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"Cold turkey is best way to quit smoking, study says" http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/15/health/quit-smoking-cold-turkey/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2016/

"Cold turkey is best way to quit smoking, study says" http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/15/health/quit-smoking-cold-turkey/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/15/health/quit-smoking-cold-t... Not convinced switching people to a just as addicting, just as nasty way of killing themselves slowly is any better.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago
Did you read either article? The CNN one you link to was a study that compared cold turkey vs gradually scaling down. > "Researchers looked at nearly 700 long-term heavy smokers in England who wanted to kick the habit. They instructed half of the participants to quit abruptly -- that is, pick a quit day when they would give up smoking entirely. The other half were told to scale back their cigarettes gradually for two weeks leading up to their quit day. > But even the abrupt-quit group was not exactly going it alone. The researchers gave them nicotine patches to use for two weeks before their quit day. During this period, the gradual group also got patches, as well as gum, lozenges and other types of short-acting nicotine replacement therapy to help them as they cut back. After the quit day, both groups got patches and short-acting therapy, in addition to counseling. " This link refers to smokers switching to e-cigarettes, which is considering significantly less harmful than normal cigarettes, e.g. https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/e-cigarettes-95-less-harmful-than-smoking-says-report/ https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/e-cigarettes-95-less...
- joelhaasnoot 9y ago
  Did read both articles. Not an expert by any means on smoking, but often e-cigarettes are also a way to quit by scaling back the nicotine content in the cartridge.
  - Lewton 9y ago
    Nicotine is not the only addictive drug in cigarettes It is in ecigs
magic_beans 9y ago
At the very least, nicotine-free e-cigarettes allow people addicted to cigarettes to maintain the habit of smoking -- going outside, taking the mental break associated with cigarettes -- but without the damage of actual smoke or nicotine.
- nickjj 9y ago
  You can do this without smoking anything too. I smoked a pack a day for over 10 years and quit cold turkey without any patches or vaping. The mental break thing is definitely real. I highly recommend just going outside. Maybe do a couple of laps around the block.
  - EpicEng 9y ago
    "I did it, it should work for everyone!" We have decades of data showing that isn't the case.
    - KekDemaga 9y ago
      "Some people make an attempt and fail, thus it must be impossible."
      - EpicEng 9y ago
        That doesn't follow. We know for an absolute fact that cold turkey doesn't work for most people. We also know that many people want to smoke even when knowing the dangers. A safer alternative is working better than anything before it ever has.
        KekDemaga 9y ago
        >We know for an absolute fact that cold turkey doesn't work for most people. No, you know that most people who attempt to quit "cold turkey" decide that quitting smoking permanently isn't as important as relieving their current symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Its a minor point but an important distinction.
revelation 9y ago
I sometimes feel like I'm in loony land with all the e-cigarette FUD. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the cancer causing potential of smoking lies primarily in inhaling smoke containing a large number of carcinogenic combustion products. Vaporizers completely eliminate that; it's why "medical marijuana" is a thing, they couldn't prescribe it when the side-effect is cancer.
- infecto 9y ago
  While I agree I think the one unfortunate side effect, that i do not have quantitative evidence of, is that more people are vaping who would not have picked up cigarettes. It could be purely anecdotal evidence but it sure seems like it.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  At this point I'm convinced that this e-cig FUD is a combination of intentional misinformation and general population not being able to think clearly about degrees of things. One would think that "a significantly less harmful thing is better than a harmful thing" is a tautology, but apparently it's not obvious to everyone.
  - j0rd 9y ago
    It would be better if I quit, but wasn't planning on doing that, so I switched to vaping and haven't smoked since. Best? No. Better? Probably. One of the funny things with vaping is after two weeks smoking a cigarette becomes disgusting. I'd say it's also a lot easier to quit vaping than smoking cigarettes. So that as well is a move in the correct direction.
apsec112 9y ago
The current scientific consensus is that e-cigarettes, although they may still have some risks, are far less harmful than conventional cigarettes. "This systematic review appraises existing laboratory and clinical research on the potential risks from electronic cigarette use, compared with the well-established devastating effects of smoking tobacco cigarettes. Currently available evidence indicates that electronic cigarettes are by far a less harmful alternative to smoking and significant health benefits are expected in smokers who switch from tobacco to electronic cigarettes." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110871/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110871/
EpicEng 9y ago
>just as addicting, just as nasty What are you basing that ludicrous statement on?
matthewmacleod 9y ago
Not convinced switching people to a just as addicting, just as nasty way of killing themselves slowly is any better. More research is required on long-term effects, but e-cigarettes, regardless of whatever other problems they may have, are likely far less damaging to users than continuing to smoke cigarettes.
andy_ppp 9y ago
As someone who has recently quit cold turkey I totally agree with you. Learning the skill of changing difficult habits is part of the process of giving up. A lot of addiction is learning to control what you want to believe, building startups is too, being happy also, papering over the cracks by adding a new addiction I would say is harmful on many levels. I say deal with the smoking addiction finally once and for all and never smoke again. To do that a mildly stoic acceptance that you are going to have to suffer needs to occur.
- grasshopperpurp 9y ago
  Should we take the same approach with heroin addicts?
  - andy_ppp 9y ago
    Yes, we tried methadone and it makes them worse and more compulsive than giving them heroin.
creatonez 9y ago
Nicotine is not dangerous. It is addictive. Not dangerous.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago

