Horrible anxiety and panic attacks

[smsbean]

i am wondering if anyone has advice on this....I am going through horrible anxiety at 19 days out and been having to take xanax at times to deal with it. I am not using NRT. I don't really want to smoke, just have horrible waves of anxiety and panic all day. I am on effexor xr 75 mg, talked to doc, he said to increase to 150mg. I did of 2 days but the anxiety was much worse, so I am back to 75mg. I feel like I am going to be stuck in this anxiety ridden, depressed hell forever and wanted to know if there was anyone out there who gets this or has live through this. My spouse has never smoked and must think I am completely insane, because that's how I feel! Advice please!

[Barbara145]

I am so sorry you are struggling so.  11 years ago I had the same problem.  I believe the Xanax makes it worse.  It did mine.  I think you need 2 types of nicotine replacement.  I used only patches 11 years ago.  This time is totally different using the patch and nicorette gum.  Also Fish Oil and Vitamin D-3 are helping me.  If you were never on meds for emotions before I think you might do better on natural stuff.  God Bless you.  Have you watched Dr Hurts videos?

[edsel1964]

I felt the same way on day 17 through 20 but after that it started to get a litle better every day and now I'm at day 109 and rarely think of them!!! The first 3 weeks are the toughest . Hang in there your doing great and Congrats on 19 days!!!!

[phyllis-12-7-15]

I cannot address the anxiety issue as I have not had that problem. What I will wade in on is that if you have made it the whole 19 days without NRT there is no need to use one now. Nicotine is out of your system within about 3 days. To introduce an NRT this late in the game would only be re-introducing nicotine. I do hope you get some answers and some relief. Congratulations on 19 days, that is awesome.

[by-the-grace-of-god]

I too have been having serious anxiety and panic attacks, like you, in waves all day long and into the night so I haven't been sleeping well.  But I am relieved the anxiety is finally lessening (after almost 2 months) and I'm feeling less anxiety about having anxiety.

I am 26 days into my quit, but I quit because of the anxiety attacks (which were brought on by some big life changing decisions).  My quit is not causing my anxiety.

But I think my quit has been relatively easy because I've been AFRAID to smoke and aggravate the anxiety ... so in that regard, I'm embracing my anxiety.

I've decided the anxiety is a very loud and uncomfortable SHOUT from my little inner me that there is something I NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO.

I can only commiserate.  I'm trying to wade my way through this anxiety too.

[whognu_1-2007]

have you ever used ativan?

may work better than xanax for you

[Jordan-11-1-12]

I also have an anxiety disorder and am on effexor.   After about a month quit, I had to up my dose, and you may want to reconsider that, too.  I doubt that increasing it is what caused your anxiety to go up further, especially since 2 days is not long enough for the increase to take affect. Its one of those meds that takes time to get into your system, and any increases take time to take affect, too. (though not as much time!)  I had to up mine because, smoking makes dopamine, our happy chemical. Depression is lack of dopamine, which effexor corrects.... well, with out the added dopamine from the cigs, I needed a stronger dose of effexor. 

As for anxiety... If you're not using NRT, at 19 days out, it is probably no longer caused by physical withdrawal.  It only takes 72 hrs for the nicotine to leave your body, and usually about 14 days for the cold or flu like symptoms of withdrawal to fade.

Depression and anxiety is common for quitters, in the first month.  You should be prepared to either up the effexor for depression, or add a new med to help with depression.   As for anxiety, get as much physical exercise as you can, and then practice breathing.  Like I said, its probably not a physical reaction, but a psychological one.  Stretches, breathing exercises, diet changes....  maybe ask your doctor about talking to a nutritionalist.  I know bananas help ease depression, AND help ease craves for nicotine.   

Please know that this is temporary.  It will get better. Stopping smoking, in the long run, lowers anxiety.  In the short run, if you need to take klonazapan or ativan or xanax (or whateve works best)  regularly instead of as a PRN or whatever, try not to feel discouraged. It will get better as your quit days add up.

[Jordan-11-1-12]

PS I agree that xanax may no longer work for you..... Ativan or Klonzapam work for me.

PLEASE don't think about starting an NRT now.... you're body is already done with nicotine, if you start NRT now you will just wake up your addiction!!

[cyn9]

I also went through the anxiety. The dr gave me an anti depressent and it made me worse. I started having major attacks. Things leveled out after a while. Hugs! I know how scary this is. You will be ok.

[Crunkgrinder]

In my personal opinion, NRTs are not needed and medication is not always necessary. What if I told you there was something you could try that did not require a prescription or cost you any money? All you have to do is be willing to try.

Theres a group on here called mindfulness and awareness (or something close to that) and basically, it can be used to train your mind to reduce anxiety (I have had anxiety before but not anxiety attacks). You can try this using mindfulness, yoga, or meditation (picture cross legged Buddhist monks in orange outfits).

This quote made a HUGE difference in how I look at anxiety: "If you are depressed, you're living in the past. If you are anxious, you're living in the future." Basically mindfulness/meditation (or yoga which is a form of meditation) help you to train your mind to be in the present moment and not wander to past memories or future worries. Meditation is NOT about sitting and not having thoughts - it's about learning to recognize when these thoughts come and gently letting them go.

There's many resources online about meditation including free YouTube guided meditation videos so if you'd like you can always check it out - its free and you have nothing to lose!

-Taylor, day 128

[smsbean]

Thanks everyone for responding. I think I might increase my med but to 112.5 instead of 150 at first to see if it helps. My anxiety is always wrapped around how I feel physically and emotionally so this whole experience has been torture because we all know that quitting changes your body and mind. I am glad to know that others have been here and say it will get better. I also think I need to have my thyroid levels checked, I have been hypothyroid for several years and read that quitting can possibly cause dose issues with this too. I do need to exercise but I have been so anxious that I can barely do anything besides what I have to do...maybe tomorrow. Thanks again!

[insurance-guy]

I had some of the same problems everytime I tried to quit smoking, it was like my mind was trying to give me a reason to say "forget it i have to smoke". Smoking is the only way to make this anxiety go away" I had to remember that i was going to have to face this someday head on, and deal with the anxiety and depression, so 179 days ago i decided to deal with it.  What helped me was remembering it was ok to grieve about not smoking.  Smoking was such a big part of my life and it was like loosing someone special.  I mean I had a cig before and after every negative and positive experience in my life for the last 15 years.  Cig were there for me when no one else was there, so i had to understand it was ok to be sad about breaking up with nocotine and cigarettes, and most importantly i had to realize it was a toxic one sided relationship.  Ultimately i decided it was better for both me and the cigs to part ways. Just rember it is ok to be sad, but you have to understand cig are sucking the life out of you.