Who, as a smoker, hasn’t heard how deleterious tobacco smoking is for your health. Not only will you acquire health problems directly related to smoking, but your life is shortened by 10-15 years average according to statistics. My own father died at age 63 directly related to his smoking.
But in spite of strong reasons to quit, most smokers will tell you it’s NOT easy. Why? Because the nicotine in tobacco is the addictive bogeyman. Nicotine stimulates those pleasure centers in your brain, besides being a substance which “gets you going” by releasing both blood sugar and adrenaline. The American Heart Association states that “Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.”
But for hypothyroid patients, tobacco smoking presents another whammy. Namely, it stresses your adrenals over and over. And with adrenal fatigue being a common side effect of treating hypo with T4 meds like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, et all, as well as being dosed by the lousy TSH, you’ve got a third reason to fall into adrenal fatigue if you are a smoker.
Additionally, another factor in the difficulty of quitting is that cortisol decreases when you try to quit. A 2006 research report found that the lowered cortisol after quitting is associated with smoking relapse and with reports of increased withdrawal severity and distress. So, when you already have adrenal fatigue, and you quit smoking–a double whammy against being successful.
What’s the solution? If you don’t have adrenal fatigue and want to quit, it may be wise to have a good adrenal support on hand, such as Isocort or any quality OTC adrenal product at your health food store. If you DO have adrenal fatigue, staying away from cigs may require adding additional cortisol to your daily amount. Chapters 5 and 6 in the STTM book have good information to help you with cortisol support.
Are you a smoker with hypo? Don’t hesitate to respond to this post with your experience. (Please note that replies are not for questions.)
READ DEBORAH’S STORY ABOUT HER ATTEMPT to STOP SMOKING.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 and is filed under Patients, Related conditions due to hypo, adrenal fatigue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Jackie said:
Oct 16, 08 at 7:24 amI was a smoker with hypo for many years, quit for 7 years then started again after a very tramatic event in my life. I recently quit again and November 7, 2008 it will be a year.
First, my boyfriend and I quit on the same day. Doing it together was the best idea (I can say that b/c we didn’t kill each other). It was great b/c we supported each other and always kept in mind that we wanted to grow old with each other and if either of us cheated that would disappoint the other. basically the buddy system HELPS!
Secondly, everyone said I should use Chantix (the drug). Although,it may work I am not a pill popper. I did however read a book. Crazy as it sounds I couldn’t have done it with out it. It is called “The easy way to qiut smoking”.
I highy recommend it. People have said it plays with you mind….guess what…I could care-a-less! It gets rid of your cravings and it helped me quit. You smoke through out the whole thing and in the end your done. That’s it! When you think you want a cig you remember that you quit and that’s it! You may think I’m crazy but it’s true. Don’t get me wrong you still need to want to quit and you still have to have some restraint, but I’ve quit cold turkey and …well, it is ALOT more difficult that way. I really don’t care what way people choose just as long as you quit. You think hypo is tough? well it’s much more difficult when you can’t breath either. Also, the depression you get with the weight gain …well, it is worse when you have smoke induced wrinkles and are overweight. I know the weight is still there but the wrinkles are disappearing.
It is always hard to beat an addiction but it can be done!
Good luck to all !
Dallas said:
Nov 07, 08 at 8:19 pmI have been a smoker since age 13. I’m now 35. I have been trying to seriously quit for almost a year now, and had little success. After my two year old daughter was born, I lost all my pregnancy weight, and fit into my old clothes within six weeks. I was in my old pants at my husband’s police academy graduation.
But I couldn’t function. I was so hormonal and upset all the time. My daughter was very colicky and I couldn’t deal with it. I was so scared of what I was going through, being a new mom. In desperation I went to see my family physician, who gave me a short questionnaire, and immediately diagnosed me with both post partum depression and bipolar II disorder. She put me on zyprexa, and lexapro, and my weight shot up to 213 lbs.
I’ve been completely incapable of losing the weight. Even after stopping both medications and moving to something else. I am on Wellbutrin and Paxil now. I still have those symptoms. I feel like I would imagine it could be if someone pumped my body FULL of adrenaline, then ripped it all out at once, leaving me stumbling, slurring my words like I was drunk, unable to focus on anything and would not even go NEAR a car. Going up the stairs is a nightmare for me. It feels like there is a 1 ton steel yoke around my shoulders as I try to climb.
I have always been the hot natured one. I had to have the temp inside 10 degrees cooler than everyone else. Now I am walking around all day with my pajamas on because I just don’t have the energy to get dressed and I huddle in my pink fuzzy robe because I am freezing, when my husband, who is usually the one who is always cold, says he feels comfortable.
I’m in a different state and know no one locally to see about this. It’s a really small town so any specialty doctor is likely to be hours away from me.
Angel said:
Nov 20, 08 at 11:50 amI quit smoking a few times over the past couple of years and each time, I got sick and put on weight. This last time I quit, I guess around the same time my thyroid was slightly high so my endo totally took me off cytomel and it threw me into a bad depression with hypo symptoms (dry skin, shivering at night and low day temps, etc.) The only time I ever felt good was the combo of synthroid and cytomel and am pissed my stupid doctor took me off of it when it was the only time I was ever able to lose weight and feel normal. I can’t even find a doctor in my area who will treat my hypo symptoms and not just my test results, let alone my adrenals!
marie said:
Mar 22, 09 at 6:58 pmoh it’s much more complicated than cortisol!
Nicotine increases the T4 to t3 conversion. Also a recent January 2009 study showed that all cognitive impairment markers were completely reversed with nicotine!