Last night in the ER

[martha1014]

I have always heard nurses and doctor are the worse patients. They think they can medicate themselves instead of what the doctor told them to do.You probably had anxiety attack brought on by the absence of analogs. I am bipolar and take my meds religiously.

I would keep taking my meds as the doctor told you to and continue to vape unless you feel the need to smoke an analog. I have in the past had a mild case of nausea and headache from too much nicotine. I simply cut back on my nicotine. Now after vaping 8 months all day long I rarely get these symptoms.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

 

[nurse3766]

I think you just freaked out thought one thing and then let your brain run with it..

For the first week or two I was paranoid about nicotine poisoning constantly washing it off my hands constantly spitting it out if a little got in my mouth, etc..etc.. I'm not saying don't be careful but now I don't even pay attention to those things anymore... I even got to the point where I thought I was getting antsy and not getting enough nicotine and kept puffing and puffing then started thinking I'm overdosing, really it was all in my head etc.. I didn't even have the shakes

Ever smoke alot of cigarettes in a short period of time .. start getting a headache, start getting shaky, start getting nauseous.. haven't had any of that with vaping but I'm a paranoid person as well.

are you my long lost twin

 

[Stubby]

Look up MAOI (monoamine oxydase inhibitors). They are contained in tobacco and have anti-depressant qualities in and of themselves plus they increase the effect of nicotine.

If you have psychiatric issues, I would strongly recommend that you DON'T quit smoking, or switch to another tobacco-product, such as Snus.

That's correct, as a good sign that it's a problem with MAOI's are panic attacks and increased anxiety. If you have a cigarette and feel better that's a another big giveaway. The OP needs to do some homework by reading this thread as it goes deeply into the MAOI and what's missing in the purified nicotine in e-liquid.

 

[telsie]

im going to smoke analogs a bit, a couple throughout the day and vape in between then slowly cut down on analogs.
i love vaping and after 2 days of it, hated analogs and was disgusted by them so i just stopped using them. im going to take it slower this time. and cut my juice to 18-20mg so i wont have to worry at all about too much nicotine (which im certain now was not the problem anyway)
i think it was analog withdrawal combined with underlying anxiety disorder and all those chemicals leaving my brain at once just was too much. brain was going wild.

once again i cant say this enough im grateful for all of you brave enough to share your experiences, i know these things are personal. i appreciate your candor.

I've had anxiety issues most of my life and it definitely came into play when I quit analogs and started vaping. My e-cig helped enough to keep me from feeling like I needed to smoke, but something else was definitely lacking. My brain chemistry clearly went out of whack because I bouncing back and forth from anxiety to depression. Anxiety is something I'm better equipped to deal with, but the depression was hard. I'm sure it's different for everyone, but for me, all that subsided after six weeks. I've had a bit of anxiety here and there since then, but nothing I'd consider out of the ordinary for me.

I probably would've had an easier time of it had I tapered off analogs while vaping instead of switching completely. But by the time I started having problems I was 2 or 3 days into it and didn't want to go back. So I pushed through. But plenty of people here have been successful with the gradual approach. Just do whatever works best for you and know that you're not alone with the anxiety.

I think you just freaked out thought one thing and then let your brain run with it..

For the first week or two I was paranoid about nicotine poisoning constantly washing it off my hands constantly spitting it out if a little got in my mouth, etc..etc.. I'm not saying don't be careful but now I don't even pay attention to those things anymore.

Same here. I was constantly washing my hands and rinsing my mouth, worried about every little bit of e-liquid I got on me. I don't worry about it at all anymore. Not a day goes by that I don't get a bit on my fingers a few times or get a bit on my lip or tongue and I've never felt anything from it.

I think it would take a lot sitting on your skin for a while to have any effect. Though I have no plans to put that to the test

 

[m1273c]

