It can be like this even when you are 18
My friend, it seems like your anxiety is nicotine withdrawal. That explains why smoking makes your anxiety go away; you’re getting another hit of nicotine to ease off the withdrawal.
Vaping isn’t harmless. Especially since you’re 18, it will inhibit your brain development and the chemicals in the vape are chronically toxic. Nicotine is extremely addictive. Many people get addicted after just a few goes.
though I’ve picked up vaping because of my anxiety…
Seems like you’re already figured this out, but that doesn’t really mean anything. People start drinking alcohol (a depressant) because they’re depressed.
Signed, a previously anxious pothead.
I don’t think a substance being a depressant necessarily says anything about its effect on actual depression, but otherwise I agree with your sentiment.
What do you mean… It’s literally how it works? Alcohol suppresses your neurotransmitters from firing at a regular rate. Thus causing depression. How it effects your gaba receptors I believe is what causes the i-can-do-anything happy effect.
For me if I stay drinking I keep the energy and false happiness but that wears off faster than the affect it has on neurotransmitters.
I’m more normal and function when I drink and it gives me energy because usually my anxiety or BPD is so draining I assume. I pass as a normal person lol. But shortly after stopping the depression is felt.
…iirc… Just what I gathered from psychology class and personal life.
No, you’re conflating two different concepts that share the term. Alcohol directly causes central nervous system depression, which is distinct from depressive disorder (aka depression) - the neurological condition. Regular alcohol use/abuse can lead to depressive disorder, but in an indirect way. CNS depressants (alcohol) actually increase GABA neurotransmitter activity, which slows brain activity. This effect on your nervous system has no known direct link to depressive disorder.
I’m not aware of the supression of neurotransmission directly resulting in depression. I know alcohol does worsen depression, but I don’t think that’s a result of it being a depressant.
Here’s an article that seems to agree with me.
Oh hey I’ve gone through all three. Alcohol sucks. Weed kinda sucks too unless you smoke a lot all day. Small edible doses are where it’s at for casual occasional use.
Even Terrence McKenna said weed should only be smoked once a week.
I also remember reading when I was younger that if you’re eyes get RED then your abusing it.
What if your eyes don’t turn red anymore? That’s a thing. I can be high as balls and nobody would know until I open my stupid stoner mouth.
Yeah that happens too.
What are you using to combat anxiety now if not pot? Weed mostly helps me with anxiety but then other times it really doesn’t lol
I’m probably gonna sound super snobby here so apologies in advance, but I’m not really “using” anything. I was in a bad spot mentally for various reasons (extremely toxic relationship for one) and was smoking weed as a bandaid to deal with everything, but it was at a point where I was consuming copious amounts of concentrated weed 24/7 and acting like a total burnout just to try to feel normal. Once I was able to start getting my shit figured out and began dealing with things in a healthier way, I didn’t need to smoke anymore.
I should say that I do still smoke weed daily, probably more than I should, but I don’t feel agitated or anxious when I can’t go a few hours/ most of the day without lighting up like I used to. I also know it doesn’t actually help with anxiety and just having that knowledge in the back of my mind helped me stop using it like it did.
TL,DR; “it’s all in your head bro, just feel better” /s
Nicotine is terrible for anxiety, it’s a stimulant not an anxiolitic. I have anxiety and started smoking when I was 16, not because of anxiety but because I’m an idiot. Don’t do it. Vapes are healthier than cigarettes, if you’re already a smoker. Don’t start vaping if you weren’t previously addicted to nicotine, it’s not good for you. Nicotine isn’t good for you. And it’s not going to help your anxiety. Quit while you can before you’re stuck with a habit that’s nearly impossible to kick
Nicotine could have caused my anxiety when I think about it now.
Maybe there was some base level of anxiety I just had but the constant withdrawals cannot be good
This is exactly my response of some years back. The difference is, I was lying to myself and doing such an amazing job of it that I couldn’t see it. It prevented me from even exploring the questions at hand beyond “oh, other people are wrong”.
Quitting sucks. It is literal hell. But it is so much better for a person to do now and benefit from sooner and for longer than it is for a person that does it next year.
Medication by another means is still medication friend. And if therapy is not your jam but you’re open to medicating via doctor-prescribed anxiety medication, you can always set an appointment with a gp. I can tell you from personal experience that self-medicating with nicotine and perhaps other substances will only mask the anxiety. To truly deal with it you’ve got to take it head on. For me medication and therapy made a world of difference, but everyone’s path is different. Wishing you luck!
Therapy is expensive, but in the long run it is going to be much much cheaper than relying on vape, pot, alcohol to handle daily life. And all of those increase reliance on them because you don’t build coping skills.
