IndianaMike

Soxfnnlansing day 177 not chewing or dipping with BRO,Napa,Wools&Sherm, and not smoking with SIN today

Soxfnnlansing 177 days with no chewing or dipping with the centurions & RD

Soxfnnlansing - 176 days quit with RD & the Centurions today

Soxfnnlansing - 176 days quit. I promise you Plebes I will not use nicotine in any form today, and expect the same from you.

Soxfnnlansing 175 days not chewing dip with the centurions & RD today

Soxfnnlansing 175 quit chewing and dipping tobacco with BRO, Napa, both probates, and not smoking fags with SIN today

So you are ready to put down the lighter or toss the can but not sure how to get through withdrawals? Here are some ideas from the The American Heart Association: Consider these tips: Stop and take a deep breath. Taking five to 10 deep breaths is a good start to stress relief. You also get the benefit of inhaling clean air into your lungs without those harmful chemicals! Go for a walk. Physical activity can release a chemical in your body that improves your mood and relieves stress. Walking for 30 minutes a day can be a healthy distraction, burn extra calories and help your heart. Try to relax. Stress can make your muscles tense. Relax them by stretching, deep breathing, doing yoga, getting a message or even closing your eyes and visualizing yourself in a peaceful place. Call a friend. Talking through your highs and lows with family, friends or even a support group can give you comfort and positive reinforcement. Cut back on caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that will increase your heart rate and your anxiety. When you’re trying to decrease your stress, caffeine makes you tense, keeps you up at night and may even cause you to want to smoke. Take care of your body. Drink lots of water, eat healthy and get extra sleep. You’ll feel more energized and ready to handle stress. Here are some other questions to consider as you plan your smoke-free life. Does smoking: Provide a way to meet people or hang out with a group? Distract you when you feel lonely? Help you control your weight? Boost your confidence? Provide an oral fixation or give you something to do with your hands? Serve as a companion to coffee or alcohol or seem like the thing to do after a meal? Calm you while you are driving? Here are some great alternatives: Rethink your social breaks. If you smoke with friends to be social or with co-workers on your lunch break, it is important to tell them that you are trying to quit — and invite them to join you. But if you’re not ready, and if it becomes too difficult to spend time in these places where you normally smoke, think about changing your schedule or taking your breaks with nonsmokers. Keep yourself busy. Go for walks, read a book or listen to music. Keep your hands and your mouth busy. Chew gum, eat a healthy snack, squeeze a stress ball or play with putty. After a meal, get up immediately from the table and engage in a pleasurable activity. If coffee is your trigger, change something about the way you drink it. Change the mug you drink from or when and where you indulge. Start a new habit! If you smoke in your car, remove your ashtray and replace it with potpourri or notes to remind you why you want to quit smoking. At parties, try to stay away from smoking areas. Stay indoors or distance yourself from people who are smoking. This might be hard, but stay with it! You might also need to cut back on alcohol. It’s hard to have will power and stay focused on your commitment when you’ve had too much to drink. Knowing yourself and discovering why you smoke will help you make a plan to quit. Your heart will thank you for years to come! http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/QuitSmoking/QuittingSmoking/Why-is-it-so-hard-to-quit_UCM_324053_Article.jsp Basically, you will probably need to change your whole routine in the beginning. It is you that is making the choice to better yourself. The rest of your world is still busy living life in their own routines. You cannot expect someone to cater to your quit, but you do have some powerful controls: In your vehicle, you must demand people not to use dip or smoke. Don't try and be the nice guy and allow them to disrespect your quit. Why do I say "demand"? Once you have bought into your quit and learn the reason why you were a slave to the can or carton, you will HATE nicotine. Right now you are probably ready to quit, but still romanticize about it. No smoking in your car, period. Your home is your castle. If they want to smoke, they can walk across the street and smoke, then wash their hands and face, then brush their teeth before returning to your living room to watch the game. You will probably lose friends that want to come to your house, but you are going to be alone in this battle. That's where quittingdip.com comes into play; we are going through the same thing you are. Your buddy stops by with a cat turd in his lip and a spitter in his hand, you don't allow him in your house. They may think you're an asshole and get angry, but you are solidifying your quit and also planting a quit seed into their nicotine soaked brain that could possibly bear fruit down the road. You may have arguments with your spouse, but you need to protect the environment you put your kids in. If you are a smoker, you know how guilty you feel about seeing your kids playing in a cloud of smoke. Nicotine is so powerful that you put your kids in danger because of your addiction. You have to remember that almost everyone that uses nicotine is ADDICTED to nicotine. Almost every one of those addicts would give anything to be free from the bondage. As you quit, your friends and loved ones will be watching you. Everything you have done while being an addict will be different without nicotine riding shotgun in your life. You will need to give your brain time to reprogram itself. In my case, my brain had been soaking in nicotine my whole adult life. I've been quit for 174 days, but I was a using addict for 9,000 days. Some days are better than others, but every morning I promise the quitters on quittingdip.com that I will not use nicotine in any form and I get to the end of the day is a victory. I will always be a nicotine addict, but now I choose not to use it.

