Our nicotine dependent loved ones

[John R. Polito]

Has nicotine grown millions of extra neurons in the brain of your loved one? Are they chemical slaves to nicotine? Are you forced to watch as they destroy a bit more of their body's ability to receive and transport life giving oxygen with each new puff? I write in hope that you might use a bit of the below info to reach out and help save the life of that very very special person.

There are over one billion comfortable ex-smokers alive on earth today and it was dreams and desires of freedom, not strength or willpower, that allowed them to break nicotine's grip upon their brain's reward pathways. What self-taught lesson about the power of one puff of nicotine did most eventually come to appreciate that your family member or loved one continues to miss?

What will they learn from the next quick fix magic cure that fails to perform as promised? What teaching does a nicotine lozenge, an adhesive nicotine patch, nicotine gum, Zyban, Wellbutrin, hypnosis and/or acupuncture actually do? Who will your loved one hand their hard earned money to next and after it’s gone what learning will have transpired?

Can you briefly study cessation yourself to determine their level of understanding? Let's use the nicotine patch as an example. Just how effective do they think it really is in helping smokers quit? The following link is to a March 2003 medical study abstract, and discussion, that combined the results of all over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine patch studies to date and concluded that only 7% were still not smoking at six-months. Is the fact that the OTC nicotine patch and gum produce 93% odds of relapse an important piece of decision-making information?

http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/12/1/21#88

What is the chemical relationship between nicotine and caffeine? Why will the caffeine user's blood serum caffeine level skyrocket to 203% of pre-quitting baseline within 24 hours of ending all nicotine use? How might this factor play a destructive role in making quitting seem almost impossible for heavy caffeine users, and how is it easily corrected without giving up caffeine?

What is the relationship between nicotine and adrenaline? Why can many nicotine addicts skip breakfast and lunch for their entire smoking life and yet almost never sense true hunger? How can this interaction result in wild blood-sugar swing symptoms that can make quitting seem almost impossible for those skipping meals, and how do they correct it without adding lots of extra pounds?

And don't forget education associated with appreciating the immediate damage and accelerated bodily destruction occurring with each and every puff of smoke containing over 3,500 chemical particles, 500 gases, 43 known carcinogens, massive quantities of carbon monoxide, and what most dependency scientists now consider the most perfectly designed agent of addiction on earth - nicotine.

Why on average is a smoker's skin 25 to 40% thinner than a non-smoker’s? Why do their broken bones take an average of 50 days longer to heal? Why does the average adult smoker look five years older than their age and why far more wrinkles? Why will they end-up with fewer teeth, less hair, worse hearing, more bone loss, and poorer eye-sight than their non-smoking counterpart? Why is vascular disease a bigger annual killer of smokers than lung cancer? Unless they quit, why will 50% of the smokers you see today each die roughly 5,000 days early, and 25% of them an average of 8,212.5 days early? Why?

Above are just a few examples - among hundreds and hundreds - of nicotine dependency/cessation factors that when pieced together can make your loved one taking back control of their brain's dopamine reward pathways far easier than they ever imagined possible. But when did they take the time to read the instructions that came with their addiction?

My name is John and I, along with scores of others, help facilitate nicotine cessation at one of the internet's growing array of free education and group support forums. In the lower right corner at WhyQuit.com - or http://WhyQuit.org - you'll see a link to a directory of all the major "FREE" online quit smoking forums. If you find any site listed soliciting funds please drop us a line and also contact this forum’s administrator and have this post immediately removed, as we are strongly opposed to all solicitations and donation requests associated with providing online addiction recovery motivation, education or support.

Why would any nicotine dependent human worry about SARS, or even wearing seatbelts for that matter, when there is a very high likelihood (greater than 50%) that their chemical dependency will in the end deprive them of roughly 5,000 sunrises, just as it did to over 4,900,000 during the past twelve months. If it does, it will have done so because they never realized or failed to accept that they knew almost nothing about their addiction or the process of chemical and psychological recovery.

