# "Smoking opens my airways and makes my asthma better..."?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382 "2006-01-24T13:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/1 "2006-01-24T13:44:18Z")
I thought I’d heard it all, but this took the cake. I’m overhearing (not eavesdropping because it’s just outside my door) a conversation between a couple of my drivers this morning. One asks the other why she still smokes if she has asthma? The thread title? That was her answer. Oh yeah, when she smokes it opens her up and she can breathe better. her daughter has asthma though and she isn’t about to tell her daughter (14 yrs old) that, because “I don’t want her to start smoking”. Everything. I mean everything I read says exactly the opposite, that smnoking aggravates asthma and can even trigger attacks. Not being a smoker, or asthmatic, I come here to ask if anyone can back up what she’s saying before I get on my horse and call bullshit on her. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/2 "2006-01-24T15:09:01Z")
I’m an asthmatic. I smoke exceedingly rarely (probably two dozen times in the last 15 years). Every time I’ve smoked my breathing has become easier while I’m smoking and immediately thereafter. But then for the next couple days it’s a little worse than normal. This also happens to the one other asthmatic I’ve polled on the subject. We theorized that it’s an effect of the nicotine high. I think the person you overheard is doing terrible things to her lungs, but I have no doubt that she subjectively feels her breating getting easier when she smokes. Indeed, it can tend to make one want to smoke because, as I mentioned, you feel oxygenated while you smoke but worse than normal an hour after you stop. Therefore I can see someone becoming a pack-a-day smoker on a hair of the dog principle. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/3 "2006-01-24T15:55:28Z")
It just like someone who likes to eat chocolate chip cookies. Nice while you eat them, but you feel like crap an hour later. It’s addictive behavior. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/4 "2006-01-24T16:36:44Z")
Well, my husband tried to quit smoking awhile back. He’s athsmatic too, and his doctor said that at some point, all athsmatics who smoke WILL develop emphysema if they don’t quit. I’ve also seen that happen already, with two of my uncles. The feeling of relief in breathing when smoking is probably due to the effects of nicotine entering the bloodstream. I know the one time I tried smoking, my athsma was terrible - my chest automatically tightened up. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/5 "2006-01-24T17:27:26Z")
I’m an ex-smoker and, while I never had asthma, I have had periods of illness that came with hacking coughs and difficulty drawing breath. Smoking actually made it easier then – I assume because my throat/lungs were relaxed or stunned by the nicotine. Of course, it peobably also _prolonged_ my illnesses as well, but the short-term benefit was there. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/6 "2006-01-24T18:55:56Z")
I’m thinking as well that the nicotine will relax those lungs a bit…also the tar will form a coating to keep you from hacking up all that goo…until you quit of course. If nicotine acts the same as caffeine, then I can totally understand it relaxing the lungs (for a short time). I know for me, having a strong coffee will keep my lungs clear for a time. As a matter of fact, I quit smoking and coffee in November and my breathing went downhill pretty fast. It passed though–until the baby decides kick me in the lungs that is. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/7 "2006-01-24T18:59:48Z")
I’ve heard that nicotine’s muscle relaxing effect _does_ offer some relief for asthmatics (I’ve noticed in myself that it seems to help with bad coughs as well, though I probably wouldn’t have gotten that pneumonia in the first place if I didn’t smoke.) Apparently, long-time smokers occasionally appear to develop asthma as soon as they quit, because the development of the disease is unnoticed with the constant “treatment” that nicotine offers. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/8 "2006-01-24T19:58:43Z")
I don’t know how common it was back then, but a novel I read that was written in the late '40s featured a character who smoked mentholated cigarettes specifically to treat his asthma. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/9 "2006-01-24T20:03:25Z")
Isn’t nicotine similar to ephedrine, which is what is in OTC asthma inhalers? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/10 "2006-01-24T20:13:29Z")
I am an athsmatic and 20-year pack-a-day smoker. My athsma got a hell of a lot better once I took it up full time. I used to have about 3 attacks a week. Since I started smoking I get maybe one attack every two years if I’m lucky. It could be coincidence - that my athsma cleared around the same age I took up the evil weed. And whether it’s coincidence or not, I’m likely to die of emphysema, lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, or some other nasty smoking related illness - but at least I don’t suffer from athsma any more! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/11 "2006-01-24T21:26:22Z")
> [@sj2](#): > > If nicotine acts the same as caffeine, then I can totally understand it relaxing the lungs (for a short time). I thought nicotine and caffeine were opposites – relaxant vs. stimulant. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/12 "2006-01-24T23:32:39Z")
WAG, but maybe the asthma relief has to do with the nicotine paralyzing the cilia in your lungs, the immediate effect being able to breathe better? I know that’s how smoker’s hack goes: paralyzed cilia all day long, with tar buildup, then go 8 hours while sleeping without a smoke, cilia finally back to work _hack hack hack_. Unfortunately over the long term it does a great deal of damage. ---
**Author:** ![samm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@samm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/13 "2006-01-25T00:15:17Z")
I’m not sure if/how this is related, but why did Tour de France riders think it helped them to smoke when they were going up hills? Or is that just a rumor? I know that they _did_ use to smoke during the race, but I don’t know about the “helping” and “hills” part. I’ve seen the poster! [http://www.bicycle-gifts.com/jpg/q45.jpg](http://www.bicycle-gifts.com/jpg/q45.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/14 "2006-01-25T00:51:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I thought nicotine and caffeine were opposites – relaxant vs. stimulant. [Nicotine is a stimulant](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_223a.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/15 "2006-01-25T03:31:47Z")
What’s even more counterintuitive is my aunt’s technique; she swears smoking _pot_ alleviates her asthma symptoms. Then again, knowing how high-strung she is, maybe anything which calms her down is going to alleviate her asthma symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/16 "2006-01-25T04:29:44Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’m an ex-smoker and, while I never had asthma, I have had periods of illness that came with hacking coughs and difficulty drawing breath. Smoking actually made it easier then – I assume because my throat/lungs were relaxed or stunned by the nicotine. > > Of course, it peobably also _prolonged_ my illnesses as well, but the short-term benefit was there. I actually have a theory about this. I smoke, though I am trying to figure out when/how to quit. Anyway, when I am sick with a throat problem smoking helps stop the coughing in the short term. My theory is that the body is used to the irritation from the smoke. When you are sick and start coughing then smoke your body says ‘Hey, that is just smoke, I’m used to that.’ and the cough reflex goes away because you’ve trained your body not to cough when inhaling smoke. Of coarse, smoking also makes the cold last longer and it takes longer for the cough to go away. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoking-opens-my-airways-and-makes-my-asthma-better/341382/17 "2006-01-25T05:13:43Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > What’s even more counterintuitive is my aunt’s technique; she swears smoking _pot_ alleviates her asthma symptoms. Then again, knowing how high-strung she is, maybe anything which calms her down is going to alleviate her asthma symptoms. > [@](#): > > Studies have shown THC has a bronchiodialator effect, which may be effective in purging the particulates from the lungs. [If lycaeum.org counts as a cite](http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs.old/plants/cannabis/consume.html) I was actually looking for tobacco smoke references but a cursory googling only returned the THC/marijuana correlation.