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Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

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Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#51
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After lung disease, the second largest consequence of tobacco smoking is heart disease, which is due to the nicotine itself.

It looks like about 1/3 of smoking-related deaths are due more to the nicotine than the smoke: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/heal... That's much higher than I'd assumed, and bad news for those who want to claim that e-cigarettes are essentially safe. EDIT: DanBC points out below[1] that it's wrong to assume the cardiovascular disease is caused primarily by nicotine, which is how I came to th…

I couldn't find that evidence anywhere in your link. A report by Public Health England estimated e-cigarettes to be at least 95% less harmful than combustible tobacco.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#52
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it more the delivery mechanism than the drug itself?

After lung disease, the second largest consequence of tobacco smoking is heart disease, which is due to the nicotine itself.

That hasn't been unequivocably established. For example, a 2016 review article "Cardiovascular Toxicity of Nicotine: Implications for Electronic Cigarette Use" published in Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine (http://sci-hub.cc/10.1016/j.tcm.2016.03.001) concluded:

> Studies of the pharmacology and toxicology of nicotine in animals and some epidemiologic studies in people support the biological plausibility that nicotine contributes to acute cardiovascular events in smokers with underlying CVD, and exerts pharmacologic effects that could contribute to accelerated atherogenesis. Short-term nicotine use, such as nicotine medication to aid smoking cessation, appears to pose little cardiovascular risk, even to patients with known CVD. Longer term nicotine use, such as in ST users, appears not accelerate atherogenesis, but may contribute to acute cardiovascular events in the presence of CVD.

"may contribute to acute cardiovascular events in the presence of CVD" is a far cry from being the sole (or even principle) cause of smoking-related cardiovascular disease.

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#53
post #38

Tangential self experimentation anecdote: I was intrigued by reports that nicotine can improve cognition in otherwise healthy people so I read through as many studies/articles I could find online. After deciding that I'd done enough research I took the plunge and began self experimenting with 2mg gum. I took it daily throughout the day at regular-ish intervals for around 2-3 months. The affects I experienced were as…

Have a doctor prescribe you a battery of kidney tests as this is one of the first organs damaged by high blood pressure.

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol: Anxiety disorders Marijuana: OCD Caffeine: ADHD

My understanding is that the association between marijuana use and anxiety is way way higher than between alcohol and anxiety

I think the idea is that if people didn't have access to alcohol, many of them would realize they have no good way to calm their nerves, and therefore realize they have anxiety issues.

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#55

“This defines a completely novel strategy for medication development,” says lead author As someone with schizoaffective problems and raging ADHD, I find quotes like this acutely annoying. I've told every psychiatrist I'eve ever dealt with about the experiential costs/benefits of smoking (and consuming various other recreational drugs). They all nod sagely and say things like 'but smoking is bad' (no shit Sherlock!) w…

> Of all the medical professionals I've ever dealt with, psychiatrists are the laziest and least imaginative.

Also the ones with the most power over patients.

A dangerous combination in my opinion.

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#56
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After lung disease, the second largest consequence of tobacco smoking is heart disease, which is due to the nicotine itself.

It looks like about 1/3 of smoking-related deaths are due more to the nicotine than the smoke: https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/heal... That's much higher than I'd assumed, and bad news for those who want to claim that e-cigarettes are essentially safe. EDIT: DanBC points out below[1] that it's wrong to assume the cardiovascular disease is caused primarily by nicotine, which is how I came to th…

Which part of your link, or the large surgeon general's report, say that "about 1/3 of smoking related deaths are due more to the nicotine than the smoke"?

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#57
post #5

Original DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.4274 Edit: Please read abandonliberty's comment below before reading mine. I didn't properly elucidate the position on the harms v. benefits tradeoff (net harm) the way abandonliberty did. My own opinion: it wouldn't be terribly surprising to see many harmful substances only be harmful to a majority subset of a population space, though that's why the scheduling system (…

Clarifying: Nicotine harms everyone. Net harm to a schizophrenic may be negative, but they are still harmed. "Self-medication hypotheses" exist for many abused substances. Rather than accusing the addicted of poor education, self control, or intelligence it argues (with mounting evidence) that there is a structural or genetic issue that contributes for some addictions. Ideally we would figure out the mechanism of act…

Bullshit. Nicotine in itself doesn't harm anyone, that's completely made up. On the contrary, a lot of people would be helped by getting more Nicotine into their system, preferably from eating veggies rather than smoking it.

Re: Nicotine Normalizes Brain Activity Deficits That Are Key to Schizophrenia

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol: Anxiety disorders Marijuana: OCD Caffeine: ADHD

Or just MJ for everything

If you can recommend a strain that helps with ADHD while still allowing you to be alert and cognizant, I would really like to know. I've been looking for years.
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