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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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..
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
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.
