Many moons ago, I posted a FAQ on smoking:

Should I stop smoking?
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7011036081/m/6...671000181#6671000181

Actually, it’s more of a non-FAQ, as it does not come up that often. I was just curious – what techniques have helped patients keep the habit?

Keep the habit?
I assume you meant kick the habit? LOL

Chantix has shown promising results in aiding the stoppage of nicotine dependence though it has also been linked to horrible side effects including psychosis and bad dreams. I would be cautious. Wellbutrin, or Zyban as it is called for the stop smoking aid, has also proved promising in some people.

It is best to stop smoking prior to a major surgery to aid in the healing process. Many surgeons are refusing to operate anymore unless patients give up smoking.

Terry Newton

Terry,

You are correct on that. Not only does my surgeon "demand" that a patient be smoke free, I've also heard him tell patients that if they do not lose excessive weight, he will not do surgery. I've actually heard him tell a hip replacement candidate, "You’ve got another 30 to lose. Come back in a couple months and we will talk."

I guess with all the "sue" happy people around, I can't blame them.

Thanks you all. How about the patches, hypnosis, other fancy tricks!? That said, this is for an 80 year-old, so easy is better.

http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif

Patches work fairly well, so does the replacement gum. I would not put an aged man on Chantix. Even the Zyban might be stretching it. Hypnosis works on some though I am not sure it is all that effective for aged folks as they are a little more rigid in their ways and not very susceptible to suggestion.

Terry Newton

Hi Harrison,
I can't think of an easy way to quit. I agree that Dr's run from smokers and I knew I needed help that I didn't want something stupid to stand in my way. I think my Dr. still sniffs me.

Just about the only sure thing is you are guaranteed to fail.

First I tried cold turkey and there was a telephone help line (maybe Red Cross) I called to get the message of the hour.
Then I tried brushing my teeth all day. The Ex. said I was smoking and drinking away our vacation home. Then the gum came out and I tried that. Then I tried changing all my habits, exercise, quit alcohol and threw out all tobacco, matches and ash trays. I failed for 17 yrs.

Next was a mix of all the above and I have 10 yrs. 7 mos and 16 days on earth smoke free.

Looking back, the only failure is not to try.

JL, ya give me hope !!!

It's a nasty nasty habit that is very tough to quit.

Every time I fail it takes me a while to climb back on the horse and try again... but I keep trying.

Wellbutrin worked the BEST for me, but I had to stop it due to insurance coverage changes and the urges came rushing back immediately after stopping the meds. I've tried the patches , gum and cold turkey and so far nothing has come close to the Wellbutrin in easing the cravings. However a second go with Wellbutrin had NO effect what so ever.

I've talked with my docs about Chantix but with being on Nortriptylyn and Lyrica they don't want me on it.. so I'm gearing up for another gum session soon.

Harrison, both Wellbutrin and Chantix have some pretty significant side effects, especially on mood swings and mental outlooks. I also find the patches really affect your sleep habits. Just an fyi from someone who keeps trying. http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_frown.gif

Thanks everyone. It looks like a tough battle. This being America, with Big Pharma so capable, I was thinking everything would be so easy with just one pill a day!?

Sarcasm implied. http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common.../icon_razz.gif

Just remember, even the best product for smoking cessation is only about 40% successful according to the literature I've read .

The clinical trials on Chantix, each member had one on one counseling therapy available through out the trials. And with the patch and gum, the problems I have read about claim folks quit smoking only to become addicted to the patch or gum. Just a different mode of delivery for the nicotine, albeit a healthier one no doubt.

First off all smoking is not a habit.......it's an addiction and, a cigarette is the delivery system for the drug, nicotine. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to man. I've seen people sober up from drugs and alcohol over the last thirty years in addiction medicine and many never quit smoking.

The biggest key is the American Lung Associations adage of; "Don't quit quitting." One of these times you will be successful. Sometimes it takes a shotgun approach to quit which means utilizing many things in combination to quit. Medication, counseling, life-style changes, exercise, support groups, sponsor, meditation books, subliminal tapes, etc. It takes what it takes.

Terry Newton

How does cannabis use affect the spine? I know alot of medical marijuana patients use cannabis to relieve the pain and alot of them smoke it as opposed to using a tincture, or a food. Smoking cannabis may help relieve the pain, but could smoking cannabis have the same adverse affect that nicotine does on the disk cells? Of course the least safest way to use cannabis is to smoke it. Since there is alot of misinformation about medical marijuana, I wonder if spine patients are smoking cannabis thinking it is OK? If a spine patient chooses to use medical marijuana, I personally think they should be eating it or using a tincture given the dangers of inhaling smoke. New Jersey may be passing a medical marijuana law and I think alot of people with back pain will turn to cannabis while not being informed of the issues concerning smoking it.

