Smokers

Who smokes here? Has anyone quit while in recovery. The best I've ever felt was when I was in the psych ward 3 times.

I quit last January while it was dealing with withdrawal but did not know that was what I was dealing with. I was having breathing problems and thought it was from my cigarettes. I quit cold turkey.

I was addicted to nicotine gum for a year after using it to stop chewing tobacco. I switched to the patch to get off of the gums. I don’t recommend quitting nicotine if you are in a bad state. It really threw me off. Worsening sleep, night sweats, anxiety, tons and tons of anger, etc. It was horrible. I hate to say keep smoking, but I would if you’re not in a good spot.

The weird thing is I felt way better in the psych ward when I wasn't smoking. As soon as I got out and started smoking again is when things went to shit.

Smoking messed me up in withdrawal. I had to quit.

Jack - were you a regular smoker ? How did you quit

I smoked for many years. I quit about 15 years ago. About 2 years ago I fell off the wagon if you will and started smoking again. Not as bad as the first time around as I used to have a 2-3 pack a day habit. This time I was able to keep it at a pack a day for the two years that I was smoking. When I quite years ago it was tough and took me multiple tries before it stuck. This time I hate to say was easy because I had no choice. The withdrawal messed me up bad. Every time I started to smoke a cigarette and the nicotine started to flow it just sent me into a state of panic. At first I just smoked less. Then I couldn’t make it through entire cigarettes. It got so bad that even one drag would cause my heart to start pounding and I would get extremely dizzy. If I tried to push through I would actually start to have difficulty standing and start to pass out. It was terrible. It would kind of be like if someone electrocuted you every time you tried to smoke. It wouldn’t take long to quit. Lol. So this time I had no choice. I actually physically could not smoke. I probably could at this point but I already got away from them things twice. I might as well stay away now.

I smoked on and off for about 19 years. But I had some periods of abstinence for years so there are some big gaps of time I didn't smoke. I first started getting negative effects from smoking cigarettes during my first opiate WD. It was really the first time in my life when I felt gross smoking a cigarette. During benzo WD I experienced issues. It really just made the benzo WD sxs way worse for me, especially the headaches while tapering. It was still a big struggle to quit during benzo WD because you are really limited during this period. I would quit for some weeks only to relapse during a period of stress. What you really need is a substitute. I would look into patches, the gum, spray, or lozenges. Wean yourself off nicotine because the WD is somewhat challenging depending on your dependency toward nicotine. It will help your symptoms while tapering and healing from benzos though. I have to say, it is probably easier if you quit before in the past. If this is your first time quitting cigarettes your entire life and you've been doing it for years it may be difficult to quit right now. If you are really serious about quitting for good, there is nicotinesque alkaloid called cytisine. It works as well as Chantix but without the side effects. They sell it over the counter in Eastern European countries, in a medication called Tabex. This stuff is powerful though, just like nicotine which is why it works so well for quitting. It is easier to taper off nicotine replacement and has less side effects, it isn't necessary to quit though, it was just my go to nicotine wd supplement during benzo wd. I would get way less benzo headaches while using it.

Read a study the other day of valium half life in smokers vs non smokers.

 

The half life was reduced I think by like 40 percent in people who smoked, so not surprised you felt worse.

Doesn’t Ashton say not to quit nicotine during wd?

Doesn’t Ashton say not to quit nicotine during wd?

 

Probably, I would imagine it would be additional stress on the body. Double edged sword for sure though.

Doesn’t Ashton say not to quit nicotine during wd?

 

Probably, I would imagine it would be additional stress on the body. Double edged sword for sure though.

 

Yea, it threw me off really bad. Made my wd way worse for a while.

Nicotine has complex relationships with gaba and glutamate. There’s actually a study in monkeys showing smokers va non smokers withdrawing from alcohol, don’t remember the exact results by it was interesting.

 

I’ve used nicotine lozenges for a decade self medicating for adhd and knowing smoking will kill you. I am tapering off now, I’m down about 60%, 40% to go. It’s really child’s play compared to the last year and a half of suffering.

Nicotine has complex relationships with gaba and glutamate. There’s actually a study in monkeys showing smokers va non smokers withdrawing from alcohol, don’t remember the exact results by it was interesting.

 

I’ve used nicotine lozenges for a decade self medicating for adhd and knowing smoking will kill you. I am tapering off now, I’m down about 60%, 40% to go. It’s really child’s play compared to the last year and a half of suffering.

 

Interesting. I did the gym for a long time. Very hard to quit because it was so easy just to chew another piece. I switched to the patch and chewed regular gum. Stepped down with the patch. It really sucked. Sleep was destroyed. But I’m glad nicotine is out of my system. My blood pressure is now perfect and it was always borderline high.

Nicotine has complex relationships with gaba and glutamate. There’s actually a study in monkeys showing smokers va non smokers withdrawing from alcohol, don’t remember the exact results by it was interesting.

 

I’ve used nicotine lozenges for a decade self medicating for adhd and knowing smoking will kill you. I am tapering off now, I’m down about 60%, 40% to go. It’s really child’s play compared to the last year and a half of suffering.

 

Interesting. I did the gym for a long time. Very hard to quit because it was so easy just to chew another piece. I switched to the patch and chewed regular gum. Stepped down with the patch. It really sucked. Sleep was destroyed. But I’m glad nicotine is out of my system. My blood pressure is now perfect and it was always borderline high.

 

I’m actually doing the same technique, using the patch and doing regular mints. My usage was really high, like 50-60mg a day, that’s like 2-3 packs of cigarettes. So I’ve gradually increased regular mints while decreasing nicotine mint lozenges, while wearing the patch. I’m on my last tube of nicotine mints, then it will be just the patch for a few weeks. Will be nice to get that extra money in my pocket. Besides irritability and an even worse time concentrating, I’m generally feeling better symptom wise coming off it.  I think it may worsen stuff initially but after is better for the long run. It’s just like benzos, after a few weeks of starting any kick you got from it is gone and really you’re just dosing to keep withdrawal symptoms at bay without knowing it.

I was worried to quit mid taper because of the stress on my body, but once I finally made the decision to quit it actually wasn't that hard, especially because it drastically reduced my anxiety which was a welcome surprise!  I had been off nicotine all together for about 5 months and then I started vaping.. not sure why... but I did that for almost 2 years, I just quit that about a month ago and I feel SO much better!! I  have my appetite back finally after several years of it being gone and I have gained back the weight that I lost during acute w/d. So glad I quit!! The thing that helped me the most was reading Alan Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking. I also downloaded Smoke Free app, and joined the Stop Smoking subreddit. If you are thinking of quitting I would say do it!

I'm attempting that right now. I find that the wd causes my nerves to be hypersensitive. Smoking causes me to feel it more and I feel like I have a respiratory infection. If I take a little benzo I see it's only the wd. However, I figure if it'll make me feel better not to smoke, and it's more healthy....then why not.