Why Is Pipe Smoking Relaxing?
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people do act like any use of nearly any addictive substance is full evidence of addiction. Go ahead tell your co workers you tried cocaine this weekend and see how many of them worry about you. Additionally there isn't a very solid definition of addiction medically speaking. The definition is very flexible and that's the first question you have to ask someone is what is their definition of addiction. Mine is that if without the drug taken regularly it would significantly effect daily activities outside of the drugs primary effects (if you have panic attacks and sometimes use a tranquilizer or something similar that doesn't count as an addiction though doesn't preclude such either). I can't function properly without nicotine or caffeine and I hear it's hard to get things done during herion withdraw.
In every conversation I have had with someone in the medical field, if you drink, you're an alcoholic. Do I believe that? What does it matter? Does being an alcoholic mean something negative? Of course not. Just like having an addiction is not necessarily a bad thing. It gets bad when it interferes with your quality of life, or the life of others around you.
No one wants to be called an addict. I have been saying this since I first signed up here. But, it's not always a bad thing. And, not all aspects of addiction are the same.
When I was smoking cigarettes, I would throw a pack out the window to prove to some family member how I was not addicted. At times, I could go weeks without smoking, maybe more. Other times, I would have killed someone to steal a car to rob a convenience store just to get one more cigarette.
I definitely don't feel addicted the same way I did when smoking cigarettes. I never get all frustrated. But, I always come back to the pipe. After being sick, and not able to smoke for a long while, that moment I can pop a tin and smoke without coughing my head off is longed for. It's exciting.
It's just silly when I hear a pipe smoker say, I quit all the time, go weeks without. But, then they come back, right?
Also people lie to doctors. It's amazing how many medical reports I've read where the patient claims to smoke 3 to five cigs a day. Or only drinks socially and has two or three drinks during the rare drinking evenings. How many people have you known who smoke three cigs a day? Makes me wonder if my doctors thought I smoked five cigs a day cause I was honest about my pack to two pack a day habit.
Yeah, I'm definitely addicted to caffeine...no question there. Tobacco? It's habit, sure...there is an objective difference.
The only thing I can say to that is I have never heard anyone say this in my entire life until now. And I've been in the medical field for many years now...worked with and talked to doctors in the past...and have done medical coding for many years and have literally read many thousands of medical charts. I'm very well acquainted with the standard medical diagnosing of all manner of addictions/dependencies...and never has it been asserted that any amount of drinking means you're an alcoholic.
The admonition is often made...we all see it everywhere...to "drink responsibly" which is an acknowledgment that there is such a thing. Yet it is not acknowledged that there is any such thing as responsible tobacco use. Why? Simply because it is propaganda of exactly the same type that was done against marijuana way back when during the "reefer madness" era in order to criminalize it.
A combination of nicotine and meditation. It keeps your brain occupied, without requiring it to really work, so that you are neither bored, nor overwhelmed, and whatever else happens in the meantime, is just fine.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion, not a fact.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion, not a fact.
I have known so many functional alcoholics that no one ever even suspected were alcoholics. You can be an alcoholic and still drink responsibly. There was a family friend that was a coke head, but he never sniffed enough coke to be high off of it. But, he had it on him all the time, and kept it hid from everyone in his life.
But, we are derailing this thread, and as you've said, we've talked about this for years.
Ok, we'll have to agree to disagree then. A "functional alcoholic" is not the same thing as drinking responsibly.
And your previous assertion that ANY amount of alcohol use makes you an alcoholic is absurd...IMO.
If you gents would like to see the definition of alcohol dependence or abuse (now lumped into one DSM category of Alcohol Use Disorder) it is readily available:
Alcoholism Clinical Presentation: History, Physical, Causes
Alcoholism is common, serious, and expensive. Physicians encounter alcohol-related cirrhosis, cardiomyopathy, pancreatitis, and gastrointestinal bleeding, as well as intoxication and alcohol addiction, on a daily basis.
www.medscape.com
The diagnoses of use, abuse, and dependence for any substance are all separate diagnoses from a medical standpoint. That I already know.
But more important than any technical medical stance/definition is common sense and the real world. And in the real world, common sense is no longer common at all unfortunately.
They still are in the ICD, yes, in fact they have a ridiculous amount of codes for alcohol related diagnosis. I personally think it was a mistake for the DSM 5 to combine them, but the ICD is on the other end of the spectrum and takes it way over the top.
A certain amount of common sense must be applied in any diagnosis. This is why it is so important for a patient to be seen, and not just provide a list of symptoms or presenting problems.
Not trying to prove anyone right or wrong here (just replied to your post as it was the most recent one in the discussion), just pointing out that there are some guidelines that can be used as a starting off point, as it appears you are already aware, which is not surprising. Every case is different so guidelines can only take you so far, after that almost any diagnosis is at the discretion of the provider.
How much whether or not insurance will pay them for said diagnosis plays into that discretion, is a whole different sordid topic
Turning back to why pipe smoking is relaxing, there are many reasons as have been mentioned. For me, it is the practice and ritual and also the nicotine. Most of the time the pipe smoking experience is relaxing, there is the occasional time where the variables somehow fight against me and it is a struggle and too irritating to be relaxing.
Not every relaxing bowl is the same. There are many variables that are not held constant and that includes the nicotine. Sometimes I am not aware of the nicotine hit and other times it is clearly contributing to relaxation, now and then it gets real unpleasant. Further messing with my less than scientific reasoning, not being aware of a nicotine hit doesn’t mean it isn’t contributing to the relaxation.
Too many uncontrolled variables, everyone’s body reacts differently, this may not even be pure science, might be alchemy.
Not every relaxing bowl is the same. There are many variables that are not held constant and that includes the nicotine. Sometimes I am not aware of the nicotine hit and other times it is clearly contributing to relaxation, now and then it gets real unpleasant. Further messing with my less than scientific reasoning, not being aware of a nicotine hit doesn’t mean it isn’t contributing to the relaxation.
Too many uncontrolled variables, everyone’s body reacts differently, this may not even be pure science, might be alchemy.
That's nothing... Wait! I define one drink as 4 ounces of gin. Are you calling me an alcoholic??
Eine ist keine.
No wonder the current bio-medical establishment can't cure the ill, when such medicasters populate the halls of clinics and hospitals.
That's nothing... Wait! I define one drink as 4 ounces of gin. Are you calling me an alcoholic??
Eine ist keine.
No, but Cosmic definitely is.
You may be pushing the envelope a bit though. But I wouldn't worry about it, because apparently it doesn't matter if you have one drink or the whole bottle...it's now been declared all the same...so you may as well start chuggin' because you're now officially an alci on the first sip.
You niccie!No, but Cosmic definitely is.
You may be pushing the envelope a bit though. But I wouldn't worry about it, because apparently it doesn't matter if you have one drink or the whole bottle...it's now been declared all the same...so you may as well start chuggin' because you're now officially an alci on the first sip.
OK, dinner time!
*Olkofri postpones trouting Cosmic and pours himself a pint o' ale instead
Symantics most likely. Perhaps a smoker kicks back, relaxes and then stuffs a bowl and lights up.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!
A favorite quote from a friend of mine:
“Shit, I’ve got a headlight out........welp, might as well run this bitch into the ground!”
I can put lot of words into it, but in the end it's nicotine. At least for me that is. Nothing cuts stress and boredom like a good dose of good old nic.
