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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by zonked on August 30, 2011, at 20:38:38
I know, in some ways, it may seem stupid that I quit smoking several days after I started to feel MUCH more like myself....only to start the patches and to feel symptoms again.
But as I said in my last post - the guilt associated with paying $6-7 a pack every day while on disability (I am slowly working with the government and part of two coordinated return to work programs) is just too much. I was spending more on cigarettes than food.
Today, I was cranky, inattentive, short-tempered, anxious, and a bit depressed - all things smokers with no mental health history can feel while quitting, even while on NRT or Wellbutrin or Chantix...
I took an extra Xanax and as soon as it kicked in, the symptoms had abated. I am a bit sleepy, but feel more like myself.
SLS, linkadge, jono, and others - if you are reading this - I would like your opinion as to what, if anything, you think about this, and if I am endangering my recent recovery by quitting. I am strong enough to go through the cigarette withdrawals, because I know they are temporary (unlike depression and anxiety, there's a somewhat predictable course!)
I just hope that, as the nicotine withdrawal abates, the feeling I had after adding testosterone returns.
Anybody an ex smoker in here? Just curious. Supposedly, ~50% of "mentally ill" smoke. I started in college, due to exam pressure, about ten years ago. What a mistake. I was on Klonopin at the time and didn't know that all I needed was probably a replacement of that with Xanax. :-)
-z
Posted by floatingbridge on August 31, 2011, at 3:48:30
In reply to Any1 have thoughts on my timing of nicotine wx?, posted by zonked on August 30, 2011, at 20:38:38
I thought nicotine effected maoi inhibition. Source, wiki :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
Posted by bleauberry on August 31, 2011, at 4:47:56
In reply to Any1 have thoughts on my timing of nicotine wx?, posted by zonked on August 30, 2011, at 20:38:38
Nicotine has been shown in recent research to be a beneficial substance for brain health...parkinson's, alzheimers and depression. Obviously smoke is not the favored method of delivery.
My opinion is that nicotine alone does not account for all of the psychiatric effects of cigarettes. The smoke itself has maoi properties and likely other mechanisms distinct from nicotine itself. I remember last time I tried to quit I went on the gum. Even though I was getting as much or more nicotine as I was accustomed to, the deepest darkest place came to me anyway. As soon as I started smoking again, the dark eased away. It was a rapid fall into deep depression, and a rapid rise back up out of it, based on the smoke not the nicotine. That was the first time I thought, hmmm, there's something else going on here besides just nicotine.
Too bad they passed the PACT act. It made internet purchase of cigarettes illegal. Up until this year I got them from an Indian reservation in the US for $2.50 a pack mailorder and they were good cigarettes. At the store they are $7+. What is really bad is most of that price are layers of taxes.
Anyway, for sure, nicotine has psychiatric benefits sometimes beneficial, but figuring out how to dose it is the hard part.
Posted by Phillipa on August 31, 2011, at 10:58:33
In reply to Re: Any1 have thoughts on my timing of nicotine wx?, posted by bleauberry on August 31, 2011, at 4:47:56
I wouldn't stop maybe cut down during this time. Not good too many changes during a good or bad time. Phillipa
Posted by zonked on September 1, 2011, at 11:02:59
In reply to Re: Any1 have thoughts on my timing of nicotine wx?, posted by bleauberry on August 31, 2011, at 4:47:56
Monday I was a mess.
Today I'm okay again - and I learned to distinguish "cravings" from "withdrawals" but only because the latter has diminished today. They were pretty awful and overlapping.
After I woke up and took my meds, so far today I've only had "cravings". Now I know what they mean when they say cravings have a time limit to them - intense bits of wanting that go away.
Withdrawal was constant for me and not unlike my depressions. I am doing much better since adding AndroGel.. although I got a nasty letter from my insurance company that they'd only cover it once (!) unless my doctor files an exception.
They said they would cover Testim, which the pharmacist says is equivalent.
-z
This is the end of the thread.
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