You may want to build a skyscraper but if you don't know how it can prove rather challenging. Knowledge is power!

Oh, there's one very important thing you need to know in trying to help. We nicotine addicts have a love/hate relationship with our drug and will resist to our death "all" offers of help. You see, it's every chemical slaves dream to quit for our own reasons, in our own time, on our own terms, in our own way, and as a result of our own planning, intelligence and follow-through! You must understand that we cannot quit for you, for our doctor or because of fear. It must be for us!

Thus, the secret to helping us is in not letting us know that you have in fact played a major role in our dream. The addict's mind must believe that it found the key to the cell, that allowed us to trade places with and successfully arrest our dependency.

So how can you be involved in our dependency education without us realizing that you had a big hand in things? It isn't easy. In fact doing so and keeping it secret for life (which you may need to do in order to avoid the risk of "lost dream" relapse) is a tremendous challenge. But, you love us and that love will find a loving way to connect. I wish you well.

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,

John R. Polito



Canadian Government's cigarette pack addiction warning label

[Roy Collins]

Thanks John, My faith in humanity has been renewed!

[John R. Polito]

Thanks Roy. A recovered thirty-year three-pack-a-day addict myself, who fought hard in at least a dozen attempts lasting longer than a day, I've done some permanent damage. Yes, it's true, even before package warnings at the age of 15 (back in 1969) I had a very basic understanding that smoking was unhealthy. What they forgot to teach us was the power of that amazing chemical comprising just 5% of tobacco's dry weight, and how it would quickly deprive us of the ability to simply turn and walk away.

Instead they taught me that smoking was a "nasty little habit." Oh how I wish that were true! Oh, how I wish youth today here in the U.S. were seeing the same warning as teens in Canada. I understand a bill has been pending in the U.S. Congress for years but that the tobacco industry has fought it every step of the way. By the way, Canadian youth use and dependency rates are falling at an amazing rate while here in my home state they continue to rise : (

There's only one rule that guarantees success to all - no nicotine today, Never Take Another Puff!

Breathe, hug hard, live long, John

[Roy Collins]

John, it is you that I thank for caring so much about helping others. Please continue your crusade to end tobacco addiction.

A friend of mine was telling me that she met a woman in the waiting room of her heatlh center who was waiting for her son to finish his latest exam regarding his on-going tongue cancer battle. The doctor and her son soon came out together with the sad news that the cancer had spread into his jaw and that they needed to schedule for treatment. The woman started to cry and turned to my friend who held her next to her.

My friend asked her if the cancer was caused by smoking. The woman said that her son (who was in his 40's!) never smoked but that his father was a heavy chain smoker. She said the doctor told her that the cancer was from SECOND HAND SMOKE!!!

See my article in the Article section here at cybermacro on smoking. I too suffer from bladder cancer and my doctor said that it was caused from tobacco as well. It is strange that for some reason many macrobiotics still don't believe that tobacco causes cancer. Even stranger is that others object to having good information posted here that might help people quit the habit regardless if what for it was submitted.

Due to this controversy I have decided to relinguish my position as moderator of the health forum at cybermacro. If your post can help to save one life then it is worth it to me. Thank you again for re-submitting the information.

In peace, Roy

[John R. Polito]

Forgive me if I side-step your earlier debate as I understand why both smokers and comfortable ex-smokers often feel threatened by discussions of chemical dependency, methods of recovery, and their mind's honest yet selective recall of their own cessation history. It's normal and expected with this topic and I do hope that my reason for being here isn't used by any side sensitive to these issues as victims are sensitive too.

You might want to glance at our forum rules, Roy, as even there we quickly learned that debate over tobacco company culpability, debate that vilifies $$$ seeking pharmaceutical companies, or even regarding such issues as how far social controls should go in deterring smoking, were destructive and divisive of the group cessation experience and contrary to our primary group objective - supporting each other in staying nicotine free today!

