Paws from nicotine?

[Makelele86]

I quit smoking in mid-February. First I did not have any symptoms. But after 5 weeks the symptoms hit me bad.

I had palpitation, mouth burn, tremor, muscle pain and spams, difficulty to breath, blurry vision, panic attacks, but I think that it was caused by my fear of something bad illness.

I feared ALS, MS and everything equally bad. I went to see all kinds of doctors and nothing was discovered. Even my heart was scanned and it was perfectly fine.

Can this be paws? Have you experienced something like this?

Sorry my English, I am from Finland. And one reason why I am here that I can not find information or fellow comrades in finnish and from Finland..

[Makelele86]

And I smoked almost 20 years. I started smoking at the age of 16..

[HDog455]

I quit smoking in mid-February. First I did not have any symptoms. But after 5 weeks the symptoms hit me bad.

I had palpitation, mouth burn, tremor, muscle pain and spams, difficulty to breath, blurry vision, panic attacks, but I think that it was caused by my fear of something bad illness.

I feared ALS, MS and everything equally bad. I went to see all kinds of doctors and nothing was discovered. Even my heart was scanned and it was perfectly fine.

Can this be paws? Have you experienced something like this?

Sorry my English, I am from Finland. And one reason why I am here that I can not find information or fellow comrades in finnish and from Finland..

Nicotine is very physically addictive so the physical symptoms you experienced would have been due to your body reacting to no longer being supplied with nicotine. The panic attacks were no doubt caused by your fear that you had contracted a serious health-related condition or disease.

In any case, I congratulate you for staying off the nicotine for almost a year - that is a massive achievement and I bet you are feeling a lot better these days for having quit your addiction. It doesn't matter whether or not your experience could be defined as PAWS - the main thing is that you are now free and clear and living a much more healthy life.

[Makelele86]

Almost a year, when I understood that I am having paws, I was scared and angry. Since then, there has been no desire to smoke.

Yes. I am feeling much better now. I still have some of the symptoms, which come and go. Nothing permanent.

But I still have fear and stress, when the symptoms hit. I really think that stress is making the symptoms worse. Fear is present almost all the time.

[tokeless]

Almost a year, when I understood that I am having paws, I was scared and angry. Since then, there has been no desire to smoke.

Yes. I am feeling much better now. I still have some of the symptoms, which come and go. Nothing permanent.

But I still have fear and stress, when the symptoms hit. I really think that stress is making the symptoms worse. Fear is present almost all the time.

The one symptom that is present in all the PAWS posts is anxiety... that should tell you a lot. If you think you've damaged yourself by smoking, even after you've stopped, it's easy for the symptoms of anxiety, eg heart racing, can't sleep, focus, concentrate.... the list is extensive. This becomes a loop that creates more anxiety, thus more symptoms. When a doctor tells you there's nothing wrong with you it is the doctor who doesn't understand or know anything about addiction because you believe your symptoms (anxiety) over the advice. There are plenty of posters who will confirm your bias on here.

[Makelele86]

The one symptom that is present in all the PAWS posts is anxiety... that should tell you a lot. If you think you've damaged yourself by smoking, even after you've stopped, it's easy for the symptoms of anxiety, eg heart racing, can't sleep, focus, concentrate.... the list is extensive. This becomes a loop that creates more anxiety, thus more symptoms. When a doctor tells you there's nothing wrong with you it is the doctor who doesn't understand or know anything about addiction because you believe your symptoms (anxiety) over the advice. There are plenty of posters who will confirm your bias on here.

Yes, this forum has been the life saviour. Here are a lot of discussion about paws from weed and stuff like that, but not much from nicotine. I did not know that this could be even possible. Yes, I was poisoning myself for a long time, but I have never used drugs. I thought that only drugs and alcohol can cause this.

It’s fun to see how doctors know nothing about this topic. I went to see a neurologist too and she had no clue what I was saying. After all, health care here is in great level and mostly free..

Now I go to the gym and leave the anxiety there for a moment.

[tokeless]

Nicotine is a very powerful drug with a withdrawal syndrome. However, smoking is also a behaviour that attaches itself to how we feel and plays a huge part in how we perceive stress or anxiety. When I smoked, if I was under stress or angry, I would reach for a joint which contained tobacco and guess what? It made me feel calmer even though the stress was still there... now, it's easy to see why when we stop doing that we get anxiety... it was our coping strategy. Quitting an addiction is scary, even in the contemplation stage when we haven't actually stopped yet. What will I do when xyz happens? What if I can't cope? Etc etc.... the answer is you will. Anxiety is a state of mind and can be managed if you accept it exists, accept it is temporary and can be overcome.