ADDicti0ns cancelled by treatment...yes WAY!

[symbol]

something i noticed immediately the day i started medication last week, i didnt want a cigarette as much or even at all on the second day of chemical therapy or whatever it is called. By the third day i only bought a pack because i was visiting a friend who smokes so i wouldnt have to ask her for one if i suddeny got a craving. That pkt lasted two days, normally its one pkt a day. How does this ADD make me want to destroy my body with bad things? How lovely that the medication makes smoking less enjoyable, and a lot less. If this upward curve of wellbeing continues i think i will ditch all my old friends and trade them in for new fresher smelling ones along with the habit. Yeah, i guess my sensitive compassionate self hasnt emerged yet but its only a week tomorrow.

[Alex]

I'm a non-smoker, and I'm still in the period between diagnosis and prescription, so I can't really say anything about how meds help from personal experience. But I have read that a lot of AD/HDers, when untreated, crave stimulants like nicotine and caffeine (and probably others, but those are the two easy and legal ones). I know I've got a horrible caffeine compulsion I've had for years and years now. In your case, you probably were craving the cigarettes as much for the nicotine stimulant as for any other reason, though cigarettes also provide something to fiddle with for us AD/HDers who just need to fidget. So, with ADD meds, your desires are already being met, and therefore your craving for cigs goes down.

I almost became a smoker, and only avoided it because I kept reminding myself how much money I'd drop and how unhealthy it was. Caffeine's been much harder to rationalize avoiding though; a buck for a can of pop, and the "why not?" factor of going to fast food places or the movies, where you're getting a drink anyway. Hopefully if I get meds (not sure if I really want them, but if I'm told to I'll take em), it'll help me kick that habit.

[Andrew]

Symbol,

I wonder if the med you started could have been Wellbutrin? Wellbutrin has been used for smoking cessation treatments in the past. I imagine some other meds might work like that as well.

[Ian]

It's not all easy but there are definitely some perks that I've waited most of my life to experience. You sound like you have found one for yourself.

I had quit smoking several years ago. It just fell away somehow after years of trying to quit.

My non destructive moment of note this week has been about food. I am quite tied up in comfort eating. I'm not large but I sap my energy and strength out of use via the consumption of carbs and generally too much of everything.

This week-end I've turned my nose up at food that wasn't appealing choosing to wait until good food can be found. I've skipped two meals this week-end and I feel so much better off for it. Things are changing and I love the changes.

I didn't have quite the quick notification of those particular effects that you describe when going on meds but there have been some very strong effects. So many of them are positive. This self care stuff has me so excited I'm giddy with it.

Cheers! Ian.

[symbol]

no wellbutrin for me! i tried that a couple of years ago, i lost my credit card...forgot to go to work...wondered why i had no bread (i normally grab a loaf before i leave work)..went into work to buy some and then my boss asked me what happened to me that morning. Cue a moment of panic as i wondered what had happened...had i been in an accident? were my kids ok? I started to sweat...something must have happened cos he was asking me but what? I stared at him trying to hide my rising fear and said 'i dont know..why?' and he said..'you were supposed to come to work this morning'...hmmmm did i feel like an idiot. The medication i am on for the past week is dexamphetamine..first thing that has ever worked. what a relief.

[Yeah]

When I stopped smoking after 14 years, I noticed that my brain stopped. I was much calmer, but I couldn't think straight at all.
I also noticed that I ate more, mostly pasta and other high energy things, and I drank more.
The funny thing was, that I didn't feel like smoking. Reading "The easy way" from Allan Carr for about 20 times in a couple of days before I quit helped here greatly.
So that was a strange thing. I really wasn't looking to smoke, but I needed to drink more to settle down and eat more and drink more coffee to be able to do anything.
I also know that since years I am dancing, knowingly, on that border where alcohol becomes a problem... But why?
And then I heared about ADHD and it's link to substance abuse. I know that I was hyper in school, and that I am impulsive and alsways have been. Plus all but one or 2 other things from the DSM-IV list.
So yes, smoking does give you some kicks imo that let you think straighter. It makes perfect sense that you feel less like smoking when you're on meds.
Pick up a copy of "The easy way" and read it until it has really sunken in. Maybe you can let go of the smokes now.

[paulbf]

Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking



http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books