Treating mental illness with cigarettes

[The Straight Story]

Treating mental illness with cigarettes
Posted by Maggie Koerth-Baker on Tuesday, Aug 30th at 11:22am

While nationally, only about 20% of Americans smoke, 80% of schizophrenic Americans smoke. That's interesting, but it's not the most interesting part. Apparently, there's some evidence that those people with schizophrenia are using tobacco as a form of self medication.

At the Risk Science Blog, Mark Stewart looks at the weird dilemma people with schizophrenia are faced with when it comes to smoking:

Schizophrenics often have auditory hallucinations, paranoia, delusions, and disorganized thinking. These symptoms are predominantly caused by the inability of the brains of schizophrenics to differentiate, sort, and focus on the multitude of stimuli that go on around us. Think of being in a busy restaurant. Imagine that instead of being able to block out all the noises, conversations, and movements around you, every single piece of sensory information is as important as the interesting things said by the attractive person sitting across from you. The effects of cigarette smoking and nicotine help schizophrenics through increased selective attention.

“They should use other forms of medication,” I hear you say. Great idea, except for the fact that anti-psychotic drugs are very expensive, do not work very well for most people, and have extreme side effects. Tardive dyskinesia is the most common side effect. This makes it very hard for the body to move in normal ways at normal speeds. Also, there are common metabolic side effects that are quite similar to an individual having diabetes. (Just what someone with a severe mental illness needs!) Thus, the cheapness, effectiveness, and availability of cigarettes offer most schizophrenics some succor. Smoking leads to schizophrenics having a 30-60% increased risk of respiratory disorders and heart disease, but is this a risk that is worth taking?

http://boingboing.net/2011/08/30/treating-mental-illness-with-cigarettes.html

[DirkGently]

1. Saw a post somewhere of a woman who WAS treating her illness w/nicotine. Switched to e-cigarettes.

Perhaps e-cigarettes should be considered for this purpose?

[virgogal]

2. I find it interesting that they choose eating in a restaurant

as an example since smoking is banned in many,if not most of them.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Omega threes have 50% less tar and nicotine and they do minimize schizophrenic

symptomology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20504323
BACKGROUND:

Low intake of fish, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and vitamin D deficiency has been suggested to play a role in the development of schizophrenia. Our aim was to evaluate the association between the intake of different fish species, PUFA and vitamin D and the prevalence of psychotic-like symptoms in a population-based study among Swedish women.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19628381
Omega-3 consumption and sudden cardiac death in schizophrenia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18922179
Essential fatty acids and their metabolites could function as endogenous HMG-CoA reductase and ACE enzyme inhibitors, anti-arrhythmic, anti-hypertensive, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective, and cardioprotective molecules.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17624683
Lowering plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), blood pressure, homocysteine, and preventing platelet aggregation using a combination of a statin, three blood pressure lowering drugs such as a thiazide, a beta blocker, and an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor each at half standard dose; folic acid; and aspirin - called as polypill - was estimated to reduce cardiovascular events by approximately 80%. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) and their long-chain metabolites and other products prevent platelet aggregation, lower blood pressure, reduce LDL-C, and ameliorate the adverse actions of homocysteine.

Thus, EFAs and their metabolites show all the actions expected of the "polypill". Unlike the proposed "polypill", EFAs are endogenous molecules, have no significant side effects, can be taken orally for long periods of time even by pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children; and have been shown to reduce the incidence cardiovascular diseases. I propose that a rational combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is as beneficial as that of the "polypill"; and may even show additional benefit in the prevention of depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and enhance cognitive function.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7028146
The major psychoses and neuroses as omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency syndrome: substrate pellagra.
Rudin DO.
Abstract

Pellagra was once a major cause of three behaviorally different mental disorders-schizophreniform, manic-depressive-like, and phobic neurotic - plus drying dermatoses, autonomic neuropathies, tinnitus, and fatigue. In this preliminary study all three of the corresponding present-day mental diseases are found to exhibit, statistically, the same pellagraform physical disorders but to ameliorate not so much with vitamins as with supplements of a newly discovered trace omega-3 essential fatty acid (w3-EFA), which provides the substrate upon which niacin and other B vitamin holoenzymes act uniquely to form the prostaglandin 3 series tissue hormones regulating neurocircuits en block. Since present-day refining and food selection patterns, as well as pure corn diets, deplete both the B vitamins and W3-EFA, the existence of therapeutically cross-reacting homologous catalyst and substrate deficiency forms of pellagra are postulated, the first contributing to the B vitamin deficiency epidemics of 50-100 years ago, the second to the more recent endemic "Diseases of Western Civilization" which express in certain genetic subgroups as the major mental illnesses of today.

[libodem]

4. Interesting

I've also heard nicotine does something for Parkinsons disease. The movement disorders associated antipsychotics look much like Parkinsons tremors.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Wiki concurs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardive_dyskinesia

The available research seems to suggest that the concurrent prophylactic use of a neuroleptic and an antiparkinsonian drug is useless to avoid early extrapyramidal side-effects and may render the patient more sensitive to tardive dyskinesia. Since 1973 the use of these drugs has been found to be associated with the development of tardive dyskinesia.<6><7> Since some of the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia can be interpreted as schizophrenia by doctors, they may prescribe additional neuroleptic drugs to treat it, leading to increased risk of more prevalent tardive dyskinesia.

[libodem]

8. thank you for the quick research

I worked in a State Hospital in the 70's. Thorazine, Mellril, Haldol, given with Artane or hmmmm can't think of the other common one.

Pill rolling with the fingers and the shuffling walk were the side effects. Tongue thrusting and coke jaw movement, too.

[valerief]

6. Maybe electric cigarettes. Without the stupid nicotine since they only need the task of smoking. nt

[eShirl]

7. Family member w/ schizophrenia reports hearing "less voices" when he smokes.

He now smokes small cigars, because there is no cigarette tax on them. (Doesn't trust e-cigarettes.)

[libodem]

9. Back in the day

The common areas of SHS were full of smoke. We did token programs in one building and rewarded with smokes.
The relief was observable. Many patients chain smoked when they could. They had wierd ceramic electric lighters to light with.

[H2O Man]

10. True.

Many individuals suffering from the serious symptoms of their illness will indeed experience a brief period of relief from smoking.

[Skittles]

11. they need to find way to get the nic benefits for them

without all the dangers

[KittyWampus]

12. if you are schizophrenic, smoking isn't going to get rid of the symptoms.

[Pooka Fey]

13. Don't judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes.

A really old saying - that's from the forgotten American culture of the 1970's, for you young-uns. :-)

[raccoon]

14. Cigarettes make you feel better if you're depressed.

At least they did for me.