Soxfnnlansing 174 days not dipping or chewing tobacco with BRO, Napa, the two squirrels on probation, and not smoking cigarettes with SIN today

Soxfnnlansing 174 days w/o dipping or chewing tobacco with RD and the Centurions today

So you are a nicotine addict. When you first stuffed your face with Hawkins or took your first puff off a Marlboro, you were cool. You weren't some kid playing with Legos anymore. You grew out your stubble and grew some courage to walk into the 7-11 and ask for a 3 pack of Trojans and a can of Cope without making eye contact with the man behind the counter. Now you are older, and spitting in water bottles and emptying ash trays in the Walmart parking lot is not anyone's version of "being cool". You have begun to notice things in your life that you detest now. They include: Health issues Smoking and dipping are extremely dangerous to my health or is ruining my health I have lost my sense of smell, until I open my spit bottle in my 120 degree truck (yuck) It bothers me to be dependent on cigarettes and Cope Smoking gives me very bad breath I notice my gums are eroding from chewing tobacco I frequently have a sore throat from smoking and dipping I would have more energy if I did not smoke Chewing gum all the time has loosened up my fillings I fear that quitting smoking or chewing will make me gain weight. Quitting smoking does not make you gain weight. You gain weight by over-eating. The people who gain weight when they quit smoking are those who keep putting food in their mouth instead of tobacco. Cosmetic issues My cigarette smoke leaves an unpleasant smell I have nicotine stains on my fingers. I am getting wrinkles from smoking. My teeth are discolored from smoking and dipping. Social issues I am losing contact with my non-smoking friends People think dipping is dirty so I became a ninja dipper My second-hand smoke is dangerous to those around me I miss time away from loved ones because I smoke in the garage on weekends My cigarette smoke bothers other people I have to stand outside in the cold to smoke Spitting in public bothers people I have become a recluse and a sneak to hide my addiction from loved ones My sister won't talk to me after her daughter drank out of my Dr Pepper can spitter Sometimes I litter when I discard cigarette butts or toss empty cans on the interstate Financial issues I spend too much money on the nicotine My life insurance premiums have increased I burned holes in my clothing All my jeans have Skoal rings and I can't wear those to church My curtains need to be replaced because they have turned yellow My carpet in the truck is permanently crusted from spilled spitters Now you realize that you have become a nicotine addict. I know that because you are reading this on quittingdip.com and are trying to find out everything you can about how to quit. You spend 5 minutes searching the house for your lighter, and then just use the stove burner to light one. How many lighters have you had to buy this year already? Or you left your can in the jacket you threw on the back of the chair in your basement, and now you are at your daughter's softball game and you FORGOT YOUR CAN! We've all been there before. That list above are things that all addicts subliminally are aware of, but addiction whispers to us that we are friends. I know I was that way too. I was a dipper and smoker for years until I found brotherhood with bad ass quitters you will meet here. No one will say it is easy. There is no patch or magic pill. You have to want it. I know you do. You wouldn't be here if you weren't ready to take back control of your life. This is your chance to be reborn; to become "cool" again. Hell, after a few months around this bunch, you might want to play with Legos again. Thanks for reading. If at this point you are ready to join us, then go register for membership and proceed to post your name on the Plebe Quit Scroll.