Smoking, whether electronic cigarettes or tobacco, is never going to be only your problem. When you suffer these negative health effects, you become a burden on society. Not only is a sick person less economically productive, but they expend public resources in the form of additional healthcare expenditure (even in countries without universal healthcare, it is still highly Government-subsidised), increasing the likelihood of needing welfare, increasing the burden on already-strained public welfare programmes, and it, of course will damage your interpersonal relationships too.
Addiction is progressive. It happens with tobacco too. Over time, the same amount of vape fluid will no longer “do the trick”. People who smoke tobacco will smoke larger and larger amounts for it as their body builds a tolerance to nicotine. Vape users will start needing stronger and stronger doses to ward of withdrawal. I personally know people who started vaping at 16 who are now 19 and need to vape every hour or they start experiencing withdrawal. This can and likely will eventually happen to you!
I don’t mean to offend, but this is destructive behaviour. You are trying to tell me that you want to continue down a spiral of addiction instead of getting the help you need.
Quitting is very hard. I’m not going to pretend that you’re a bad person for not being able to quit, because you’re not. But you need to force yourself against your will to help yourself. “I don’t want help” is ultimately going to lead to your own demise.
You don’t need to defend your thoughts to me. I’m just some random person on the Internet, and untimately, I have no control over what you do. But you do need to defend them to yourself. Don’t cheat yourself out of a fulfilling, addiction-free, anxiety-free life. Plus, you’ll save a lot of money on vapes over your lifetime.
0% of people who quit smoking or quit vaping regret it, but nearly 100% of those who don’t quit and get even more addicted wish they could have stopped sooner.
concern for an 18 yr old’s health because you’re a fellow human = broke
stop smoking because you won’t have any economic value if you get sick = woke
It’s not worth it. I used a jule for like 6 months. Definitely became dependent on it. It’s helped with anxiety, focus, social ability etc… but once you stop your body and lungs feel better. It used to make me feel nauseous and I’d chain hit to make the anxiety go away. I think it may have damaged my lungs. I do have areas of my lungs hardening but it might not all be from that.
Nicotine is terrible for your brain and vaping is likely to have the same risk for lung cancer that smoking does, it just tends to cause a different kind of cancer. Anxiety, and any mental illness for that matter, is a hell of a burden to bear, but adding chemical dependence, health complications, and financial burden on top of it is not going to make anything better.
Yeee. I started smoking from anxiety and depression.
10 years later, and now im stuck with an addiction I wish I had never started. It stopped doing anything for me quite a few years back. Very occasionally, it helps settle me. But like. It’s straight up not even worth it, when I can manage that lot woth literally anything else.
There are better ways to manage your anxiety than with nicotine. You’re anxious about your parents finding out because you know they’ll be upset, and they’ll be upset because of the negative impact you’re having on yourself by vaping. Maybe you should consider why they would feel that way.
The impact being it’s super fucking addicting. Trust me, as I hit my vape, avoid nicotine at all costs.
It’s permanent too. As someone who managed to quit smoking cigarettes & vapes which wasn’t too hard for me personally, I still get withdrawal jitters if someone smokes or vapes around me.
Even just this post mentioning nicotine made me feel the urge go get a pack of smokes.
Once you’re addicted, it’s extremely hard to not relapse.You’re telling me. I had finally weened myself down and hadn’t had any in months then the pandemic hit and the stress got to me and I caved.
And now the regulations have changed where I am making it way harder to get your own juice and mix your own nicotine strengths to taper down. They claim they wanted to stop kids but all they really did was take power away from the adults who were already hooked. And the teens are still easily acquiring their strong disposables so nothing good actually came from it.
The only reason vaping or smoking makes you feel less anxious is because withdrawal makes you more anxious
Am I seriously being aged out of Lemmy, too?
They make DMT vapes. 🤯
Blew my mind when I first saw that.
I doubt it. I feel like the demographic here has to be older than reddit’s became.
Smoking doesn’t make you less anxious or more relaxed, all it does is stop the withdrawal symptoms from smoking.
Im 14 and this is deep.
The sheltered-ness of kids these days. I used to smoke on my way home from school. I can only imagine that stench in my clothes today.
Kids don’t even get lung cancer no more
Recent animal and human tissue studies have shown that vaping is just as likely to cause lung cancer as smoking does, it just has a predilection for a different type of lung cancer.
Can’t believe I actually thought I could fool them. French family though, when they found out they just let me smoke at my window lmao.
Quit before you’re truly addicted. If you’re still living with your parents you probably haven’t truly been hooked like you will be when you live on your own.
