Helloes?

[Lo0p]

Helloes?

Okay, nm, it's a 2 year old blog which I never finished but still contains one of my most protected secrets that I was going to show you guys. Fuck it. I'll just post it here.

[Lo0p]

Helloes?

Pharmacological extinction of nicotine addiction using Chantix

Under Construction

My own method for treating my addiction to cigarettes. I am starting this project sometime in the next few weeks. I've acquired a prescription for Chantix (varenicline) but I am going to completely disobey my doctors instructions. I have been instructed to take the Chantix, let it build up in my system and quit smoking cigarettes on the 8th day, standard protocol for the medication. Instead I am going to try a method I modeled after The Sinclair Method for treating alcoholism. I am going to attempt "pharmacological extinction" of my nicotine addiction by taking Chantix and continuing to smoke whenever I want to.

Yes, I am insane, we have established that. My logic is as follows:

Whenever you smoke a cigarette nicotine gets released into you bloodstream until it hits one of a gazillion nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (hereinafter referred to as nicotine receptors). It agonizes (stimulates) the receptor and this, in turn causes your brain to release a flood of dopamine which is primarily a pleasurable neurotransmitter (much like endorphins). You get high.

Chantix is is a novel new drug. It's mechanism of action is that first and foremost it is an antagonist of the nicotine receptors. This means that, no matter how much you smoke, nicotine will never hit your brain's nicotine receptors and you'll never get that "buzz". You can kiss that goodbye! When was the last time you actually felt it anyway? When you were like 15? Of lesser consequence but still helpful, it is also a partial agonist of those same receptors. This should serve to give you a constant slow, steady drip of dopamine and should mitigate some withdrawal symptoms.

My theory is modeled after The Sinclair Method. Where Naltrexone is an antagonist of the endorphin receptors, Chantix is an antagonist of the nicotine receptors. It is my stance that, much like naltrexone, doctors have been prescribing Chantix the wrong way. Telling patients to take Chantix and quit smoking does very little good for the actual disease. The network of neurons and synapses that comprise the nicotine addiction remains intact. And it will remain so if people just quit smoking on their own without dismantling this "neural superhighway" of addiction.

You see, every time you get this burst of pleasurable dopamine, your brain goes back and says "Aha! That was a good thing that you just did!" And it goes back into all those neurons and synapses that fired just before you got that pleasurable response and it strengthens them just a little bit. Makes the connections a little bit more robust and easier to use in the future. This is well documented in many areas of science and is called "learning." The opposite is called "extinction."

I contend that taking a nicotinic antagonist like Chantix in and of itself does nothing for the actual disease, the underlying addiction. It is only when continuing to smoke while taking the antagonist that you reap the actual benefits. Every time you do smoke you are activating those same neurons and synapses but not receiving the pleasurable response. And it is only when this happens that your brain starts "extinction," the removal of learned behaviors (comprised of neurons and synapses) that no longer serve a useful purpose. Every cigarette is an "extinction session." Where as before with every smoke you became progressively more and more addicted, now with every smoke you become progressively less and less addicted.

I tried this out last year on a friend who had already declared himself cured of his alcohol addiction with The Sinclair Method. He was already intimately familiar with the theory so he was game.

The results were beautiful. He smoked about 20 cigarettes a day. By the end of two weeks he was smoking 33. He said it felt like he wasn't getting anything from them (duh) so he tried to smoke more. This is a common response and the TSMites call it the "extinction burst" (more on this later). By 4 weeks extinction had begun to take hold and he could only manage about 12 cigarettes a day and reported that they tasted absolutely awful. At six weeks he was smoking only 2 cigarettes a day. That was about a year ago. As of our last communication he had smoked only 4 cigarettes in 8 months and with each one he couldn't even remember why he had ever smoked.

He quit smoking without ever even trying to quit. I'll say this now because I'm in limited company and wouldn't dare to make a claim to this effect in public (yet): I think I might have just stumbled on the cure for nicotine addiction.

The outcome of this treatment is much better than if one were just going to quit smoking. If you quit smoking the disease remains intact, just dormant. If they smoke one cigarette, that "neural superhighway" that is their addiction will light up like a Christmas tree as bright as it did last year with the flick of one switch. Using this method the disease is actually physically dismantled in your brain. You could become addicted to cigarettes again, but you'd have to actually do just that: become addicted again and build back up that destroyed network of neurons and synapses.

I'll probably eat my words later but if this starts working for me this blog will remain private and I'll ask that you please keep quiet about it for a little while so that I can write a book. Does "How I discovered the cure for nicotine addiction" sound like a catchy title? Again, getting a little ahead of myself here.

It does have another slight benefit though, remember that I said it was a partial agonist? It'll help you just a little bit, much like a nicotine patch, and probably accounts for the positive affect found in the studies. The main finding was that at 12 weeks, 44% of patients were still abstinent from cigarettes. Which is what doctors
hang their hats on.

[bleep]

Helloes?

redhead77;1421982 wrote: ...

Better living through chemistry indeed! Three weeks is a great start, Bleep. I'm thinking your Champix is the same thing as Chantix. I believe I'm going to give Chantix a go after the New Year. I've always had the belief that an alcoholic couldn't go off baclofen and drink moderately. That the only way to go off baclofen and be okay, is if one became abstinent and remained that way. I hope you'll pop in and let us know how that is working for you.

...:l

Red,

It is the same thing, just sold under a different name for some reason.

Just start it now, and by New Years you will have stopped.

When the effects first appeared, and I reduced to a few smokes a day, I initially thought woohoo!, I'll stay on this stuff for the rest of my life, and smoke 4 cigarettes a day, who cares, but the spot the smoke hits gets smaller and smaller and then disappears, and the taste gets closer and closer to camel shit. Stopping is natural and unforced.

Will let you know how the drinking gets on. I have no idea if it will work this way, but there's only one way to find out!

[redhead77]

Helloes?

Loop, thanks for the blog page. Since it's 2 years old, did you ever try this method?

Bleep, I need to shop for a new primary care doc for insurance reasons. This month is crazy and I won't have time to pick one and get in for a script. It's going to have to wait until next month. As far as the being off baclofen and testing the waters, you've always been a bit of a cowboy with bac. Here's to hoping.

I wonder if Chantix will be another drug used for alcoholism. Apparently, it might help to reduce alcohol intake along with the smoking. I have read conflicting things. One was that most of the people who suffer psychosis, do so while drinking. That one absolutely shouldn't drink on it. Then I read it didn't seem to help people become abstinent or stop drinking, but it might help heavy drinkers reduce their intake to safer levels. Harm reduction. Hmmm. Who knows, maybe Chantix will keep you from going off the rails if things were to go that way.

Thanks for the info!

[_serenity_]

Helloes?

redhead77;1421982 wrote: I am embarrassed too, Serenity. I'm a healthcare professional for goodness sakes. Smoking is bad for everyone but it's absolutely terrible for me. I have a reactive airway, and I'm likely to end up with COPD if I don't quit. I hate that I'm so damn addicted to these things. The biggest problem is, I only started smoking heavily when I started HDB. I'm concerned enough that I wonder if I should taper off so I don't crave cigs as much.

I only started smoking heavily after the bac too! It's awful. Lo0p and Bleep, I will definitely try the Chantix. I want to stop soon!

[bleep]

Helloes?

redhead77;1422612 wrote: ...

Who knows, maybe Chantix will keep you from going off the rails if things were to go that way.

Thanks for the info!

The recommended way to take it sees you stopping after 2 or 3 months anyway, so no chance of that!

[Bminor]

Helloes?

What's up buddy? hehehehe...

[Lo0p]

Helloes?