Vaping Addiction & Marijuana
Marijuana users have come up with some creative techniques. From hookahs to bongs, the rates of marijuana use are increasing. In fact, a study showed that one in five people who vape have used their vaporizer to get high on marijuana, which makes vaping highly addictive.
Contrary to popular belief, marijuana addiction is not a myth. In fact, more than 360,000 people on marijuana were admitted to treatment for addiction, according to data presented by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2010.
Vaping gives users the chance to get high without combustion. Although vaporizers spare the respiratory system, marijuana may still affect the cognitive functioning and brain structure of the user. For teens, these effects lead to poor concentration and high dropout rates.
Why Is It So Hard To Quit Tobacco
Stopping or cutting back on tobacco causes symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Withdrawal is both physical and mental. Physically, your body is reacting to the absence of nicotine. Mentally, you are faced with giving up a habit, which calls for a major change in behavior. Emotionally, you might feel like as if youve lost your best friend. Studies have shown that smokeless tobacco users have as much trouble giving up tobacco as people who want to quit smoking cigarettes.
People who have used tobacco regularly for a few weeks or longer will have withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly stop or greatly reduce the amount they use. Theres no danger in nicotine withdrawal, but the symptoms can be uncomfortable. They usually start within a few hours and peak about 2 to 3 days later when most of the nicotine and its by-products are out of the body. Withdrawal symptoms can last a few days to up to several weeks. They get better every day that a person stays tobacco-free.
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms can include any of the following:
- Dizziness
- Depression
- Feelings of frustration, impatience, and anger
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Trouble sleeping, including trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and having bad dreams or even nightmares
- Trouble concentrating
What To Do If You Slip Or Relapse
Most people try to stop smoking several times before they kick the habit for good, so dont beat yourself up if you slip up and smoke a cigarette. Instead, turn the relapse into a rebound by learning from your mistake. Analyze what happened right before you started smoking again, identify the triggers or trouble spots you ran into, and make a new stop-smoking plan that eliminates them.
Its also important to emphasize the difference between a slip and a relapse. If you start smoking again, it doesnt mean that you cant get back on the wagon. You can choose to learn from the slip and let it motivate you to try harder or you can use it as an excuse to go back to your smoking habit. But the choice is yours. A slip doesnt have to turn into a full-blown relapse.
Youre not a failure if you slip up. It doesnt mean you cant quit for good.
Dont let a slip become a mudslide. Throw out the rest of the pack. Its important to get back on the non-smoking track as soon as possible.
Look back at your quit log and feel good about the time you went without smoking.
Find the trigger. Exactly what was it that made you smoke again? Decide how you will cope with that issue the next time it comes up.
Learn from your experience. What has been most helpful? What didnt work?
Are you using a medicine to help you quit? Call your doctor if you start smoking again. Some medicines cannot be used if youre smoking at the same time.
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The Unique Attributes That Make Nicotine Cravings Persist
Nicotine, alcohol, heroin, or any drug of abuse works by hijacking the brains reward system, says Yale researcher Nii Addy, PhD, who specializes in the neurobiology of addiction. The reward system wasnt meant for drugsit evolved to interact with natural neurotransmitters already present in the body, like acetylcholine. This neurotransmitter is used to activate muscles in our body. The reason nicotine fits into a receptor meant for acetylcholine is because the two have very similar shapes, biochemically speaking, Addy explains.
Once nicotine binds to that receptor, it sends a signal to the brain to release a well-known neurotransmitterdopaminewhich helps create a feel-good feeling. Dopamine is part of the brains feedback system that says whatever just happened felt good and trains the brain to repeat the action. But nicotine, unlike other drugs such as alcohol, quickly leaves the body once it is broken down by the liver. Once its gone, the brain craves nicotine again.
After One Year: Your Risk Of A Heart Attack Is Cut In Half
Now that your blood vessels are returning to normal size, your heart rate is back to a safe pace, and your blood pressure is lowered, your risk for a heart attack is lower than while you were still vaping. After one year, cardiovascular risk reduces by 50 percent, Dr. Djordjevic says. If you think youre too young to have heart problems, think again this woman had a stroke at 29.
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What Can I Do If I Am Addicted To Vaping
The earlier you become addicted to vaping, the harder it can be to give up. But, there are steps you can take to quit and supports that area available to you.
When you first give up e-cigarettes, you can go into nicotine withdrawal. Your cravings will more than likely be strong at first, but they will decrease in time. Nicotine Replacement Therapy can help you deal with withdrawal and cravings.