Does cannabis smoking deprive disc cells of nutrients like nicotine smoking does?

I know each illness is different. For example, there are alot of cancer patients that prefer not to eat cannabis because they are throwing up all the time so eating anything would be a waste. A friend of mine with cancer was prescribed Marinol but he was constantly throwing up so the pill never stayed down. He finally got his appetite back by using a cannabis tincture that he squirted under the tongue.

I knew a MS patient who preferred smoking it to loosen up her stiff arms & legs quickly.

Back patients who use cannabis should probably not be smoking it.

Does using a cannabis vaporizer affect the spine since there is no smoke? Is a vaporizer safe for spine patients?

Michigan has a ballot proposal for the upcoming election on medical marijuana. I am very opposed to it the way the bill is written. I would not have any qualms for end of life pain with cancer or some other debilitating illness like MS. The way our bill is written is that it could be used for many different things including chronic pain. I am opposed to that due to the smoking issue as it is a carcinogen. The other thing is the last part of the bill says the following:

"Permit registered and unregistered patients and primary caregivers to assert medical reasons for using marijuana as a defense to any prosecution involving marijuana."

This is basically a large loophole that allows anyone who gets caught smoking pot to claim it is for medicinal purposes. It's going to pass with flying colors. Then we will have to hire all kinds of people to monitor the registering of people to use it, watch the physicians who are prescribing it, pay attention to the people who are growing it to make sure they can, also to make sure they are only growing for their own consumption. Tediousness in it's highest form when our State is bankrupt to begin with.

Maybe all drug use needs to be decriminalized instead of legalizing the use of drugs. Treat it as a public health issue rather than trying to control what people put in their bodies. We have become the most incarcerated country in the world due to the failed war on drugs. It is not a war on drugs to begin with as it is really a war on people.

Bottom line is that smoking is bad for you period. Whether you are smoking cigarettes or, smoking pot.

All my humble opinion of course. ;)

Terry Newton

I gave up smoking 11 years ago and it nearly killed me!! I went cold turkey with my husband after the funeral of a friend (from the US) aged 51 years died of lung cancer. I had tried to give up really since I started and having done 3 years 2 years an another 2 years on the gum (I loved the gum but as soon as I tried coming off it I started smoking again). I smoked from a very early age , reasearch shows that the teenage smoking experince can be very powerful and that this makes it more difficult to give up later in life. I started with a few puffs from my parents cigs around 10- 11 years then regular 10 a day by 13 like all my family (of 10 ) It is extremely hard to give up and the biggest achievement of my life.

It beats all I have achieved in education and my career and anything else I have done because it was so hard won. I know exactly the battle and members of my family are still struggling to achieve it. One with Champix (we call it in UK) the other with patches and the sniffer both struggling. All I can say is if you keep on trying you will get there in the end it took a year before I even smiled , I felt bereft and nothing could fill the void. It sounds dramatic but its so addictive to some people and those are the ones needing the most help.

I have a friend in her late 60's and she is using gum and does not intend to come off it. I dont blame her she knows she will smoke if she does. She tried Champix and felt suicidal and paranoid/ The gum doeds for her, its better than inhaling all those chemicals. Good luck to all of you who are trying I admire you and believe you will do it Maz

I agree that smoking is not a good way to injest cannabis. The dispenseries in California (and other states) offer cannabis cookies, brownies and tinctures for patients who choose not to smoke and want safe cannabis products.
Would anyone be against a patient eating cannabis to ease their back pain?
I've tried cannabis tincture and it absolutely helped. It was given to me by a MS patient who's quality of life was improved from it. If NJ passes this bill, I will not smoke it, but I will eat it like cancer & MS patients do. I hope someone has an answer about my vaporizor question as that may become an option for patients down the road.
Is Michigan going to receive any tax revenue from this?
It seems like there would be alot of people looking for licenses to run dispenseries and they should be taxed to help our struggling economy. It also seems that there will be more tax revenue coming in and less money being spent on enforcement.

Why would people need to be hired to monitor the patients and doctors? Nobody monitors me & my doctor now, and he is prescribing DEADLY Oxycontin at the tune of 510 pills per month. Should somebody be coming to my home now to make sure I am using the correct amount of Oxycontin? Why would someone need to monitor someone else taking a benign natural remedy when there is no monitor for the deadly drugs most of us take now? I feel it should be between the doctor & the patient.

