Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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Anxiety and smoking

OLA1123
OLA1123
I feel many times that my anxiety shoots up when i smoke...does anyone have an opinion on this?

I have had anxiety since forever and multiple panic attacks. I quit coffee and coca cola or and caffeine drinks and i also drink very little now ..but is smoking contributing to this as well??

Any help or opinions would be great! Have you experienced the same thing?

Thank you.
LuckyEmpath
LuckyEmpath
I do not smoke but I do drink coffee and went through a time when I could not have any caffeine because it increased my anxiety. Then I learned that the things I eat and drink do not CAUSE anxiety. What they do is create symptoms in my body that I am already afraid of. Caffeine makes my heart race and makes me shaky inside. These are symptoms of my anxiety that I had long before I ever took my first sip of coffee. But as soon as I drink caffeine and these symptoms start my mind starts racing with thoughts that feed the anxiety. Thoughts like:

--Oh no! Here comes the anxiety again!
--What-if I have an anxiety attack right here in the coffee shop!
--OMG! My heart is racing and I'm shaking! What-if I faint or have a heart attack!

It's not the caffeine creating the anxiety...it's ME creating it. Once you realize this you will be able to enjoy caffeine again.

Take care
JudyFZ
JudyFZ
I think any drug you are putting in your system will create ups and downs that will in turn trigger your anxiety. Nicotine is an "upper" even though for most people it feels relaxing to have a smoke, but the relaxing feeling is just your body feeling relief when you feed the addiction. Then you feel jittery when you need to smoke again. This is the addiction.

So, yes, I think nicotine does the same thing to you that caffeine does - spike your heart rate, stimulate thoughts, etc. And your brain can confuse this with true anxiety.