Did you read either article? The CNN one you link to was a study that compared cold turkey vs gradually scaling down. > "Researchers looked at nearly 700 long-term heavy smokers in England who wanted to kick the habit. They instructed half of the participants to quit abruptly -- that is, pick a quit day when they would give up smoking entirely. The other half were told to scale back their cigarettes gradually for two weeks leading up to their quit day. > But even the abrupt-quit group was not exactly going it alone. The researchers gave them nicotine patches to use for two weeks before their quit day. During this period, the gradual group also got patches, as well as gum, lozenges and other types of short-acting nicotine replacement therapy to help them as they cut back. After the quit day, both groups got patches and short-acting therapy, in addition to counseling. " This link refers to smokers switching to e-cigarettes, which is considering significantly less harmful than normal cigarettes, e.g. https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/e-cigarettes-95-less-harmful-than-smoking-says-report/ https://www.nhs.uk/news/heart-and-lungs/e-cigarettes-95-less...

joelhaasnoot 9y ago
Did read both articles. Not an expert by any means on smoking, but often e-cigarettes are also a way to quit by scaling back the nicotine content in the cartridge.
- Lewton 9y ago
  Nicotine is not the only addictive drug in cigarettes It is in ecigs

magic_beans 9y ago

At the very least, nicotine-free e-cigarettes allow people addicted to cigarettes to maintain the habit of smoking -- going outside, taking the mental break associated with cigarettes -- but without the damage of actual smoke or nicotine.

nickjj 9y ago
You can do this without smoking anything too. I smoked a pack a day for over 10 years and quit cold turkey without any patches or vaping. The mental break thing is definitely real. I highly recommend just going outside. Maybe do a couple of laps around the block.
- EpicEng 9y ago
  "I did it, it should work for everyone!" We have decades of data showing that isn't the case.
  - KekDemaga 9y ago
    "Some people make an attempt and fail, thus it must be impossible."
    - EpicEng 9y ago
      That doesn't follow. We know for an absolute fact that cold turkey doesn't work for most people. We also know that many people want to smoke even when knowing the dangers. A safer alternative is working better than anything before it ever has.
      - KekDemaga 9y ago
        >We know for an absolute fact that cold turkey doesn't work for most people. No, you know that most people who attempt to quit "cold turkey" decide that quitting smoking permanently isn't as important as relieving their current symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Its a minor point but an important distinction.

revelation 9y ago

I sometimes feel like I'm in loony land with all the e-cigarette FUD. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the cancer causing potential of smoking lies primarily in inhaling smoke containing a large number of carcinogenic combustion products. Vaporizers completely eliminate that; it's why "medical marijuana" is a thing, they couldn't prescribe it when the side-effect is cancer.

infecto 9y ago
While I agree I think the one unfortunate side effect, that i do not have quantitative evidence of, is that more people are vaping who would not have picked up cigarettes. It could be purely anecdotal evidence but it sure seems like it.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
At this point I'm convinced that this e-cig FUD is a combination of intentional misinformation and general population not being able to think clearly about degrees of things. One would think that "a significantly less harmful thing is better than a harmful thing" is a tautology, but apparently it's not obvious to everyone.
- j0rd 9y ago
  It would be better if I quit, but wasn't planning on doing that, so I switched to vaping and haven't smoked since. Best? No. Better? Probably. One of the funny things with vaping is after two weeks smoking a cigarette becomes disgusting. I'd say it's also a lot easier to quit vaping than smoking cigarettes. So that as well is a move in the correct direction.

apsec112 9y ago

The current scientific consensus is that e-cigarettes, although they may still have some risks, are far less harmful than conventional cigarettes. "This systematic review appraises existing laboratory and clinical research on the potential risks from electronic cigarette use, compared with the well-established devastating effects of smoking tobacco cigarettes. Currently available evidence indicates that electronic cigarettes are by far a less harmful alternative to smoking and significant health benefits are expected in smokers who switch from tobacco to electronic cigarettes." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110871/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110871/

EpicEng 9y ago

>just as addicting, just as nasty What are you basing that ludicrous statement on?

matthewmacleod 9y ago

Not convinced switching people to a just as addicting, just as nasty way of killing themselves slowly is any better. More research is required on long-term effects, but e-cigarettes, regardless of whatever other problems they may have, are likely far less damaging to users than continuing to smoke cigarettes.

andy_ppp 9y ago

As someone who has recently quit cold turkey I totally agree with you. Learning the skill of changing difficult habits is part of the process of giving up. A lot of addiction is learning to control what you want to believe, building startups is too, being happy also, papering over the cracks by adding a new addiction I would say is harmful on many levels. I say deal with the smoking addiction finally once and for all and never smoke again. To do that a mildly stoic acceptance that you are going to have to suffer needs to occur.

grasshopperpurp 9y ago
Should we take the same approach with heroin addicts?
- andy_ppp 9y ago
  Yes, we tried methadone and it makes them worse and more compulsive than giving them heroin.

creatonez 9y ago

Nicotine is not dangerous. It is addictive. Not dangerous.