Thread: 1st time over a decade I have gone 24 hours without a cigarette

That's one of the benefits of lobelia,....it does what tobacco does to the dopamine receptors, relaxes you, but it's non-addictive and the other side effects are a boosted cardio-vascular system and pulmonary system PLUS a boosted immune system as a result.

Originally Posted by ENT

That's one of the benefits of lobelia,....it does what tobacco does to the dopamine receptors, relaxes you, but it's non-addictive

Originally Posted by ENT

it's non-addictive

Originally Posted by ENT

it's non-addictive

of course it is, you just can't stop thinking about it and posting about it in nearly every post

it has you by the balls and won't let go


yeeeeeehah

don't you have a dancing Lobelia plant, that would be much more appropriate?

we are waiting for the inevitable comedown

Originally Posted by DrAndy

....we are waiting for the inevitable comedown

I know.



But it ain't gonna happen.


Because lobelia is non addictive.......


And you can choose to use it or not, ....any time....


So using it is stress free.....


And it works.........


It works with other herbs too......

I'm almost 2 months smoke free.
Yay me.
No lobelia, patches or gum.

Originally Posted by slimboyfat

I'm almost 2 months smoke free.
Yay me.
No lobelia, patches or gum.

Yay you is right.
Congratulations.
Cold turkey is the mans way to go.No fucking around, kick that shit off.
Way to go.

Originally Posted by Koojo

Originally Posted by slimboyfat

I'm almost 2 months smoke free.
Yay me.
No lobelia, patches or gum.

Yay you is right.
Congratulations.
Cold turkey is the mans way to go.No fucking around, kick that shit off.
Way to go.

I wouldn't get all "manned up" about it.
Quitting smoking isn't a biggest dick competition.

Each of us are different and the effects of quitting a drug like nicotine (or any drug) can have disastrous effects on some folks, literally killing them if approached wrongly.

One size don't fit all.

About 10 years ago I asked my doctor for patches to quit smoking and he advised me not to use the stuff after checking me out, but did advise me to cut down a little,

Watched a program on TV about addiction, and some professor said that most addictions are broken when the person wants to end it, and those using crutches usually relapse because the desire to quit when they quit was not enough (hence needing the crutch). He pointed out that 87% of US soldiers in Vietnam that were using heroin quit the moment they got back to the US. No cold turkey, no pangs or with drawl symptoms. Just quit.

Just seems that when the head is ready to quit, you just do.

This is why I spoke before about rationalization. One part of the mind wants to quit, but another does not want to. The second part then rationalizes continuing.

Some people can give it up cold turkey, and some find it impossible. Nicotine stimulates production of dopamine, which rewards the brain with a surge of pleasure. Cocaine and marijuana (and alcohol, I think) also do this, but different people have different numbers of receptors for different substances.

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Watched a program on TV about addiction, and some professor said that most addictions are broken when the person wants to end it, and those using crutches usually relapse because the desire to quit when they quit was not enough (hence needing the crutch). He pointed out that 87% of US soldiers in Vietnam that were using heroin quit the moment they got back to the US. No cold turkey, no pangs or with drawl symptoms. Just quit.

Just seems that when the head is ready to quit, you just do.

People are largely driven by desires and their environment and the later can influence the former ie all your friends smoke or you hate your job and smoking is an outlet

Originally Posted by Latindancer

This is why I spoke before about rationalization. One part of the mind wants to quit, but another does not want to. The second part then rationalizes continuing.

Some people can give it up cold turkey, and some find it impossible. Nicotine stimulates production of dopamine, which rewards the brain with a surge of pleasure. Cocaine and marijuana (and alcohol, I think) also do this, but different people have different numbers of receptors for different substances.

Pleasure from nicotine is mild compared to other drugs or sex. Nicotine is more pleasureable when combined with alcohol which is why addicts smoke more when they drink or find it harder to not smoke when they are drunk. Some non smokers can go thru half a pack when they are drunk.

Cold turkey is easy and cheap. Why people pay money for patches I don't know. You are still putting a drug into your body but without the pleasure of inhaling it.

If you feel the need to do something buy chewing gum - gives you a taste sensation and it's cheaper than patches which are just a rort.

Originally Posted by waradmiral

Cold turkey is easy and cheap. Why people pay money for patches I don't know. You are still putting a drug into your body but without the pleasure of inhaling it.

If you feel the need to do something buy chewing gum - gives you a taste sensation and it's cheaper than patches which are just a rort.

Have you experienced that?

If so, please share your experience with us, we need honest and positive feedback, pal.

How lobelia works.

Mechanism of Action


Unlike other herbs to quit smoking, Lobelia impacts neurotransmitter activity in a way that is similar to nicotine. The active ingredient, Lobeline, is a both a nicotine agonist and antagonist derived from an Indian plant “lobelia inflata.” Here's what that means:

The brain has neurotransmitter receptor cells that have been labeled 'nicotinic' receptors because they are stimulated by nicotine. Lobeline acts on these cells as an 'agonist,' which means that it binds to these cells and stimulates them in a similar way to nicotine. (The effects are not as strong as nicotine, however.)

Because the drug is in effect 'parked' at the receptor sites on these cells, it also partially blocks nicotine from activating them, thereby reducing the effect of nicotine in the brain from smoking, and helping to reduce the 'reward' associated with smoking.

Interestingly, unlike nicotine, which is highly addictive, lobeline does NOT appear to be addictive. This may be because of its structural differences from nicotine, and the different ways that it affects dopamine storage and release. (Dopamine is another a neurotransmitter - one that is implicated in addictive patterns of behavior.)

Rather than stimulating the release of dopamine in the normal way (from the presynaptic terminal), lobeline appears to induce the metabolism of dopamine intraneuronally as well as inhibit dopamine re-uptake. The result of this is that rather than getting a 'dose' of rewarding dopamine immediately connected to the behavior of smoking (or of taking lobeline), the dopamine effect is more diffuse.

So you still get the pleasant dopamine effect, but because it is not strongly associated with the behavior, it does not induce addictive behaviors, and in fact partially blocks the addictive effect of nicotine intake.

Dwoskin LP, Crooks PA., (2002) A novel mechanism of action and potential use for lobeline as a treatment for psychostimulant abuse. Biochemical Pharmacology. Jan 15;63(2):89-98.

Herbs to Quit Smoking: Lobelia or "Indian Tobacco"

The lungs of a smoker compared to those of a non-smoker.

^ Fuck me sideways - I wonder what the lungs of an ex-smoker is like?

Ok, lung gallery time!!

City dweller's lung.

Ah yes....but what sort of city ? Just how polluted ? How industrial ?

Any modern city with vehicular transport, including Taipei and Sngapore.

Including Taipei and Singapore ? Taipei is one of the most polluted cities in the world. You don't need to include it.....I'd be surprised if people there had lungs any better than that !

But I hardly think Singaporeans or people in my home town would have lungs like this.

It might interest you to know that Taipei was regarded as a clean air city and used as a control area for surveys into pollution relative to respiratory disease in the late 1990s.

Here's a list of some of the world's most air polluted cities, black lung areas.

I lived in Taipei for a while, on and off....about 20 years ago. I have seen it in every season. It is in a river mouth, surrounded by mountains, so an inversion layer happens a LOT, and the mountains hold it all in.
My information tells me that it was second to Mexico city in terms of pollution. Winter there is unbelievable (still). Sometimes you can see only 1 K. It had a LOT of motorcycles which are smokey. And I believe that is still the case.

Apart from my time in Asia, I've spent my whole life in Brisbane, Australia. And I only smoked occasionally for 5 years in the 70s. Nyah nyah