4 ms·

> The first days, weeks and months are often the hardest time when quitting a substance. If this drug helps a smoker not smoke for 3 months, by that time the ni

by raducu 3y ago

> The first days, weeks and months are often the hardest time when quitting a substance. If this drug helps a smoker not smoke for 3 months, by that time the nicotine addiction has weakened considerably. I love(d) nicotine and it was the only substance that I ever was addicted to. I tried dozens of times to quit and the only thing that helped was getting treatment for my ADHD. Quitting nicotine was easy for me on methylphenidate. I only tried combining them and nearly went to the ER, so I quickly learnt that I can't take them both. But when I'm on methylphenidate I just don't crave nicotine that much. It took 2-3 years to completely not get any nicotine cravings at all.

tonyarkles 3y ago
>I only tried combining them and nearly went to the ER Could you elaborate on that? I'm currently still a smoker (working on it...) and on Concerta. Your note alarms me :)
- y-curious 3y ago
  Not the person you're replying to, but what helped me quit was the book "How to stop smoking" by Alan Carr. Highly recommend working through it and taking his point about cold turkey in good faith. Good luck!
  - tonyarkles 3y ago
    I have a fun experience with the Alan Carr book. The first time I read it, I was laughing the whole way through thinking about how much it was written like straight-up brainwashing propaganda, but I had committed to a friend to reading it all the way through. I got to the end where the final bit is something like "now just say out loud 'I am a non-smoker and when I wake up tomorrow I will never have a cigarette again'". I chuckled, thought it was ridiculous, and the next morning I woke up and didn't have a smoke. That lasted about 2 years until I got extremely drunk one night after a rough breakup, had smoked the whole night, and was pretty much instantly hooked again. Ten years later I went through the exercise again, but sadly it didn't work nearly as well as it had the first time around.
    - y-curious 3y ago
      One thing that kind of opened my eyes is his asking the reader "what do you prefer about your cigarette brand?" It made me realize that they all taste like sh*t.
sirsinsalot 3y ago
Makes sense given the mechanism of action. I describe my adhd as being addicted to nicotine and stopping cold turkey. Except you're not addicted to nicotine, what you're addicted to is a stimulus that is inconsistent and changes constantly. Your cigarette is a constantly changing thing. Methylphenidate really messed me up, I found Lisdexamfetamine much much more effective. I still use nicotine, though in vape form these days.

by raducu 3y ago

tonyarkles 3y ago

>I only tried combining them and nearly went to the ER Could you elaborate on that? I'm currently still a smoker (working on it...) and on Concerta. Your note alarms me :)

y-curious 3y ago
Not the person you're replying to, but what helped me quit was the book "How to stop smoking" by Alan Carr. Highly recommend working through it and taking his point about cold turkey in good faith. Good luck!
- tonyarkles 3y ago
  I have a fun experience with the Alan Carr book. The first time I read it, I was laughing the whole way through thinking about how much it was written like straight-up brainwashing propaganda, but I had committed to a friend to reading it all the way through. I got to the end where the final bit is something like "now just say out loud 'I am a non-smoker and when I wake up tomorrow I will never have a cigarette again'". I chuckled, thought it was ridiculous, and the next morning I woke up and didn't have a smoke. That lasted about 2 years until I got extremely drunk one night after a rough breakup, had smoked the whole night, and was pretty much instantly hooked again. Ten years later I went through the exercise again, but sadly it didn't work nearly as well as it had the first time around.
  - y-curious 3y ago
    One thing that kind of opened my eyes is his asking the reader "what do you prefer about your cigarette brand?" It made me realize that they all taste like sh*t.

sirsinsalot 3y ago

Makes sense given the mechanism of action. I describe my adhd as being addicted to nicotine and stopping cold turkey. Except you're not addicted to nicotine, what you're addicted to is a stimulus that is inconsistent and changes constantly. Your cigarette is a constantly changing thing. Methylphenidate really messed me up, I found Lisdexamfetamine much much more effective. I still use nicotine, though in vape form these days.