Fibro and smoking / vaping nicotine?

[SeaPhoenix]

Hello all

I've had fibro for 6 years. Before that I used to smoke, switched to vaping and quit before the onset of fibro. A couple of years in I started vaping again and quit. Now recently in the past months I started vaping again. So my therapist told me I should look into the interaction of nicotine with fibro.

I saw one other thread about this same topic, one person posted that it was especially bad but didn't provide any scientific explanation thereto. I know vaping/ smoking is bad overall, but lets be objective and put that aside, and assess the specific interaction with fibro. My therapist indicated that nicotine is an agonist of acetylcholine, a bodily chemical that helps the body to regulate muscular activation (?) does anyone know any more about this and how the interaction may play out in a fibro patients body?

Being back on it, it hasn't really made me feel worse in fact I've been better overall but I could attribute that to increased exercise, returning on Cymbalta steady dose, or other changes in my health. I know this forum is more anecdotal and patients rather than scientific professionals, but anyone with a proper understanding of this, your input would be appreciated.

 

[JayCS]

As it's as yet impossible for researchers to say how fibro exactly works, especially as there's not "A" fibro patient's body, I'd argue that it's not that sensible to think too much about how nicotine may be causing problems, but first look for studies looking into what fibromites report. My fibro body apparently has reduced serotonin, and accordingly GABA helps me, and serotonin is connected to nicotine, but all this is not generalizable.

There are quite a few studies (about real smoking, not vaping), mainly by Mayo Clinic & fairly big. Here their conclusions:

2016, Mayo Clinic: The Perception of Female Smokers with Fibromyalgia on the Effects of Smoking on Fibromyalgia Symptoms:
Smokers with fibromyalgia reported smoking helped to cope with fibromyalgia pain but generally did not directly ameliorate fibromyalgia physical symptoms.

2019 (using data from 2012/2013), Mayo Clinic: Tobacco Use in Fibromyalgia Is Associated With Cognitive Dysfunction: A Prospective Questionnaire Study
In patients with fibromyalgia, smoking is a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction. Moreover, smokers with fibromyalgia were more likely to report increased severity of fibromyalgia symptoms, worse quality of life, more sleep problems, and increased anxiety compared with nonsmokers with fibromyalgia.

2021, US: I smoke to cope with pain: patients' perspectives on the link between cigarette smoking and pain
Many patients with chronic pain who smoke readily identified pain as a motivator of their smoking behavior and are reluctant to quit for this reason. Integrated interventions for smokers with pain should address these perceptions and expectancies and promote uptake of more adaptive self-management strategies for pain.

2021, Mayo Clinic: The Association of Current Tobacco Status With Pain and Symptom Severity in Fibromyalgia Patients
The results of our study suggest that tobacco use is associated with greater pain and other symptom severity in patients with fibromyalgia. These findings have important clinical and research implications for patients with fibromyalgia who use tobacco and who may benefit from early identification and timely implementation of tobacco cessation treatment to decrease pain and improve overall quality of life.

To me #2 and #4 sound as if the smoking/vaping is only pseudo-coping in the sense that it distracts and suppresses the effect of actually increased symptoms. Praps comparable to the function of meds tho, which aren't at all helpful to me personally.

 

[KEsb1217]

I've been wondering the same. I smoke cigarettes and need to quit. I smoke 6 cigarettes a day. So not terrible but still not great. I've often wondered how this effects my body with Fibromyalgia and CFS symtoms of fatigue in my muscles