Posted by uncouth on December 31, 2011, at 11:57:58
Hi all,
I am doing a project on smoking and I wanted to hear from people on this board. Most of us have extensive experience with psych meds, supplements, etc. ANd I'm guessing given smoking's comorbidity, a lot of us smoke now or in the past.
I had an odd experience last year when a supplement combination I took (at high doses, which eventually caused hypomania and dependence...long story) dramatically and SPONTANEOUSLY decreased my smoking substantially, from close to 20 cigarettes a day before, to a few weeks later, 5-7 cigarettes a day. It was like the craving went away, or the dysphoria from withdrawal went away, and what was left was simply the "habit", and I felt that I could have stopped if I wanted to at that level of smoking.
Only thing is I was pretty hopped up on stimulants at the time, but this effect lasted for months and while I switched my psych meds numerous times, so I'm pretty sure it was the supplement(s) I was taking. I am doing some extensive research and I haven't found anything showing that stimulants are in general associated with a decrease in smoking, if anything, they are associated with increased smoking, as is general psychiatric instability.
So anyway I am trying now to get to the bottom of my experience and would love to hear from people:
1. Have you ever experienced a spontaneous (i.e. you weren't trying to quit) decrease in your smoking as a result of a medication or supplement? What were you taking, how large was the decrease?
2. If you quit, or have tried to quit in the past, or whatever, what worked and what didn't work? In my experience bupropion didn't help me quit, and nicotine patches didn't substantially help either.
3. If you're still smoking, why? Is it motivation to quit, is it withdrawal, is there something about smoking that you are deeply attached to, does it affect you positively in other ways?
Anything else you care to share would help me as I'm doing my research. It is remarkable how little alternative treatments for tobacco addiction have been researched...
Uncouth
poster:uncouth
thread:1006014
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111226/msgs/1006014.html