Anxiety and smoking like crazy

[Jill Rs]

Hi all, I have health anxiety, not as bad as I used to have it. I don't freak out every time I have a muscle twitch or get heart palpitations and think i will certainly be dead any moment. Overall, my health is good but, I just smoke like crazy some days. I hate smoking and before I started to have panic and this health anxiety I could go years without smoking. I don;t understand that whilst i have health anxiety i could let myself smoke, yes I realize I am addicted but it never stopped me from quitting before. Each time I smoke I get anxious and physical symptoms arise. It gives me zero relief, just added anxiety. I'm not sure what I am asking, maybe does anyone else have this problem? I really cannot stop smoking and it's got me completely scared, it's so unhealthy. I recently had an appendectomy and was thrilled because I thought for sure this would be it, I'd be done with smoking. I was great for a week and really happy about not smoking, not even a problem...until I had a small complication and had to go back to the hospital to get a small procedure done. That was it, I am totally back on the smokes with no sign of stopping. Anyone???

[Im-Suffering]

None of the above was related to smoking. Should you 'get' a disease that is associated with smoke then that itself could scare you straight. However, with smoking, moderation is important, say 8 a day and not 'smoking like crazy' which is a fearful thought in itself.

Come from reason, rather than fear, in your thinking.

[NixonRulz]

Hi all, I have health anxiety, not as bad as I used to have it. I don't freak out every time I have a muscle twitch or get heart palpitations and think i will certainly be dead any moment. Overall, my health is good but, I just smoke like crazy some days. I hate smoking and before I started to have panic and this health anxiety I could go years without smoking. I don;t understand that whilst i have health anxiety i could let myself smoke, yes I realize I am addicted but it never stopped me from quitting before. Each time I smoke I get anxious and physical symptoms arise. It gives me zero relief, just added anxiety. I'm not sure what I am asking, maybe does anyone else have this problem? I really cannot stop smoking and it's got me completely scared, it's so unhealthy. I recently had an appendectomy and was thrilled because I thought for sure this would be it, I'd be done with smoking. I was great for a week and really happy about not smoking, not even a problem...until I had a small complication and had to go back to the hospital to get a small procedure done. That was it, I am totally back on the smokes with no sign of stopping. Anyone???

Ain't smoking just grand? You want to quit and I wanna smoke. Haven't done it since forever but I have a goal to start again much later in life.

You are in the vicious cycle. You smoke to feel better but by smoking, you get anxious.

The reason you are getting anxious is because you beat yourself up every time you fire one up

That stresses you and you get anxious. If you didn't care that you smoked, you would never get anxious from it

Have you went the E-Cig route? That will give you the best of both worlds

I hope you can get past the fags soon. It is a tough habit

[Im-Suffering]

The habit of exaggerating 'drama' is much more debilitating to this OP than the smokes.

When she gets a handle on one thing, something else pops up of equal 'excitement'.

Psychologically speaking, whether one walks a tightrope, jumps from planes, leaps cliffs, or smokes like crazy, the adrenaline from these daredevil acts is the same. With the motive to push life to the limits.

For the OP the reason for the problems is in the beliefs.

"I think I will certainly be dead at any moment". In her very own words are the beliefs that need examining.

[sae]

I have struggled with these damned cigarettes for a while too. I can quit for about a week, but nixing it out of my everyday routine induces a sort of panic that reduces me to a quivering mass of uselessness.
I have an emotional component mixed in to my habit. I had quit for a few years, lit up at the funeral of a loved one and have connotated the action to relief ever since.
Scheduling is working okay for me. I am down to just 3 a day. One a couple hours after I wake up, one after dinner and one after night time meds. I was anxious, obsessive over my next cigarette for weeks, but eventually I fell into the routine and it seems to be alot easier to manage.
When stress arises I walk, usually just up and down my hallway as the heat and i just don't get along, until the anxiety passes. Eventually I will work my way down to just two, then one, then none. This was the same method my mother, a 53 year, 3 Pack a day smoker, used to quit altogether, except she didn't walk. instead she went to the overgrown spot of her pasture and whacked at shrubs with a hatchet. She has not only quit smoking but cleared out nearly half an acre of brush with nothing but her frustration and a hatchet.
Hopefully this helps :)

[Kuma]

My mother is slowly dying from lung cancer. It is not pretty. I have seen a few others die of lung cancer too.

Quitting smoking is hard. But it is very important.

About 90% of lung cancers are related to smoking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. And of course, smoking materially increases your risk of other diseases, such as heart disease, other cancers, and emphysema.

Plainly stated, if you do not quit smoking, you are materially increasing your risk of a painful and premature death. This is not something that only happens to other people. It can happen to you.

I am totally in favor of people having a right to smoke. No question about it. I am also in favor of a right to suicide by other methods. So I support fully your (anyone's) right to smoke. But I urge you to consider quitting.

[Silhouette]

I've also been a smoker for a while. I quit for about 6 months without a single cigarette last year (after the doctors thought I had a blood clot, which turned out not to be the case at all). Then I started my honours year at uni this year and within two weeks I'd started again. Do you have specific things that make you want to smoke? For me I have triggers like driving, being with certain friends, drinking and of course stress.

Have you tried any quitting aids? I haven't used them myself, but I know a lot of people who've said that the patches or gum have really helped them to cut down, and you may not feel as much anxiety from them (though they still give you a nicotine hit which will increase your heart rate). Another thing they prescribe here in Australian is Bupropion (Zyban here, Wellbutrin in the US and UK I think). It's prescribed as an anti-depressant in the US, but in Australia it's only subsidised as an aid to quitting smoking. Maybe talk to your doctor about some options?

[Jill Rs]

Wow!! Thanks to all who replied. I'm taking all of your replies in.

I'm Suffering, thank you for your wisdom.