Posted by Jack Boyd (205.188.197.34) on August 20, 1999 at 18:22:31:
In Reply to: Smoking/Drinking posted by todd on August 20, 1999 at 17:44:22:
If we as a group are to maintain crediblity we need to be as objective as Todd has just been. When the medical people say that we tend to smoke and drink a little bit more than the average bear - they have a point.
Is it a principal cause of clusters - probably not.
Does it make clusters worse - maybe.
Could smoking and drinking be an attempt by people lke us to self-medicate because our serotinin or some other nuerotransmitter is not quite right - maybe.
Could it be, as Todd suggests, simply conincidental - maybe ( but I think not )
Will giving up smoking and drinking cure you of clusters - definitely not.
But we can not deny that we tend to smoke and drink at a significantly higher rate then the general population.
I applaud Todd for his objectivity and reasoning and his willingness to present this issue again which for some reason has raised the ire of some individuals. This is not an attack on smokers and drinkers, nor is it some cheap attempt to find cause in a lifestyle choice.
The reason that smoking and drinking continues to surface in discussions about clusters is because we do more than our share.