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Avatar universal

Quitting smoking causes anxiety and panic attack

I actually don't have any questions but rather want to share my experience after i quit smoking.
I  actually ended up quitting because of vape.  I started vaping and loved it that i quit smoking The bad part was i vaped uncontrollably because i thought no harm done coz it has no tar only nicotine.  The result was my nicotine level went sky rocket high that one day i started having palpatations.. Was sooo scared coz it felt like i was about to collapse and have a stroke.  I went to ER and to cut along story short everything came back negative except the Doctor said I suffered a very high anxiety and panic attack.  He suggests me to quit smoming and vaping so i did cold turkey.  And thats when the worst part started.  Since my nicotine level went up coz of vaping my body started having major withdrawal and these are the things i experienced.
1. My vision was getting blurry one time wsd so scared i thought i was gonna collapse.  Do not be scared when you feel this.  Its normal because your brain is not use to receiving a lot of oxygen but since you stop smoking all that oxygen are now rushing to your brain making you feel like youre about to collapse and making you vision really dark or with a dark sillhouette around.

2. My heart started beating really fast and this is normal for someonw who suffers anxiety.

3. Tingling sensation of my legs
4. Depression.  Nicotine has an anti anxiety and depression effect but since you stopped your body is now reacting. Depression was probably the toughest one i encountered.  The feeling of emptiness,  numbness inside,  no emotions,  no happiness just all sadness.  I cried so many times and got mad at god for making me go through what I was going through. Something i wouldnt wish even my worst enemy to have.

5. I felt like i would never get well no matter what i read on the internet.  

6. All in all no matter it was that i was feeling,  they always lead to me feeling like im about to have a stroke and collapsed.  

But take my advice,  not even once i collapsed so if youre reading this and feeling all the things i mentioned above,  just be strong,  use your family as your inspiration and always think,  YOU ARE NOT DYING,  NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOU NO MATTER HOW STRONG OF AM ANXIETY AND PANIC ATTACK YOURE HAVING. Even taking a deep breath and relaxation as they all suggest never work.  The only thing that work for me is by taking ATIVAN 0.5MG FOR ANXIETY prn and started taking paxil 10mg once a day.  I was prescribed with WELBUTRIN but the side effect was the worst. Insomia! I had to take benadryl in order to sleep so the doctor changed it to paxil once a day and ativan prn.  Its been 2.5 years and up to now i still get anxiety attack maybe once every 2 months but really mild,  nothing a pill of ativan cannot solve.  

I promised myself that I would write this and share my experiences to help those people going thru tough time as I did to feel better and to let you guys know that YOU ARE NOT DYING,  THEY ARE ALL SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY AND THEY WILL GO AWAY.  My suggestion,  use nicotine patch then taper off.  Take ativan and do not fight anxiety alone,  its hard esp if youre not familliar with anxiety and panic attack.  Deal with it with meds then rest and let the meds work. After 30 mins you'll feel better.  I like to put my pill under my tongue (sublingual) and let it melt there,  it works way fastee than swallowing the pill.  Hope i was able to help you guys with this.  

Good luck and dont give up.  ANXIETY *****
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Avatar universal
I also forgot to mention,  you will feel tightness on your chess which is one of the symptoms of anxiety
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517872 tn?1623105664
I also should quit. However, my doctor says that I should not quit. So, I think less about it now. But I do think. And I know I will quit sooner than I expect.
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