How to quit smoking if you have ADHD?

Hey Bryan! I feel your pain! Letting go Addictions is particularly hard for ADDERs because we are know to have “ADDictive personalities.” Our addictions are very psychological…just as we get distracted and “driven” by inner urges, all we need is to see someone smoking or smell smoke and our brain will be activated. Then we hyperfocus on our addiction. I have quit many addictions, and smoking was so hard for me until they banned smoking here in NJ. Now I can go into public places again. Here is my story of how I quit addictions.
http://blog.neatandsimple.com/2008/10/on-self-discipl.html

First tip: Don’t focus on quitting smoling. Choose an alternate activity and focus on doing that. Try to never use the word smoking or it will trigger you.

If you would like more help with this, let me know…I’d be happy to coach you through it!

Hi Ariane,

Actually, I read your blog post some time ago and found it helpful. Sugar, Gluten and dairy products I have for the most part quit with less stress. I feel much better for it too, but I fear I have lost too much weight, so I have modified a bit. Cheese is the worst for me because I have noticed it affects my mood in a negative manner… it’s weird how other dairy products do not affect my mood as dramatically as cheese? Guess I am not a mouse!

Bryan,

I tried to quit about a year ago – I think I made it through about a day before I gave up. I feel exactly the same way you do – I enjoy smoking! But I know how harmful it is for my health. That attempt was before my diagnosis, and I’ve been thinking about trying to quit again.

I’ve been thinking about asking my doctor about the possibility of increasing my medication dosage to try to counteract the loss of stimulant from the cigarettes. I figure, nicotine is a stimulant – obviously my body is used to whatever amount of stim I get from smoking. I think the problems I had when I tried to quit were more related to losing the stim effect, if that makes sense. So I’m thinking that if I up my medication dose (under the guidance of my doctor, of course), that might help me to deal with the symptoms of quitting.

I’m definitely going to keep checking this post, and see if others have any good advice!! And of course, if I actually go through with a quit attempt, I’ll let you know how it goes!! Great topic as always, Bryan!

Not to get off topic, but to correct what I wrote to Gord about alcaholic drinks. I have been known to drink a few beers in my time and it was usually due to peer pressure. I don’t fall for peer pressure nowadays, but there was a time! Anyway, didn’t want to make it seem like I have never ever touched a drink. I just prefer not to cause the taste is dreadful!

How I quit smoking after 21 yrs:

I was in the hospital for five days on morphine, so it was pretty much a no-brainer to let the Nurses deal with my detox rather than my roomates.

After I got home, I had to mourn the cigarettes like dear dead friends. Those friends hated me, yes. But until I gave them the respect they deserved for how much I depended on them, I was not fully able to put them behind me and move on. It took about a year before the cravings stopped.

There is no shame in needing a coping mechanism; calling them “dirty” serves only to send you back to a place where you need them again. You loved them; they rocked; now it’s time to move on.

Patches and gum really worked for me if I wanted to stay addicted to nicotine without any of the sensory pleasures/rudeness.

Yes, I remember feeling more focused after smoking. It also gave me something to fiddle with. Pot does that too (look at contradictory effects of meds on ADHD). While research shows it’s use is slightly less likely to lead to lung cancer than no smoking at all, I’m not sure about studies regarding it’s use in quitting Nicotine–Although I have seen things written about using it to quit opiate and alcohol addiction. Interesting times.

If nothing else, remember that there’s nothing like kissing with fresh lungs. Mmmm. So worth it.

P.S. Drinking hot herbal tea with a mentholated cough drop in your mouth helps soothe the craving for taking a break where you sit and do something that stimulates your lungs. Helped me get over that bedtime ciggie. I like Riccolas sugarless the best.

