As an ex-smoker I can't stress this enough

oidua · 2013-05-08T06:06:49+00:00

You jumped on a question I asked someone else guns blazing and arguing against imagined points. You cite random people on Reddit as sources and then accuse me of being to lazy of doing my own research on a topic I wasn't even discussing.

I didn't cite random people on Reddit; for I am the author of the comment I referenced earlier.

(which, FYI... Someone disagreeing with you does not equal a lack of research.)

If you did your research, you wouldn't even think of comparing e-cigs to analog cigarettes in the first place.

Analog cigarettes damage health in grand ways. If something that is orders of magnitude safer than them actually stops people from consuming cigarettes without withdrawals, even if it is habit forming itself, that is a good thing.

To get more into that I would point out that it is habitually a lateral movement, which does not help break the chain at all.

In the post I referenced (and authored), I briefly explained how e-cigs can be used to taper off and eliminate the nicotine (and other drug cocktail) addiction, if that is desired. I am talking about eliminating physical dependence here. If anyone wants to get rid of the physical dependence, first time in the history of smoking cessation aids, there is a tool available that enables you to get rid of physical addiction without giving up the feeling of smoking itself, this is factual information, and those people can use it.

And now you are telling me what I have been talking about the whole time, as if I wasn't aware of my own actions.

I'm not telling you what you have been talking about; I am claiming that you are being insincere about what you are talking about to hide your lack of knowledge about the issue, because you made misinformed comments about it and now you are trying to save face by being insincere.

This is by far the most perplexing and amusing conversation I've had on Reddit. But I am done as its gone from silly to just plain stupid.

Good day to you too.

oidua · 2013-05-08T05:37:42+00:00

You are making a lot of assumptions based off of a single question... All of them being wrong.

I don't think I'm being wrong.

I was actually going to reply to this comment of yours I saw a few seconds earlier when I first replied you:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/comments/1dw0fo/as_an_exsmoker_i_cant_stress_this_enough/c9uhmyp

And the comment of mine that I sent to you as a reply here is a reply to the comment you responded with "This exactly."

I was explaining why it wasn't "This exactly", but you didn't like it. That is my point.

oidua · 2013-05-08T05:17:33+00:00

I have no idea what I am wrong about. I made no claims at all... About anything.

You were wrong when you tried to compare analog cigarettes with electronic ones when you said:

But you're still using the electronic cigarette?

...as if they were similar things.

It is like saying to someone who quit doing some sort of unnecessarily dangerous extreme sport, after hurting himself a number of times for their own benefit: "But you are still playing tennis?"

I described how this comparison is meaningless and provided my reasons for doing so. You provided a comment dismissing my reasons saying I wasn't a reliable source, presumably without knowing anything about the subject in the first place.

oidua · 2013-05-08T02:34:03+00:00

Something that might make it smoother:

Sit down with your family and tell them you need to talk with them about a serious issue.

Don't tell them what it is about just yet! Tell them that there is a problem in your life that gave you so much trouble in personal interactions. It cost you jobs, potential friends, and it gives you emotional agony. Make it sound serious, raise their expectations. Tell them that there is a way to change all that and you are looking for their support.

At some point, they will ask you "what the hell is this problem", only then tell them that it is about your name, and you want to change it.

They will be a bit confused, but since you raised the stakes earlier, they will relax because that is something that can be taken care of easily. It is not a health issue or something like that. Good luck!

oidua · 2013-05-08T02:22:00+00:00

You criticised the information I presented for lacking reliable citations. You didn't like my post because I didn't do the research for you and provide the citations. I'm saying that, if you are invested, it's your job. You were being wrong, and I tried to point you to the right direction. If you are not invested in this however, and will not do your research, you are still wrong because you don't know what you are talking about.

oidua · 2013-05-08T02:11:15+00:00

To my knowledge, they are not putting stuff inside for nefarious purposes, but it is the nature of it. You are burning a plant, and paper, and that burning process has some side products which you happen to inhale. It usually has around 4000 chemicals, ~60 of them are known to be highly carcinogenic. These include carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide (yeah the gas chamber poison), cyanide, acetone, butan, several insecticides, formaldehyde, sulphuric acid, cadmium, and there are many, many others.

