Last week I experienced what appears to be a herniated disc (my second one) and the associated sciatic pain. I noticed that when I smoked a cigar, my pain level went from 7 to 9 (on the 10-point pain scale in common use) down to 2 to 3 while smoking, and this lasted for up to an hour after. I thought it might be a result of just being more relaxed, or maybe I was just imagining the pain was less. I did a search and came across some research journal articles that were investigating the analgesic properties of nicotine. It turns out that nicotine may be an effective analgesic. It acts quickly (for me about 5 minutes after I light up) and has a half life of about an hour, which explains why I get almost another hour of relief after finishing.
Interestingly the received wisdom has been that smoking causes body pain (based on studies that correlated cigarette smoking with pain). But as with any study based on correlation, it is never possible to ascribe causality between the factors being correlated. If causality is ascribed, the first question usually asked when reviewing that kind of research for publication (I’m a retired professor and was a reviewer for a few journals in my field) is why couldn’t the true causality be reversed? This inspired some researchers to consider that pain may cause smoking instead of the other way around. Maybe people in pain smoke more because it provides some relief. At this point there is not a lot of research on humans (just rats and other critters), but what research there is seems to support nicotine’s analgesic properties.
Anyway, I’m curious if others have experienced pain relief when smoking, or if this is just all in my head. By the way, my wife – who is not a big fan of my cigar smoking – is now letting me smoke as much as I need to for pain relief, so even if this is just a placebo effect I’m not saying anything. I may even delay getting a planned cortisone injection .
Interestingly the received wisdom has been that smoking causes body pain (based on studies that correlated cigarette smoking with pain). But as with any study based on correlation, it is never possible to ascribe causality between the factors being correlated. If causality is ascribed, the first question usually asked when reviewing that kind of research for publication (I’m a retired professor and was a reviewer for a few journals in my field) is why couldn’t the true causality be reversed? This inspired some researchers to consider that pain may cause smoking instead of the other way around. Maybe people in pain smoke more because it provides some relief. At this point there is not a lot of research on humans (just rats and other critters), but what research there is seems to support nicotine’s analgesic properties.
Anyway, I’m curious if others have experienced pain relief when smoking, or if this is just all in my head. By the way, my wife – who is not a big fan of my cigar smoking – is now letting me smoke as much as I need to for pain relief, so even if this is just a placebo effect I’m not saying anything. I may even delay getting a planned cortisone injection .