Hi there, I haven't posted in a REALLY long time, but I thought I'd ask a question that my HD+ father keeps bringing up when I nag at him to quit smoking.

Is it true that the nicotine in cigarettes/cigars is good for people with Huntington's Disease?

Does anyone have any articles, websites, etc. that support this thought or hopefully reject this idea, so that I can show them to my father?

Any info is greatly appreciated!
Thanks

I cannot imagine that smoking is good for anything. I and my pHD are xsmokers. He quit smoking and six months later ran the Indy 1/2 marathon and finished in the top 50%. I can see that when he quit smoking that his health improved.

I see no negative effects to quiting. So why not

The nicotin receptors are down early in HD and that is why smoking feels calming. It is extremely difficult for someone with HD who smokes to stop smoking. But of course, smoking is not healthy for anyone.

HD used to b known as the old man's smoking disease because it helped with the movement. My GP and both my neuros agee that smoking is good for someone with HD, Parkinsons and iritable bowl syndrome. The non smoking movement has made millions from anti-smoking research and goes on and on and on. When I get out of bed in the morning i cannot swallow or speak after a night of no nicotine. After one cigarette I can swallow and after2 I can speak. My CAG is 47 and I am 61. We have discussed using a nicotine patch at night to avoid the loss of swallowing.
I see a pattern with PHD's who smoke and cope better than others. The Canadian HD society has told me that I have to quit smoking to get into LTC. Everyone then quits smoking and theyr movement doubles. They cannot function so they then get the coup de grace with big drugs that knock out all the abilities.
just google nictine and HD and you'll probably get there. Abbott drug company is also making a nicotine neuroprotective drug.

I think the evidence is mounting that nicotine has it's benefits... smoking is not the best delivery method for it. If they proved it's benefit it would be sufficient to get it by patch. But you are asking someone to quit smoking ... good luck with that....

Wow...I have to say this is an "interesting" item about HD I have never heard but it makes sense.

The risk of fire is the worst problem a smoking HD patient may have IMHO.

Hello Everyone,

Fred makes a good point about the risk of fire. I can't imagine that smoking is anything but overall very bad for the HD patient or the premanifest HD patient. I don't know of any studies or papers that state that smoking is good or bad for HD, but it is a virtual certainty in my mind that smoking overall will lead to earlier onset of disease in HD as well as hasten the progression of disease. Smoking should lead to decreased blood flow and oxygenation of the neurons which must be bad in HD. Exercise on the other hand leads to increased blood flow in my opinion.

Smoking will also lead to decreased aerobic exercise. While nicotine may have some transient minor medicinal effects on the brain, there are medications and other therapies which are much more effective and cheaper with fewer side effects than smoking for HD.

Quitting smoking is incredibly difficult as mentioned above. I submit that smoking is more dangerous to the pre and post manifest HD patient than in the general population.

It is best not to start which can be tough since cigarettes are readily available.

Good luck,

Tim

Re. Fire. There are smokers aprons available. I keep a snuffer in every ash tray.When my house burned down, the first thing they blamed it on was smoking. I said this was not possible because I used snuffers. The firemen wentin the house and found all the ash trays broken on the floors but which had a snuffer in each one. So they could not blame it o careless smoking. It was the wiring anyway. The only problem with snuffers that they need to be cleaned out and they rust. Snuffers come from the dollar store. They are a cubic inch with a pencil sized hole.

I would have preferred T didn't smoke. I was not concerned about benefits or risks to health. She wanted to smoke, didn't want to quit, and was the least of my concerns to insist that she stop. It did become impulsive so we had to have a smoking schedule and a place that was not going to go up in flames. I pretty much decided that her mental health was as risk trying to quit as well as mine. Her mother was forced to quit... and she spent literally years asking everyone all the time for a cigarette. Seemed sort of sad to me. That was my personal take on it. Just not a fight worth having. If someone is co-operative in quitting.. I would encourage it for sure.

No not a fight worth having but my hubby quit on his own. NO pain either, I on the other took six months to feel normal. I wouldn't sell any benefits about smoking regardless of what papers say when I could see the benefits first hand of him quiting. If you suggest there is a benefit to my hubby he might start up again and three years for me without a smoke, I would dread going back.

My PHD was a 2 pack a day smoker in his prime but he NEVER smoked inside. Even when he was a single guy in an apartment. He used to say he was the only smoker that hated the smell of smoke!

Its getting harder and harder for him to manage walking outside to smoke so he is down to 1-3 cigs per day! Thats huge for him.

Hd is making him quit.

I dont think that smoking is good for HD. From what Ive read on hdlighthouse there are inflammation process present when brain cells die. Smoking will accelerate this process.(?). That`s why fishoil and blueberries are recommended, both have anti-inflammatory effects. Some people with colitis have success treating it with this.
But interessting that smoking works for movements.

Soo some of you have heard that nicotine helps individuals with HD?

I've seen maybe one or two websites trying to explain, this but I can't really comprehend it.

Would someone be willing to explain how nicotine helps in simple terms, lol?

First it's far from proven.. it was in mice and rats... and there is a big difference between nicotine therapy and smoking. If you google (nicotine huntingtons) you will see the studies. Saying it helps individuals with HD would be a leap of faith. Lot's of things help the mice that haven't translated to people. That was just to point out that someone with HD and that smokes has their rationalization for it... like your dad may.

First it's far from proven.. it was in mice and rats... and there is a big difference between nicotine therapy and smoking. If you google (nicotine huntingtons) you will see the studies. Saying it helps individuals with HD would be a leap of faith. Lot's of things help the mice that haven't translated to people. That was just to point out that someone with HD and that smokes has their rationalization for it... like your dad may.

a fire proof apron would have not done a bit of good when my ex husband caught the bush on fire then our garage, sorrrrry. His movements became much worse when he smoked, he would bow at the waist and wave his cigarette arm way out from his body with each puff. We did all we could to prevent accidents by having him smoke on our cement porch, however an ember must have blown off when he did one of his bowing and he didn't notice the smoke on the bush. I was inside. He left to go grocery shopping.

Cars pulled off the road and people rang my bell and got my hose and by the time I got outside the bush in front of our house and garage was ablaze about 6 feet high and our siding on the garage was melted. After thanking those strangers PROFUSELY, and calling the fire department to check to make sure it was completely out, Joe came home to find the fire truck in the driveway. He calmly took the groceries out of the car and started to put them away without much of a reaction at all. MY REACTION was a DIFFERENT STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate that my brother has smoked for over 30 years. However, when we recently asked his neuro for assistance in helping my brother to stop smoking, we were told that we shouldn't try. Something about, having reached some sort of balance in his meds, we shouldn't now alter something so significant as my brother's cigarette habit.

As Eric points out: "there is a big difference between nicotine therapy and smoking. "

Perhaps, if one is afraid of upsetting chemical balance - one could address that directly - and STOP the smoking!

PHDs often end up having respiratory problems. Smoking damages the lungs.

And as Pat has pointed out - smoking can also damage bushes and garages!

I don't think nicotine therapy does either of those things.......

jl