Posted by MARKED on January 20, 2004, at 4:35:52
In reply to Re: Giving up cigarettes and effect on meds, posted by ann72 on January 18, 2004, at 12:15:24
The nicotine in smoking has been related to affecting of mono-amine B in the brain, reducing it by up to 40%. Thus, smoking actually causes that calming affect. Anti-depressants (not sure which one you're on) acts to stimulate particular chemical levels by usually depleting them first. So what you may be doing by quitting while on medication is decreasing the actual prescribed level of anti-depressant you were on to begine with that your body/brain became familiar with.
The best thing to do (most psychdocs I know of will not agree for their patients to quite smoking while starting medication, or rather not until they feel 60-80% better). Also re-evaluating your medication dosage would be the best way to see if the decrease in nicotine (and other chemicals in cigarettes) has had that effect on your anti-depressants, or what you were used to previously.
> hi, I tried quitting and went into major depression. (crying everyday) it seemed like my anti-dep just died once i stopped smoking....pdoc had no clue why. I am smoking again....good luck to you though
>
> Ann
poster:MARKED
thread:301925
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040118/msgs/303092.html