anxiety and nicotine

hi folks

hope you are all ok i am writing this message to ask if anyone can shed some light on nicotine and anxiety.i have had anxiety for the best part of 14 on and off i am on citalopram at the moment 20mg and i am having a flare up of anxiety (again!!!!!).the question i want to ask is that i have been quit smoking for 3 months now and i have been taking niquitin cq lozenges 4mg like sweets basically,because i smoked so heavy ive been consuming 15 to 20 a day the reccomended dose is 9.before i started these my anx was ok but this is the third time i have quit smoking now and this has happened.on each occasion i have quit smoking my anxiety has gotten bad around the 10-12 weeks of quitting.also i notice also that i didnt start smoking till i was 18 i am 30 now and i didnt really get bad symptoms of anxiety until about 19 and ive had it ever since.i know this has been mentioned before how nicotine is no good for anxiety i just wonder if i should stop the nicotine lozenges so i have no nicotine in my system whatsoever would it helps my anx any.

thankyou

wigglywoo:)

I can't comment from a smokers point of view, but generally, coming of any dependent drug will cause withdrawral symptoms and it's common knowledge Nicotine is addictive.

Also from a factual, and not preaching, point of view think of all the chemicals in tobacco smoke. The smoke stops your lungs from getting the maximum amount of oxygen into your bloodstream, you will have all manner of toxic substances in your bloodstream, is it any wonder therefore that, if your body is sensitive to small changes (which you didn't know before you smoked) that you're likely to have an increase in your anxiety when you started smoking.

Are you getting help from your GP to stop smoking? If not go and see him/her. And no I wouldn't take more than the stated dose of the lozengers. To be honest you're probably getting more nicotine in you than if you were smoking at that rate!!!

Do you drink a lot of "normal" coffee? The caffiene in that is a stimulant which can also make you anxious.

Come off the fags with supoprt.

Hope you are succesful

quitting smoking is well known to produce symptoms of anxiety but by the same token, I ended up quitting because i became anxious every time i took a drag, but then became anxious later as i needed my fix but couldn't have it!

shakeys right, come off with support.

I have quit lately and anxiety will increase because of drug withdrawal but in general see a reduction in everyday anxiety. Remember you have taken away one of your coping mechanism for anxiety when you quit and anxiety will increase unless you replace smoking as a way of dealing with lifes pressures with something more healthier. I quit ct but also find support in quitnet an online quit smoking group.
Well done on quitting.