Nicotine Addiction - An Explanation Someone made me aware of the below and - altho it's quite long -- it's quite informative and sure makes sense to me. I found it well worth the read and hope you do, too. It's in quotes, but I can't give credit 'cause I don't know who wrote it. Anyway, here it is: "I've been doing research (actually, more like rooting around) into the neuropharmacological aspects of nicotine addiction and thought I'd share a bit here. When you experience something pleasurable, certain areas of your brain called reward centers activate by releasing dopamine. The presence of dopamine is what causes the pleasurable feeling, the enjoyment, the “ahhh”. Smoking causes an increase in the dopamine levels. The actual mechanism is debated, but MRI studies confirm the increase occurs. As you continue to smoke, the dopamine levels remain high and the brain starts shutting down some of the reward centers in an attempt to return to normal. This causes the smoker to require more, which raises the dopamine levels, which causes the brain to shut down even more reward centers. A balance is eventually reached, typically at the point of a pack per day (about 20 mg of nicotine). This also applies to users of chewing tobacco and snuff. So now a balance has been reached. The nicotine has raised dopamine levels and the brain has shut down reward centers to compensate. Heroin and cocaine users also reach this maintenance level where the fix no longer causes pleasure, but simply maintains “normal”. When the dopamine level begins to drop (30 – 60 minutes after the last smoke) the smoker begins to feel “the need” and has another fix which re-establishes the dopamine levels. When the smoker quits the levels of nicotine fall rapidly, as do the dopamine levels. After three to five days the nicotine is out of the system. The brain, however, does not recover as quickly. Without the constant smoking stimulus, dopamine levels are far below where they were. Since reward centers were long ago shut down to compensate for the increased dopamine levels caused by smoking, the (now) ex-smoker is operating at a “reward deficit”. As a result, the ex-smoker feels depressed, ill-tempered, and sad (cries a lot). Those who use sleep as an escape mechanism will tend to sleep much more. Another effect of this “reward deficit” is that ordinary, everyday rewards don’t seem to work anymore. In reality, they do cause an increase in dopamine levels, but with so many reward centers deactivated the increase is barely noticeable, if it can be noticed at all. This is why we quitters need to reward ourselves often. The size of the reward isn’t important, the quantity is. Essentially, we need to exercise our reward centers to rebuild them, just like muscles need to be exercised after a long period of disuse. The research I’ve dug into indicates it takes “several months” to “over a year” , (depending on who you read) for the brain to reactivate enough reward centers to approach the “normal” of never-smokers. Perhaps this is the root of the idea that you aren’t fully quit until you’ve experienced all the seasons. So early in your quits, reward yourselves often. Little stuff is great. Window shopping, watching ducks at the park, special coffee after work, whatever. Doesn’t have to be expensive, just enjoyable. Think free weights for the brain." Read more: http://www.healthboards.com/boards/smoking-cessation/487857-nicotine-addiction-explanation.html#ixzz3SQmfNDul

