Bipolar Disorder Support Group
Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.
I have never been an active smoker, (just a social cigarette here and there at party, very rarely), but a HEAVY passive smoker. At one point, between all the people in my apartment, there were 120 cigarettes (yes, six packs) smoked a day, about half of that non-filtered. Blaaahhhh...
So two interesting things happened. In my junior year of high-school, I had this urge to light a smoke. I never had before, I didn't want to, it stinks anyway, but I had SUCH an URGE. It was torture. I fought it for three full months - torture! - and then finally said F- it, and lit a cigarette in my bedroom. What a sexual sensation! I had a couple more over the next week, and that was it for years.
Then, senior year in college was hard for me. My brain got tired of studying, and I was failing test after test. There was this particular exam I took three times and failed. (Up to that point I was about the best student in my class.) I just could not study. My brain was full, and wouldn't cooperate. That lasted from Fall till Spring, when I went to check the results from my last attempt, and I saw I failed again. I was really depressed at that point, and, on impulse, asked someone in a bar for a smoke - it was Camel unfiltered. I took ONE smoke, a single one, and I was suddenly fine. Depression lifted, anxiety was gone, life was good. I finished the cigarette, went home, started studying, passed the test, graduated, went on to graduate school, everything was fine... And I still wasn't a smoker. Years later in graduate school, I tried to do the same for my anxiety, but no brand would do it for me.
I told my p-doc about this second incident, and he said he's heard it from other people. Any comments?
So two interesting things happened. In my junior year of high-school, I had this urge to light a smoke. I never had before, I didn't want to, it stinks anyway, but I had SUCH an URGE. It was torture. I fought it for three full months - torture! - and then finally said F- it, and lit a cigarette in my bedroom. What a sexual sensation! I had a couple more over the next week, and that was it for years.
Then, senior year in college was hard for me. My brain got tired of studying, and I was failing test after test. There was this particular exam I took three times and failed. (Up to that point I was about the best student in my class.) I just could not study. My brain was full, and wouldn't cooperate. That lasted from Fall till Spring, when I went to check the results from my last attempt, and I saw I failed again. I was really depressed at that point, and, on impulse, asked someone in a bar for a smoke - it was Camel unfiltered. I took ONE smoke, a single one, and I was suddenly fine. Depression lifted, anxiety was gone, life was good. I finished the cigarette, went home, started studying, passed the test, graduated, went on to graduate school, everything was fine... And I still wasn't a smoker. Years later in graduate school, I tried to do the same for my anxiety, but no brand would do it for me.
I told my p-doc about this second incident, and he said he's heard it from other people. Any comments?
deleted_user
I quit after 30 years.
deleted_user
i do the same shit. most times i don't smoke mania sets in & i want 1 bad but it doesn't always work
deleted_user
hum wierd! i smoked my first cig when i was 3,no kidding! my mother made me cause i made a comment about smoking when i grew up! i started casually smoking when i was 10 and fully addicted when i was 14, i quit though both my pregnancies and for 5 yrs one time, but when my marriage was going down hill i started back! i only smoke outside. i know ill quit again one day but today is not my day! too much other things going on and too much empty time to quit! good luck with quitting!
deleted_user
Camel's are smoooth. Can't afford them and wouldn't smoke them anyway... Uhhh, I don't smoke much but still love it but don't want to. I'm w/ u. It stinks. I am weird.. When i go to work and and up and clean, straight & smart study... focused. It's a different call. Then I have my Jazz bar lazy side where I love it and smoke to know end. I think it's simple and just about comfort. We are all the Pav dog in certain ways. You just have to recognize it and do something about it. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't.
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