I mean many people have to find this out themselves but smoking is highly addictive and you’ll regret having started for the rest of your life…
Garbage-tier children’s meme
Wow. A lot of judging and misinformation in reply to your post. I didn’t really expect so much of that on Lemmy.
If you’ve got ADHD or a schizo-affective disorder, nicotine seems to help with anxiety and focus from those conditions. More than the nicotine, the act of purposely inhaling anything causes you to focus on breathing (even for a short time) and when anxiety is running you, your breath is key. Now, that said, inhaling anything in concentration is not without risks. Some are way, way worse than others. Vaping is definitely on the low end of the risk category. Smoking is strongly on the other end.
This is something that seems to be missed by many commenters. Prescribed drugs come with many risks as well. Societally, we’ve accepted that treating some of our issues are worth these risks. Weight gain, weight loss, bowel issues, sleep issues, lack of focus are common issues across the spectrum of anti anxiety drugs. And then if or when those symptoms get bad enough, you get another med to counteract the drug symptoms and those can affect kidneys, blood sugar, energy levels. Just because you’re prescribed something that has been deemed safe doesn’t mean it isn’t doing damage to your body. It’s all a trade-off of happiness vs health to some degree. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take medication if you deem it necessary. The side effects are probably worth the change you’re needing. And it doesn’t mean you should vape even if you think it helps. But be as informed as you can while being as happy and healthy as you can. That’s all you can do. There are things in life a lot worse than nicotine or Wellbutrin that you don’t get a choice over. I wouldn’t fret about them too much.
As a person with ADHD, I can’t say nicotine by any means reduces anxiety or helps to focus; on the contrary, the only time I don’t vape for prolonged periods of time are when I’m concentrated on smth challenging, and otherwise it’s somewhat like tapping my leg or spinning a pen with the addition of feeling worse when there’s not enough nicotine in my body.
On the other hand, ADHD individuals are more susceptible to substance abuse disorders, so going in that craphole is not worth it. (e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-019-0581-7)
That’s a lot of words that may or may not be backed by science. I certainly will never know, I’m not finding your sources for you.
It’s two paragraphs. Even the long one wouldn’t fill up a single sheet of paper in a standard font size.
I don’t care what you or don’t do with anything I said. I’m not living your life for you. If you care, the info is a Google away. If you don’t, then my post wasn’t meant for you.
I can’t wait until like 90 decades in the future when we see oil lobby talking points like this just casually in the wild.
You seem to argue the following:
- If you have schizophrenia or ADHD, nicotine might help
- Smoking is significantly worse than vaping
- Prescribed drugs carry risks
- Everything is a tradeoff between health and happiness
- There are things worse than nicotine, so you shouldn’t worry about nicotine
I disagree because:
- Prescription meds or therapy don’t just seem like they help but have been proven to help with mental health
- Smoking might be worse but that doesn’t change the fact that vaping is still bad
- Yes, risks, but that’s better than something that’s proven to be harmful.
- Mental health and physical health are connected. Something like exercise might help with both.
- It’s irrelevant that there are things that are worse, it’s not a valid reason to start a nicotine addiction.
If I have misunderstood any of your arguments, please correct me.
This comment was based on gdog’s edit from Friday, February 9th, 2024 at 3:04:39 AM GMT+01:00
Vaping is worse than smoking lmao
Vaping isn’t worse than smoking. It’s still addictive, could inhibit teenage brain development, and many chemicals found in vapes are toxic when you expose yourself to them chronically.
OP’s post says that vaping alleviates their anxiety. That’s probably the other way around—their anxiety is likely caused or worsened by nicotine withdrawal which is what drives them to vape.
In my experience at least, nicotine actually does alleviate anxiety. That is, until you become addicted to it and the anxiety you want to alleviate is caused by the substance itself.
Kinda like caffeine.
I’ve never heard of caffeine causing anxiety. Do you have a source you can share?
For me personally, caffeine in certain doses reduces my anxiety based general OCD and Reading OCD.
No sources on hand. But now that I think about maybe I mean something more like irritability. Idk. When I was younger I would drink caffeinated drinks instead of eating… So it could be that lol.
Caffeine, specifically black coffee, makes me feel like my life is falling down around me whenever I drink it with any amount of regularity. Anecdotal of course but I imagine if it has such a profound effect for me that it probably has the same effect for others even if it’s more subtle.
Though to be fair I only noticed this after I was prescribed an actual stimulant medication that for me has way fewer side effects, which significantly reduced my caffeine consumption. So now it’s more of a shock to my system.
I actually prefer black coffee because super sugary coffee like Starbucks = AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH especially if it’s got that fake sugar shit in it like sucralose, aspartame, etc.