Understanding Nicotine Addiction By Dennis Thompson Jr. | Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH Cigarettes and other tobacco products contain one of the most addictive drugs around: nicotine. Nicotine withdrawal is a difficult proposition. “I can quit whenever I want to,” is a familiar refrain among many cigarette smokers. But if that were really true, the statistics would paint a different picture. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 percent of smokers want to quit completely, and about 40 percent try to stop each year — but of those who try to quit, only about four to seven percent are successful. Any smoker who’s tried to quit can tell you it isn’t just a question of willpower. For many, it’s all about the nicotine. Nicotine is the powerful alkaloid found in tobacco that causes cigarette smokers to become addicted, and it's even more powerful than morphine. Nicotine acts on neurotransmitters in the brain, causing a wide range of biochemical reactions that result in pleasure for the smoker. But, like other drugs, nicotine's effect weakens as the body adapts to it. Smokers must smoke more to get the same good feeling, and will have to deal with nicotine withdrawal if they try to stop smoking or using tobacco products. Nicotine Delivery and Effect Cigarettes are the most efficient delivery system for nicotine. A lit cigarette vaporizes the nicotine in the tobacco, which enters the body in vapor form and on tar droplets as part of cigarette smoke. The lungs and the mucosal lining of the nose and mouth absorb the nicotine into the smoker's system. Once inside the smoker's bloodstream, the nicotine stimulates the body's adrenal glands to produce more adrenaline. The adrenaline creates a "rush" that increases the smoker's blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. Nicotine also manipulates a number of neurotransmitters in the body, producing varied effects that last longer than the initial adrenaline kick. Nicotine affects: Dopamine, resulting in pleasure and appetite suppression Norepinephrine, resulting in arousal and appetite suppression Acetylcholine, resulting in arousal and enhancement of cognition Vasopressin, resulting in memory improvement Serotonin, resulting in mood control and appetite suppression Beta-endorphin, resulting in reduced anxiety and tension Because cigarette smokers inhale tobacco smoke into their lungs, nicotine is processed rapidly and can reach the brain in as little as 10 seconds. Cigar and pipe smokers typically do not take smoke into their lungs, so the nicotine is instead absorbed more slowly through the mucous membranes in the mouth and nose, muting the drug's effect. Nicotine Addiction A smoker inhales 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine with every cigarette, taking 10 puffs over an average 5-minute period. That means a person who smokes one to two packs a day receives 200 to 400 "hits" of nicotine to the brain a day. However, the kick experienced with every cigarette lasts only a few minutes, and the neurotransmitter effects are equally short-lived. The body breaks down, or metabolizes, nicotine rapidly, and the estimated half-life of nicotine in the bloodstream is about two hours. The smoker must light up another cigarette within a few hours to maintain the nicotine high. If the smoker doesn’t, nicotine withdrawal will begin. The nicotine delivered by cigarette smoking is considered as addictive as heroin and is: 1,000 times more potent than alcohol 10 to 100 times more potent that barbiturates 5 to 10 times more potent than cocaine or morphine Nicotine Withdrawal Smokers dealing with nicotine withdrawal are known to experience: Irritability Intense cravings Anger and hostility Anxiety, nervousness, and panic Depression Difficulty concentrating and thinking Disturbed sleep Increased appetite and weight gain Smokers going through nicotine withdrawal also might experience a range of physical effects that include sweating, constipation, dry mouth, mouth ulcers, pain in their limbs, coughing, and soreness of their throat, gums, or tongue. When Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms Start Nicotine withdrawal symptoms begin a few hours after the last cigarette is smoked, producing intense and overwhelming cravings. These symptoms peak within a few days after quitting smoking, and can subside within a few weeks. However, some smokers trying to quit could feel some of these symptoms for months after smoking that last cigarette. The nicotine high also becomes associated with certain activities and triggers in the smoker's mind, so that the urge to smoke could strike when the person is doing something as simple as drinking a cup of coffee or chatting with a friend on the phone. Nicotine is an insidious drug that requires focused effort to kick. Last Updated: 9/9/2011 http://www.everydayhealth.com/smoking-cessation/smoking-cessation-center-understanding-addiction.aspx

