E-cigarettes help or hurt? Make up your damn mind #WTF

E-cigarettes might help smokers quit American Heart Association says.  To Quit Smoking, E-cigarette are last resort say Heart Association, Cancer Society.

#WTF?  That's right.  What.  The.  Fuck.  How does this possibly help?  Can we confuse people even more?

First off, if you ask me, e-cigarettes are nothing more than a scam.  It's a delivery device for nicotine.  It's no different than a regular cigarette except it MAY be better on your body.  MAY.  We really don't know.  What we do know is that it's another method of perpetuating and profiting from addiction at the extreme risk of other's health.

Yes, I am incredibly biased.  I have a book I am selling for profit that I wrote and published to help people conquer their addiction to nicotine.

Why did I write the book?  Because it was incredibly hard for me to stop smoking.  I tried to quit like 5 times.  Failed miserably.  When I finally figured it out it was like getting hit by a bolt of lightning and I wanted to share it with as many people as possibly.

It is possible to stop and to stop cold turkey and succeed.  It starts with having the right attitude and mindset and it also start when you stop looking for the easy way to quit.  There's no short cut, there's no magic pill, no quick fix.

So when I see headlines like this that just confuse the would be non-smokers it drives me nuts.  If you smoke you are struggling with multiple addictions but the big one, the one that's keeping you stuck is the nicotine addiction.  The sooner you get off that and rid your body's dependence on it the better.  E-cigarettes ultimately will not cure your addiction to nicotine.  YOU will cure your addiction.  On your own.  The power of your thoughts is more powerful than you give credit.  Take back your power.  Stop today.

Need help with that?  No Problem...  go to www.StopDontQuit.com for the real and final solution

e-Cigarettes: More than just harmless water vapor

still a bad idea - "A" for effort, but still dumb

Are e-Cigarettes really the healthy alternative to smoking or just an entirely new and different set of
problems?

New research is revealing that the e-cigarettes in fact might actually impede your body's ability to defend itself from and fight off bacteria.  There is also cause to believe that the e-cigarette will actually increase the power of drug-resistant bacteria.  (HOLY pathogen Batman!)

There's a study recently put out by researchers from the VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California, San Diego that dug into the effect of e-cigarette vapor on live methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the MRSA virus, as well as human epthielial cells.

WIKI:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus

"The virulence of MRSA is increased by e-cigarette vapor," said lead investigator Laura E. Crotty Alexander, MD, VA researcher and assistant professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at UCSD, in a press release.

PRESS RELEASE:  http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/05/114301/e-cigarettes-expose-people-more-%E2%80%98harmless%E2%80%99-water-vapor-and-should-be-regulated

The release tells us that exposure to e-cigarette vapor increased the virulence of the bacteria, helping MRSA escape killing by antimicrobial peptides and macrophages. The vapor, said Alexander, did not make the bacteria as aggressive as cigarette smoke exposure did in parallel studies her group conducted.

The study states that the e-cigarette vapor led to changes in the body which makes it harder to fight off infection and created a greater resistance to killing by human cells and antibiotics.

"As health care professionals, we are always being asked by patients, "Would this be better for me?" Crotty Alexander said. "In the case of smoking e-cigarettes, I hated not having an answer. While the answer isn't black and white, our study suggests a response: even if e-cigarettes may not be as bad as tobacco, they still have measurable detrimental effects on health."

The research is just the latest in a string of reports on e-cigarettes and potential harmful attributes.

Claims that e-cigarettes are not a danger to smokers and nonsmokers and offer a viable healthy way to quit a nicotine habit are not true, according to a study on the electronic smoking devices released in the past two weeks.

A UC San Francisco research team states there is no evidence to support the claims from e-cigarette makers and advocates.

Another study claims particles from inhaled vapor are being absorbed in deep lung tissue and could present health issues. Another claims the e-cigarette vapor may feature potential carcinogenic elements.

Ultimately, it's you verses nicotine and the people who continue to perpetuate the addiction at your expense.  Choose life and choose freedom.  Stop.  Don't quit.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Safe Or Another Cancer Causing Agent Of Big Tobacco

Reporting from Los Angeles - There may be no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to the e-cigarette.  For smokers in France, a country basically stereotyped with smoking, it may be time to quit smoking.  What will these men do when a piece of their identity is ripped from their ability to live fully?

"The e-cigarette is not an ordinary product," said French Health Minister Marisol Touraine.  "We need to apply the same measures as there are for tobacco."

Interestingly enough, France isn't the only country taking issue with the e-cig.  Many countries have already outlawed e-cigarettes all together.  Countries like Turkey, Brazil, Singapore, Argentina and possible next Italy.  Italian health ministers are recommending a ban on e-cigarettes in public and the sale to minors and pregnant women.

Marisol Touraine also said, "Smoking an e-cigarette is smoking."  I tend to agree with her.  While technically safer than the traditional cigarette, the so called water vapor also contains propylene glycol which is an irritant to the airways and (get ready for this) formaldehyde.  Right!  The liquid that held the two headed pig you saw at the county fair last year.  That formaldehyde.

If you're considering switching to e-cigarettes, hey, why not, it's got to be better than a regular one, but does that make it safe or safe-er?  Standing one legged on a 100 foot ledge is dangerous.  Standing on the same ledge with both feet; still dangerous.

Why should you raise a red flag or at least an eyebrow?  Because Big Tobacco is getting in on the action.  That's why.