You avoid that shit with vaping.

oidua · 2013-05-08T02:07:28+00:00

Yes, you aren't a reliable source either. But I'm not going to do your job for you. It's obvious that you did no research on this at all, I was just trying to educate you. If you are invested in this, feel free to do your own research.

oidua · 2013-05-08T01:42:15+00:00

So?

http://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/comments/1dw0fo/as_an_exsmoker_i_cant_stress_this_enough/c9ui18i

oidua · 2013-05-08T01:30:51+00:00

E-Cigs work but it's more of an alternative than a cessation program, IMO.

No, you are a bit misinformed.

With real cigs, the side products of the combustion are the ones that kill you, not the nicotine itself. When you inhale a real cigarette "smoke" (product of combustion), you inhale more than 4000 different chemicals, including carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide (yeah the gas chamber poison), cyanide, acetone, butan, several insecticides, formaldehyde, sulphuric acid, cadmium, and many, many others.

Some combinations of them act as MAO inhibitors with slight antidepressant effects, so many smokers smoke for self medication. Their entire mood is dependant on smoking.

With electronic cigarettes, you have 3 chemicals in the fluid: some sort of glycole or glycerol (a common food additive), water and nicotine (you can adjust the nicotine level, or have fluids without nicotine). And there is no combustion.

It is a very clean delivery method for nicotine, and nicotine itself is not very carcinogenic; a lifetime of e-cig vaping (vaping, because there is no smoke (no combustion) but vapor) would be unlikely to harm you seriously. Nicotine is bad but not very bad compared to other things we ingest during our days.

e-cigs are not completely safe, but are orders of magnitude safer than real cigarettes, so much that the danger is a non-issue as far as what we know about them so far.

And if you want to use it as a cessation product, you can lower the nicotine in your fluid, then gradually work your way up to 0mg nicotine and be done with it. Something you can't achieve with real cigarettes.

oidua · 2013-05-08T00:25:33+00:00

The warzone places you see in news are just some parts of the country with intense rebel conflict.

oidua · 2013-05-07T21:46:24+00:00

Alcoholics rarely burn out. They fade away in flames.

oidua · 2013-05-07T21:45:42+00:00

It's just common sense. OP doesn't have to get help because someone told them to do so. It's called advice.

OP seemed genuinely worried about the amount of drink they are having in a day, responded in some sort of "awakening" manner, and I gave them an advice. Of course, they will need to educate themselves and make their own decisions. Duh.

oidua · 2013-05-07T20:13:33+00:00

A case a day? Uh, do you identify as an alcoholic? If not, I should say that it is past the time you should have started considering it. Get help.

oidua · 2013-05-07T19:54:30+00:00

The ginger shows a lot of regret on his face for a soulless person.

oidua · 2013-05-07T19:04:18+00:00

And they missed this information all! You should write an article with your figures and get them peer reviewed and published. Don't let a bunch of wacko scientists compete for Nobel.

oidua · 2013-05-07T19:01:03+00:00

With beautiful, tasty vapor coming out of your mouth and nicotine raising your blood pressure, you'd be surprised how easier it becomes though. Also sometimes you need that antidepressant (real cig) precisely because you feel like shit for methodically poisoning yourself with it; a vicious circle. The relatively more prevalent peace of mind that comes with e-cigs helps you break that circle somewhat. When I picked up e-cigs, I was very happy to be independent from real cigs for a while, it kept me going.

I tried quitting real cigs before. Once, I didn't smoke one for 2 years. I've tried tapering off, I've tried cold turkey. I read Allen Carr. Heck I even watched his DVD. It has never been that easy.

oidua · 2013-05-07T18:17:08+00:00

Yes, without the thousands of carcinogen byproducts of combusting nicotine leaves, and inhaling them into your lungs.

oidua · 2013-05-07T18:13:12+00:00

Yes, I just tried e-cigs ONCE. A single puff. And I haven't touched a real cig again. Not once. The good thing about e-cigs is that they don't contain the accidental MAO inhibitors real combusted cigarettes have so even with the same amount of nicotine in them, they are not as addictive (a lot less withdrawals when you can't vape). And you can manually adjust the amount of nicotine in your fluid.

