Do you look to smoking
for relief from a bad back? Or aching joints? Or abdominal pain?
Think twice before
lighting up that cigarette. “Nicotine-induced pain relief is short-term. Over
time, smoking may actually worsen your pain,” says pain management specialist
Crawford Barnett, Smokers are nearly
three times as likely to get lower back pain. Smoking may aggravate abdominal
pain and joint pain, as well. In fact, smoking may increase pain sensitivity in
general.
About 18 percent of
people in the United States are smokers, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Yet smokers make up more than 50 percent of patients
who seek pain treatment.
How smoking hurts
The nicotine in tobacco
can trick the body into feeling good — at first. It triggers the release of
chemicals, like dopamine, which give off a satisfying, “reward” sensation. It’s
what makes smoking so addictive.
But that same tobacco
also impairs the delivery of oxygen-rich blood to bones and tissues. Decreasing
blood and nutrient flow can cause degeneration, particularly in discs of the
spine, which already have more limited blood flow. The result can be lower back
pain and sometimes osteoporosis.
Physicians also link
smoking with fatigue and slower healing, factors that make painful conditions
more prominent. Researchers are exploring even more physiological reasons why
smoking makes people with fibromyalgia, arthritis and other chronic pain hurt
more.
“Almost everyone knows
smoking can cause cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease,” says Dr. B
Vishwakarma “But not everyone realizes that smoking can make your pain worse.”
To make matters worse,
when smokers suffer from debilitating pain, potentially life-changing treatments
may not work.
“Smokers aren’t the
best candidates for implantable devices such as neurostimulators, which block
pain sensation,” says Dr. B Vishwakarma “Smoking impairs the immune system and
increases the risk of infection after surgery.”
How to get started
Dr. B Vishwakarma
actively counsels patients to quit smoking. “You may look to cigarettes for
help coping with pain, anxiety or stress, but there are healthier ways to do
that,” he says.
Here’s what he suggests:
·
Schedule your
“quit day.”
·
Ask Dr. B Vishwakarma
about medication or nicotine replacement products.
·
Get support from
family and friends, and join a support group.
·
Take a walk
whenever you feel the urge to smoke.
