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Using Hookah once is causing anxiety -- unaware of the dangers related to it.

To keep it short:

I'm a fairly healthy guy who tends to stay away from anything related to smoking, vaping, etc. However, after a night of drinking, I was given a waterpipe/Hookah to use by a peer of mine. It was my first time, and without feeling pressured, I used it a few times throughout the night. Some puffs more heavier than others. Funnily enough, you would expect someone my age and who is very cautious of drugs to be more aware of what was inside these things. What I thought was just simply flavored smoke turned out to have Nicotine and other chemicals (found out after some research from CDC and other reliable sources). I really don't know why I didn't put two-and-two together beforehand. Kind of shocked on my end about my rather poor judgement.

This has caused me some anxiety. Like I said, I consider myself a fairly healthy person who wishes to have a positive future. To have put myself in the line of addiction (as they say, it only takes "one", as studies show the close comparison between cigarettes and Hookah) with Nicotine is giving me a bit of an uncomfortable scare. I guess I am just scared of the thought of addiction as a result of unknowingly using Nicotine. I feel like my fear of addiction is justified, but to be causing rather severe/uncomfortable anxiety may be another story. Should I be this worried? Should I see someone? I really have no plans on using it in the future, or any related substance, after learning about it. Lesson learned.
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20899328 tn?1596332780
you tried it once and are afraid of addiction? i think you may have a fear of addiction itself and you should be fine. :)
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Avatar universal
The question is, do other things affect you like this on a regular basis?  You can't get addicted to anything using it once.  Don't know where you got that info.  You can't even get addicted to heroin using it once.  You can however have such a wonderful time with it you continue using it and then you get addicted, which is often confused with physiological addiction.  Many people confuse habits with addiction.  Addiction has a very limited definition; even antidepressants, which you really can't stop using without suffering withdrawal if you do it abruptly, isn't officially classified as addictive.  I don't know anyone who didn't smoke tobacco a little.  I do wonder what you thought you were smoking when you used a hookah -- it's just a big water pipe and you have to have something to smoke to have it do anything.  The big problem with hookah bars and hookah parties is that people just suck on it all night, and take in an enormous amount of nicotine, much more than smoking a cigarette.  But in your case, I assume you don't intend to smoke it again.  If you were in fact addicted, you would be sweating bullets right now with your whole system telling you something is off -- like extreme disorientation, fatigue, nausea, headaches, the shakes, and the like.  I'm addicted to benzos because doctors got me that way, and if I miss a dose I know it.  My whole system goes haywire.  So no, you're not addicted, and if this is the only thing you've ever worried about like this, learn from it and don't let stuff get to you like this the next time.  But again, if this kind of thing happens to you regularly, you have an anxiety disorder and could use some therapy.  Peace.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Well, one amendment.  The human brain is so weird there might be people who do get addicted after one use of something. Hard to imagine, but again, people are weird.  Life is weird.  But it would be incredibly rare, and again, if you know anyone who has tried to quit smoking, you know what nicotine addiction looks like.  You don't have it.
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