Smoking for anxiety relief

[Beckybecks]

I've tried so many times in the past year to quit smoking .
I'm on day 5 at the moment of my (about) 15th quit.

I smoked a maximum of 5 a day.

I want to stop for all the obvious reasons, chiefly it's hard when you have health anxiety and the packet says This product will kill you!

The thing is though, I managed to convince my brain that a smoke could calm me down and I used the cigarettes like a bottle of tranquilisers, having one when I felt really anxious. And my mind told me they helped....

So each time I try to give up, it's not only the craving I battle with, it also feels like I've lots my medication. So my anxiety grows and grows until I go back to smoking again to relieve the anxiety.

My brother says with the little I smoked why worry, I'm causing myself more distress going through this anxiety.

I have an eCig and I joined a forum for quitters. I keep busy and I walk a lot.

Anyone else on here going through something similar?

[Fishmanpa]

There's a member "Traceypo" that recently gave up tobacco and is seeing the benefits.

Congrats of giving it another and hopefully "final" go. No need to get into it, you're doing this because you know it's the right thing to do for your health. Stay strong and keep up the good work!

Positive thoughts

[BikerMatt]

Hey:D smoking always seemed to help my anxiety, the problem was I'd smoked for nearly 30 years and had got up to nearly 50 a day. If your only smoking 5 a day although not ideal I shouldn't worry:D In January i managed to stop immediately from 50 a day using an ecig.

[Beckybecks]

Thanks. I've done 5 days on the eCig so far. It does help. I think it might be easier if I didn't have the anxiety.

[BikerMatt]

Thanks. I've done 5 days on the eCig so far. It does help. I think it might be easier if I didn't have the anxiety.


Nice 1:D what strength liquid are you using?

[Beckybecks]

I'm using zero nicotine because last time I smoked my eCig continuously and had an overdose of nicotine which made me very on edge and anxious.

---------- Post added at 21:03 ---------- Previous post was at 21:02 ----------

Quitting is really hard when you're anxious

---------- Post added at 21:04 ---------- Previous post was at 21:03 ----------

But smoking is really hard when you have HA 😄😄😄

[BikerMatt]

That's good your using 0% as nicotine is a stimulant.
I've got to be careful not to continuously vape.

[xBettyBoopx]

I always wondered when people said that smoking calmed them down as it is a stimulant, my mum used to say that. For me though it used to make my anxiety worse, so in a sense it was easier for me to give up although I smoked 20 a day for 37 years.

Congrats on giving up this time Becks and I hope it's the last time! You will reap the benefits I'm sure.

[Fishmanpa]

I always wondered when people said that smoking calmed them down as it is a stimulant, my mum used to say that.

100% right. The actual physical effects of smoking are far from a physiological calming effect. It increases heart rate and BP, lowers oxygen levels etc. As a former smoker, the "calming" effect was more psychological and related to getting the "fix" of nicotine.

Even with vaping, the physiological effect of the nicotine is still present unless you're using 0%.

All I know is that is was a major factor in why I got cancer. I used the same arguments to justify my destructive behavior until it caught up with me. Better to quit based on your own decision than being forced to.

Positive thoughts