[WARNING: As a health care professional, I am EXTREMELY biased against ALL nicotine use. The following is representative of my bias on the subject. If that will offend you, read no further. I'm posting it to help clear up some VERY SERIOUS misconceptions expressed so far in this thread on the topic of nicotine and estrogen use.]
Nicotine is not only highly addictive, it is highly toxic and MUCH MUCH worse than caffeine, which as it turns out has many documented positive effects on human physiology. The same is NOT true of nicotine.
It amazes me that anyone using nicotine products considers themselves in great health, but to each his own. Even a cursory search for the effects and side effects of nicotine use yields some pretty scary stuff:
It is a highly addictive, psychoactive drug that crosses the blood brain barrier in 10 to 20 seconds after inhalation (smoking.) I would imagine it is similar with chewing.
It is highly toxic, more toxic than other alkaloids such as cocaine!!!. From wikipedia (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine):
Quote
The LD50 of nicotine is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice. 30–60 mg (0.5–1.0 mg/kg) can be a lethal dosage for adult humans.[6][70] Nicotine therefore has a high toxicity in comparison to many other alkaloids such as cocaine, which has an LD50 of 95.1 mg/kg when administered to mice. It is unlikely that a person would overdose on nicotine through smoking alone, although overdose can occur through combined use of nicotine patches or nicotine gum and cigarettes at the same time.[7] Spilling a high concentration of nicotine onto the skin can cause intoxication or even death, since nicotine readily passes into the bloodstream following dermal contact.[71]
In the same article the side effects are listed as:
Quote
Nicotine increases blood pressure and heart rate in humans.[57] Nicotine can stimulate abnormal proliferation of vascular endothelial cells, similar to that seen in atherosclerosis.[58] Nicotine induces potentially atherogenic genes in human coronary artery endothelial cells.[59] Nicotine could cause microvascular injury through its action on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs),[60] however other mechanisms are also likely at play.
A study on rats showed that nicotine exposure abolishes the beneficial and protective effects of estrogen on the hippocampus,[61] an estrogen-sensitive region of the brain involved in memory formation and retention.
In an article on
drugs.com another of the hematological side effects is (
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/nicotine-side-effects.html):
Quote
Hematologic
Hematologic side effects have included increases in platelet aggregation and enhanced thrombus formation.
On the
drugs.com website the list of nasty side effects is long and includes most of the body systems. And that's not even considering the tumor growth promoting aspects of nicotine.
All of the above does NOT take into consideration the deleterious effects of smoking itself, apart from the effects of nicotine. So, to the above you can add asthma, COPD, emphysema, bronchitis (ALL of which can be present in the same patient at the same time), pulmonary fibrosis, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension, PERMANENT increase in blood pressure, adverse effects on plasma fibrinogen, platelet turnover (both necessary for good tissue healing following surgery) and lipid profile, acute bradycardia, increase in blood pressure and generalized vasoconstriction due to a nicotine-dependent activation of the sympathetic nervous system. (Aw, but don't believe me, just look it up yourself:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2208758)
Sky Blue, please enlighten us, WHEN did caffeine EVER cause ANY of these diseases or symptoms?
Still want to live in denial and exert your "right" to cause severe and irreparable damage to yourself? OK, how about this article then, since none of the above even considered the significantly higher risks of cancer in most of the body systems?
Quote
Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Smoking causes many diseases and reduces the health of smokers in general.1
Smoking and Death
Smoking causes death.
The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year in the United States.2,3
More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.2,4
Smoking causes an estimated 90% of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80% of all lung cancer deaths in women.1
An estimated 90% of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking.1
Smoking and Increased Health Risks
Compared with nonsmokers, smoking is estimated to increase the risk of—
coronary heart disease by 2 to 4 times,1,5
stroke by 2 to 4 times,1,6
men developing lung cancer by 23 times,1
women developing lung cancer by 13 times,1 and
dying from chronic obstructive lung diseases (such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema) by 12 to 13 times.1
Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease
Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.1
Cigarette smoking causes reduced circulation by narrowing the blood vessels (arteries) and puts smokers at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease (i.e., obstruction of the large arteries in the arms and legs that can cause a range of problems from pain to tissue loss or gangrene).1,7
Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm (i.e., a swelling or weakening of the main artery of the body—the aorta—where it runs through the abdomen).1
Smoking and Respiratory Disease
Smoking causes lung cancer.1,2
Smoking causes lung diseases (e.g., emphysema, bronchitis, chronic airway obstruction) by damaging the airways and alveoli (i.e., small air sacs) of the lungs.1,2
Smoking and Cancer
Smoking causes the following cancers:1
Acute myeloid leukemia
Bladder cancer
Cancer of the cervix
Cancer of the esophagus
Kidney cancer
Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
Lung cancer
Cancer of the oral cavity (mouth)
Pancreatic cancer
Cancer of the pharynx (throat)
Stomach cancer
Smoking and Other Health Effects
Smoking has many adverse reproductive and early childhood effects, including increased risk for—
infertility,
preterm delivery,
stillbirth,
low birth weight, and
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).1,8
Smoking is associated with the following adverse health effects:8
Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked.
Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture than women who never smoked.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/The article quoted above is based on decades of research.
Let's be clear about a few things:
You do have a 'right' to conduct your life as you see fit and it is not illegal to smoke.
You do NOT have a right to compel medical providers to write a prescription for drugs that they KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT will significantly increase your risk of an embolic event. Have you ever worked with stroke patients? I have. Even 'mild' strokes can be severely debilitating and LIFE ALTERING.
It IS your right to continue to live in denial with regard to the risks of smoking, but you DON'T have the right to ask any one else to assist you in your attempted suicide by smoking, which is what prescribing HRT (especially at dosages necessary for transition!) to someone who smokes amounts to. If you must do that, then by all means exert your 'right' to get your medical license and write your own prescriptions.
In my opinion, anyone taking exogenous estrogen and continuing to use nicotine in any form, especially by smoking, is basically playing russian roulette with more than 50% of the chambers loaded. Gotta love that rugged, individualism to do as you damn well see fit, even if it kills you. You go girl! Hope it works for you!