Two Nicotine Addiction Puzzles Explained Aug 02, 2007 The stranglehold of nicotine addiction leads to more than four million smoking-related deaths each year. Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have now explained two roots of that addiction. The discoveries may offer new hope not just for smokers, but eventually also for sufferers of Parkinson's disease, a debilitating movement disorder that affects some 40 million people worldwide. Researchers have known for decades that chronic exposure to nicotine increases the number of nicotine receptors--molecules that are activated by binding to the drug--on nerve cells. The binding of nicotine to these receptors, and in particular to one specific subunit known as alpha4, enhances the release of a pleasure-causing neurotransmitter called dopamine. But "this increase is confusing," says Henry A. Lester, the Bren Professor of Biology at Caltech, "because for opioid addiction, and for many other classes of addictions and of drugs in general, the body attempts homeostasis and adjusts the number of receptors downward if there is a constant stimulus." Understanding this paradox--how it is possible that smokers become tolerant to the pleasurable effects of nicotine despite the fact that their brains produce new nicotine receptors in response to the chemical--is crucial for defeating nicotine's addictive power. Lester, his postdoctoral researcher Raad Nashmi, and their colleagues at Caltech, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, have now solved the mystery, by developing a special mouse strain with fluorescent nicotine receptors. These fluorescent tags allowed the scientists to monitor the effects of the nicotine throughout the brain, down to the level of individual neurons. "We find that alpha4 containing receptors, those with some of the highest sensitivity to nicotine, are upregulated"--or increased in number--"by chronic nicotine in a cell-specific fashion," Lester explains. "In particular, the alpha4-containing receptors are indeed upregulated in the dopamine-producing portions of the brain, but not in the dopamine neurons themselves." Instead, the increase in receptor number occurs only in neurons that inhibit dopamine neurons--a group called the GABAergic neurons. This surprising result led the researchers to conduct experiments with delicate electrical probes. In chronic nicotine-treated mice (and presumably in chronic smokers), the dopamine neurons are chronically inhibited from firing in the absence of nicotine. And nicotine itself still excites the dopamine neurons, leading to pleasure, but much less than expected. "This research explains tolerance during nicotine addiction," Lester says. "Once in a while, an important piece of a puzzle does fall into place." "This is outstanding work that will open the door to further studies of nicotinic receptor upregulation in the cognitive and rewarding effects of nicotine," comments Daniel S. McGehee of the University of Chicago, who studies the neurobiology of nicotine addiction. McGehee was not involved in the present research. But there's more. In the special Caltech mice, the largest number of new nicotine receptors appeared in the mouse forebrain. This is the part of the brain involved in cognition. Electrical measurements showed that these new receptors also helped to boost synaptic transmission. The result may explain why many smokers claim that cigarettes actually help them think better--and why 44 percent of the cigarettes smoked in the United States are consumed by people with mental health problems. "People may attempt to medicate themselves with nicotine, and my research is also aimed at trying to understand the mechanism behind that," Lester says. "We now think that we need to concentrate on drugs that manipulate upregulation." Lester adds. His lab is currently developing simpler cell-based systems using the fluorescently labeled nicotine receptors. Using special microscopes, the effect of particular drugs on those receptors can be monitored. One long-term benefit of the research could be the development of better therapies for Parkinson's disease, the chronic neurological condition that gradually destroys some dopamine cells. Although the cause of Parkinson's disease is unknown in most patients, one curious observation is that few smokers are ever affected. In fact, they seem to be protected against the condition. The reason, researchers suspect, is nicotine--and the new brain studies reveal that the reason may be those cell-specific differences in the regulation of nicotine receptors. Previously, animal models of Parkinson's have shown that the excessive activity of dopamine neurons, firing in hysterical bursts, can lead to the death of those neurons. The affected neurons are located in a brain region called the substantia nigra, which is a center of voluntary movement control. "These dopamine cells are actually persuaded by chronic nicotine to fire less, which may help them to live longer," says Lester, who hopes the research will lead to the development of drugs that act "very specifically" on these nicotine receptors and prevent cell death, "so people with the early stages of Parkinson's disease get the protection that they need." The paper, "Chronic Nicotine Cell Specifically Upregulates Functional alpha4* Nicotinic Receptors: Basis for Both Tolerance in Midbrain and Enhanced Long-Term Potentiation in Perforant Path," was published in the August 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Source: Caltech http://phys.org/news105284534.html

Soxfnnlansing 173 Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Soxfnnlansing 173 Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Soxfnnlansing 172 days quit dipping and chewing tobacco with BRO & Napa, and not smoking camel lights with SIN today either, I promise

Soxfnnlansing 172 days quit from chewing and dipping tobacco with RD & the centurions today

SIN, maybe you can talk to Napa about an upcoming trip with his dipping and smoking buddies he has coming up. I know you just went through the same thing on the slopes

Soxfnnlansing 171 days w/o nicotine crammed in my mouth with all the centurions and RD

Soxfnnlansing 171 days quit dipping and chewing wintergreen grizzly with BRO & Napa, and quit smoking Newport cigarettes with SIN today

Soxfnnlansing 170 days quit from chewing and dipping tobacco with BRO & Napa, and not smoking cigarettes with SIN today

Soxfnnlansing 170 days quit from dipping and chewing tobacco with the centurions and RD today.

Soxfnnlansing 169 quit dipping and chewing with BRO & Napa; quit smoking cigarettes with SIN today

Soxfnnlansing 169 quit dipping and chewing with the centurions and RD today

Soxfnnlansing 168 not dipping or chewing with my centurion bros & sis+RD