Briefly turning to your comments about addiction I'd like to share the words that Philip Morris now has posted on its website -

A clear and consistent message

Cigarette smoking is addictive. It can be very difficult to quit but, if you are a smoker, this shouldn't stop you from trying to do so.

Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious diseases in smokers. Smokers are far more likely than non-smokers to develop diseases such as lung cancer. There is no such thing as a "safe" cigarette.

"Smoking is dangerous and addictive."
Link to Philip Morris International Website Health Page

As for secondhand smoke issue, Roy, the risks with secondhand smoke may be very real but they don't begin to compare to the magnitude of the risks you and I subjected ourselves to sucking down mainstream smoke - for example a 2,200% increase in the risk of male lung cancer, with substantially elevated risks to every part of the body that smoking's deadly cargo was transported, including the bladder and penis.

I'm sometimes told that I'm into scare tactics. If given the opportunity, I reply that I don't need to use scare tactics as tobacco's truth is scary enough. The day that I share one more story like Bryan's and Noni's than is actually happening (scare tactics) would be a welcome day indeed. You see, the U.N. says that there are over 4,000,000 destroyed lives a year and I share but a few.

No, I remember what it was like to feel invaded when forced to confront the truth. No, I would have felt angry if someone tried to convince me that I was still a "real" drug addict and just one powerful puff away from setting into motion the wheels of relapse. No, I can fully appreciate honest anger, when others fail to take seriously, or try silence or erase, a risk that very nearly cost me my life.

Years and years of active dependency. This is an extremely personal to over one billion of us. Should we expect it to be otherwise? I think not!



Link to Bryan's Story - He Wanted You to Know!

[Roy Collins]

Hi John. Thanks again for the information. I have done extensive research on tobacco addiction as well and agree with your findings. Dependency in any form is slavery, and slavery is exactly what macrobiotics is NOT about.

Recently it was reported in the local newspapers that people who work in bars and restaurants that allow smoking have up to 5 times the rate of cancer than people who work in other establishments -- regardless if they smoke or not. So second hand smoke is becomming just as deadly as first-hand smoke.

My greatest concern is for the innocent children who live with parents that smoke and can do nothing about it. My youngest daughter works both as a waitress and bar tender which concerns me as well but she couldn't care less. Kidz! I would be really distraught if got bit by the cancer bug.

How do you feel about the recent smoking bans in some of the bars and eating establishments in some of the major cities? Should WE be controlling what consenting adults want? Is it too much government interference? It appears from the start that most of these businesses have not been hurt by the bans.

I gotta run and probably won't be posting here as frequently as I did when I was the moderator. I'll check back here in a week or so to see whats going on. By the way, someone by the name of Sherry posted here about a week ago looking for information on ways to decrease her heightened sensitivity to smells after quitting cigarettes. These smells were making her nauseous. Beside having her drink hot ginger tea (perhaps with a little honey or rice syrup) for a short time, what woould you recommend to her (and others with the same question).

In peace, Roy

[julie]

Thanks for the information on second hand smoke effects. My husband doesn't think second hand smoke is harmful. My husband has this friend who smokes and I forbid the guy to smoke around my house so my kids wouldn't breath the smoke. I really had to put up a fight but my husband finally told the guy to he could not come to our house and smoke. Still, my husband will be around when they go elsewhere and he smokes. He just doesn't think second hand smoke is harmful. On another note, even though there are separate smoking and nonsmoking sections in some restaurants the smoke still invades the nonsmoking section and it bothers me alot.

julie

[Bruce Paine]

John,

Thank you again for reposting your message, and those pictures (they are quite revealing!).

If you look over at the thread "Macrobiotics + Cigarettes?" ( Macrobiotics + Cigarettes? ), you will find an attitude that is still prevalent among many of the older long time macrobiotic people who are still smoking.

