Nicotine and Insulin

[spirit72]

I'm bumping this thread because I think I have the same issues. Right now for instance. I had two General Ekstra Sterks in a row, ate a meal (a pretty small portion though), took a hit of nasal snuff and went out on a walk with my dog after I had eaten. In the middle of the walk I started feeling weak, shaky, and hungry - low blood sugar.

Very timely bump, in fact. I've done quite a bit of experimenting over the past 1.5 years or so since I started this topic, and what I've come up with is that it isn't the snus, or the snuff, or the caffeine alone that was causing me trouble. It was that I was using all three....usually simultaneously, often prodigiously, and my diet wasn't all that great on top of it. Basically, I was overstimulating.

Some things I've come up with:

No snusing on an empty stomach. Nasal snuff is somewhat more forgiving on this point, however.
No strong snus. Ever. It sucks, but there you go.
I can snus today, or I can snuff today. Not both.
No monster prillas.
When it comes to nicotine and caffeine, something has to give. For me, I started drinking tea instead. Preferably green or white teas.
Make sure you are getting AT LEAST 100% of your daily allowance of fiber.

Also, in my case it turns out that artificial sweeteners and my body are mortal enemies. So I avoid them almost entirely, and that has also made a huge difference. I can have a can of General Mint or Wintergreen around, if I want it, but it really has to be just a couple of portions in a day. That is the only instance anymore where I will allow Aspartame, AceK(which is the sweetener that those two General brands use), Sucralose, or Saccharine into my system.

[heders]

Very timely bump, in fact. I've done quite a bit of experimenting over the past 1.5 years or so since I started this topic, and what I've come up with is that it isn't the snus, or the snuff, or the caffeine alone that was causing me trouble. It was that I was using all three....usually simultaneously, often prodigiously, and my diet wasn't all that great on top of it. Basically, I was overstimulating.

Some things I've come up with:

No snusing on an empty stomach. Nasal snuff is somewhat more forgiving on this point, however.
No strong snus. Ever. It sucks, but there you go.
I can snus today, or I can snuff today. Not both.
No monster prillas.
When it comes to nicotine and caffeine, something has to give. For me, I started drinking tea instead. Preferably green or white teas.
Make sure you are getting AT LEAST 100% of your daily allowance of fiber.

Also, in my case it turns out that artificial sweeteners and my body are mortal enemies. So I avoid them almost entirely, and that has also made a huge difference. I can have a can of General Mint or Wintergreen around, if I want it, but it really has to be just a couple of portions in a day. That is the only instance anymore where I will allow Aspartame, AceK(which is the sweetener that those two General brands use), Sucralose, or Saccharine into my system.

Thanks for your reply with the great tips man! That I think may be it. I snus like a fiend, and don't care if it's extra strong or not - I pop one in anyways. Add coffee, pipe smoking and nasal snuff to that equation and over stimulation might be the case indeed. I also normally don't wait one minute between meals and snus (often strong ones). I have no idea if that's bad or not.

I just ordered some ES/S snus, but I will limit myself with it I think. Or at least wait a long time between if I've just had a strong portion.

I agree with "something has to give" - it feels a bit overstated to be addicted by both caffeine and nicotine. Living your life like you have rocket fuel up your ass, 24 seven, 365 days a year for the rest of the life can't be healthy. I've kicked the coffee as well. Not entirely yet - yesterday night I slept only 1 hour, so I had to drink coffee to keep my eyes open during school. Today I just had a cup of 50/50 decaf-regular, and tomorrow I'll start the day with some green tea (which I've started to love recently - the loose version of it of course).

Caffeine from coffee is very beneficial - but I will start using it (at least try) in the way it is best at: waking me up when I'm tired. If I haven't slept during the night, or if I need to stay awake late, I will have a cup. But I will try to not make a habit of it like I have before. It's not worth it for me when combining with snus.

I'll look at what is the RDI for the fiber and eat that amount in crisp bread as we have in Sweden (100% fiber).

I don't get affected by artificial sweeteners from what I've noticed. It's worth having in mind though if some day I would.

[Kaplan]

I went through a very similar period recently too. I even got a blood sugar meter but also found my blood sugar was normal. I've always had issues with low blood sugar, but being able to track it showed me something else seemed to be going on. It has since passed for the most part, but I would think a lot depends on other factors such as diet and alcohol intake and exercise. But for a while I was nearly starving even after an hour after eating, and exercising would make me feel that I was about to pass out until I ate. I didn't have a monitor when the worse symptoms were going on, so I don't know how low my blood sugar was at that point. It never occurred to me to think of snus.

[muddyfunkstar]

Interesting thread, I missed it first time round.

I too have suffered hypoglycaemic symptoms throughout my life. Been checked out by the doctors a couple of times, and my blood sugars are fine, even after the fasting test. They just said I must be sensitive to fluctuations in blood sugar, and to ensure I eat regularly to keep them level.

Like Frosted, I'm skinny and eat a lot of carbs - if I don't eat them, I don't function properly. When it comes to carbs I always eat wholegrain bread and pasta, rather than white, because they're less sugary and a slower release of energy.

I always put it down to a high metabolism, and being lucky enough to be able to eat what I want without weight issues - I don't exercise but I do walk a lot (an hour a day in total on various stages of my daily commute - and I walk fast), and that helps keep me in shape.

The nicotine theory is very interesting, and if weren't for the fact I suffered the symptoms as a kid before I got tainted by nicotine, I'd be inclined to think it applied to me, but I just kind of think that's the way my body works.

When I first gave up smoking and was nicotine free for 5 years, I gained some weight despite no change to my diet and lifestyle. Since I started snussing, my weight dropped back down to my pre-quitting days and has been pretty stable since.

[Frosted]

Yeah Heders - Muddy's doing the right thing. You need to constantly eat carbs. The only reason why you're feeling shaky is because you need to eat....you're probably getting up, having a coffee and nothing else which is the worst thing you can do. Eat something with the coffee.
I had a chat with my doctor and she said that it's perfectly normal when you don't eat to feel shaky etc. You need to feed your body. I eat like a horse and I'm only 185 lb - mind you, I exercise a lot.
I've had the diabetes tests and I'm fine.

If you drink, the next day you'll get a major sugar crash - you need to eat even with the hangover. The best thing for a hangover for me is a pizza.

On the other hand you've got people like my wife - she'll not eat anything all day and feel fine.