cej@ll1.UUCP (One of the Jones Boys) (12/03/84)
I'm one of the (hopefully) many people who gave up their cigarettes on November 15, the "Great Smoke-out" day. It's closing in on three weeks now, and I still haven't broken. In fact, it's been easier this time than on any other attempt. However, I started noticing some changes in the way my body was behaving about 5 to 7 days after I stopped. I used to be a "right through the night" sleeper, never waking up, or at least not remembering it. Now I seem to wake up to full awareness 3 to 4 times each night, for no reason. I'll get up, walk around a bit, get a glass of water, the go back to sleep. I don't seem to be waking up tired from it, but it is annoying to sleep in "two hour shifts". Now it seems I'm reacting to coffee. One or two 14 oz. cups in the morning at work, and I get a nice sharp headache above the eyes. One more cup after that (before I noticed that the coffee was causing the headache) and my vision starts to blur, like a "tired eyes" effect. As you might guess I have a few questions, in particular for those who quit some time ago. I assume these effects are due to my body taking time to readjust. Just how long do they usually last? Are these two in particular common? Is there anything else I might expect to find? (Other than generally improving health ;-) ) All I'm doing at this point is not worrying, giving up coffee too, and learning roll over rather than getting up. Please E-mail comments to: ...ihnp4!mgnetp!ll1!cej Chuck Jones
carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) (12/05/84)
The "side effects" that you are experiencing are indeed very
common. I also experienced the same alterations in sleep
patterns that you describe, but the caffiene reactions are
alittle more pronounced than what I remember.
Withdrawl from chronic nicotine exposure produces a reflexive
increase in ascending reticular activating system( ARAS ) responsiveness
that lasts for a considerable time ( ~ 2-4 weeks ). The ARAS's
increase in activity follows from Cannon's Law and is an attempt to
maintain the level of CNS stimulation that was provided by the
nicotine. As a result, the ARAS becomes hyper-resonsive,
resulting in an inability to maintain stage 2 (or stage 1, depending
on who you use as an authority) sleep during REM (this does not
produce REM deprivation, as one might expect).
However, it really isn't that simple. Nicotine is not only a CNS and
PNS (peripheral nervous system) stimulant, but it also is an incredible
neuronal inhibitor. There is an entire class of neuronal receptors, found
predominately in autonomic ganglia, skeletal muscle and of course the
hippocampus, midbrain, brainstem and cerebral cortex, that are affected by
nicotine. These nicotinic receptors(in contrast to muscarinic receptors)
are, upon initial exposure to nicotine, intensely stimulated but then within
a few minutes are completely inhibited.
So you can see that it probably gets pretty hairy when youv'e been
smoking for a couple of years, and the timing between excitation and
inhibition gets really complex.
--
Carter Bullard
ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:Carter @ Gatech ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa
uucp:...!{akgua,allegra,amd,ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!carter