Stopping smoking to end anxiety

[Jen3535]

Hi All,

I have just come home from Stop smoking clinic. I am hoping it will stop my anxiety. I start my Lozenges tomorrow morning. So fingers crossed i can do it.

I have no willpower at all....so i have 2 be strong

[Obelysk]

Stay strong I know that it will be hard but this will make you a much better and stronger person. :)

[Carla]

Hi Jen!
Dont tell yourself that you have no willpower - you do. You have made steps to get counselling and have also gone to the stop smoking clinic. You are taking steps to deal with the anxiety and the smoking, so that is willpower & strength to want deal with those issues. I know it is really hard to give up smoking, and you will probably have setbacks, but even when you do never give up trying. I used to smoke, but finally gave up when I became unwell with anxiety, because I found it made my anxiety worse, like alcohol does. After I had a cigarette, or a drink, it intensified my anxious symptoms afterwards. This happened every time so it wasnt a coincidence. I will do anything to help ease anxiety, so I gave up smoking and drinking, and that was back in April. I still crave but I let the feeling come, let them wash over me and then let it go, pretty much like how I deal with anxiety attacks. It does lessen with time. I wish you all the best in giving up. I think you are doing really well and show strength of character in tackling both issues and for seeking out the help and suppport to help overcome them!

[Jen3535]

Thanks guys

Hey it just goes 2 show, smoking is one of the main stresses of my anxiety, by 5pm everynight, i am climbing the walls stressing about my breathing, constant air hunger, but today, no cigs and feel rather relaxed.

lets hope i can keep fighting the cravings... Gum and lozenges i am tryin make me feel sick, so i am tryin cold turkey now. So far so good

Jen
x

[Jen3535]

its day 5 no ciggys, and i feel gr8, no panic attacks in days, i feel so relaxed

[ken_sk_ca]

its day 5 no ciggys, and i feel gr8, no panic attacks in days, i feel so relaxed

Awesome job Jen!

Quitting is hard to do, but so rewarding! I was nicotene free for two years. Made a mistake and got back on the wagon but am going to be quitting again soon. Keep it up.

[dizzydaisy]

congrats on giving up! I'm also in the process of giving up. My tactic was to not give up lol... I knew i really badly wanted 2 for health reasons/anxiety etc, but if I told myself i was 'giving up' and forbid myself from having one it was all I could think about! So anyway I kept them in my bag & thought i'll have one if i want one, i'm not going to stop myself if i want to have one, but i'll see how i go... anyway its been about 4 days now with no cigarettes! I think as soon as u ban something u want it even more lol. thats just what worked for me though. x

[BOBILLBAJO]

its day 5 no ciggys, and i feel gr8, no panic attacks in days, i feel so relaxed


How you doin so far?

[rellado]

I too suffer from anxiety. It has been about 1 month now and it started when I became sick with a cold and went on cold meds. During the same time I hurt my back and went on anti-inflamitories. The combination of the 2 caused major acid reflux. I started having anxiety thinking I was dying of something.

Since then I have been put on Prevacid for the acid reflux. The last 2 weeks I was out of town on vacation. I did not have any problems with acid or anxiety at all. As soon as I touched ground back home the anxiety and acid problems started once again.

I too am a smoker and intend to quit this week as I have noticed that this has added to the effects of anxiety. I want to quit cold turkey as well...any helping hints on how to achieve my goal and start leading a healthy life once again?

[noonanjs]

I am also trying to quit my smoking but it's social. So its hard. I can not have a cig all week but have one beer and really be craving one. I also find that being around people who smoke, the smell can make me anxious. I am two days off smoking. fingers crossed
jackie

[xrumer]

I'm a bad hypochondriac I stopped smoking cold turkey because of my anxiety... smoke feel since that day 3 months ago lol So out with one bad in with another (anxiety)

[Robbed]

I want to quit cold turkey as well...

Don't get too hung up on being able to quit cold turkey. I know that there is a VERY popular belief out there that cold turkey is the ONLY way to quit. But I have seen more than a few people who just cannot quit smoking because of this stupid belief that it is 'cold turkey or nothing'. They set a quit date, and stay smoke-free for maybe a few days before relapsing. And this tends to happen over and over again, as these poor folks fail repeatedly. This is particularly true when it comes to REALLY heavy smokers who have a VERY strong addiction to tobacco. So don't feel bad if you find that you have to taper in order to quit. Nobody expects someone to come off of SSRIs or benzos cold turkey. So why should you be expected to go from a pack and a half a day (or more) to nothing instantaneouly? Remember that the goal here is to quit smoking permanently. NOT to quit in record time.

Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't even try to quit cold turkey. If you can, then GREAT! But if you can't, then don't think that you are hopeless OR that you have to keep trying time and time again. If one method of quitting just doesn't seem to work, then try something different.