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What nicotine does to your brain

economist.com

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Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#71

Post by pseudalopex »

nandomrumber wrote: post #42
sph wrote: post #6

I am diagnosed ADHD. I have used dexamphetamine as prescribed which worked pretty well, in moderate dosages because I am sensitive, but I came to dislike the effect it had on me: I felt like I was attached to a horse that kept pulling me around even when I just wanted to stop and take a break. And the fact that I would crash 5 hours later. In 2020, before even knowing I had ADHD, let alone being medicated, I managed…

My experience parallels yours. I’ve been intermittently using cutdown patches, and B vitamins + magnesium, in an effort to have fewer complete nut-job breaks from reality. Nicotine is a CNS stimulant, and cigarettes are somewhat of a fidget spinner, and social lubricant. What’s not to like. For most people, long term nicotine use is probably less deleterious than long term amphetamine use. More recently I starting te…

> Nicotine is a CNS stimulant, and cigarettes are somewhat of a fidget spinner, and social lubricant. What’s not to like.

This was a joke?

> For most people, long term nicotine use is probably less deleterious than long term amphetamine use.

You meant most people prescribed amphetamines for medical conditions? Or most people?Recreational nicotine use is less deleterious than recreational amphetamine use probably. Comparing therapeutic use would include sources ideally.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#72

Post by keymon-o »

ogig wrote: post #50
michelpp wrote: post #37

I caught covid for the first time in jan of 2024, the illness itself wasn't that bad for me, like a common cold, but the aftereffects lingered for months. Eventually my ability to smell and taste came back in a few weeks, but the mental brain fog would not let go. I would sleep over 12 hours a night and still be tired. According to my fitness tracker my daily step and energy burn counts were cut in half. It was so ba…

I suggest you to never try a real cigarette if you haven't already. Given that you are already addicted to nicotine the kick of the real deal could be too much to handle. And you don't want that habit, talking by experience. It's good that you found a drug that helps you, just don't inhale it.

I'd never suggest anyone to try a cigarette, but from my experience being addicted to nicotine is not easily translated to being addicted to cigarettes.

It takes a really different state of mind to start a cigarette habit especially due to awful taste and effect of ingesting a strong concentration of chemicals on your body that has nothing to do with dosed concentration of 'mostly just' nicotine.

It may be anecdotal and subjective reasoning, but I battled vape addiction differently than cigarette addiction. I'd classify tobacco addiction more of an emotional addiction, while vaping was more based on nicotine addiction which was more mechanical and predictable than the former.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#73

Post by sph »

eru wrote: post #22
andy_ppp wrote: post #8

TLDR; • Nicotine boosts attention, memory and alertness by releasing dopamine and other neurotransmitters. • It’s far less harmful than tobacco but highly addictive. • Some evidence hints at therapeutic effects in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia models. • Developing brains (foetus, adolescence) show lasting harm in animal studies.

Gwern's page ( https://gwern.net/nicotine ) and personal anecdata seems to go against the claims of nicotine by itself being addictive, especially 'highly addictive'. Smoking (or even vaping) might be 'highly addictive'. But nicotine as eg patches that you glue on your skin doesn't seem to cause much addiction, if any at all.

In my anecdotal experience with common stimulants, caffeine is much more addictive and with worse withdrawal symptoms than therapeutic amounts of nicotine or amphetamine.

That said, smoked tobacco blows these out of the water and it's taken me more than a decade to kick the habit.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#74

Post by pseudalopex »

nandomrumber wrote: post #51
ramon156 wrote: post #40

Brain fog for me became a lot less prevalent recently. I got no idea what it is but I don't want it to stop. I honestly think brain fog is mostly a mentality thing, but I have no evidence to back this up. It doesn't really matter what I eat. The only thing I changed was I started gymming again and I'm taking creatine. I still eat garbage food

Is it not well established that the single most beneficial activity to improve cognition & sense of wellbeing is weight training?

Beneficial? Yes. The single most beneficial activity? I would not claim this without sources.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#75

Post by nandomrumber »

pseudalopex wrote: post #74
nandomrumber wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not well established that the single most beneficial activity to improve cognition & sense of wellbeing is weight training?

