Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site gatech.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gatech!carter From: carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: Side effects of quitting cigarettes Message-ID: <11148@gatech.UUCP> Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 11:33:35 EST Article-I.D.: gatech.11148 Posted: Wed Dec 5 11:33:35 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Dec-84 06:57:19 EST References: <302@ll1.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: School of ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Lines: 35 The "side effects" that you are experiencing are indeed very common. I also experienced the same alterations in sleep patterns that you describe, but the caffiene reactions are alittle more pronounced than what I remember. Withdrawl from chronic nicotine exposure produces a reflexive increase in ascending reticular activating system( ARAS ) responsiveness that lasts for a considerable time ( ~ 2-4 weeks ). The ARAS's increase in activity follows from Cannon's Law and is an attempt to maintain the level of CNS stimulation that was provided by the nicotine. As a result, the ARAS becomes hyper-resonsive, resulting in an inability to maintain stage 2 (or stage 1, depending on who you use as an authority) sleep during REM (this does not produce REM deprivation, as one might expect). However, it really isn't that simple. Nicotine is not only a CNS and PNS (peripheral nervous system) stimulant, but it also is an incredible neuronal inhibitor. There is an entire class of neuronal receptors, found predominately in autonomic ganglia, skeletal muscle and of course the hippocampus, midbrain, brainstem and cerebral cortex, that are affected by nicotine. These nicotinic receptors(in contrast to muscarinic receptors) are, upon initial exposure to nicotine, intensely stimulated but then within a few minutes are completely inhibited. So you can see that it probably gets pretty hairy when youv'e been smoking for a couple of years, and the timing between excitation and inhibition gets really complex. -- Carter Bullard ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332 CSNet:Carter @ Gatech ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa uucp:...!{akgua,allegra,amd,ihnp4,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!carter