11 weeks and counting

It has been 11 weeks since I quit smoking. Cigarette is still on my mind. I find myself contemplating different forms of getting my nicotine craving fixed.
The first one came to mind is e-cigarette. So I did a lot of reading on the web about e-cigarette. This is what is described by wikipedia regarding Health Canada’s attitude on e-cigarette:

On March 27, 2009, Health Canada issued an advisory against electronic cigarettes. The advisory stated "Although these electronic smoking products may be marketed as a safer alternative to conventional tobacco products and, in some cases, as an aid to quitting smoking, electronic smoking products may pose risks such as nicotine poisoning and addiction.

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In Canada, compliance of electronic cigarette use with public smoking bans is currently under review. In March 2009, Health Canada called for the immediate cessation of imports, sales, and advertising of electronic smoking products containing nicotine, and advised Canadians not to purchase or use any electronic smoking products. Under the Food and Drugs Act, electronic smoking products containing nicotine require market authorization before they can be imported, marketed, or sold. No market authorization has been granted for any electronic smoking product.

Therefore, it is not possible to have access to e-cigarette in Canada.

I then read further on Nicotine and found out that toxicity of nicotine is higher than that of cocaine. According to wikipedia, the lethal dose of nicotine (LD50) is 3 mg/kg to mice as compared with 95.1 mg/kg for cocaine. It is impossible however to overdose on smoking alone. On the other hand, spilling an extremely high concentration of nicotine onto the skin can result in intoxication or even death since nicotine readily passes into the bloodstream from dermal contact. When one orders e-cigarette, it comes with multi-vials of nicotine solutions. Imaging these vials break and gets absorbed by a child. Therefore, the warning from Health Canada regarding e-cigarette does have a merit.

I was shocked to read the part about nicotine’s therapeutic values; its positive effect on Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer disease and prevention to weight gain etc. I guess we are still in a democratic society, even though I doubt often its ability to deal in democratic way whenever it comes to cigarette smoking. Of course, a lot of people instinctively know the therapeutic values of nicotine. That is the reason I believe they never quit smoking regardless how much anti-smoking propaganda is out there. A friend’s father quit smoking, just to be told by his wife to pick it up again because she could not tolerate his foul mood. In my own case, I have gained 10 pounds after 11 weeks not smoking. I need to clarify here. I used to eat whatever I wanted and didn’t do any exercise and I used to weigh around 100 pound with a flat stomach. I only smoke 5 to 8 cigarettes a day. After 11 weeks without cigarettes, I weighed 110 pound and almost all the weight is on my abdomen.

Then, I discovered Snus. I thought that I have found a solution to all my problems. It has way lower carcinogens than cigarette smoking, yet maintains all of nicotine’s therapeutic values. Bad news is that it is not available in Montreal. Of course, I can always order online. But Snus is pasteurized and should be refrigerated. Therefore, you do not get a fresh product when ordering online from another country. In addition, with punitive duty and tax on tobacco, I do not think it will be problem-free to get your Snus through customs. Of course, if I must do Snus, I am sure that I will find a way.

In the meantime, I bought a Swiss Ball to work on my tummy. I will re-evaluate the situation after 6 months of quitting. Why 6 months? My husband believes that this is the amount of time it takes to truly convert a person to a vegetarian. Hopefully after 6 months, I will be converted to a truly nicotine independent person.

Right now, my life has no stress whatsoever and I can afford to contemplate back and forth about cigarette smoking and nicotine. However, I would not suggest anyone to quit smoking if you have to deal with stress. On the other hand, reducing the amount of cigarette intake will help a lot. Better yet, why not try Snus, a less harmful way of getting a nicotine fix.