The general belief and attitude in the macrobiotic movement, has been for the longest time, that smoking tobacco does not cause cancer, but instead cancer is caused by eating out of balance (and unhealthily) and that the cancer grows on the cesspool of waste products deposited in the body.

Many macrobiotic people believe that if they (regularly) eat miso soup with sea weed, and other dishes containing seaweed, plus eat a diet containing 50 or more percent of organic whole grains (much of it being brown rice), temperate climate quality vegetables, and the rest of the foods recommended in a healing standard macrobiotic diet by Michio Kushi (still an avid smoker, himself), that one shouldn't get cancer or any other diseases related to smoking or breathing secondhand (sidestream) smoke.

As an ex-smoker who got bronchitus related to smoking before doing macrobiotics, and who never had any congestion or respiratory problems (besides the fact that I was quite thin [seven feet tall and weighing less than 200 pounds for 14 years!]) during the time that I was eating a suggested macrobiotic diet (while following the philosophy of yin and yang), I find it difficult to refute the evidence as it relates to macrobiotics and smoking, while at the same time understanding that within the context of people who haven't been eating macrobiotically (fatty foods including meat, poultry, dairy, plus acid vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, plus tropic fruits, plus refined grains and flour products, plus all the refined sugars, and extremely acidifying beverages such as coffee and black tea, plus all the alcoholic beverages, drugs, and chemicals in both medicines and also foods consumed daily, I can easily understand for these folks that it is highly likely that they will be very suceptable to various diseases including lung cancer.

The point that I brought up in an earlier incarnation of this forum: WebBBS Archive: "Is smoking macrobiotic?" ( http://www.cybermacro.com/forums/mainold/151.shtml ) back in January of 1999, was that these beliefs that I was taught to accept, are still very strong in the macrobiotic movement and was wondering how to get macrobiotic teacher/counselorss to stop teaching student and clients to start or continue smoking, as well as making our common use areas difficult to be in when these people do smoke there (I once restarted smoking in the Winter of 1986-7 when I found myself relaxing in the living room of a building owned by a well known macrobiotic teacher/counselor watching a video when he walked in and started smoking [many years before that [1974-5] I asked him "Why do you smoke?" and he replied, "Because I enjoy it!".])

Since I lived in one of his buildings (both of those times) and also was fed there, I found myself too intimidated to confront him and also about all the people he influenced to start or continue to smoke.

Several other macrobiotic teacher/counsellors advised me to stop smoking in the intervening years, and I quit for a year or two but started again spurred by different circumstances.

As I have recounted before, I quit cold-turkey about 16 years ago, and while I am glad that I am smoke-free and don't smell like a cigarette butt, I would have been better off, I feel if I had gradually quit (like over a few days or a week as I was smoking hand-rolled cigarettes made from sugar-free and possibly unadulterated tobacco) while doing something to replace it like more exercise, meditation, and cooking (at the time that I quit cold turkey, I was living in a facility for the homeless, where 50 or more men were sleeping on cots, and maybe a dozen or so of them would get up and smoke a cigarette on the perimeter of that room [in the middle of the snowy winter , with little venilation] and the air had visible layers to it, I had trouble sleeping and it made me sooo angry that I vowed never to smoke again.

I believe that macrobiotics is about freedom though when others violate our freedoms again and again, sometimes we need to speak out, instead of just run away as I have done so many times before in my life.

While I feel that macrobiotic foods, diet, and philosophy (yin and yang, Unique Principle, Order of the Universe, 5 Element Theory, and all that) can help one to heal from many ailments and diseases and maybe can also aleviate the symptoms cause by dirty habits like smoking, I feel that people who smoke around others in our common space are arrogant, insensitive, unthoughtful, and maybe deserve to be thrown out of our common space until they can learn to respect it.

