Don't post on here much, just generally prefer to read and absorb :-) but couldn't find much info when searching previous posts, so.....

Does anyone find that smoking is a major trigger for them when in cycle?
I gave up smoking about a year before my CHs started and am pretty much f*g free apart from the occasional lapse - usually when I'm horrendously drunk.

I've found that pretty much 50% of the time when I smoke it's an instant ticket to the painful place and that so far as triggers go it's far worse for me than alcohol.

Curiously my doctor has also advised it as a major trigger tho most people here don't seem too bothered.

I had a bit of a smoke last evening and as a result spent most of the night in agony (constant hits with heavy shadows inbetween) so as a result this is preying on my mind more than it normally would. Just wondering on other people's thoughts, especially as there is a higher percentage of smokers and ex-smokers among CH sufferers than norm.

i have found that most of us are heavy smokers. ill say that. if i fire one up before an attack is over it tends to extend the hit. after the attack is completely over it doesnt matter.

now if your talking about smoking pot that is a sure fire trigger for most of us and i would steer clear of it for sure. especially if your episodic 

Well I was talking about smoking in general but yes, it was pot last evening, and the headaches were something else.

A large percentage of CH'ers are smokers. Several have tried quitting, and said it had no effect one way or the other on their CH. That's as it relates to tobacco.

As Johnny said, pot is a vaso-dilator, bad mojo for CH'ers. On cycle I'd definitely steer clear of that trigger. ;)

Joe

If it triggers you stay away from it.  What it does for another is really irrellevent except from a curiosity standpoint.  CH is so different for each of us that there is no real norm.

Jerry

Guiseppi wrote on Nov 28^th, 2010 at 2:43pm:

A As Johnny said, pot is a vaso-dilator, bad mojo for CH'ers. On cycle I'd definitely steer clear of that trigger. ;) Joe

yep, notice how your eyes get blood shoot when you get stoned. the blood vessels in your eyes dilate. the same can be said about the vessels around the trigeminal  nerve. the trigeminal nerve is the epicenter of the pain  ;)

people that are chronic dont seem to have the trigger problems that episodics do.

Thanks for the responses guys. I did kind of expect I'd be in the minority with this, but as mentioned earlier triggers are different for everyone. On the upside as far as stop smoking aids go the threat of a raging CH is far more effective than the distant vision of heart attacks/cancer etc.  ;)

I have a theory that it's actually the smoking that bothers you. If you're really addicted, try a vaporizer or dip some skoal. -Chris

here in the states we now have e cigs available

START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

This is NOT an excuse to smoke, as we all know it is is harmful....BUT nicotine is a vasoconstrictor and that is what we need when we are getting hit.  I have always sworn that the reason there are such an inordinate number of smokers among us is because of that fact. 

Linda_Howell wrote on Nov 28^th, 2010 at 8:49pm:

This is NOT an excuse to smoke, as we all know it is is harmful....BUT nicotine is a vasoconstrictor and that is what we need when we are getting hit.  I have always sworn that the reason there are such an inordinate number of smokers among us is because of that fact.

Perhaps, and there are inordinate amount of ch sufferers who also smoke as compared to the general population. Myself included. I have a theory that the same mechanisms that cause chs to begin with, are also involved in that psychoneural mechanism that causes habituation. Making it even harder for us to quit. BTW, I don't smoke when I feel a hit coming on, cuz then it does trigger the full hit. Afterwards, or between hits, not a trigger. Can't quit, either. Or like Mark Twain, quitting's easy--I do it a hundred times a year. Blessings! lance