I would like to share with everyone a similar story. I smoked for 10 years. I've been unemployed for a year and 3 months (during which I tried to go back to university in spring and this fall). I found e-cigs (Oct) and straight switched. No analogs since 2nd day of e-cigs. Just last week I had what my nurse practioner described as a panic attack. Couldn't sleep, felt like I was stopping breathing, uncontrollable muscle spasms in arms and legs. So, the next day I went to my NP. Coincidentally (maybe) I had been sleeping more, having memory problems, cognitive problems (couldn't finish thoughts fully), fatigue, feelings of "what's the point". So, NP says I'm more than likely clinically depressed w/anxiety symptoms. She subsribes Cymbalta and Xanax (only to be used if extremely necessary). I inform her that I'm extremely drug sensitive - which I am and ALWAYS have been even before I started smoking and/or vaping. She started me on the LOWEST dose of Cymbalta she could find - 30mg. I take the 1st pill. Positives: increase mental acuity and no fatigue. Negatives: Felt like I was on speed, talking incessantly and rapidly, jittery, insomnia, muscle spasms and cold feeling (surface temp normal) in extremities. When I could sleep was for small amounts of time w/bad...bad...dreams. I did NOT like this. Throughout this day I was vaping. I was a chain smoker, and when I started vaping I tried to match my vaping to my smoking. Low dose (8mg carts) vaping but chain vaping all day. I did not take another pill. 2 days later (my birthday) I was celebrating and had a couple of glasses of wine. Bad idea. Now had burning sensation in my extremities - this has lasted 4 days. This all happened last week up until today.
Upon reading this thread's initial post and subsequent posts, I feel much better about the POSSIBLE reasons for what has been and is happening to me. My NP couldn't tell me why nor how it came about. I did inform her when I started vaping that I was vaping - explained to her what it was - I was excited and told everyone I could find BTW To hear that I may be going through withdrawals from chemicals/medicines/drugs in cigs that I didn't know I was taking makes a lot of sense and relieves some of my anxiety about the "unknown" cause.
This may sound contradictory (due to my addiction to nic and caffeine) but I don't like to take drugs - especially those that do things to your body you have no control over. Drinking and smoking don't do that - you have more control over their effects - or at least I've feel I have more control over how much I take/can handle.
Sorry so lengthy, but wanted to share so others could relate and feel less anxious if they had similar occurrences.

 

[voltaire]

I haven't read this whole thread, so I don't know if someone already linked to this:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ne-maois-towards-more-effective-e-liquid.html

But read that, and it may all become clear to you.

 

[LadyDivine]

Hi there,

I haven't read all the posts in this thread so someone may have pointed this out to you but here goes anyway. From my extensive study of Anxiety disorder and personal experience with it, it's possible that your problem didn't have anything to do with smoking/not smoking/vaping or even the meds your taking. Sometimes the Anxiety can arise from simply thinking something may have a harmful effect on you. One key element of Anxiety is projecting your fear onto something, like vaping/e-juice.

So, for instance, you suddenly have a thought that maybe the nicotine in the e-juice is harming you. You then start to become more aware of your body, your heart beat, breathing etc. All the time your becoming more and more anxious and your heart starts beating faster and your breath quickens, making you even more anxious. This keeps building and building into a full blown anxiety attack. You feel like you can't breath, your chest hurts, you're sweating etc. So, what happens in this case is that you've associated a deadly fear with the e-juice. So, every time from that point on you will have that anxiety with the e-juice and have those symptoms. You will think that the e-juice is the cause of the symptoms, but its not. The symptoms come from fearing the symptoms, so to speak. The problem with anxiety disorder is there are symptoms but no physical cause for the symptoms/unnatural release of adrenalin. So, what happens is the brain automatically tries to look for a cause for those symptoms and pins is on the first thing it "sees" which can come in any variety of forms. This is where OCD stems from.

I've had many a trip to the ER simply from the thought of something bad, convincing myself of multiple things including blood clots, heart attack, allergic reaction and even small pox (no joke, I had actually broke out in hives from watching a special about small pox on TV). Your brain can do strange things to your body.

My suggestion is keep doing what your doing, learn more about it. The biggest thing for me was realizing that an anxiety attack can't kill you and knowing what's an actual threat and what's not. Just that alone cut down my anxiety by half and I quit having panic attacks completely. I was actually afraid of bath towels for a short period of time, seems silly now but then it was serious business. lol Seriously though, just try to remind yourself it's just anxiety, anxiety can't kill you.

I really, really hope this helps. Trust me, I know what you're going through and it is really is horrible but there are ways you can help fight it. Let me know how it works out for you.

Good luck,
LD

 

[testekleez]

I had severe anxiety and panic attacks when I was 17 (33 now). I was hospitalized on two seperate occasions for a month during the next couple of years following my first episode. They were bad. REALLY BAD! Scared the crap out of me and I started to become agorophobic.

I was on some kind of anti-depressant for a while but one day I decided not to use it any longer. The thing about panic attacks, they come out of nowhere for no reason.