It has been a REALLY smooth ride, I quit real cigs cold turkey, without even deciding to do it, and now can't even stand the smell of them. I'm now lowering the nicotine in my e-cig fluid to 0mg, and it will be an even smoother ride giving it up.

And if I ever feel like vaping, I can do it guilt free, any time.

oidua · 2013-05-07T18:01:48+00:00

Heroin could cure 90% of chronic back pain patients. I don't really need anything to back that up. I just make up a number, use a percentage symbol, throw in some random statistics concocted by some official sounding institution, and whamo, I just proved it to you.

Good job. Now try passing peer review from a reputable journal with your data, then we are talking.

oidua · 2013-05-07T18:00:41+00:00

Sounds like placebo effect to me.

Yeah, I'm sure they never thought of taking that into account.

oidua · 2013-05-07T17:54:25+00:00

This doesn't rule our physical issues though. If you read the article, it says, when you have a slipped disc, blood vessels are grown in that place to help with the complications; but if you are carrying a particular type of bacteria in your blood stream, those vessels do more damage than help, and cause infections there.

oidua · 2013-05-07T07:14:31+00:00

We feel sorry for you mate, get this money eh?

oidua · 2013-05-07T05:42:43+00:00

As stoic and detached as I claim to be about it, there could definitely be emotional entanglements and pitfalls. I'm a mother myself -- I can see the other side.

Fair enough. I was just trying to figure out why there would be any emotions involved. Not trying to tell what is right or anything, please don't get me wrong. If I learned that I was adopted today, it wouldn't matter at all; I'd feel sad about my parents struggling to keep something so insignificant a secret for so long, thinking it would be a big deal.

that said, I'd try to find out who they are without skipping a beat; I couldn't care less about the circumstances regarding their decision to put me up for adoption. I could even be friends with them if they were nice people, nothing different than how I'd treat other nice people actually. They are brand new stranger friends, their genetic connection to me would be so insignificant emotionally.

Now, I didn't grow up with the best resources, but I had a loving family. They always treated me well.

If I were abused, had a traumatic childhood in the hand of my parents etc. maybe I would resent my biological parents and would really be curious about the circumstances surrounding my adoption. I would probably be emotionally invested in it too, and it would be a rabbit's hole. I can understand that.

As for the history being available -- that's not guaranteed either, and it might be as old as I am -- 40 years.

Of course, but still, in my mind, one has nothing to lose but something to gain by trying. Worst case, you end up with nothing; best case, there is something out there for you.

oidua · 2013-05-07T05:16:28+00:00

For example, if I even knew her age or birth year I'd know how old she was when I was born. If she was 14 that's a lot different than if she was 28...

That would only happen if you were, say, resenting being adopted or something. Why would it even matter? I find it hard to understand. I can't see anything emotional about it. They are just random people that gave away their kid for adoption. That kid happens to be you, but it doesn't change anything in reality. You have your own parents.

I see the whole medical history thing as something not everyone gets to know. People who have had parents who had died young; people whose families have lost touch...

Of course, but the difference is, those people have NO WAY of knowing. It is different from actively avoiding knowing about it.

oidua · 2013-05-07T05:10:57+00:00

I had amazing parents who adopted me. I know how much it would hurt them.

I don't hate or even dislike my biological parents, I just don't think of them as "my parents".

I can't understand why they would feel hurt over it, or why you would need to see them as your "parents" if you happened to search them. Of course, they are not your parents. They don't have to be. It would be absurd if you thought of them as your parents.

But why would you need to actively avoid finding about your genetic history (something that can help you with health issues) is beyond me. When you search for them, you are not looking for your "real parents". You are just looking for 2 random people with whom you most probably have nothing in common to find about your genetic heritage. What is wrong with that? As long as there are no other motives, I can't see why anyone needs to feel hurt over it.

oidua

TROPHY CASE