Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cigarettes Help You to Stop Smoking?

Smoking Facts

I found out that normal cigarettes contain over 4,000 chemicals and to my horror approximately 40 that are cancerous and that is a proven fact.

Electric cigarettes contain Nicotine, Propylene Glycol, Water and Flavourings - a bit less than 4,000 chemicals don't you think!!

I'm already addicted to nicotine so I can't see that e cigs are more harmful in that respect. Propylene glycol is used to deliver vapourised nicotine and according to Wikipedia is used amongst other things as a moisturiser in medicines, cosmetics, food, toothpaste, mouth wash, and tobacco products. If propylene glycol is so widely used in those other products then it shouldn't be harmful. Water shouldn't hurt anybody and flavourings - most of our food contains flavourings.

Looking at those facts and unless electronic cigarettes contain substances that we don't know about then I can't see them being anywhere near as harmful as tobacco products. I'm no doctor or scientist, but having scoured the Internet the objections to e cigarettes don't seem to be about what they contain, more that they are addictive and that young non smokers may turn to them because of different flavours available including chocolate and cherry.

I can see that point and really can't see why flavours beyond the normal were introduced, except for profit of course.

Giving Up Smoking

I've tried many times and in different ways, the most successful was with nicotine patches but obviously as with over 80% who try to stop smoking with patches or gum they didn't provide a permanent cessation of my nicotine addiction. Whether electronic cigarettes help me to stop permanently or not I don't know and won't for at least another year or two.

What I do know is that with patches you have a constant flow of nicotine into your body, some brands even recommend that you use them 24/7. I never smoked 24/7 and was never comfortable that nicotine was being constantly released into my body. With e cigarettes I have more control over my intake and like patches can gradually reduce the nicotine strength until I am smoking no nicotine vapour.

Healthy Or Not

Do I think that electronic cigarettes are healthier? Absolutely, I feel better in myself and although I've only been smoking e ciggies for 4 weeks, even after a short time I have noticed a difference in my breathing. I walk up a long steep hill every day - usually slowly and out of breath. Not now, I walk up there quicker and my breathing is easier.

I lay on my back and slept last night for the first time in years. Usually I lay on my side because the strange noises that my chest was making when I laid on my back not only kept me awake but also was frightening.

I stopped waking up coughing a few days ago.

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