Stopped Smoking..now anxiety?

[marshmallow]

Hey everyone,
I'm jstu very listless lately...maybe depressed but don't know for sure I've only ever had anxiety.
I stopped smoking 3 weeks ago and all I do now is sleep. It's gotten a bit better this week, but I feel like everything is moving in slow motion and my day is taking forever to be over with, all I want is for the day to be over so that I an go to sleep.
Sure, there are times I get a real craving for a cigarette but the rest of the day I don't have cravings, I just have this sense that nothing is fun, nothing has any purpose or value and I jsut want to close my eyes and get away from it all .

I do have anxiety disorder but have not had any panic attacks since I quit smoking. The anxiety is not here right now, just a sense of uselessness about everything, that's why I wonder if it's depression instead.
But can quitting smoking activate a dperession????
any thoughts??

[misskld]

i hope all gets better and congrats on quitting smoking, I am a smoker also even though most of the time it makes the anxiety worse I feel I cant quit till all the anxiety just goes away.  take care!

[BabaluandOtis2]

Nicotine is a stimulant, it affects many areas of your body, raises blood pressure, heart rate and also directly affects brain chemicals, there are reports that nicotine raises levels of dopamine.....your pleasure/reward/happy chemical. it also affects other transmitters/receptors in the brain, which affect hormones, etc... which then affect many other things...
Quitting, which is a very good thing (I congratulate you, I wish I could) can cause depression, mood swings, affect appetite, and all that wonderful stuff. You get withdrawals just like quitting many other types of drugs.
But, soon your body will adjust and you will feel soooooo much better, you will breath better, taste better, smell better, lol.... that sounds strange....I mean you will be able to taste things better, smell things better, etc..
Smoking also can increase anxiety, as it is a stimulant and affects so many things as said above, so maybe that is why your anxiety has been better.

You should really google how nicotine affects the brain.

I know people here say googling when you have anxiety is a very bad thing. But for me, googling my butt off helped me tremendously w/ understanding my anxiety and the different meds used for it.

It's not THAT you google, it's WHAT you google that matters....LOL....googling symptoms of any given disease/illness = not good, googling to learn about anxiety, it's triggers, symptoms etc.. or the side effects and interactions of meds you're prescribed or thinking about taking, etc.. is good. Knowledge is power......or something like that....
So maybe looking this up will help you with knowing what to expect and so on and also you might find some natural supplements/vitamins and diet changes that can help you through this.

Good Luck and take care ; )