Posted by zonked on August 30, 2011, at 20:38:38
I know, in some ways, it may seem stupid that I quit smoking several days after I started to feel MUCH more like myself....only to start the patches and to feel symptoms again.
But as I said in my last post - the guilt associated with paying $6-7 a pack every day while on disability (I am slowly working with the government and part of two coordinated return to work programs) is just too much. I was spending more on cigarettes than food.
Today, I was cranky, inattentive, short-tempered, anxious, and a bit depressed - all things smokers with no mental health history can feel while quitting, even while on NRT or Wellbutrin or Chantix...
I took an extra Xanax and as soon as it kicked in, the symptoms had abated. I am a bit sleepy, but feel more like myself.
SLS, linkadge, jono, and others - if you are reading this - I would like your opinion as to what, if anything, you think about this, and if I am endangering my recent recovery by quitting. I am strong enough to go through the cigarette withdrawals, because I know they are temporary (unlike depression and anxiety, there's a somewhat predictable course!)
I just hope that, as the nicotine withdrawal abates, the feeling I had after adding testosterone returns.
Anybody an ex smoker in here? Just curious. Supposedly, ~50% of "mentally ill" smoke. I started in college, due to exam pressure, about ten years ago. What a mistake. I was on Klonopin at the time and didn't know that all I needed was probably a replacement of that with Xanax. :-)
-z
poster:zonked
thread:995310
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110822/msgs/995310.html