Our nicotine dependent loved ones

[John_R._Polito]

Has nicotine grown millions of extra neurons in the brain of your loved one?  Are they chemical slaves to nicotine?  Are you forced to watch as they destroy a bit more of their body's ability to receive and transport life giving oxygen with each new puff?  I write in hope that you might use a bit of the below info to reach out and help save the life of that very very special person.

There are over one billion comfortable ex-smokers alive on earth today and it was dreams and desires of freedom, not strength or willpower, that allowed them to break nicotine's grip upon their brain's reward pathways.  What self-taught nicotine lessons did most eventually learn that your family member or loved one continues to miss?

What will they learn from the next quick fix magic cure that fails to perform as promised?  What teaching does a nicotine lozenge, an adhesive nicotine patch, nicotine gum, Zyban, Wellbutrin, hypnosis and/or acupuncture actually do?  Who will your loved one hand their hard earned money to next and after it?s gone what learning will have transpired?

Can you briefly study cessation yourself to determine their level of understanding?  Let's use the nicotine patch as an example.  Just how effective do they think it really is in helping smokers quit?  The following link is to a March 2003 medical study abstract, and discussion,  that combined the results of all over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine patch studies to date and concluded that only 7% were still not smoking at six-months.  Is the fact that the OTC nicotine patch and gum produce 93% odds of relapse an important piece of decision-making information?

http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/12/1/21#88

What is the chemical relationship between nicotine and caffeine?  Why will the caffeine user's blood serum caffeine level skyrocket to 203% of pre-quitting baseline within 24 hours of ending all nicotine use?  How does this factor play a destructive role in making quitting seem almost impossible for heavy caffeine users, and how is it easily corrected without giving up caffeine?

What is the relationship between nicotine and adrenaline?  Why can many nicotine addicts skip breakfast and lunch for their entire smoking life and yet almost never sense true hunger?  How can this interaction result in wild blood-sugar swing symptoms that can make quitting seem almost impossible for those skipping meals, and how do they correct it without adding lots of extra pounds?

And don't forget education associated with appreciating the immediate damage and accelerated bodily destruction occurring with each and every puff of smoke containing over 3,500 chemical particles, 500 gases, 43 known carcinogens, massive quantities of carbon monoxide, and what most dependency scientists now consider the most perfectly designed agent of addiction on earth - nicotine.

Why on average is a smoker's skin 25 to 40% thinner than a non-smoker?s?  Why do their broken bones take an average of 50 days longer to heal?  Why does the average adult smoker look five years older than their age and why far more wrinkles?  Why will they end-up with fewer teeth, less hair, worse hearing, more bone loss, and poorer eye-sight than their non-smoking counterpart?  Why is vascular disease a bigger annual killer of smokers than all cancers combined?   Unless they quit, why will 50% of the smokers you see today each die roughly 5,000 days early, and 25% of them an average of 8,212.5 days early?  Why?

Above are just a few examples - among hundreds and hundreds  - of nicotine dependency/cessation factors that when pieced together can make your loved one taking back control of their brain's dopamine reward pathways far easier than they ever imagined possible.  But when did they take the time to read the instructions that came with their addiction?

My name is John and I, along with scores of others, help facilitate nicotine cessation at one of the internet's growing array of free education and group support forums.  In the lower right  corner at WhyQuit.com - or http://whyquit.org -  you'll see a link to a directory of all the major "FREE" online quit smoking forums.   If you find any site listed soliciting funds please drop us a line and also contact this forum?s administrator and have this post immediately removed, as we are strongly opposed to all solicitations and donation requests  associated with providing online addiction recovery motivation, education or support.  

Why would any nicotine dependent human worry about SARS, or even wearing seatbelts for that matter, when there is a very high likelihood (greater than 50%) that their chemical dependency will in the end deprive them of roughly 5,000 sunrises, just as it did to over 4,000,000 during the past twelve months.  If it does, it will have done so because they never realized or failed to accept that they knew almost nothing about their addiction or the process of chemical and psychological recovery.

You may want to build a skyscraper but if you don't know how it can prove rather challenging.  Knowledge is power!

Oh, there's one very important thing you need to know in trying to help. We nicotine addicts have a love/hate relationship with our drug and will resist to our death "all" offers of help.  You see, it's every chemical slaves dream to quit for our own reasons, in our own time, on our own terms, in our own way, and as a result of our own planning, intelligence and follow-through!  You must understand that we cannot quit for you, our doctor or because of fear.  It must be for us!  

Thus, the secret to helping us is in not letting us know that you have in fact played a major role in our dream.  The addict's mind must believe that it found the key to the cell, that allowed us to trade places with and successfully arrest our dependency.

So how can you be involved in our dependency education without us realizing that you had a big hand in things?  It isn't easy.  In fact doing so and keeping it secret for life (which you may need to do in order to avoid the risk of "lost dream" relapse) is a tremendous challenge.  But, you love us and that love will find a loving way to connect.   I wish you well.

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,

John R. Polito

[Ibro2g]

Thank you very much for this piece. I hope the right people read it, though it will do alotta help to all!

[John_R._Polito]

Thanks Ibro2g.   You're exactly right.  If we can connect with just one person either directly or indirectly and as a result they enjoy a few thousand extra  sunrises after awaking to the realization that they had never once read the instructions that came with their addiction, it's been time well spent.

John

[dfynest]

the irony! four million souls perish in a Year........ yet Tobacco is still big business. Has anyone seen how these companies are making efforts to expand their markets here in Africa? They promote Concerts and what not, just so they can sell us poison.

[kilishi]

For those that have problem to give up smoking here are some tips please visit www.quitsmoking.com
thank u may Allah help you all.

[gogannaka]

the irony! four million souls perish in a Year........ yet Tobacco is still big business. Has anyone seen how these companies are making efforts to expand their markets here in Africa? They promote Concerts and what not, just so they can sell us poison.

Thats what obasanjo calls DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY :-[

[John_R._Polito]

 

This is big tobacco's gift to the world and with 48% of male Cubans and 53% of Chineese men addicted to nicotine it probably has little to do with democracy.   This is the link to Bryan's story ...

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html  

...  and this link is to Noni's message ...

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/A_Noni.html        

[dfynest]

I am shocked!!!
If this picture does not knock some sense into smokers heads, I do not know what will.
But it does not just rest with smokers alone, the Government has to step up to its responsibility.

[John_R._Polito]

Above is the Canadian Government's addiction warning label that was adopted in the year 2000.   Below is the new 2003 warning label now beginning to appear in all  European Union nations.  



If youth knew the truth, that nicotine was at least five times more addictive to the human population than cocaine, would as many risk toying with it?  I don't think so.  Who is warning the children where you live?   I've labeled this link "Nicotine Addiction 101" and it contains lots of information on how nicotine permanently enslaves the brain's dopamine reward pathways and how it compares to other drugs of addiction.  

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksAAddiction.html

This link gives an overview of the early symptoms of nicotine dependency, in what youth will first begin to notice as they each lose the ability and freedom to turn and walk-away.   Freedom is your birthright.  Don't surrender it to chemicals.

http://whyquit.com/whyquit/LinksYouth.html

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,  John

[Anonymous]

John_R._Polito I definitely think just like you.