Lorillard bought blu ecigs (so Steven Dorf now works for Big Tobacco) and Camel, which was my brand of choice when I was choosing to smoke is selling their e-cigarette called Vuse.

These are the same guys who manipulated nicotine levels to make them more addicting and then denied that cigarettes were addicting.  The same people who hired doctors, actors and opera singers to promote their deadly product.  How long will it be before some Doctor Oz looking guy is featured on an infomercial talking about the "safe and effective" use of the Vuse to quit smoking regular cigarettes?

My advice, is if you're going to stop smoking, then STOP smoking.  Cigarettes, electronic or otherwise are nothing more than a delivery device for nicotine.  So is the patch and the gum.  They even call it that.  NRT.  Nicotine Replacement Therapy.  Sooner or later you're going to have to combat the Nicotine demon.  Rip that sucker off like a band-aid.  Big tobacco has had enough of your money, time and life.

Do yourself a favor and throw 20 bucks at the book that will change your life, how you see yourself as a smoker and give you the tools you need to not quit, but just stop smoking once and for all.

FDA Sells Out Addicts By Loosening Restrictions On Nicotine

From Reuters:  "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is relaxing its restrictions on the use of over-the-counter nicotine patches, gum and lozenges."

As it sits, you get 12 weeks to get off cigarettes and nicotine.  After that you're expected to stop both.

Now, they're thinking this isn't enough time.

Right, I get it it...  I'll quit tomorrow....

Look, let's keep this simple - nicotine crosses the blood brain barrier intact.  It can be as addictive as heroin for many.  If you smoke, that's how you get your nicotine.  Cigarettes, as Jeffrey Wigand put it, are a "delivery devise for nicotine."  What other delivery devices for nicotine are there?  eCigarettes, Chew, Snuff, Pipes, Cigars, Patches, Gum, Lozenges.

Heroin can be smoked, snorted, shot up.

How would you like your nicotine?  Straight up or on the rocks?   Phillip Morris is evil for selling nicotine in the form of a cigarette and GlaxoSmithKline are heroes?

Or, like any good cartel, looking for a better, more efficient way to deliver the drug into the body.

Don't fall for it people.  Sooner or later you will have to do battle with your addiction to nicotine.  How do take a band aid off?  How do you dive in a pool?  How do you conquer a fear?  How much longer will you allow yourself to be a slave to chemical that is fatal at 30 - 60 mg?

From Wikipedia:  "Historically, most cases of nicotine poisoning have been the result of use of nicotine as an insecticide."

That's real.  You're smoking, chewing, sucking on, patching an insecticide.  Enjoy that!

Here's why I stopped.  I was tired of giving control of my state to a chemical known to cause...  you know the rest.

Take back control of your life and take control of your addiction.  Do not allow a so called legitimate drug dealer to convince you that you need nicotine replacement therapy to get off cigarettes.  You know what you need - you need you.   You can do it on your own.  That's the purpose of my book, How To Stop Smoking Without Killing Anyone.  To help people take back control.  NOT transfer it over from Big Tobacco to a pharmaceutical giant instead.  You don't need more nicotine.  You need to stop the cycle.

Smoking an e-Cigarette is NOT helping you at all!

Sometimes Trying To Quit Smoking Can Blow Up In Your Face (literally)

Imagine enjoying a cigarette after a nice meal with your wife and suddenly BOOM!  The cigarette blows up on you!  Teeth get knocked out, parts of your face are charred and some of your tongue is missing.  You wind up in a burn center...

Well this is what happened to Tom Holloway earlier this week when his e-cigarette lit up like a bottle rocket on the 4th of July, shooting across his home office, starting a small fire and leaving him severely injured.

While this is rare and should never happen to anyone...  allow me to observe that the injuries Mr. Holloway received as a result of him trying to quit with an e-cigarette would have happened either way.  Meaning what?  All this e-cigarette exploding did was speed up the process.

• Cigarette smoking is a known cause and trigger of periodontal disease which results in receding gums, bone loss and eventually tooth loss.  So his teeth were coming out one way or another...

• Tobacco smoking is one of the leading causes of oral cancer and the first step in fixing that is tissue removal.

• Smoking also speeds up the aging process.  You know how meat and fish get smoked?  Consider that and then look at a heavy smokers face...

Seem insensitive?  Sometimes a reality smack down is in order...

Look, here's what set me off: 

"Holloway, a Vietnam veteran, photographer and father of three, reportedly stopped smoking two years ago and turned to e-cigarettes to kick the habit."

This came from ABCNews.com.  What the hell are they talking about?  Kick what habit?  He didn't kick anything!  Jeffrey Wigand put it best when he deemed a cigarette "a delivery device for nicotine."  Mr Holloway simply had not kicked anything and because of switching delivery devices, damn near kicked the bucket sooner than if he'd have simply continued to smoke regular cigarettes!

They did redeem themselves later though when they said, "Electronic cigarettes have become a popular crutch for many who have quit smoking" 

To which I say, here, here!  The e-cigarette is just that.  A crutch.  At some point you will need to go it alone and stop!

So what did we learn today?  E-cigarettes are just as dangerous (if not more so) then regular cigarettes and sooner or later you're going to have to go cold turkey.  Stopping smoking is like pulling off a band-aid.  It's no fun either way, but it's better to do it fast and get on with it.

Need help ripping off the band-aid?  Try my book!  Get your copy at www.stopdontquit.com or on this blog!