I used to love smoking. I was up to 1 1/2 packs per day before quitting. But I lost all pride in myself; I would ask strangers for cigarettes and even picked through my ashtrays for butts to smoke! I said, enough degrading myself, and smoking also ages a person tremendously, for those women who need a good reason to quit–so their skin won’t look like tanned leather. The way I quit the first time was when a friend told me I may as go and slit my wrists if I continued smoked, because it’s slow suicide, so I imagined blood pouring from my cut wrists every time I lit up. That was in 1983. I started again in 2001 when my father and best friend died. How did I quit that time? By praying to God for help. That’s what did it! Honestly. I’d become a Christian, and He took the desire away from me. I tried smoking one to see what it was like, and it nearly made me sick! It tasted foul. So I’d strongly suggest turning to God for help with this. Also, try swimming–I guarantee you won’t want to smoke after swimming. I also chewed gum. And exercising also helps. I’ve never tried the patch or nicotine gum. So that’s my advice–put God first in all things.
With best wishes,
Melinda

I soooo hear you! I love smoking! I love cigarettes! I miss them so much sometimes. I quit nearly 3 years ago (wow! I can’t believe it!) and I wish I could give you some insight into how I did it, but I can’t.

My husband (non-ADD) and I both smoked. I loved being able to get away from my desk when I was at work and think for a few minutes away from the noise of the office. I tried many, many times to quit, not because I wanted to (I never really wanted to) but because of “peer pressure” if you will. If someone told me about the dangers of smoking, the health benefits of quitting, and other mother-earth, health-freak mumbo jumbo, I had an intense urge to light up and blow a huge cloud of smoke into their face (you know as a “f** you” kind of gesture)!

I was on the verge of quitting and somehow, one day the stars just aligned and I stopped buying them. I had been taking Wellbutrin (aka Zyban) and maybe that had a little to do with it, but I’d been on it before with no such effect. As it turned out, my husband was going to be out of town quite a bit in the upcoming weeks so it was easier to not smoke without him there (he hadn’t quit yet). I had to also use nic patches to tame down the hate/tear/destroy feeling I had towards humankind.

It was tough. First of all, I didn’t know I had ADD then (I was diagnosed about 6 months ago). I’m telling you what I experienced because I had no idea what to expect.

The first day, not so bad. The second day, craving a bit more, the 3rd day, I had panic attacks. My body/brain wasn’t used to not smoking anymore. I just had to push through the first 3 weeks before there were signs of hope. Be prepared for the brain fog to set in pretty thick. I couldn’t think clearly for weeks, in fact, I didn’t regain the clarity I had when smoking until I started Adderall. I wanted to eat and eat and eat. Carbs mostly. I saw drinking mentioned, my husband (finally quit smoking a few weeks after me) and I were drinking amazing amounts of alcohol and as a result gained 40 pounds each. I’ve just lost 5, but that’s more a result of the fish oil capsules I started taking a month ago.

Thinking back, once I started on Adderall, I finally stopped thinking of cigarettes on a daily basis. Seriously, for 2.5 years, not a day went by that I didn’t think of swinging by the store to grab a pack.

Honestly, the only thing I like about not smoking is that air travel is a lot easier because all the airports are getting rid of their smoking areas. My endurance did not go up, I did not feel healthier, and now I don’t have an excuse to walk away from whatever I’m doing for a moment to have a smoke. I even regret that restaurants have gotten rid of smoking areas, because before, no one wanted their kids to be exposed to cigarette smoke (god forbid!!). Now we have to sit with the crying babies and whiny children like everyone else…

Anyway, I don’t know if this helps or hurts, but I’m just sharing my experiences and opinions. Because we’re ADD, the best time I can figure to quit is when you know you are going to be able to have a long(-ish) period of time that won’t be stressful. That’s all I have to say about that!

Sorry so long! Good luck.

I completely hear you Tim. I’m quitting now, it’s my 7th day. I love love smoking, and it used to keep me so calm and control my hyperactivity. Now, I just feel like I’m pushing my boyfriend away, he says he understands and that it will get better, but I’m sure he won’t be able to take it for long. I wouldn’t. I look crazy, I’m getting completely depressed, lots of supressed emotions are rising to the surface and I feel completely out of control.

Although every day, I think of something I thought I wouldn’t have. I’m not going back to cigs, I don’t even want to. Of course I get the cravings, but when I see the damage I did to myself over the past 8 years, especially now that I’m experiencing the cold symptoms (cough, lungs clearing tar, excessive mucus), I don’t want to go back to hurting myself.

I’m proud of who I am, what I’m putting myself through. I am finally facing my problems, without running to nicotine for help.