To make a long story short, I'll tell you what helped me and I haven't had a full on panic attack or anxiety episode for probably 12 years now (I became an OTR truck driver for cryin' out loud and though it gets stressful, never caused a panic attack and anyone with panic disorder will tell you driving is often one of the main triggers). I did acupuncture treatments and the acupuncurist also gave me some herbal pills that I would drop in a mug of hot water, sort of a tea I guess.

I don't know what it was the acupuncture, the herbs or a combo of both but I'll be damned if I've had one since (even after all the real doctor therapies and hospitilization). After my first and probably scariest attack at 17, I threw down my cigarettes immediately and didn't touch another one for six months (been smoking since I was 12)!

I still have a touch of Social anxiety disorder and the occasional "go crawl in a hole somewhere" depression spurts on occasion but all in all, I feel somewhat sane. Since that time I also quit again for about 18 months and panic attacks weren't the result of quitting cold turkey but the key to quitting analogs cold turkey is to take up some form of cardio exercises daily (walking, karate, light jogging and activity!IMO that's key).

I started back one day when I was in the best shape of my life out of boredom. I wasn't working and feeling down and my mom left a big long .... in the ashtray and I hit on it. Now if vaping had been around back then, I don't think I would have ever started back because you can vape when your feeling draggy and down and just plain bored. Not to mention, you can have a beer and get your vape on and be good to go!

 

[lhaddix]

You did the right think. but I'll bet it wasn't the Nicotine.
You are already a smoker so you must have some tolerance.
I had to gulp down 36mg vapor for 30mins to finally get the
headache that chain smoking Marlboro reds can cause.
This was holding the smoke in till nothing came out.

That said I had a heart attack 7 years ago and I learned if you
even slightly suspect something is wrong with your heart get it
checked immediately. The worst (actually best) you get is a
diagnosis of atypical chest pain and peace of mind.

One thing I've done is use my portable pulse oximeter and watch my heart
rate and PO2 during vaping. They don't move.

You might carefully try again when your heart checks out. You know smoking
analogs is a downward spiral.
rate

 

[lhaddix]

M1273C Drinking and smoking are indeed forms of drug abuse and do things to your body you have no control over. Both can lead to addiction. It's a continuum from hot chocolate to ....... Drugs aren't good or bad in of themselves, it's addictive behavior that gets us into trouble. Just sayin' It could also be food or shopping.

 

[robertpri]

Sometimes the Anxiety can arise from simply thinking something may have a harmful effect on you. One key element of Anxiety is projecting your fear onto something, like vaping/e-juice.

So, for instance, you suddenly have a thought that maybe the nicotine in the e-juice is harming you. You then start to become more aware of your body, your heart beat, breathing etc. All the time your becoming more and more anxious and your heart starts beating faster and your breath quickens, making you even more anxious. This keeps building and building into a full blown anxiety attack.

You will think that the e-juice is the cause of the symptoms, but its not. The symptoms come from fearing the symptoms, so to speak. The problem with anxiety disorder is there are symptoms but no physical cause for the symptoms/unnatural release of adrenalin. So, what happens is the brain automatically tries to look for a cause for those symptoms and pins is on the first thing it "sees" which can come in any variety of forms. This is where OCD stems from.

Good luck,
LD

Well said, and thanks. My blood pressure has been slowly climbing for several months which is just one reason to switch to E-cig. I've only vaped for about two weeks, off analogs completely for one week, and my BP continues to rise. Yes, when it goes from 130 to 167, i do begin to panic.

Got to blame something, right? Per your well written post, I am blaming the vaping, when in reality, it's probably caused by projecting my fears.

Vicious circle.

 

[d4rk3]

Muscle twitching eh? Xanax made/makes my muscles twitch. Haven't taken it in over 5 months and I STILL have PWS.

I can almost guarantee the Zoloft did this to you, the nicotine just set it off. I'm not a doctor but I'm atleast 95% on this due to my experiences from drugs.

 

[m1273c]

M1273C Drinking and smoking are indeed forms of drug abuse and do things to your body you have no control over. Both can lead to addiction. It's a continuum from hot chocolate to ....... Drugs aren't good or bad in of themselves, it's addictive behavior that gets us into trouble. Just sayin' It could also be food or shopping.

I'm sorry if I insinuated otherwise. When I made the "do things to your body" statement, what I meant was the level of "highness", and the relative amounts it takes to get there, when embibing. I had not had alcohol for 3 months prior to drinking on my birthday and I mentioned it due to it's reaction with the antidepressant in my system.

I hope my post didn't offend or influence anyone into becoming addicted to anything.

