This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

We all know how policically incorrect it is to smoke (or admit it anyway!) but I am a smoker and have been trying to quit for about 3 years. (and I am NOT politically correct!) So has my daughter who has MS. Several months ago I came across a video on Fox news about the "e-cigarette". I have been using them ever since!

There are several places you can purchase this product. Just search the web. There was an article at Fox this morning for those interested in reading it...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,502464,00.html

It is neat but it still doesn't address the fact that Nicotine is a poison. QUIT QUIT QUIT!!!! My MS progression actually slowed up comparatively when I quit in '05. There are also studies showing smokers progress faster. I can't be sure what causes it but it's my guess ANYTHING related to tobacco, or cigarettes, or fake smokes, still is bad bad bad.

Try Hypnosis. If you want to quit it will work. I smoked 1.5-4 packs a day and in one session I was done.

it's the vascular link i think chris

we recently got onto smoking and vascular issues so i searched smoking and zinc depletion, which turned up the cadmium issue. cadmium in the smoke blocks your body's ability to use zinc, because cadmium and zinc are so similar.

cheer came in to mention that she had run across the cadmium issue related to vascular health but the link to smoking was a surprise.
anyway when you don't have enough zinc the impermeability and integrity of your body's membranes begin to suffer -

blood vessels

http://www.rowett.ac.uk/newsletter/Reso ... ticle4.pdf
In this article, John Beattie describes how dietary zinc intake may influence vascular health and disease. He demonstrates that the development of vascular disease is accelerated in marginal zinc defi ciency and investigates a mechanistic basis for this influence, possibly involving vascular smooth
muscle structural proteins...

http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index. ... row=361901
Our data indicate that zinc is vital to vascular endothelial cell integrity, possibly by regulating signaling events to inhibit apoptotic cell death.

intestines
Enteric protein loss and intestinal permeability changes in children during acute shigellosis and after recovery: effect of zinc supplementation.
http://gut.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/12/1707
Intestinal permeability, expressed as a urinary lactulose:mannitol excretion ratio, improved significantly (p = 0.001) along with a significant increase (p = 0.005) in mannitol excretion in the zinc supplemented children, suggesting a resolution of small bowel mucosal damage.

blood brain barrier
http://www.ebmonline.org/cgi/content/full/223/2/175
Zinc Deficiency Exacerbates Loss in Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity Induced by Hyperoxia Measured by Dynamic MRI
However, zinc deficiency resulted in a significant increase in both blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability (kPS{rho}) and tissue interstitial leakage space (ve), indicating a severely disturbed BBB

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my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

Agree nicotine is bad for you (actually 50% bad and 50% good!) And I don't have MS (I know, a cop out.) But for those who are really struggling, this is a great "next step" towards quitting and does not have the "other" 499 (or 4,999) harmful chemicals in cigarettes.

Just thought I'd share.

(P.S. They actually did rescind the position about cigarettes progressing MS. Not true although I agree 1000% that nothing about smoking or tobacco is good for you!)

i have the e cigerette. didnt help me.

Andre--help you what? quit?

I absolutely love mine! A "real" cigarette is just nasty to me now. It's funny...when people would talk about the smell, I never could appreciate what they were talking about because of course I couldn't smell it. Now, I can smell smoke on someone 20 feet away! And it really is nasty!

Sorry it didn't help you Andre.

Yes Peta...I understand the desire never completely goes away..just gets easier to resist. I know SO many people who have quit for years and decide they can have "just one" cig only to return full force and smoking twice as much! Good for you for quitting!