I know what you are saying but, because it is a schedule 1 drug, it ranks up there with heroin for law enforcement purposes:

1. The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse.
2. The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
3. There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

The Oxycontin you are referring to is medically approved.

As far as your question of a vaporizer, I am not sure if that form is going to be available to Michigan users. I am also unaware if they are going to tax revenue made off of it. I would doubt it if they are as they are not talking about having marijuana dispensaries like in California. I believe it is supposed to be grown for consumption purposes not to exceed 12 plants. That's a lot of plants allowed. I would have less of a problem with tincture and vaporizer type applications rather than smoking which causes it's own share of medical problems.

Terry Newton

Here is a recent petition that makes alot of sense to me about rescheduling, (written by someone much smarter than me) It seems it should have been rescheduled in 1996:

Re: Petition for Marijuana Rescheduling

Dear Sir/Madam:
You are hereby notified that the current scheduling of marijuana in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1308.11 Schedule I, is in violation of federal law, Title 21 United States Code, Section 903, and you must immediately cease and desist enforcement of the illegal regulation of marijuana until marijuana is correctly scheduled or removed from the schedules entirely.

Failure of the Drug Enforcement Administration to cease and desist enforcement of the illegal regulation of marijuana within 30 days will result in a federal civil injunction being filed against the Drug Enforcement
Administration in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

MEMORANDUM OF LAW

It is established federal law that the states, and not the federal government, determine accepted medical practice. Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006); 21 U.S.C. § 903. Twelve states have determined that marijuana has accepted medical use. Rescheduling of marijuana should have been automatically triggered in 1996 when California enacted the first state law accepting the medical use of marijuana.
In Grinspoon v. DEA, 828 F.2d 881, 886 (1st Cir. 1987), the U.S. Court of Appeals told the DEA that a controlled substance cannot be scheduled in Schedule I if it has accepted medical use anywhere in the United States (". . . Congress did not intend 'accepted medical use in treatment in the United States' to require a finding of recognized medical use in every state . . ."), which proves the states, and not the federal government, determine accepted medical practice.

In Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics v. DEA, 930 F.2d 936, 939 (D.C. Cir. 1991), the U.S. Court of Appeals told the DEA that there is no federal definition of "accepted medical use" (". . . neither the statute nor its legislative history precisely defines the term 'currently accepted medical use' . . ."), which proves the states, and not the federal government, determine accepted medical practice.

In United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, 532 U.S. 483, 492 (2001), the U.S. Supreme Court told the DEA it could not put marijuana in Schedule I if marijuana had any accepted medical use:
Schedule I is the most restrictive schedule (footnote omitted). The Attorney General can include a drug in schedule I only if the drug "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States," "has a high potential for abuse," and has "a lack of accepted safety for use . . . under medical supervision." §§ 812(b)(1)(A)-(C). Under the statute, the Attorney General could not put marijuana into schedule I if marijuana had any accepted medical use.

In Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that Congress put marijuana in Schedule I. But Schedule I is only the "initial" schedule for marijuana. Congress never said the initial schedules were permanent. 21 U.S.C. § 811(a) requires the DEA to "add to", "transfer between", or "remove" substances from the schedules as necessary. See 21 U.S.C. § 812(c) (". . . Initial schedules of controlled substances Schedules I, II, III, IV, and V shall, unless and until amended pursuant to section 811 of this title . . ."). Ms. Raich did not tell the DEA it could not put marijuana into schedule I, but the DEA should not have to be told that it must obey a federal law. The DEA should have rescheduled marijuana in 1996 and was legally obligated to do so at that time.

In Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court told the DEA that a federal interpretive rule cannot conflict with an accepted state medical practice. The DEA cannot create an administrative rule that conflicts with 21 U.S.C. § 903, and it cannot maintain an existing regulation that conflicts with 21 U.S.C. § 903.

Marijuana, temporarily scheduled by Congress in 21 U.S.C. § 812, Schedule I(c)(10) in 1970, has been incorrectly classified in 21 C.F.R. § 1308.11(d)(22) since 1996 because it no longer fits the criteria for inclusion in Schedule I as set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 812(b)(1)(A)-(C):
Schedule I. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.
Because marijuana has been incorrectly scheduled since 1996, the DEA must immediately cease and desist the enforcement of the illegal regulation of marijuana until the federal scheduling has been corrected.

