Smoking isn't good for anything, at least not physically. However, quitting is a very stressful thing to do and RA can be affected by stress. It's a good thing that you're using replacement products so you don't feel as tense as if you quit cold turkey, but your body is probably feeling the stress of physical withdrawal. I suspect that you might be reacting on some level to the emotional withdrawal, as well, especially if you've been smoking for a long time.

One of the reasons that smoking calms you down when you're under stress is because the act of inhaling is essentially taking deep breaths. Most of us take a time out to smoke - we go outside due to no smoking workplaces, step away from whatever we were doing that was stressing us out or we sit back in the chair to think. That means that every time you light a cigarette, you have 5-10 minutes of deep breathing while sitting or standing still in an environment away from the stress.

Having RA is stressful and being in pain is stressful. It makes you tense, emotionally and physically which increases the pain. Relaxation and deep breathing help reduce the tension and therefore the pain. If you quit again, you should probably be prepared for a couple of weeks of increased pain while your body adjusts physically. However, duplicating the experience of smoking by taking 10 minutes of quiet with deep breathing every couple of hours may help your pain levels. Come to think of it, maybe the world would be a better place if everyone took a time-out of 10 minutes with deep breathing every couple of hours. HealthCentral also has a stop smoking site that may have other tips (click here).

Good luck!

I agree wth the PP.  Smoking is not good for anything.

Best of luck.  It is very stressful to stop smoking.