Yeah sugar and sweeteners don’t bother me (although you might want to make sure that isn’t a lactose allergy or intolerance because I’ve been there too 😅) but I specifically called out black coffee to mean that like energy drinks for example don’t make me feel that way despite having around 4x as much caffeine on average. On the other hand, any drink that is more coffee than any other additive will make me jittery and anxious. So I’m not sure if it’s specifically the caffeine that does it for me or some other component of coffee.
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It doesn’t alleviate anxiety so much as distract you from it. Anything can do that, that’s just what a coping mechanism is. For many people, that might be painting, playing video games, exercise, or anything else. It’s just that nicotine is a particularly unhealthy coping mechanism. There are other unhealthy coping mechanisms too—some people gamble, others drink alcohol, and some people stress-eat excessive amounts of junk food.
We don’t have the longterm statistics to say one way or the other
But my gut tells me that there are significantly less carcinogens in vape juice than cigarettes (or anything burning)
Edit: I’m not condoning vaping either. I think it’s very stupid to vape, especially if you weren’t a smoker prior. I’m just saying vaping hasn’t been around long enough to draw definite conclusions
I can see it being used as a quitting tool, though
It’s not worth fighting over which cancer stick is worse when not smoking is an option.
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E-cigarettes produce a number of dangerous chemicals including acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde. These aldehydes can cause lung disease, as well as cardiovascular (heart) disease. E-cigarettes also contain acrolein, a herbicide primarily used to kill weeds.
https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/e-cigarettes-vaping/impact-of-e-cigarettes-on-lung
Just don’t vape, man…
Those studies had extremely flawed methodologies. For the formaldehyde one, they burned a ce4 cart more than 40% higher than the nominal voltage (5.2v vs 3.7v) for 90 seconds.
I challenge you to inhale for 90 seconds. I can’t even do it and I’m a skilled brass instrument player.
Basically every study showing negative effects has either flawed methodology, or the news outlets reporting on them conveniently forget to mention that the levels are orders of magnitude lower than what cigarettes produce. Hell, even some of the heavy metal results were lower than atmospheric levels.
Source: I’ve read all of the studies.
While that test may not be the norm, it represents cheap brand knockoffs that may have shitty voltage control, or faulty, etc. it is not like they run ever vape through rigid testing like airplane control systems ( and even those fail )
No, it doesn’t. No human would be able to draw on an atomizer that was being fired at 40% higher than normal voltage for more than a split second.
But yes, if you managed to draw on an atomizer that’s literally burning for 90 seconds and survive the lung scaring and smoke inhalation, the byproducts of burning plant matter and plastics is likely not healthy.
i wasn’t contesting the 90 seconds, sometimes tests are setup no following real world parameters to gain info that would take too long to gather otherwise. like Carcinogen tests with LD50. Black pepper is a carcinogen (when injected under the skin–per the test method). But nobody eats pepper that way. The 90 seconds may be to test the amount of exposure in one day, etc
No, it’s straight up flawed methodology. Pretty much anything will produce harmful chemicals if you set it on fire.
These tests were designed to produce negative results, which is bad science.
Vaping cuts into profits from several industries as well as tobacco tax revenue. This is why any vaping study that comes out of the US needs to be heavily scrutinized.
Nothing you linked indicates that e-cigarettes are worse than traditional cigarettes.
Sure, but I think in this case we’re trying to convince OP to not do either. Vaping is safer than smoking, it’s not safe. If you currently smoke and can’t/won’t quit the nicotine, switch to vaping. Don’t start vaping if you’re not already a cigarette smoker.
I would like to see some better quality studies, but those are in short supply because of the amount of bullshit studies funded by people who profit from big tobacco. I think there was one good study about how nicotine specifically was bad for cardiovascular health?
Yeah, vaping when you’re not already a cigarette smoker is how end up on cigarettes.
It absolutely fucking isn’t. It’s “healthier” than smoking by a wide margin. So is abstaining from it. But for people already smoking, vaping will not only be better for them but can also help them kick the habit. Please keep your blatantly wrong garbage takes to yourself, misinformation like that does active harm to other people
Incredible, every word you just said was wrong
Yeah, no
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Depends on
howyou mean worse.
Vapes, are worse in the sense that they have a lot more nicotine.
But cigarettes are way worse medically (Unless you count explosive vape batteries), do to all the extra toxic chemicals.
If you’re a chronic Vaper, the silica and other shit in the filter can get into your lungs, which is the primary cause of Vape related lungs diseases in chronic users, such as silicosis. You can get this from cigarettes too, but it’s less likely because you can actually see the filter and know when to stop.
Both are bad and unhealthy regardless.