While your body readjusts, make sure you are eating a healthy, balanced diet. Get plenty of sleep, keep hydrated and exercise. Look after yourself as best you can, and try finding activities that take your mind off things when cravings hit. Remember, they will only last for a short time and in a few weeks, they should be gone completely.
Giving up e-cigarettes also can help you save money, as the cost of cartridges adds up as time goes on. Without having to spend it on vaping, you can have more money to spend on things that you need or enjoy.
Cotinine As The Silent Perpetrator
Even worse than nicotine is the substance called cotinine. When nicotine is absorbed by the human body, it is then broken down even further into circa 20 other by-products including:
- Anabasine
- Nornicotine
These substances eventually leave our body through urine. However, high levels of cotinine are able to remain present in a smokers blood up to 2 weeks after the person has quit smoking, according to the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
Of course, the more a person smokes , the longer it will take for nicotine and cotinine to completely leave the body. Also, the approximate time period for nicotine to be completely excreted from ones system tends to differ, and the factors include:
- duration and frequency of smoking
- age
- gender
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The Dangers Of Being Addicted To Smoking
Everyone prays to live longer. No one likes to die young. But then, the number of years one lives is a factor of lifestyle and other decisions. Now back to business! Being addicted to smoking can negatively affect ones life.
Smoking can affect every organ in the body, and even give rise to life-threatening diseases. However, if you can quite now and start a new chapter, you will automatically boost your health and increase your lifespan.
The Cycle Of The Smoking Habit
The cycle of the smoking habit and nicotine addiction is one that many find hard to quit. Thankfully, there are safer options to get your fix, like vaping. The more you smoke, the more your body needs to sustain those pleasurable feelings. Over time, you will develop a smoking routine that integrates with social activities, work schedules, and other triggers.
For instance, as soon as the phone rings, you may grab a cup of coffee and light-up as a source of habit. You probably arent even aware that youre doing these things because they become second nature.
Triggers are another significant part of nicotine addiction. Do you notice that when you are stressed out, you reach for your cigarettes to calm you down? If the problems of the day are grating on your nerves, you may find solace in a couple of cigarettes in the great outdoors.
The cycle of smoking means that if you want to keep feeling the pleasure that calms you down, you need to keep smoking. Once you break that cycle, your body goes through withdrawal.
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Why Does Nicotine Stop Giving A Buzz
If you use nicotine regularly, you develop a tolerance for some of the effects, as is the case with most drugs, and especially those that have habit-forming properties. Nicotine stimulates receptors in the brain that release neurotransmitters like dopaminebut the receptors dont have unlimited capacity. When theyre full, additional nicotine just wont do much for you besides make you feel sick. And when you use nicotine habitually, those receptors are almost always full, meaning that youll lose the ability to feel a nic buzz. Basically, the nicotine is no longer a novelty to your brain its expected.
You may become dependent on nicotineor, as the newspapers and anti-vaping advocates call it, addicted. Whatever word you use, when that happens, youll stop chasing the nicotine buzz dragon and start maintaining: keeping your blood nicotine at the optimal level by using it first thing in the morning, and then topping it up throughout the day. Either that or youll make yourself sick trying to find the elusive, missing buzz.
Help Your Teen Get Help
About a month after she banned vaping, text messages on her teens phones clued Williams in to the fact that they were vaping again. Determined to stop them, she ordered nicotine urine tests on Amazon and tested each teen daily until they were clean. Since then, shes been randomly testing them a few times a month.
Parents can feel lost and even a little desperate when it comes to stopping vaping. But the American Lung Association cautions against this kind of screening. Instead they favor education, consistent parent-teen communication, positive support, and parents connecting teens with intervention or cessation programs.
This is Quitting is a smoking cessation program developed by Truth Initiative in collaboration with Mayo Clinic that offers a texting program to help quit e-cigarettes. Teens can enroll by texting QUIT to 706-222-QUIT. The program delivers tailored messages via text that give age-appropriate quitting advice.
The American Lung Association also offers several programs to help educate teens on e-cigarette use, including Not On Tobacco and Intervention for Nicotine Dependence: Education, Prevention, Tobacco and Health. To learn more, call 1-800-LUNG-USA or visit lung.org.
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Dangers Of Teen Vaping
The risks of vaping have been clearly identified in recent years. Vaping is associated with future nicotine and illicit drug use. The extremely popular JUUL e-cigarette holds about 72% of the vape pen market and offers a wide variety of enticing flavors. Each JUUL cartridge contains as much nicotine as one pack of 20 cigarettes. However, there is no standard nicotine concentration between e-cigarette brands or refillable liquids, so that brands may have more or less nicotine than a pack of cigarettes. Nicotine use is particularly dangerous for adolescents, as it has been shown to affect brain development.
