Yesterday, I had a most unpleasant experience, apparently a nicotine overdose.
I was smoking a bowlful of 4noggins Father Orrin (which I've enjoyed before, with no nic effects) in a fairly small, enclosed room on a mostly empty stomach. I started to experience a bit of a nicotine hit, which I do fairly often now, apparently due to my advanced age, and within minutes I was dizzy, nauseous, and my heart was racing like crazy. It was really unpleasant, and growing worse by the minute.
Fortunately, I was lucid enough to look up nicotine overdose on the internet, and found several references to remedies -- mostly, it was suggested to ingest some sugar, preferably in liquid form for fast digestion, so I dissolved a LOT of sugar in some fruit juice. It seemed to help, and within maybe ten minutes I was coming down off the high (if you can call it that).
Other suggestions included taking an antihistamine, and, if you have corticosteroids available, like prednisone or equivalent, take that too. Interestingly, most of the people experiencing these problems appeared to be cigar smokers.
Altogether, the symptoms lasted about an hour, and were something I'd never before experienced in almost 50 years of smoking (including some years of cigarettes in my much younger days). I can only attribute it to age, an empty stomach, and the closed, small room. So, in the future I'll have to be alert - smoke only in a well-ventilated area, with some food in me, and, if necessary, run for the sugar.
Give up the pipe? You've got to be kidding.
I was smoking a bowlful of 4noggins Father Orrin (which I've enjoyed before, with no nic effects) in a fairly small, enclosed room on a mostly empty stomach. I started to experience a bit of a nicotine hit, which I do fairly often now, apparently due to my advanced age, and within minutes I was dizzy, nauseous, and my heart was racing like crazy. It was really unpleasant, and growing worse by the minute.
Fortunately, I was lucid enough to look up nicotine overdose on the internet, and found several references to remedies -- mostly, it was suggested to ingest some sugar, preferably in liquid form for fast digestion, so I dissolved a LOT of sugar in some fruit juice. It seemed to help, and within maybe ten minutes I was coming down off the high (if you can call it that).
Other suggestions included taking an antihistamine, and, if you have corticosteroids available, like prednisone or equivalent, take that too. Interestingly, most of the people experiencing these problems appeared to be cigar smokers.
Altogether, the symptoms lasted about an hour, and were something I'd never before experienced in almost 50 years of smoking (including some years of cigarettes in my much younger days). I can only attribute it to age, an empty stomach, and the closed, small room. So, in the future I'll have to be alert - smoke only in a well-ventilated area, with some food in me, and, if necessary, run for the sugar.
Give up the pipe? You've got to be kidding.
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