Can You Be Allergic to Tobacco Smoke?

[ShawnD]

Pretty much anybody can inhale a lung full of marijuana, and hold it there for at least 30 seconds without coughing.
Tobacco, on the other hand, is just brutal. Completely inhaling even a small amount of tobacco smoke will make a nonsmoker cough. I've been around smokers my whole life and the smoke still really bothers me.

What is in tobacco to make it so harsh?

 

[DaveC426913]

Have to disagree. Pot (used to) make me choke every time, whereas I smoked for years.

Perhaps you are allergic to smoke (as I am).

 

[Monique]

Air pollutants can induce bronchial asthma in second-hand smokers by causing bronchial irritation. It also increases bronchial responsiveness and causes airway sensitization to several allergens.

Short-term cigarette smoke exposure enhances allergic airway inflammation in mice.

Extent of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and its dose-response relation to respiratory health among adults.

This paper suggests that the impact of marijuana smoking on respiratory health has some significant similarities to that of tobacco smoking. Respiratory effects of marijuana and tobacco use in a U.S. sample.

 

[ShawnD]

Thanks for all the info

 

[misskitty]

I too have been around smokers my whole life and being a non-smoker I must say that it is very brutal. Dave, you mentioned a potential allergy to the smoke. Do you know what kind of symptoms, other than coughing, might accompany such an allergy?

 

[Monique]

I don't think you can be really allergic to tobacco smoke, unless you have atopy that involves the capacity to produce IgE in response to common environmental proteins.

If it truly is an allergy you will start to wheeze due to the inflammatory response set up against the allergens. Histamines are released from mast cells, which causes the bloodvessels to dilate and to become abnormally permiable (so that more immune cells can reach the site). Other secreted factors start to irritate the tissues. When you inhale an anti-histamine m edication the wheezing will go away.

 

[ShawnD]

If it truly is an allergy you will start to wheeze due to the inflammatory response

That doesn't happen, so I guess I'm not allergic. It's always possible that I'm more sensitive to tobacco without being allergic. Not every sensitivity is an allergy.

Monique, is that a picture of you or did you just find that somewhere on the internet?

 

[Monique]

No, that's me.. a little younger

 

[ShawnD]

No, that's me.. a little younger

So I guess it's true that cute kids turn into cute adults

 

[misskitty]

Monique that picture is so adorable! I hope my kids are that cute!

Back to the smoke: So you can be sensitive without being allergic? Huh-glad I told me bf to quit smoking then! It healthier all the way around anyway.

I know the nicotine in the cigarette is highly addictive. Are there any other addictive ingrediants.

 

[Ouabache]

allergy to tobacco smoke

I don't think you can be really allergic to tobacco smoke, unless you have atopy that involves the capacity to produce IgE in response to common environmental proteins.

I'm pretty confident I am allergic to tobacco smoke. Whenever I am exposed to tobacco smoke, my nose gets stuffy, my sinuses build up pressure and head feels foggy like a bad cold.

In tobacco processing, they commonly allow the leaves to desiccate in drying barns (out of sunlight). Airborne saprophytic fungi colonize these leaves, as they dry. Afterwards the leaves are processed into tobacco products. I do know I am allergic to fungi.

Many organic and inorganic compounds are found in tobacco smoke.
Some are listed here: ---> http://www.gasp.org/chemicals.html
It is highly likely that organic compounds from the colonizing fungi are also liberated in tobacco smoke. So I am most likely reacting to these fungal compounds released in burning tobacco smoke.

Inhaling allergens liberated into smoke of burning vegetation, is not unusual. Another good example is burning poison ivy (Rhus radicans). Inhaling this smoke often induces a severe allergic reaction.