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Nicotine (2016)

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81–90 of 273 posts

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#81
post #73
post #32

After being on IRC for the best part of two decades (and the fringe groups who frequent the medium) I have seen the word “nootropics” banded about. The first time, I thought it was a fun idea but nothing I wanted, see; my brain is all I have so I dont much fancy experimenting with it- this is also why I avoided alcohol and coffee despite social pressures. The community that formed went away as quickly as it had been…

The best nootropic is really high quality, regular sleep, regular exercise, and good diet. If you don't have the basics down, no supplement will make up for it.

Agreed, and many of the supplements and drugs people are taking actually mess with sleep in a big way; so seems entirely counterproductive.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#82
The nicotine chemical is a natural pesticide manufactured by several species of tobacco plants, and in trace amounts within some peppers.

It is approximately 35 times more addictive than Heroin, and has an LD50 so lethal the contents of a few packs/mg of smokes would kill most adult users if they took it all at once.

Due to the intended role in nature, humans also use the compound for its mutagenic properties, and increased lethality in insecticides.

People are foolish, and addicts are experts at rationalizing self-destructive coping methods. Smoking/Vaping is primarily considered a disgusting habit in many western culture now, but is still plaguing the poor of many countries.

Get angry, quit cold turkey, and stay angry for 3 months... Then tell others to switch to rage-o-hol if they don't want skin like a dried out pear later in life.

I am sure people that generate 94% well structured LLM nonsense... also assume the side effects on their sites reputations will be negligible. The content makes it sound like a psychopath wrote it by the way. lol

Keep well our there, =)

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to nicotine poisoning. You are only supposed to chew until you get flavor, then suck on it like you would spitting tobacco except not spitting. When you get a craving, you chew a few more times. The symptoms you describe are classic nicotine poisoning symptoms. Sweats, expulsions of fluids, rapid heart rate, disorientation.

It also describes what I felt like the first time I ever tried a cigarette.

The disorientation is why most kids vape. Then they are addicted.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#84

I am a smoker. I wouldn't advise this. Before you get any stimulant effects. Which are minimal. You get very sick at first. By the time you have enough tolerance you are addicted physically. Some can quit easy but it can be a slippery slope. It's too risky as you don't know how hard it is to quit for you in advance. I've tried off and on to quit for 20 years at least. Don't do it, it's a lot of work to get past the s…

I started smoking at 12 and got completely hooked in a week. I also tried several times to quit. I quit for 3 months TWICE and started back up. I finally got off cigarettes with Juul. I also don't recommend nicotine. You'll likely be a customer for life.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#85
I agree very much with the addiction aspect being genetic. My mother has tried to quit cigarettes umpteen times and never been successful. Smokes multiple packs a day.

My dad has smoked here and there my whole life but mostly in the summer. He'll go all 6 months of winter (Minnesota) without smoking not wanting to be in the cold and not wanting to smoke in the house.

He never "needs" a smoke, unlike my mother. It's always "oh a smoke would be nice on this beautiful night".

I like to smoke a tobacco pipe and do so about 6-10 times a year. I think I got my dad's side of it

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#86

I was always fascinated by cigarettes and stole one when I was 10 and that was where my journey of addition to nicotine began. I now vape everyday and chew 2mg of gum if I’m on a plane or some other situation. I’ve tried to quit multiple times but I’m weak. I can go a few months but always get pulled back. IMO there are no benefits. If you never had nicotine and this link made you curious don’t. You will most likely…

It really seems to vary by person, perhaps genetic.

In university I used to bum cigarettes off people all the time and have one here and there, esp back when you could smoke at the club, at a rave, etc. before bylaws. I'd even buy a pack of cigarettes here and there, and then just...forget about them and never finish them. Sometimes I'd have a bit of a craving for two or three days after and just power through it, and that was that.

In the summer I'll smoke some pipe tobacco, and every few years smoke a cigar. Don't really crave after.

Before my older sister was born my father was a heavy smoker. When my mom got pregnant, he just quit, and that was that, never ever showed any interest in smoking again.

But then I've seen the very brutal suffering that I saw friends go through trying to quite their smoking habit. Just awful.

All said, I don't think nicotine is a wise thing to mess with. Vaping especially to me seems like a slippery slope because it kind of gives the vibe of a kind of "consequence-less" interaction with the drug. If you smoke a pipe or cigar, you stink, you might get a headache, and it actually costs quite a bit of $$. Vaping is set up to seem like this casual entertainment with few consequences. I'm glad my teens have so far ridiculed it and shown no interest.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#87
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine > Nicotine is highly addictive. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-n... > Is nicotine addictive? Yes. --- If nicotine wasn't addictive, why would people find that nicotine patches or nicotine gum helps with withdrawals from various tobacco products?

These sources do not address the claims made in the article.

You may be right, maybe those sources are examples of ones which mix up tobacco and nicotine.

Let's take it from the article instead:

> like all stimulants, nicotine may raise blood pressure somewhat, and is addictive to some degree, but the risks do not appear much more strikingly harmful than caffeine or modafinil

And:

> My take away is that there is addiction but it’s drastically overestimated by almost everyone and may been conflated with the habit-formation capability

I'm not criticizing the article, I'm disagreeing with the statement "nicotine is not addictive". I wouldn't have commented to disagree with a statement like "nicotine's addictiveness is exaggerated because it's conflated with tobacco's addictiveness", but that wasn't what goodluckchuck said

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine not addictive? That’s a bold claim.

The article cites some fairly convincing studies that the addictiveness is from tobacco’s other (non-nicotine) chemicals including MAOIs. Is smoking addictive? Absolutely, but not because it contains nicotine.

If nicotine wasn't addictive then kids who never used tobacco wouldn't get hooked on vape, which they do.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#89

I was always fascinated by cigarettes and stole one when I was 10 and that was where my journey of addition to nicotine began. I now vape everyday and chew 2mg of gum if I’m on a plane or some other situation. I’ve tried to quit multiple times but I’m weak. I can go a few months but always get pulled back. IMO there are no benefits. If you never had nicotine and this link made you curious don’t. You will most likely…

It really seems to vary by person, perhaps genetic. In university I used to bum cigarettes off people all the time and have one here and there, esp back when you could smoke at the club, at a rave, etc. before bylaws. I'd even buy a pack of cigarettes here and there, and then just...forget about them and never finish them. Sometimes I'd have a bit of a craving for two or three days after and just power through it, an…

You are absolutely correct. Most of my friends were able to quit while some are in the same situation as me. All I’m saying is don’t take the risk.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#90
post #73
post #32

After being on IRC for the best part of two decades (and the fringe groups who frequent the medium) I have seen the word “nootropics” banded about. The first time, I thought it was a fun idea but nothing I wanted, see; my brain is all I have so I dont much fancy experimenting with it- this is also why I avoided alcohol and coffee despite social pressures. The community that formed went away as quickly as it had been…

The best nootropic is really high quality, regular sleep, regular exercise, and good diet. If you don't have the basics down, no supplement will make up for it.

And once you have all that (assuming exercise is cardio), weight lifting has great mental health effects IME
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