Respectfully yours,
__________________________
Carl Olsen 130 E Aurora Ave
Des Moines, IA 50313-3654

E-Cigarettes
 

I have been smoking for 30 plus years - not something I'm proud of, and WOW, is it hard to quit. I actually take Wellbutrin for depression, and it's had no effect whatsoever on my smoking. I've tried gum, patches, hypnosis, herbal supplements, cold turkey and finally, e-cigarettes. The e-cigarettes, of course, depend on you actually USING them, but they are a great alternative. They cost a little less than actually smoking, and can cost a lot less if you figure out how to refill your own cartomizers, which I have. I buy my supplies here - Vapage E-Cigarettes, E-Cigs, Disposable E-Cigs & Electronic Cigarette. And they sell the e-liquid to refill the cartomizers here - KB Results. I use the "Cig2O" brand. I am having trouble using them consistently, but am forging ahead and believe this is my best chance of quitting. Right now, I alternate between the e-cigs and the real ones. That may not work for everyone - the temptation to have the real thing is pretty strong sometimes, but I have cut way back on my smoking even so. Goal is still to quit. Does anyone know if the nicotine alone is OK if you are having ADR? I already have severe DDD throughout my spine and severe stenosis with myelopathy in four cervical levels. If anyone has more questions about the e-cigarettes, feel free to message me.

Thanks for the information, it will help others. Nicotine in chewing gum may be OK, but I am not sure (my hunch is that it is). Ask your doc.

Also, have you heard of these? Some people say it helps diminish the craving:

Amazon.com: Thursday Plantation - Tea Tree Australian Chewing Sticks, 100 sticks: Health & Personal Care

Also good for your oral health, so it's a win-win.

When you can, pls see to this: http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f58...-health-11053/ ;)

Signature Done - Whew
 

Thanks for the reminder - all done. Took me a bit to get it whittled down! I think that's why I hadn't tackled it yet : ) All is well now....and thank you for the idea on the chewing sticks! Looks like a real option!

Just my .02
 

For future reference, nicotine is a vasoconstrictor. Therefore slowing the flow of blood to the healing areas. So, when the docs say quit smoking, they mean quit with nicotine too (in pretty much all forms).

The good news for those that do want to use the e-cig (or as I call it, personal vaporizer device) is that there are zero nicotine options as well. I quit the day after I received my approval letter from my insurance. I promised the universe that if it could pull off the miracle of getting a 2 level lumbar ADR approved then I'd certainly quit smoking to give healing its absolute best chance. I didn't come this far in the fight to shoot myself in the foot. ; )

However I am also a realist and having my little vaper has helped tremendously in being able to stick 100% to my promise (absolutely cigarette & nicotine free since the day after my approval letter) and to not go completely insane (my husband appreciates the insanity part most).
I choose the zero nicotine, 100% vegetable glycerin with organic flavor. I get mine locally and if anyone needs or wants info on this option, PM me & I can give you a few links that I used to help me figure out what would (and ultimately did) work. :beer:

Congrats, Jen, and thanks for posting, which will help others. :look:

Quitting smoking-Good! Weight gain-Bad!
 

I saw this thread on quitting smoking, and if you'll permit me, I need to at least share my experience.

I finally quit smoking on January 13, 2012. After being a smoker for well over 25 years, this was not easy by any means. My driving force was that I wanted to have ALL surgical options available to me for my back. Every surgeon I'd met with wouldn't discuss anything fusion-related unless I was nicotene-free for at least 3 months or more.

I am very proud to say that to date I have remained a non-smoker. In October of 2013 I finally went to see another surgeon - who I have yet to even meet, although he came with several positive referrals.

The reason I never met this surgeon in person, is that I never made it past his P.A. who decided that although I was a non-smoker, I was far too overweight to even be considered for a surgery! He was very polite, and had many suggestions for me to try and lose the 30 - 40 lbs by another appointment in 6 months. I tried all the recomendations diligently for weeks - basically staying under 1200 calories per day. I can barely get through a typical day driving and working a desk job, so any real exercise program was a ridiculous consideration! I lost nothing!

So I successfully quit smoking, and although the weight gain did not occur unnoticed, I thought I should fight one battle at a time. It appears I was wrong. I should have been trying to fight the weight gain battle at the same time as the cigarettes! Just a thought others may benefit from while trying to quit smoking ...

Closing note: I never did go back to see that surgeon. I've since discovered that the company which I've worked for was sold, and I've been working as part of a transitional team with a finite severance date! Looks like my 2014 New Year's resolution will be to find ANY surgeon to perform ANY surgery on me before my employment & medical insurance runs out! The sand is pouring through the hourglass now!

Jeff

Jeff, wow, long time no talk. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Your struggles and triumphs will help others. Perhaps we can catch up in the New year. Congratulations, keep going, friend! :clap:

PS: Related post: http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f45...tml#post103491