[jbug]

When I was in the hospital this week my lung doctor gave me an interesting statistic and I was just wondering if it was true. So I decided to ask my extended family (you) what you thought about it. He told me that about 92% of all people with a mental illness smoke. He was telling me this because I do and and he was trying to impress on me the idea that I should quit. I was just curious of all of you how many of you smoke?

Don't Blame me I just do what the Voices Tell me to do

[dexter]

I don't smoke.

But when I was in the hospital LITERALLY every other person in my unit was a heavy smoker. I used to accompany them on smoke breaks because otherwise I'd just be alone on the floor.

------------------------------------
--http://www.idexter.com

[ltlredvett]

I do smoke, I started when my depression kicked into high gear. I have laerned that smoking can aggrevate teh depression and I am really trying to quit.

[Rapunzel]

That is an interesting statistic. I had not heard it before, but it makes sense. I feel that a tendency toward addictions tends to go along with the tendency to have mental illnesses. The only reason I never tried smoking/alcohol/drugs, etc. was because my religious beliefs prevented me. Still, those things have their appeal and I am positive that if I ever did get started with them it would be extremely difficult for me to stop. I have addictive behaviors instead, like SI, and I am addicted to chocolate. I think I would get addicted to antidepressants also if I started using them.

DocJohn wrote a blog entry about an article (<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.reason.com/0404/fe.jj.emotional.shtml>http://www.reason.com/0404/fe.jj.emotional.shtml</A>) that makes a point for mood medications being similar to unprescribed mood altering substances. I can see the author's point. I sent that article to my T, and he disagreed on the basis that he has seen an improvement in the lives of people who use antidepressants, as opposed to also having seen alcohol and illegal drugs ruin people's lives. I wrote back to him further arguing the point of the article and that I think that the context of use and intent of the user accounts for the difference in results. That didn't make him happy at all. He just said he didn't know what point I was trying to make with that (I guess since he stopped pushing antidepressants to me a few months ago, albeit reluctantly).

For what it's worth, here's my argument:

<font color=blue>There are some definite similarities between the way that prescription mood altering drugs and the other kind operate. From Richard O. Straub (2002). Health Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, p. 316: "Once in the brain, drugs affect behavior by influencing the activity of neurons at their synapses. Drugs can achieve their effects in one of three ways: by mimicking or enhancing the action of a naturally occurring neurotransmitter, by blocking its action, or by affecting its reuptake." No distinction is made between prescibed vs. other drugs. Antidepressants generally work by inhibiting the reuptake of neurotransmitters - particularly serotonin, norepinephrine, and/or dopamine. Cocaine blocks the reuptake of norepinephrine and dopamine. Amphetamines stimulate the release of dopamine. LSD is similar in structure to serotonin, and mimicks its action. Caffeine blocks the effects of adenosine, which normally inhibits release of transmitters that excite postsynaptic cells, so the effect of caffeine is that excitatory cells keep firing. Librium and Valium are still used to treat anxiety and insomnia, but I think maybe they are not used as much now as they once were. They are depressants, as are alcohol and barbituates - they stimulate the release of dopamine. Barbituates also were used to treat anxiety and insomnia, but are not anymore because they are too addictive. Alcohol is very effective in regulating mood swings, as in bipolar disorder, and is used in that manner by quite a few people who have diagnosed or undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Doctors don't prescribe alcohol for that because the side effects are bad. Heroin was developed for medical use but was found to be too addictive.

Much of the effect of drugs and alcohol is related to the expectations of the user. If you give a group of people in a social setting like a party a drink that they think is alcoholic, but actually contains no alcohol, they will act drunk. In cultures where it is customary to drink wine or beer with meals, children also drink wine or beer as a beverage, and used in that context, those people do not get drunk. If people were abusing prescription antidepressants in order to get high, wouldn't the effect be the same as if they were using cocaine? How powerful each drug is would also be a factor, besides the context of using it.

Prescription antidepressants are associated with the effects of tolerance as well as withdrawal. Physical dependence is defined as "a state in which the use of a drug is required for a person to function normally." I'm finding that with SJW. I got by without anything for most of my life, but now if I skip it for 3 days in a row I don't function very normally. Maybe I never did before either - I don't know.