Research on inhaled chemicals associated with vaping are ongoing, but mounting evidence suggests that inhaling vaping products may be dangerous. For example, although vape pen flavorings may be safe to eat, the vaporized particles may be harmful when inhaled. Some vape pens have also been shown to contain heavy metals and chemicals that are associated with cancer.
Side effects of vaping depend somewhat on the product being vaped. It is important to note that vaping is never safe and offers no positive health benefits.
How Does This Work
The tailored approach LiveWell Dorset uses to come up with solutions to the things that are stopping us achieving our goals, is based upon work done by University College London developing the COM-B model of behaviour change. In this model, all behaviour is influenced by understanding a persons capability to change, their opportunity to change and their motivation to change. By understanding which of these is the biggest barrier to change, we can tailor support accordingly. This model of behaviour change is at the centre of the support we offer, online and in person.
or register, to favourite activities that you want to try.
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Vaping Has Become A Major Trend Among Teens And Young People But We Know Very Little About Its Addictive Potential
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Is vaping addictive? It would seem so, considering how popular it has become. However, to answer this question, we should look at what active ingredients are added to e-liquid.
Vaporizers or electronic cigarettes are sometimes marketed as ways to quit smoking, but research is finding that it may be just as addictive as traditional cigarettes. One study even suggests that smokers were 28% less likely to quit smoking when using e-cigarettes.
Do You Provide Your Consent To Share Your Information With The Livewell Dorset Team Part Of Public Health Dorset
When you register with LiveWell Dorset, we ask you some questions about you and your health . We store that information and use it to shape our service offer to you such as the advice we give or the extra services we connect you to. The only people who will see this information will be those involved in the delivery of the service and management of the data. If you would like to use extra services we have to share this information with them. For us to be able to put you in touch with these services, we must have your consent to share that information with the service .
Before we can sign you up any further, we need to know:
- You’re happy for your personal information to be shared with LiveWell Dorset.
- You understand what information may be shared and why, and that at times, our contact to you may be supported by technology partners, who have the same data protection standards and safeguards as we do
- You acknowledge that you can withdraw your consent at any time by informing LiveWell Dorset.
- You understand that if you do not give consent or withdraw consent then it could be difficult for us to connect you some of the services we offer.
If you require any more information to help you make your choice then please contact the LiveWell Dorset team on 0800 840 1628. All telephone conversations at LiveWell Dorset are recorded for quality and training purposes, and stored whilst you are registered as active within the service.
No I do not consent
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Physical Changes Caused By Nicotine
Nicotine can also cause physical changes in the brain, some temporary, and others that some researchers, like Picciotto, worry could be long-lasting.
But animal studies show nicotine also can cause issues with brain function, leading to problems with focus, memory, and learningand these may be long-lasting. In animals, nicotine can cause a developing brain to have an increased number of connections between cells in the cerebral cortex region, says Picciotto. If this is also true for humans, the increased connections would interfere with a persons cognitive abilities, Picciotto says.
To illustrate how this might work, Picciotto gives an example. A student sitting in a noisy classroom, with traffic passing by the window, needs to be able to focus her attention away from the distracting sounds so she can understand what the teacher says. Brains not exposed to nicotine learn to decrease connections, and refinement within the brain can happen efficiently, Picciotto says. But when you flood the system with nicotine, this refinement doesnt happen as efficiently.
Theres hope that the current vaping epidemic wont lead to major health problems like lung cancer or pulmonary disease, Picciotto says. But we may still see an epidemic of cognitive function problems and attention problems. The changes made in the brain could persist.
How Long Does Nicotine Stay In Your System From Vaping
Most tobacco and vaping products contain nicotine, a harmful substance that causes smoking addiction. What many people still dont know is that traces of nicotine can stay for quite a while in a consumers system, even after theyve stopped smoking and/or vaping. The interesting part is that said substance can be detected in a consumers:
- Blood
- Hair
- Nails
So, regardless of whether your nicotine intake comes from smoking regular cigars and cigarettes or from vaping devices and e-cigarettes, if the tobacco and the e-liquid you are using contain nicotine, your body will absorb and process this substance nonetheless.
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Is Smoking Marijuana Bad For Your Lungs
Smoking marijuana deposits tar in the lungs because of the inhalation techniques. When people do this, they usually hold the smoke in their lungs for a longer period as compared to smoking tobacco. The continued exposure enables smoke molecules to settle in the lungs. In the long term, it could create issues for the lungs.
When you burn something to smoke, it couldcreate an inflammatory response in the lungs and airways. This could lead towheezing, coughing and chest tightness in the future.
