Has anyone here quit with mental health issues? Does mh affect how you use tobacco and the experience of quitting?
I have pretty bad ocd, ptsd and GAD.
I have tried to quit so many times before I was diagnosed, and I feel my issues made it a bit harder.
I use nicotine replacement, specifically the patch. Sometimes I would put it on and forget i was ever a smoker and live my life.
Other times I would put on a patch and smoking would be the only thing I could think about. I now think that it was just my obsessive brain obsessing.
When I have quit before (3 months is my longest), I have mostly relapsed when faced with some major stress. Now that I am diagnosed, I can see that it might be a ptsd response, and smoking is a default coping mechanism.
I am on medication now, for both conditions. Meds and therapy are helping my nervous system calm down, so my stress responses are not as intense.
I am not making excuses for the present or future. I am just looking at the past and realizing that my MH has affected my quitting experience. Now I can prepare better and hopefully be more successful.
Realizing this made me wonder about other people’s experiences. What is your experience quitting with MH issues? How did MH impact your use and quitting?