The only real differences I can see between prescription and other drugs is the quantity and/or power of the drug (or how regulated its use is), and sometimes the reason for using it. And I think that those differences are what account for the differences in their effects.
</font color=blue>

Way more than you wanted to know, but I'm curious what everyone thinks about this topic. I do think that people with mental illnesses probably are more susceptible to addictions also. And in treatment settings there has been a tendency to capitolize on that. How often do we hear about cigarettes being used as a reinforcer in behavior modification programs, especially in an inpatient mental health treatment setting?

If you have made it this far, here's my short answer - no, I do not smoke and I consider myself lucky to be among that 8%. And I would like to encourage you to try to quit. Tobacco use is still the single biggest preventable cause of death, illness, and disability in the U.S. and I'm not sure but probably worldwide also.

<font color=orange>"If we are going to insist that people pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, we must ensure that they have boots."</font color=orange>

[somebody]

I don't smoke... I use to many years ago but quit because of a deal I made with my husband... I did continue to smoke on and off for many years though...I think I did it more because others were smoking...not because it was something I needed or wanted... my son smokes now and it really does upset me because throat cancer runs in his fathers side of the family... my husband had cancer of the esophagus and he never smoked a day in his life...But many of his uncles did smoke and formed throat cancer. Just something to think about.

[Willow]

I quite smoking when I was 20 and exchanged it for what I can only describe as an addiction to religion. The good thing about the religious addiction is that it probably saved my life. The bad thing is that it boxed me in so severly that I lost my own identity. It was a system of denial for me. I'm out of that now and refusing to smoke or chew or hang with those who do... LOL... NOT! A lot of my friends smoke cigarettes and pot and drink. I do drink moderately... but no smokes for me! I dont' want to pick up what I gave up as a "barely older than teen".

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece...but to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out and defiantly shouting "Wow! What a ride!"

[krzyk101]

I am a smoker. I am not proud to be a smoker. I have smoked cigarettes nearly 17 years. I started when I was 15. Before I was diagnosed with mental illness. I can say that my smoking does effect my health, and it is not good for me. It does interfear with many thinks in my life. It also has a big pricetag on it. I never knew when I started that I would be spending over $125 a month on cigarettes. When I started the Legal age was 16 in my state. Well I am not going to lie, I am not trying to quit right now, although I know I need to quit.

Take Care,
Kris

I wish you the best, and the hope for a better day for us all, in out struggles no matter how large or small I wish hope for us all

If you think you have totally gave up, you haven't, because you are here!

[FearsomeAnna]

I used to smoke fairly heavily, although my fiance and I quit together about two months ago.

I won't lie - this sucks, and I miss it terribly, especially when I'm horribly stressed. Like now - we're moving, we quit smoking, my fiance may have skin cancer (melanoma....) and we'll find out today and a coworker bilked me out of $900 so I have to take him to court although I think he's probably disappeared off the face of the earth and my sister's fiance just got the snot beat out of him for accidentally bumping into someone at a festival at my sister's college.

Yeah, quitting sucks. Not only that, there's the people that are actually angry at us for quitting because it's another two smokers from their group gone.

I'm never going back, and I feel much more healthy, but mentally I'm a horrible wreck.

So yeah, the cigs definitely helped keep me calm. Trust me when I say that I know you have to replace smoking with another thing to keep you occupied, but I've tried them all from gum to crocheting and I'm still having these horrible cravings.

some of it's magic
some of it's tragic
but i had a good life all the way......
~jimmy buffett

[Beautiful_Pain]

I do smoke...and do more heavily when things worsen, for me. Just one of the few things I can do, that I actually control. Gotta find it somewhere *shrugs*

[dalila]

I smoked for about 5 nonths as a teenager. My boyfriend then taught me how to actually inhale the smoke and I landed in an oxygen tent -- couldn't breath. Today I have asthma and so avoid cigarettes like the plague.

~D~

[silver_queen]

I tried smoking when I was about 14 to see why all the other kids in my school were doing it...after a couple of months, I stopped. I tend to smoke when I get drunk...and also when I was depressed I smoked and used alcohol to try to make myself feel better...but otherwise I never smoke and I'm anti-smokers! And like dexter said about smokers in hospital...when I too was in hospital most people there smoked...but I didn't join them...

_____________________
RIP Dexter...
<font color=red>The best dog ever!!!</font color=red>

<font color=green>In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning.</font color=green>
- F. Scott Fitzgerald