Re: Pondering about Smoking

[Guest guest]

Hi. Thought I should respond to this one, since I have a strange experience

which relates. My two cents. I am not a doctor either...

BUT in 1994 I was all messed up with a busted hip that was rapidly

deteriorating and causing all sorts of pain. This went on for almost a year,

and about half way through that year, I began experiencing spasms. These

were spasms like I never dreamed existed, sometimes lasting 30-45 minutes.

All kinds of pain! The only way I could get the spasm to stop was to chain

smoke cigarettes. I would inhale as deeply as possible as quickly as

possible, until the pain would finally and suddenly disappear. This WAS

self-medicating to be sure since I did not want to become overly dependant

upon narcotics. The funny thing is that I wasn't a smoker when all that

began (and I am not now), I picked it up as a distraction. It then became a

sanity saver (pain can make you quite insane!).

Later, after I'd had my hip replaced and the spasms from

h--- were becoming a memory, I discussed the chain-smoking with a

neurologist. He laughed, saying that this made sense since the nicotine

stopped the pain message from reaching the brain...something about

restricting blood vessels and cutting off oxygen to the brain. I'm not sure

of the hows and whys, but I will say from personal experience that it does

work.

Now, I'm not sure if what I've written even relates to your pondering, Kat,

but it's there for you anyway. And I must add in closing that I DO NOT

recommend that others do this. I was desperate. Cigarettes are deadly. Peace

to all. Marc from Northern California (No, San Francisco is NOT Northern

California) ;0)

Pondering about Smoking

> From: KathleenLS@...

>

>

>

>

> << I smoke, but can't say if it affects my CMT or not, I really don't

think

> so. But I would have to stop in order to know for sure wouldn't I? >>

>

> I'm surprised by how many CMTers are smokers. The majority of the hundreds

of

> CMTers that I've met online SEEM to be smokers -- not that I know that

> statistically. It's a curiosity. In real life I don't have any smokers

among

> my friends or relatives now. (That's not intentional, just the way it is.)

I

> quit in 1960, before many of you were born!

>

> It has recently been discovered that nicotine helps some people who have

> certain Central Nervous System disorders, (CMT is Peripheral Nervous

System,

> not CNS), such as Tourettes and Multiple Sclerosis. Now researchers are

> rushing to find a way to use the benefits of nicotine without risking the

bad

> effects. They will probably administer it in a patch.

>

> Depressed people often (unconsciously) self-medicate with chocolate. I

wonder

> if something similar is going on with smoking ... Just wondering. As I

said,

> nicotine has NOT been shown to help disorders of the PNS, but I don't know

if

> they have looked into it. I'm NOT saying smoking is good, just that who

> knows what is going on? We know so little about so much!!

>

> Kat, thinking out loud on Sunday

>

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