Forgetting the Urge

Can you forget the urge to smoke?  Smokers and former smokers say never, but a recent study says differently.

In Clue to Addiction, a Brain Injury Halts Smoking

Scientists studying stroke patients are reporting today that an injury to a specific part of the brain, near the ear, can instantly and permanently break a smoking habit. People with the injury who stopped smoking found that their bodies, as one man put it, “forgot the urge to smoke.”

I can attest to this.  I don't have the brain injury, my sister Deborah does.  About 15 years ago, Debby, who also suffers from multiple sclerosis,  got encephalitis, probably after being bit by a mosquito.    She had seizures for several hours.  When she awoke, she completely forgot she had been a smoker.  She also forgot about chocolate, a far more grievous memory loss.  "Chocolate?, what's chocolate." she said.

Her brothers and sisters soon took great pleasure in reintroducing her to  wonders of chocolate.  Cigarettes, we never mentioned.

This is the first time we’ve shown anything like this, that damage to a specific brain area could remove the problem of addiction entirely,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which financed the study, along with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “It’s absolutely mind-boggling.”