Question:
Is it common to experience intense periods of depression when giving
up smoking? I stopped two weeks ago, and have been experiencing
unbearable episodes of depression like clockwork almost every evening.
Please tell me this is temporary!
Answer:
Depression and anxiety are almost unbearable. This for me was the very
worst part about quitting smoking. Chronic Depression is a very common quit symptom. I also struggled with this in my
quit attempts and it was sheer hell at times.
I'm happy to report that at this point, I am doing quite well despite having a
history of depression in the past, pre-quit. I'm not using any meds, but I do
take St. John's Wort when I'm starting to feel a downward turn, and this seems
to be enough for me. If it weren't enough, I would not hesitate to seek
medical help. Talk to a doc and express your
concerns. No one needs to live with depression anymore; it is a symptom of an
imbalanced brain chemistry and just like any other ailment it can be
effectively treated. When you quit, your brain goes through some changes on
its way back to "normal" and this is the catalyst for this quit related
depression. It does not necessarily signal a return to major depressive
episodes, but there is a still a good deal of validity to
some of us using nicotine to self-medicate.
Getting treatment now will help you to stablilize during the quit. You may or
may not need to continue taking meds down the road. You can address that
later, if need be. The important thing is to see a doc about what you're going
through right now.
Above all, I would not worry too much; I went through some major depressive
episodes due to quitting but came out just fine. It doesn't necessarily
preclude a recurrence of the same kind of major depression you had earlier.
