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this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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My friend, it seems like your anxiety is nicotine withdrawal. That explains why smoking makes your anxiety go away; you're getting another hit of nicotine to ease off the withdrawal.
Vaping isn't harmless. Especially since you're 18, it will inhibit your brain development and the chemicals in the vape are chronically toxic. Nicotine is extremely addictive. Many people get addicted after just a few goes.
Seems like you're already figured this out, but that doesn't really mean anything. People start drinking alcohol (a depressant) because they're depressed.
Signed, a previously anxious pothead.
I don't think a substance being a depressant necessarily says anything about its effect on actual depression, but otherwise I agree with your sentiment.
What do you mean... It's literally how it works? Alcohol suppresses your neurotransmitters from firing at a regular rate. Thus causing depression. How it effects your gaba receptors I believe is what causes the i-can-do-anything happy effect.
For me if I stay drinking I keep the energy and false happiness but that wears off faster than the affect it has on neurotransmitters.
I'm more normal and function when I drink and it gives me energy because usually my anxiety or BPD is so draining I assume. I pass as a normal person lol. But shortly after stopping the depression is felt.
...iirc... Just what I gathered from psychology class and personal life.
No, you’re conflating two different concepts that share the term. Alcohol directly causes central nervous system depression, which is distinct from depressive disorder (aka depression) - the neurological condition. Regular alcohol use/abuse can lead to depressive disorder, but in an indirect way. CNS depressants (alcohol) actually increase GABA neurotransmitter activity, which slows brain activity. This effect on your nervous system has no known direct link to depressive disorder.
I'm not aware of the supression of neurotransmission directly resulting in depression. I know alcohol does worsen depression, but I don't think that's a result of it being a depressant.
Here's an article that seems to agree with me.
Oh hey I've gone through all three. Alcohol sucks. Weed kinda sucks too unless you smoke a lot all day. Small edible doses are where it's at for casual occasional use.
Even Terrence McKenna said weed should only be smoked once a week.
I also remember reading when I was younger that if you're eyes get RED then your abusing it.
What if your eyes don't turn red anymore? That's a thing. I can be high as balls and nobody would know until I open my stupid stoner mouth.
Yeah that happens too.
What are you using to combat anxiety now if not pot? Weed mostly helps me with anxiety but then other times it really doesn't lol
I'm probably gonna sound super snobby here so apologies in advance, but I'm not really "using" anything. I was in a bad spot mentally for various reasons (extremely toxic relationship for one) and was smoking weed as a bandaid to deal with everything, but it was at a point where I was consuming copious amounts of concentrated weed 24/7 and acting like a total burnout just to try to feel normal. Once I was able to start getting my shit figured out and began dealing with things in a healthier way, I didn't need to smoke anymore.
I should say that I do still smoke weed daily, probably more than I should, but I don't feel agitated or anxious when I can't go a few hours/ most of the day without lighting up like I used to. I also know it doesn't actually help with anxiety and just having that knowledge in the back of my mind helped me stop using it like it did.
TL,DR; "it's all in your head bro, just feel better" /s
Nicotine is terrible for anxiety, it's a stimulant not an anxiolitic. I have anxiety and started smoking when I was 16, not because of anxiety but because I'm an idiot. Don't do it. Vapes are healthier than cigarettes, if you're already a smoker. Don't start vaping if you weren't previously addicted to nicotine, it's not good for you. Nicotine isn't good for you. And it's not going to help your anxiety. Quit while you can before you're stuck with a habit that's nearly impossible to kick
Nicotine could have caused my anxiety when I think about it now.
Maybe there was some base level of anxiety I just had but the constant withdrawals cannot be good
This is exactly my response of some years back. The difference is, I was lying to myself and doing such an amazing job of it that I couldn’t see it. It prevented me from even exploring the questions at hand beyond “oh, other people are wrong”.
Quitting sucks. It is literal hell. But it is so much better for a person to do now and benefit from sooner and for longer than it is for a person that does it next year.
Medication by another means is still medication friend. And if therapy is not your jam but you're open to medicating via doctor-prescribed anxiety medication, you can always set an appointment with a gp. I can tell you from personal experience that self-medicating with nicotine and perhaps other substances will only mask the anxiety. To truly deal with it you've got to take it head on. For me medication and therapy made a world of difference, but everyone's path is different. Wishing you luck!
Therapy is expensive, but in the long run it is going to be much much cheaper than relying on vape, pot, alcohol to handle daily life. And all of those increase reliance on them because you don't build coping skills.
Smoking, whether electronic cigarettes or tobacco, is never going to be only your problem. When you suffer these negative health effects, you become a burden on society. Not only is a sick person less economically productive, but they expend public resources in the form of additional healthcare expenditure (even in countries without universal healthcare, it is still highly Government-subsidised), increasing the likelihood of needing welfare, increasing the burden on already-strained public welfare programmes, and it,, of course will damage your interpersonal relationships too.
Addiction is progressive. It happens with tobacco too. Over time, the same amount of vape fluid will no longer "do the trick". People who smoke tobacco will smoke larger and larger amounts for it as their body builds a tolerance to nicotine. Vape users will start needing stronger and stronger doses to ward of withdrawal. I personally know people who started vaping at 16 who are now 19 and need to vape every hour or they start experiencing withdrawal. This can and likely will eventually happen to you!
I don't mean to offend, but this is destructive behaviour. You are trying to tell me that you want to continue down a spiral of addiction instead of getting the help you need.
Quitting is very hard. I'm not going to pretend that you're a bad person for not being able to quit, because you're not. But you need to force yourself against your will to help yourself. "I don't want help" is ultimately going to lead to your own demise.
You don't need to defend your thoughts to me. I'm just some random person on the Internet, and untimately, I have no control over what you do. But you do need to defend them to yourself. Don't cheat yourself out of a fulfilling, addiction-free, anxiety-free life. Plus, you'll save a lot of money on vapes over your lifetime.
0% of people who quit smoking or quit vaping regret it, but nearly 100% of those who don't quit and get even more addicted wish they could have stopped sooner.
concern for an 18 yr old’s health because you’re a fellow human = broke
stop smoking because you won’t have any economic value if you get sick = woke
It's not worth it. I used a jule for like 6 months. Definitely became dependent on it. It's helped with anxiety, focus, social ability etc... but once you stop your body and lungs feel better. It used to make me feel nauseous and I'd chain hit to make the anxiety go away. I think it may have damaged my lungs. I do have areas of my lungs hardening but it might not all be from that.
Nicotine is terrible for your brain and vaping is likely to have the same risk for lung cancer that smoking does, it just tends to cause a different kind of cancer. Anxiety, and any mental illness for that matter, is a hell of a burden to bear, but adding chemical dependence, health complications, and financial burden on top of it is not going to make anything better.
Yeee. I started smoking from anxiety and depression.
10 years later, and now im stuck with an addiction I wish I had never started. It stopped doing anything for me quite a few years back. Very occasionally, it helps settle me. But like. It's straight up not even worth it, when I can manage that lot woth literally anything else.