During all the years that I smoked while doing macrobiotics I never whined or complained when I was asked to take it outside (in a matter of fact, for a number of years I carried a little portable ashtray in my pocket) but now I am seeing millions of people being forced to go outside (and some of them I'm having to chase downwind from me as I am squeegeeing the outside windows of the establishments of my customers) and most of the are whining.

I feel that macrobiotically oriented peopl can quit gradually (and permanently) if the are doing it for their own reasons, if they are clear about not smoking, and if they find activities that support them at not smoking (obviously staying in close physical contact with smokers does not help one to quit smoking!).

I can easilly see how persons who do not practice macrobiotics might have a more difficult time quitting smoking (if one is eating a mixture of foods that together do not create balance, smoking becomes a very attractive artificial mechanism to try to somehow achieve that balance), and who represent by far (maybe more than 99% of the smoking population) greater numbers, how they might need to quit by cold turkey methods (most of those people need religions and philosophies presenting them with absolute values, with little flexibility) but people doing macrobiotics may find flexibilty to be of a greater use.

Macrobiotics does not believe in absoluely bad foods and since any substance we ingest can be considered a food then cigarettes can be considered a food.

It may be a food to avoid but in a philosophy that involves choice we can choose to or not consume it.

I haven't eaten a cheese or tomato pizza in over 10 years (and I love the texture, the chewyness, and the convenience of pizza), nor any ice cream in more than 6 years (and I love the soft, cool, easy to eat feel of ice cream) and there are many more foods that I love and don't eat because of the negative effects that I have after consuming them, so I don't and the same thing applies to cigarettes.

If any of the newer macrobiotic people wish to quit smoking I say yes but trying doing it gently.

Not every disease needs to be surgically removed or bombarded with chemicals, and not every cigarette smoker needs to quit cold turkey.

John, I imagine that you first came and posted at this macrobiotic site either becausen you were interested in macrobiotics, or because someone here invited you to do so, or because you were looking for smoking being discussed in discussion sites via search engines, or who knows(?), but this macrobiotics movement is not like the other groups where the folks might alll have a different activity as the basis of their group but all pretty much have the same dietary philosophy and practice (like having a Big Mac when they are hungry or a glass of milk [does everybody really need milk?] when they are thirsty).

My point being tha macrobiotics approaches life from a different context and it is quite possible that many people involved in it might take a different path to resolve their addictions, habits, and non-useful practices.

I'm saying that just stopping may not be the best solution, for all macrobiotic people.

No one is advised to abruptly start macrobiotics, and eat all the recommended foods immediately in a balanced way, but instead to transition into it while slowly eliminating the unhelpful foods, the drugs, chemicals, supplements and everything that deters one from following an easy balanced macrobiotic practice.

Can you understand what I am saying?

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long.

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[HeidiO]

Bruce,

I know it has been awhile since this post, but I recently found this forum, and I am catching up on lost time.

Thank you for your reply on the infamous part of macrobiotics: the connection between smoking and the various macrobiotic persons. I have always been confused by this, yet I understand the yin/yang connection.

I can't imagine how you dealt with living in a macrobiotic teacher's house, and he pulls out the cigs. I have heard the stories before, and it continues to amaze me.

Personally, I think your strongest point was this one:

"I haven't eaten a cheese or tomato pizza in over 10 years (and I love the texture, the chewyness, and the convenience of pizza), nor any ice cream in more than 6 years (and I love the soft, cool, easy to eat feel of ice cream) and there are many more foods that I love and don't eat because of the negative effects that I have after consuming them, so I don't and the same thing applies to cigarettes."

Yes, we may enjoy the cool taste of ice cream, but it isn't good for us. We may enjoy the taste of cheese (although I no longer do), but it isn't good for our bodies. We may enjoy the experience of smoking, but we know we should not smoke. And we may enjoy the experience of using drugs or alcohol, but it is my hope that more people will realize that it does more harm than good.

I used to smoke. I used to drink. I just don't see the use for it anymore. There is more to life than this.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

-Heidi