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Comment by loonster | Hacker News Reader

I thought the main benefit from smoking (in regards to covid) was the nicotine itself. The nicotine gets oxidized and turned into nicotinc acid.

If I wanted to mimic the benefits of smoking, I would take a nicotinic acid pill (flushing niacin)

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Serious covid complications seem to be the result of inflammation on organs, and nicotine is an immunosuppressant. The only episode of Dr. House where it was actually sarcoidosis, the patient had just quit chewing tobacco, so at least doctors on TV have known for decades. (Sarcoidosis is condition where your organs get inflamed very similarly to covid.) Notably, HCQ is also an effective treatment for sarcoidosis.

>The only episode of Dr. House where it was actually sarcoidosis

Thank you for this comment. It seems like every episode has a moment where they say, "Sarcoidosis? Porphyria? Lupus?"

Its never Lupus

I saw an episode of a TV series about a small-town GP recently where in the end it turned out to actually be porphyria. guess he didn't watch enough Dr. House...

I'm pretty sure Lupus was a running joke, almost every episode they would say "It could be Lupus" and it was never Lupus

Nicotine, like caffeine, is a vasoconstrictor, which is part of the addiction characteristics. Don't drink your coffee and you get a headache due to swelling.

I assume they put smokers on nicotine patches when they are in the ICU for COVID, yeah? Otherwise that's a double whammy of inflammation.

Good thing I just smoke cigars.

I've found they mellow out me after a long, hard day. Maybe it's the atmosphere in which I immerse myself... on my patio, listening to music, reclining in a chair, but they seem to help me unwind.

It'll certainly be the atmosphere that's primarily calming you, however I recall reading years ago (so don't quote me) about the catch-22 of smoking. When you're smoking - or rather in the breaks between smoking - the vascular system undergoes hypertension, which then is marginally reduced by the relaxation that another hit of nicotine provides. So your baseline 'stress' increases as a result of smoking, and having another cigarette/cigar temporarily reduces that. So the net effect of not smoking plus your relaxing environment would be more relaxing without the cigars in the first place.

That has nothing to do with nicotine and everything to do with monoamine oxidase inhibitors in tobacco smoke.

> When you're smoking - or rather in the breaks between smoking - the vascular system undergoes hypertension, which then is marginally reduced by the relaxation that another hit of nicotine provides. So your baseline 'stress' increases as a result of smoking, and having another cigarette/cigar temporarily reduces that. So the net effect of not smoking plus your relaxing environment would be more relaxing without the cigars in the first place.

This theory was popularised by Allen Carr in his Easy Way to Stop Smoking (or at least that's where I heard it, and the book was published in the early 80s).

I have ulcerative colitis (an autoimmune disorder) and my doctor said that there are some correlation with smoking and reduced symptoms. I asked if nicotine gum was an option since I didn't smoke and she said that gum or patches showed no such correlation.

All in all she did not recommend that I start smoking.

I wonder if snus products correlate with reduced symptoms. I've read lay theories around that it may be the carbon monoxide in the smoke?

Anecdotally, I have not found snus, gum or lozenges to have any impact on symptoms, ie ideally as an emergency measure during flare-ups. Next time I will try smoking and track my symptoms.

PS: I'm not sure if there is any overlap between vape and cigarette smoke, but THC edibles never helped me, while vaped THC is a godsend. I especially like Delta-8, as it gives less of the negative subjective effects.

That's not what this article says. Apparently the aryl hydrocarbon receptor downregulates ACE2.

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