather you were nic free), I don't see a problem.

 

[netrunner1]

3-smoking is all psychological

Well, I suspect there is a significant psychological aspect, probably why I haven't completely given up analogs even though I find them disgusting and bad tasting compared to vaping. I really hate that I haven't completely quit, although if I could find a dependable atty I think I could. I worry about being left with a failed atty since you can't just go out and buy one (I have spares but I only seem to have one favorite, plus I just get nervous about this.)

Anyway, you have to cut the average physician some slack, how are they supposed to know about vaping. There isn't some mega-company pushing their adoption and promoting them. As far as they know its just another form of smoking. Unless there are clinical trials, which cost a fortune an no Chinese or mom and pop operation could afford, the FDA will not approve usage of PVs. This is the real risk for availability in the future, if FDA decides these are a risk to health, they can make them illegal.

Without clinical trials they will not approve them as safe and efficacious. Without a big pharma or government looking for $$$ there's no one to put the money up for the trials the FDA requires to prove they are effective. I really think that vaping, as long as the juice contains nicotine, is at risk of FDA action, there's just too much money (taxes lost on alalogs and patches, etc) on the line.

 

[FreakyStylie]

Chantix is just insane. "Quit smoking and kill your mother in a psychotic haze while you're at it!" Fantastic. That's why I never tried it. It seems like most people have at least some really weird side effects.

My old insurance company was paying for Chantix at no cost. (Pharmawhat) I almost went for it. I'm glad that, like you, I do my own research. Some say I'm over analytical, but I like it that way. Sometimes it can be a benefit.

 

[vivictus]

the scariest thing I took out of all that is that you say it costs $12.50 for a pack of smokes in NYC! Holy CRAP! I thought the near $5.00 I was paying was stupidly overpriced.

 

[NurseCin]

netrunner1, I havent completely quit either...I smoke 2 analogs a day. I dont think of how many I smoke...I think of how many I'm NOT smoking. I agree with you about FDA and big pharma getting their hands on it too. Bad news.

 

[Wilvin]

I used to be a Pharmacy tech, so had to read medical/drug articles every so often as part of continuous education. I remember an article that was about nicotine and it effect on brain chemistry. Basically it said that nicotine overtime changes the brain chemistry, this is why you become addicted to nicotine. As was said if you quit nicotine it is out of your system pretty quickly, but the change to a normal brain chemistry takes a long time. Basically it causes the brain to act as if you have sever depression and anxieties. This is why people get crabby, jittery, and basically not happy. The article was mostly aimed at why the anti smoking medications Like Zyban and it new version Chantix help people to quit. Zyban was used for decades as an anti depression medication. I think Chantix was also but I am not sure about that. Now when I read this article was a long time ago so I my have some of the details different but that was basically what the medical field had to say about Nicotine. So by the Medical fields own studies, Nicotine is a physical addiction and not a psychological disorder.

 

[DocWyatt]

Something tells me that this thread is going to have legs.....lol.

 

[DocWyatt]

Yes, nicotine is completely out of your system within 72 hours. However carbon monoxide, which is primarily the cause of heart disease for smokers, takes months.

Most nicotine "experts" (if that has any value - perhaps not) all say that it is safe for most people. It is classified as a mild stimulant. People confuse nicotine with the harmful effects of smoking. The two are almost not related. Nicotine simply keeps smokers addicted - it doesn't cause the harm directly.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Zyban is exactly the same as the anti-depressant drug Welbutrin. It was just cleverly renamed and marketed at a higher price as a drug to help people quit smoking. I tried it and it worked for about 6 months. A little over a month of coming off the Zyban, I was moody and having anxiety attacks. Guess what I did? You got it. I started smoking again, and smoking more than I ever had before.

Here's an interesting article I stumbled on while looking up Chantix:
FDA Favors Chantix over E-Cigarettes. Why?

 

[Affectionatedragon]

I can't take any of those drugs due to my Epilepsy. All of them warn to not take them if you have seizures. So in the past I was stuck with gum that tastes like crap, or nicotine patches. E-cigs have been a Godsend for me.

 

[DocWyatt]

Don't get me started on anti-depressant drugs. I have known many people take them, including my mother. People end up with boxes of that crap and they do zero. They clearly should be all banned. At best they simply hide the problem. At worst they slowly kill your will to live. They are pathetic.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Don't get me started on anti-depressant drugs. I have known many people take them, including my mother. People end up with boxes of that crap and they do zero. They clearly should be all banned. At best they simply hide the problem. At worst they slowly kill your will to live. They are pathetic.

Doc, I couldn't agree more with you! I spent years on anti-depressants. The worst was when I was on Welbutrin and Depakine. I turned into a zombie and went from Honors in college to dropping out. That was three years ago. I quit taking those drugs and finally finished my degree. Honestly, I feel so much better without the drugs!