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Farewell, Lady Nicotine!
By Valmiki Faleiro
September it shall be to stop smoking. When three cigarette cartons -- of the
brand I smoked most in 30-odd years -- gifted by visiting overseas friends,
are stubbed. Why publicise a personal decision? For three good reasons. In
ascending order of importance: to build pressure to stay on course and resist
relapse; to fore-caution readers that withdrawal symptoms might show here
(it'll be cold turkey ... words like reduction, moderation are not in my
vocab -- I never do things in half measure!); but foremost, to tell smokers
how easy it now is to quit, unlike before.
All good things in life must end someday, like life itself. A law of nature.
But nicotine, a "good thing?" Yes! Romanticized as a 'Lady,' she's a rare
thingy. Does diametrically opposite things, as situation demands. She lifts
you when you're down, and cools you down when excited. A stimulant and a
relaxant, simultaneously! Most smokers will not have realized they take short,
rapid puffs when tired or relaxed (low blood nicotine stimulates nerve
transmission), and longer, deeper drags when tensed or excited (high nicotine
levels depress nerve impulses and sedate.)
Nicotine works on the body's principal transmitters, adrenaline and dopamine.
Charge up or feel good. It's a powerful, positive psychological tool. Helps
concentrate and relax (an "attention thermostat"), produces mild euphoria,
helps deal with stress, with tension and lethargy, keeps one awake -- and
one's body weight in check.
I learnt that from experience and my smoking bible, "The Smoker's Book of
Health" by Dr. Tom Ferguson, MD (1987, G.P. Putnam's Sons, ISBN: 0-399-13193-
0.) It presents facts about smoking -- without moralizing, a must for every
health conscious smoker. (I'm yet to lay hands on friend, Mario
Sequeira's 'Killing me Softly.')
While paeans can be sung to the 'Lady,' she does have, like most things in
life, her flip side. Nicotine creates the addiction. And the only way of
pumping nicotine to your brains is by chewing, sniffing or smoking tobacco --
and taking in hundreds of other toxins and poisons in the bargain, several of
them known carcinogens. (I hope any young readers, toying with the elation of
taming fire between one's fingers, as I did when I was sixteen, have reached
reading this far.) Smoking is not glamorous. It's cancerous. Amongst a host of
other undesirables.
Tobacco, perhaps only next to dope, is the worst vice one can acquire. A sure
cut of one's lifespan, if not misery to the user and to the immediate family.
We sure must die someday -- but why choose months or years of agony before the
final farewell? The best motivation to quit is to visit the oral and lung
wards of Tata Memorial at Parel, Mumbai (the best gift, among others, our
minuscule Parsi guests gave India, courtesy Sir Jamshedjee Tata.)
I have been lucky, thus far. Decided to quit, purely for health reasons, while
opportunity exists. Quitting is not difficult as it once was. Google Alerts
and web searches led to a variety of quitting aids. There are the
pharmacological, that either mimic what nicotine does to brain chemicals or
block the receptors that sense them. Glaxo's 'Zyban' has been around for some
time, Pfizer's 'Chantix' has come in lately and posts better results in the
U.S.
I've opted for the all natural. Made from herbs and stuff. Have lined up four.
A bit expensive, but a whisper from what I'd spend in the event of cancer.
I've quit before (not as Mark Twain once wrote, "Quitting smoking is easy.
I've done it a thousand times," but seriously.) Overcoming mental craving is
easier than the physical habit. I'm going to try smokeless 'cigarettes'
(menthol, cinnamon flavoured) from D-day. Creams and sniffers from before
that -- they promise to cut craving drastically, in about a week. There's this
magnetic product -- two tiny magnets, attached to some part of the ear -- that
claims to produce dopamine, without your carcinogens! I'm yet to receive it,
from a company called 'Smettere.'
A reformed man is the greatest advocate against his former vice. St.
Augustine, the Church's greatest advocate, demonstrated that. Here is a humble
near-former smoker willing to assist any smoker seriously committed to kick
the habit. Mail me privately: valmikif at gmail.com. I'll be glad to assist.
(Start with typing 'Quit Smoking' in the Google search window and go to easily
identifiable reliable sites like http://www.cancer.org or
http://www.lungusa.org)
If this Sunday swivels the mind of even one smoker, I will consider today more
than rewarded. Adieu Lady, 'bye sweetheart! (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the September 3, 2006 edition of the Herald, Goa
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