smoking

[anxious elephant999]

I know this is going to sound really hypocritical but i suffer from health anxiety yet i smoke not many maybe 8-10 a day and ive just heard that smoking reduces your seratonin levels and can make your ADs less effective , does anyone know if this is true or not :ohmy:

[amandaj]

im not sure if its true or not ,but same as you i suffer with ha and smoke like a trooper lately ,ironinc isnt it we worry about our health but we puff away

[PanicOver!!]

Im sure the nicotine is not helping
It is a stimulant and will increase anxiety although i do know how you feel i gave up about 4 years ago because i had HA

So i know how tough it is to quit

Best wishes

Marc

[luke1982]

I was told by my doctor that if smoking gives me even temp release of anxiety to keep on doing it until im ready to give up

[PanicOver!!]

You need to do whatever works for you

Good luck

[mumof4]

i smoke to much and im always worrying about my health i thinks its funny how we stress over things like cancer and heart attacks and yet we smoke which can cause those.

[PanicOver!!]

As i said

I quit smoking and i still worry about those things

Marc

[Cococj]

My doctor has just given me some patches, well I say just he did it 3 weeks ago. I'd wanted to quit for several years but my last attempt precipitated a period of depression and since then due to my anxiety my doctor has told me not to quit until the anxiety has been dealt with.

I can see his logic but I'm finally ready to start quitting again, the date is set, my resolve is strong. If nothing else it's going to reduce those panic attacks I get from my first cigarette of the day. Ironically as I said to my CBT counsellor, I think it's odd I call something a panic attack yet when I started I'd have called it a head rush :P

On topic: I've not heard these claims, but I'm no expert. Nicotine can increase and decrease the effectiveness of some medicines but I've not seen anything to suggest it affects underlying serotonin levels, but hey I can see how it might.

Anyway good luck to those who have quit, want to quit etc

[luke1982]

I tried to quit with patches too didnt work for me they gave me a dead arm type feeling and itchyness tried the anti smoking pill zyban but has some pretty horrendous side effects including extreme anxiety so that didnt work for me either.

[Gazman]

quit today... Killing me, had a bad day today too :(

[suzy-sue]

I know this is going to sound really hypocritical but i suffer from health anxiety yet i smoke not many maybe 8-10 a day and ive just heard that smoking reduces your seratonin levels and can make your ADs less effective , does anyone know if this is true or not :ohmy:

Well I smoke too :blush: but wish I didnt .They do help me with regard to stress .Im on 40mg of citalopram and it works for me .Perhaps if I packed up I wouldnt need to take so much ?? If I do manage it ,Ill let you know about the dose .Thats very interesting . I wonder if anyone on here has been on an ssri who smoked the first time and didnt the second ,and what difference it made ?:shrug: .. Sue

[sandy35]

I also smoke 8 to 10 cigarettes a day and suffer from health anxiety! I don't know if smoking will affect your ads but i can tell you that excess drinking can lol!

[luke1982]

Its sad I cant imagine my day without my hourly smoke breaks its quite pathetic when i think about it but it does in my opinion help with my anxiety

[anxious elephant999]

Hi sandy i dont drink anymore i darnt in case it makes me feel even crapper than i do now :huh:

[sandy35]

Hi ya i used to drink to excess on a night out but i used to find that i was really ill the next day due to my medication. I now only have one or two drinks when i go out now as that does not affect me or sometimes i don't bother drinking when i go out.

[joshuaainsworth]

I quit six weeks ago which probably hasn't helped with my anxiety, but if you have health anxiety I'd say it's the single best thing you can do for your health, for example even though I'm still worried about my breathing, my sense of smell and taste have increased, my skin looks and feels better, my hair looks and feels better, my clothes and my flat don't smell and my cough has gone.

Not to mention the money I've saved in 6 weeks!

[Rosali]

I am a smoker as well and I know how highly beneficial it owuld be to stop. But hey, I live in a country where it is the national pass time.xx

[Panic33]

I started smoking again when I first started with anxiety - I really dont' know if the smoke is making me worse or calming me. I'm now smoking more than I ever did.

[KK77]

Ever since l've been on meds l've smoked more than ever! Has anyone else found this? Before l was depressed l only smoked when l went out drinking or clubbing but now l seem to want to chain smoke (although l don't!). And yeh, l've also read that smoking reduces the effect of ADs...