 

[robertpri]

I hope my post didn't offend or influence anyone into becoming addicted to anything.

I am certain you did not offend anyone. And since most everyone on this forum used to smoke cigarettes [or hopes to stop] we all know about addiction.

Looking back, I can now see a history of my own 'addictive personality' which is probably another thread. I have recently read about 'addictive genes' which might explain it--not excuse it--just explain it.

Anyway, I am soooooooo glad for E-cigs! I am quite okay with nic addiction, but getting it this way is wonderfully better and safer all around.

 

[peanutbutter]

Wow, I had almost exactly the same problem. My boyfriend was researching it for me, stumbled across the thread and for the first few lines he wondered if I had posted it.

I don't have generalized anxiety order, but I do have bipolar disorder and have been "self medicating" for about 3 years now. At 18 I did what a lot of people do and stopped taking my medications, thinking I was "all better," it wasn't until much later, that I realized my chain smoking like a chimney started at about the same time I stopped taking medications and I realized I wasn't cured, I'd just swapped it. By the time I figured it out, my health insurance was gone, I still don't have insurance and can't afford meds but was really sick of smoking and then I heard about ecigs. I thought it'd be the solution to all my problems and I did well the first couple weeks, weaning off, I just had my morning cigarette, a couple here and there, one before bed and I vaped the rest of the day, before that I was 1/2 a pack-a pack a day. Then I decided I was ready to take the jump and when I went to visit my relatives across the country, I didn't take the analogs. I woke up on christmas morning (about 2 days traditional cig-free) and FREAKED OUT into some sort of mini psychotic break. I was shaking, panicked, and extremely paranoid, I was convinced my boyfriend and family members were all "against" me, and I kept sobbing uncontrollably, it was really embarassing. The roads were too icy to go to the store so then I was all determined to walk 40 minutes to the store in the snow just to get my cigarettes, I was talked out of it, and ended up locking myself in the guest bedroom until it was ok to drive, just waiting for my fix. The ecigs weren't helping at all it was as if I had had no nicotine in my system at all. It's hard to describe the feeling, I was actually convinced I had developed anxiety disorder because I started having panic attacks about a year and a half ago, but I finally got into the county clinic for a free eval a couple months ago and they explained it's more likely that it's just because of the bipolar disorder.. kinda like this: a trigger (like stopping smoking) sets me into mania mode -> extreme mania mode turns into a panic attack. I'm not sure how close to a true panic attack it is, it's more like my head is foggy and there's like static and I'm super irrational. Anyway I won't see a psychiatrist to get meds for another half a month so I think I'm going to wait until then to completely stop. I was on wellbutrin (the drug also used to stop smoking) as one of my meds before to control my disorder. It's upsetting to me because it's hard for others to understand, and I know it just sounds as if I keep making excuses but I've got 2 months until I graduate (I'm also going into psychiatric nursing) and I just can't risk a manic episode right now.

Oh and with the withdrawal thing. The thing is when I don't have a cigarette for at least about 8 hours or so I still get that head rush, but when I finally got my cigarette that morning it calmed me down immediately but there wasn't really a head rush so I think the ecig was delivering nicotine but either it wasn't enough or it wasn't giving me what I need or I had too much external stress and the stress of breaking the habit set me off? I'm not really sure, all I know is I'm going to wait until I can get some medications to quit safely.

I've found some interesting statistics here and there. Some sources say about 90% of schizophrenics smoke, 70-80% of bipolars, about 60% of people with major depression and just under 60% of people with generalized anxiety disorder smoke. Not sure how reliable those numbers are or who paid for the study but it does seem like there's a real correlation there.

I was super relieved when I read your post at least I know I'm not alone.

**and just so I don't make anyone mad when I say "wait to get medications to quit smoking safely" I'm just talking about my specific situation I know lots of people can do it without medications and just with vaping but for people with existing mental illnesses it's sometimes not safe to do so without a doctor's supervision.

 

[robertpri]

I was super relieved when I read your post at least I know I'm not alone.

**and just so I don't make anyone mad when I say "wait to get medications to quit smoking safely" I'm just talking about my specific situation I know lots of people can do it without medications and just with vaping but for people with existing mental illnesses it's sometimes not safe to do so without a doctor's supervision.

peanutbutter, I am not certain what post you meant, but you are certainly not alone. Smoking, quitting smoking, smoking, quitting, starting, etc., we have all been down the road. I wish you the best of luck, and keep posting.

Believe it or not, it does help a bit, letting it all out.

bob