Doctors Test Anti-Smoking Vaccine

[kpete]

Doctors Test Anti-Smoking Vaccine

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 27, 2006

MADISON, Wis. -- Doctors are testing a radical new way to help smokers quit: a shot that "immunizes" them against the nicotine rush that fuels their addiction.

That pleasurable buzz has seduced Mario Musachia into burning through nearly half a million cigarettes in half a century.

Now the Madison man is among 300 people around the country who are testing an experimental vaccine that makes the immune system attack nicotine in much the same way it would fight a life-threatening germ.

The treatment keeps nicotine from reaching the brain, making smoking less pleasurable and theoretically, easier to give up. The small amount that still manages to get in helps to ease withdrawal, the main reason most quitters relapse.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072700821_pf.html

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. I've Been Waiting For This. May The Lord Be Kind And It Be Successful.

[shaniqua6392]

3. I completely agree with that!

I wish I could get it right now. I read about some people online who have already got the rx from the dr. and filled it. I am going to call my dr. tomorrow and ask. I guess the pharmacy can special order it for you. I can not wait to try it.

[napi21]

2. Hmmm. I'm not sure about that.

I'm a smoker, and there is just as much "habit" associated with smoking as there is an addiction! Certain things you do is always associated with smoking. I call it the adult pacifier.

Most of the activities are a silly association, like talking on the phone, orhaving a drink at a bar. Some are ritualistic, like the folks who light up a cigarette first thing after they get out of bed.

No vaccine is going to change THAT!

[shaniqua6392]

4. It is somewhat a habit

but mostly it is a habit that your body wants the nicotene. If you did not receive the nicotene pleasure it would be useless.

[napi21]

7. We differ on that opinion. Maybe it's different with diff. people.

I can tell you, when thy first instituted the NS policy in my office, I used to litterally suck on my PEN! At least for me, it has never been about an addiction. I quit twice in my life. As soon as I found I was pregnant, I put the pack of cigarettes down and finally tossed it out several weeks later after i was all dried out and stale! I quit cold turkey, and never even had a desire to light one up.

Now, I still smoke because I'm an obstinate bit*h! Self rightous people are NOT going to tell ME what I can and can't do!!!!

Different strokes, I guess.

[Warpy]

8. It is a habit for some folks

I know folks who quit and stayed off cigs for months, certainly long enough to get all the nicotine out of their bodies and leave the big drug cravings behind, who said the one cig they found they couldn't do without was the one with their morning coffee. This has happened to more than one acquaintance. Some were able to restrict themselves to one a day. To most, it was the beginning of returning to the 3 pack a day habit they'd struggled to overcome so many months earlier.

That's the habit part and it can be even harder to disrupt than the nicotine addiction.

[Canadian Socialist]

5. Quitting

Maybe you're right re: the HABIT of smoking. But if the habit was made less pleasurable, then it might be easier to quit. I smoke. A lot! I've found, the few times I have quit, was because it wasn't pleasurable anymore. The problem is, nicotine, although being highly addictive, is not a "bad" drug. It actually helps with cognition. The unfortunate part is the delivery system. i.e. smoking; chewing etc. The psychological addiction is the hard part to deal with. Smokers need to find something to do with their hands. My sister (who used to be a long time, hard core smoker) quit (20 years ago) by stopping cold turkey, and taking up knitting. I have several very nice sweaters to attest to her accomplishment! My big problem is quitting, and still enjoying my adult beverage. They go hand-in-hand... It's frowned upon here to haul out the knitting in a bar... just sayin' heeeee.

[TheMadMonk]

11. I'll concur with that.

The one time I managed to go without for a week, I'd caught a strange flu variant which made the stinking cancer sticks taste like creosote. One cigarette sat there all week and every morning I'd taste. One day no creosote and off I went again.

[gizmo1979]

10. You'd be amazed at what

a little nicotine will make you forget.I quit in March using every available nicotine delivery devise know to man.They will work if you trully want to quit.

[Warpy]

6. Think of what this would do to big tobacco

if parents got their kids that vaccine at about the age of 10, which is when most kids try that first stolen cig.

Think of kids who don't get hooked because they only smoke when people they want to impress are around and don't like it then.

This vaccine would be a real gift to us.

[Bretttido]

9. Cool, good news for all you smokers (assuming you want to quit)