smoking

[a23mckee]

Are there any bipolar woman here who can help with tips on quitting smoking. My bipolar is going nuts when i try cold turkey and hubby is cornered into a wall. Without meds i am unable to control my feelings.

[persephonedemeter]

Hi, I used to smoke. I was highly addicted to cigarettes because I got to the point where packaged unfilters were not good enough: so in the end, I rolled my own. I also  woke up several times in the middle of the night just to get my nicotine hit. If this is not the first time you quit, then you probably know that it gets harder to quit each time after, but it's not impossible. I quit by fake "cold turkey." In other words, I committed myself to quit, but I was sneaking  a half or a bit of smoke every now and then, approximately 3 a week then less. I lied to everyone that I stopped completely at that time.I didn't really go into withdrawal, but when I finally didn't even crave a cigarette, and really stopped completely, I actually dreamed  I was sneaking a smoke, and when I woke up, I felt guilty about it. I haven't smoked  for years now or had a smoking dream. Like all ex-smokers, cigarette smoke really bothers me now. As a teasing joke for me, I do keep an unopen pack of "emergency pack of French cigarettes and a bottle of single malt scotch (I don't drink either now because of the depression and meds." if I am ever pinned under the weight of my house if an earthquake hit and there isn't ready help. It helps tonhave a sense of humor, even if it's dark. Also, during the quitting time, because my  will power was not great, I avoided parties, barbeques, bars, going camping, concerts, States, countries  and cafes were there was a lot of smoking going on. After a year and stricter non-smoking laws, it was easier to handle those activities and places. I didn't use patches, my doctor tried to help with Wellbutrin but it didn't work for me, and I'm the sort of person that doesn't like to be on a schedule. Some of my friends quit smoking by using the patch for a couple of weeks to get them used to not smoking. It's also not only the cigarettes that became a habit, but the action of smoking. We all missed that,so we all started to either chew gum or suck on lollipops or both, for a time.

[a23mckee]

Thanks

[Anonymouse88]

I've never smoked, but going cold turkey might be a bad idea because nicotine actually interacts with certain psych meds.  It's an interaction that needs to be studied more, since schizophrenics actually sometimes self-medicate with cigarettes.  I'm not sure we know too much about it, but it does exist with some meds, so quitting cold turkey could mess with your meds, making withdrawal even worse.  So switching to e-cigarettes might help you with the physical smoke part, but it won't change any drug interactions, and it's still bad for certain conditions and bad for developing fetuses (if you were thinking of even possibly reproducing).

You should probably ask your doctor for help doing this.  Some people take wellbutrin to help quit, so if you need an antidepressant added anyway, it might be worth a try (wellbutrin is much less likely to make you manic than other antidepressants).  

You could try cutting your cigarettes shorter bit by bit so that you feel like you're getting just as many cigarettes.  You could also get fake cigarettes to have something to do with your hands, since I know some people trying to quit are bothered by the lack of gesturing tool.  Since you don't get up all night to smoke, your body is capable of going for periods without cigarettes, so you could try to schedule specific smoke breaks throughout the day and then gradually cut down on how many of those breaks you get.  Having a displacement activity to do might help as well (those squeeze balls, or maybe drinking tea or coffee).

I hope you find something that works for you.

[Lucas888]

I quit smoking by switching to electronic cigarettes. They only have nicotine in them - no toxins and they emit water vapor when you exhale. They are less expensive than regular cigarettes too. It takes a little time to get used to it, but I can't stand regular cigarettes now.