Beneficial? Yes. The single most beneficial activity? I would not claim this without sources.

Nothing is stopping you from looking it up.

You can even perform the experiment yourself.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#76

Post by nandomrumber »

pseudalopex wrote: post #71
nandomrumber wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience parallels yours. I’ve been intermittently using cutdown patches, and B vitamins + magnesium, in an effort to have fewer complete nut-job breaks from reality. Nicotine is a CNS stimulant, and cigarettes are somewhat of a fidget spinner, and social lubricant. What’s not to like. For most people, long term nicotine use is probably less deleterious than long term amphetamine use. More recently I starting te…

> Nicotine is a CNS stimulant, and cigarettes are somewhat of a fidget spinner, and social lubricant. What’s not to like. This was a joke? > For most people, long term nicotine use is probably less deleterious than long term amphetamine use. You meant most people prescribed amphetamines for medical conditions? Or most people?Recreational nicotine use is less deleterious than recreational amphetamine use probably. Com…

What I meant was:

Transdermal nicotine prescribed or self-administered for treatment of ADHD / ADHD like symptoms is probably less deleterious for the same patients than an amphetamine prescription.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#77

Post by pseudalopex »

IAmBroom wrote: post #68
eru wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gwern's page ( https://gwern.net/nicotine ) and personal anecdata seems to go against the claims of nicotine by itself being addictive, especially 'highly addictive'. Smoking (or even vaping) might be 'highly addictive'. But nicotine as eg patches that you glue on your skin doesn't seem to cause much addiction, if any at all.

On the one hand, some webpage and you don't think it's addictive. OTOH, decades of research and thousands of peer-reviewed papers, plus the authority of NIH, WHO, and FDA - to name a few - say it is highly addictive.

How many of those papers studied non smokers' nicotine patch use?

Decades of research confirmed administration route affects addiction potential generally.

Injected amphetamine is highly addictive. Many people who ingest amphetamine most days forget it some days.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#78

Post by zingababba »

michelpp wrote: post #37

I caught covid for the first time in jan of 2024, the illness itself wasn't that bad for me, like a common cold, but the aftereffects lingered for months. Eventually my ability to smell and taste came back in a few weeks, but the mental brain fog would not let go. I would sleep over 12 hours a night and still be tired. According to my fitness tracker my daily step and energy burn counts were cut in half. It was so ba…

Lol, exact same story here except I caught covid very early days and started nicotine in 2023 after I stumbled upon the trials and anecdotes for the first time. Although unlike you I have tried quitting a few times and my brain fog absolutely comes back. The reason I would prefer not to do nicotine is for me (it seems like this is not the case for you) there is a very clear inflammatory aspect I cannot deny which impacts my exercise.

What is actually quite interesting to me is over the two years since I started nicotine I have grown increasingly disgusted with caffeine to the point where I just prefer not to take it any longer.

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#79

Post by pseudalopex »

nandomrumber wrote: post #75
pseudalopex wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beneficial? Yes. The single most beneficial activity? I would not claim this without sources.

Nothing is stopping you from looking it up. You can even perform the experiment yourself.

> Nothing is stopping you from looking it up.

You made the claim. Supporting it is your burden. And a few searches found no comparisons of weight training to other high intensity exercise. Or meditation. Or puzzles. Or nootropics.

> You can even perform the experiment yourself.

Is this a funding offer? Or ignorance of experiment design?

Re: What nicotine does to your brain

#80

Post by pseudalopex »

nandomrumber wrote: post #76
pseudalopex wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nicotine is a CNS stimulant, and cigarettes are somewhat of a fidget spinner, and social lubricant. What’s not to like. This was a joke? > For most people, long term nicotine use is probably less deleterious than long term amphetamine use. You meant most people prescribed amphetamines for medical conditions? Or most people?Recreational nicotine use is less deleterious than recreational amphetamine use probably. Com…

What I meant was: Transdermal nicotine prescribed or self-administered for treatment of ADHD / ADHD like symptoms is probably less deleterious for the same patients than an amphetamine prescription.

> Comparing therapeutic use would include sources ideally.
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