Connect with others living with health conditions
I have Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and have been diagnosed as schizoaffective and it started when I was 20 years old and I'm 53 years old now. I started smoking cigarettes back then and have been smoking for 32 years now. I have tried to quit smoking using the patches, gum, lozenges, spray, bupropion, Chantix, acupuncture, chamomile tea and have only been able to quit smoking temporarily each time. I forgot how many times I tried to quit smoking but I have always relapsed. I have a problem with hearing voices which is a symptom of Schizophrenia and I have a psychiatrist who I talk to and she prescribes my medication. I'm not going to give up on quitting smoking and keep trying until I succeed. I just wanted to know if anyone else is going through this.
@mads Welcome to the Ex. I'm glad you found the site to help with your quit. I really can't help with your disorder, but I'm sending this to another person on the site with in a similar situation and let them decide if they choose to respond.
We're here to help with your quit. It can be done one day at a time. This link is a great place to learn about quitting.
https://www.becomeanex.org/guides/?cid=footer_community_linktobex
Here are some posts from the Mayo Clinic professionals that you might find helpful.
Quitting Smoking Can Improve Mental Health - EX Community
Debunking myths around quitting and mental health - EX Community
One quick tip to improve mental health: Quit smoki... - EX Community
Impact of Smoking on Mental Health Symptoms - EX Community
Mental health and freedom from tobacco - EX Community
Look forward to celebrating with you on the 26th.
Stay busy and stay close.
Barb
Welcome!
I hope the person who wrote this might get notified you responded. I am glad you are here. To reach community members who are now active, I hope you will write a blog to introduce yourself (Ex Community, top left, then center blue box "Post a journal/Blog").
Hope to see you there!
Nancy
@mads I am schizo effective and deal with major depression. I am dealing with smoking like I would deal with cutting . I do the smoking because it fills m3 with sensation and it is killing me
Schizophrenia. I was surprised that I have it. It has been difficult living with schizo effective disorder, smoking 🚬 has been very hard to manage and I am very sick from it
@Jiquxx I hear voices and see things as part of my diagnosis the voice tells me I am worthless.
"I hear voices and see things as part of my diagnosis the voice tells me I am worthless." Well then pay no attention to that voice. Easy to say, hard to do. There are often times when I feel totally worthless. Actually my bottom line is feeling like that. It's not a voice in my head so much as it is a comparison of what I'm doing in life as opposed to others. They give so much more, they are so much more gentle, they are so much more caring, they are..... whatever it is that I see in myself that I am not, that I think I lack. But then I can try to combat that feeling of worthlessness by at least acknowledging those things that I think make me worthy. Those things I have done that are supportive, caring, loving. And what is our self worth based on, anyway? For me it is being worthy of God's Grace. Worthy of love - from anybody. But I think especially God.
You are worthy of love. Just like I am. Despite the fact that we feel we are not. So I say to you, just keep striving to do what you know in your heart is what's best. For you and for those around you. I think that's what we're here for, what we've been given life for. To learn and grow in our understanding of ourselves and others and to grow in love. You are not alone in your feeling of worthlessness. But I think we can strive to do things that help us feel more worthy. So my suggestion is - aim for that. Find that thing that makes you feel more worthwhile. Ya know?
I smoke because the sickness that it produces distracts me from my schizophrenia. It is causing me to miss medication and I am out of the apartment program which requires a perfect medication attendence. I had my anti psychotic injection but it is causing my feet to motor in place and I grind my teeth. My smoking makes my depression and schizophrenia worse. I am addicted to the pain that smoking creates. It is a sort of self harm. I bought a proper smoking pipe and got rid of the aluminum foil pipe.
I am missing medication and it is severely depressing.
@j3ffmeadowsgm So sorry this is going on.
Barb
What is tough is that the assistant head of the apartment program does not understand schizophrenia and tells me we all have the negative voice in our heads. She has no idea about psychotic episodes. She is dealing with a lot of people so I cut her some slack in how she expresses herself to me.
Depression does not mix well with schizophrenia and the episodes laugh at me that I am worthless. Depression is a sort of trigger for my schizophrenia. Depression in effect is complexifying my psychotic episodes.
Depression makes my psychosis worse. I need to talk with my therapist about it but we are still only doing paperwork. The anti psychotic seems to help the duration of my episodes but not the frequency of it. Lines and images blur together and my subconscious takes over and provides me captions for the images.