★★★★★
I owe Earth Clinic a huge thanks for the posting about smoking being a form of pica. I went looking for the book mentioned, and somewhere found that the subject of it was a silicon deficiency, paired with B3. I had smoked for a long time, tried to use natural cigarettes exclusively (how natural are they, one has to wonder), but with some stress in my life my daily use, while still minimal, was taking a toll on my body. I believed myself to be mostly psychologically addicted but something about the pica concept rang true. After reading about these two deficiencies, I remembered that the herb Horsetail is rich in silicon/silica, and I had a ten year old bottle of it buried in a box. I took a good multi B ('cause as far as I know taking large amounts of a single B can throw one out of balance over time) for the niacinamide. For the psychological aspect I reminded myself that cigarette smoking never ever made anything better for me. Not really. It just gave me the sense that I was doing 'something' when I experienced stress. It seemed like my brain was trying to regulate itself out of a sense of helplessness. My 'doing something' or taking action would now be trying the Horsetail and the B vitamins. The herb and B combination absolutely works for me. I do seem to need to use it once/day. If I have any experience of interest in a cigarette I either put my attention on something else, or take the supplements, and it has worked every time. I had almost no cravings whatsoever, going from 5/day to only 2 (I mean 2 total, not 2/day) over the first two weeks, and then to zero. I should say also, that even though most people talk about what a struggle it is to quit, I consistently imagined it being easy for me. I used up my willpower for these things long ago, and I need to have underlying needs addressed so I don't have to rely on mind over impulse as it's very draining. Even though I had little advance evidence that it could be easy, I still stuck to this 'vision' for myself. The relief is enormous, so many thanks for this information - it was the missing piece!!
