Nicotine was a medication when I was undiagnosed, for over 30 years, on and off. I would stop for a while and then small dose here, small dose there, and back at somewhat regular smoking again.
After diagnosis I looked things up, realized why I smoked and that I have better meds now, stopped permanently one day shortly after. Weirdly, no fuss and the nicotine withdrawal hasn’t been a problem.
So, so much freer and cleaner and I have my sensitive sense of smell back.
I do edibles, that’s it. We are susceptible to addiction and many of us have turned to drugs in the past, extra difficult to overcome. Don’t do meth kids, no matter how much better you feel.
I’ve been coping with caffeine and alcohol (not a lot) before realizing that I was basically just self medicating because of ADHD. Caffeine to make me productive and in the evening some kind of alcohol (most often wine) to get sleepy. After getting suspicious that I might have ADHD, I also heard that alcohol shouldn’t make me this sleepy this fast normally and that this is pretty common for people with ADHD
Lots of undiagnosed do all sorts of things to compensate, without even realizing it.
It’s called self-medicating. Some just do what makes them feel functional, some are aware there’s something amiss and pick the things that help them cope.
So if smoking helps someone, they’ll do it (and I suspect smoking is an effective mechanism).
ADHD brains require more dopamine and norepi to point the neurons in the right direction at the right times. You can add those in a number of ways that all have different side effect profiles and different likelihoods of worsening the root problem / causing dependence, or even ultimately destabilizing the disorder in the long run entirely.
Stimulants in general (caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines) will all boost the chemicals an ADHD brain needs to focus right the hell now. They also have to be used super carefully because they can cause hypertension, heart problems, dependence, and psychosis. Cocaine and nicotine in particular also cause extra heart problems and in the case of nicotine Cancer.
A lot of people also take them too close to bedtime because it’s the only way they know how to hold still long enough to fall asleep, but because they’re still stimulants they fuck up the rest of the circadian rhythm once the person is asleep and greatly worsen the underlying ADHD (if you have this problem ask your doctor what OTHER / nonstimulant medications you can take for ADHD at night because there are better options).
Personally I don’t even take my non stimulant SNRI Strattera at night because while it’s not acting directly on norepi it IS acting on the reuptake inhibitor, so I take clonidine at night.
Does nicotine cause cancer, or does tobacco use cause cancer? Legit question here. I know cancer cones when you smoke or use chewing tobacco, but do those little pods? Does inhaled vaporized nicotine do it?
This article says, for cancer specifically, we don’t know yet. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/what-to-know-about-nicotine-pouches-and-cancer-risk.html
We do know that most methods of using nicotine contain other shit that we know to be harmful. We also know that nicotine itself can also cause long term health problems such as addiction, heart issues, digestive problems, etc.
When I was doing research into this (for literally the reasons OP mentioned, Dr wouldn’t rx stimulants cus I smoke weed 🙄),.in the grand scheme of things nicotine is about as harmful as caffeine. It’s not a good thing to put in your body, it is habit forming (nicotine itself doesn’t quite hit addictiction levels, it’s the whole package in commercial cigarettes (iirc)), but at the end of the day, ehhhh? The real issue was consumption, I ended up mixing my own ejuice from scratch using as well vetted ingredients as I could, but at the end of the day your putting shit in the your lungs and that isn’t great.
I am really interested in studies around Zyn and the like, but also I’m sure they have their own pile of garbage plus the nicotine.
People self medicate all the time if they’re undiagnosed. Heck, even some that are diagnosed might avoid proper meds because they don’t work for them, cant afford/get them, parents want to “fix” their kid via other methods, or have a belief the drugs have some likely serious complications like cancer or something.
Caffeine, supplements, cigs/vapes, pot… They all get used. A lot.
And of course there’s the dark underside of ADHD, where it isn’t some “quirk” that someone has to maneuver their life around. Instead it leads to harsh treatment by parents, serious social issues, bad grades leading to poor job prospects, poor work or school performance… these can lead to serious stress and depression, combined with ADHD risk-taking behavior and you get a lot of people that end up alcohol or other drug abusers trying to cope with the problems ADHD has exacerbated.
I wasn’t diagnosed until my mid 30s. I smoked like a locomotive during my 20s. It helped a bit, but I didn’t understand why. Turns out it’s because nicotine is a stimulant. Proper medication works a lot better though, and it’s a lot more affordable.
Also i quit smoking like ten years ago and the craving never goes away.
Nicotine has both a potentiating effect and the side effect of increasing the rate at which your body eliminates caffeine, and caffeine is a popular drug of choice for self-medication for ADHD.
However, getting on ADHD medication will not necessarily cause you to quit craving or using nicotine because nicotine is a highly addictive substance. Once you have started, the only way to quit using nicotine is to overcome your addiction and cease using it.
smoke what
Cigarettes
I think the joke is that a pot smoker would answer “smoke what?” to the question “do you smoke?” (As opposed to yes/no for people who smoke cigarettes, and people who don’t smoke, respectively), in combination with implying pot having beneficial effects.
yeah you caught me!
but in all seriousness, and to answer OP, yes to both
it has been a struggle to let nicotine go!
Why would you smoke if you can have a coffee?
I’m 52, diagnosed last year was a smoker since 16yrs until 40yrs when I stopped when my daughter was born. one of the hardest things I’ve done. but I also smoke weed and recently got a prescription so that helps. losing tobacco was good for me. now I vape weed to calm my brain down. Keeps the internal dialogue in check, reduces the noise of my own thoughts. now I have Ritalin. it’s good. better then tobacco. my advice, don’t start nicotine for any reason. it’s horrible and so hard to give up as it integrates itself into your every day activities. my ADHD is manageable and I’ve have multiple coping mechanisms. before smart phones I used post-it notes to remind me. I’ve always smoked weed since I found out for it calmed my brain. my advice is do whatever works as long as you don’t make things harder for yourself. smoking tobacco and using nicotine are not positive solutions in my humble opinion. nor is alcohol some might also argue against weed… but I know it helps a lot of people. good luck
I found it harder to quit after starting amphetamines. Like, Im less depependent on nicotine for co centration, but amphetamine tends to make smoking more pleasurable for me.
I quit dipping long before I got medicated so I can’t speak to that. Meds definitely made it easier to stop drinking excessively. Didn’t need alcohol to quiet the inner restlessness anymore.
I’m smoking right now, so yes.
No clue on the second part.
my boss certainly does
