Posted by Else on July 21, 2001, at 6:08:58
In reply to Re: Quitting smoking and the use of psychofarmacons » Ivan Toledo, posted by Jane D on July 20, 2001, at 23:16:37
I have never read about Zyban being contra-indicated in schizophrenia. If Zyban was dangeous, cigarettes would be too since they inhibit monoamine oxidase to some extent. I may be wrong of course but I did know this schizephrenic guy at the hospital who was on Zyban and had no problems with it as long as he took his meds. Have you asked your doctor? Quitting smoking was horrendous for me. It made me deeply depressed and caused bizarre symptoms I'd never had before like derealization. I was in a fog the whole time and my reaction time was slowed, I felt like my IQ had dropped thirty points. I might have gotten hit by a truck if it hadn't been for Zyban. Of course, there's also patches. I tried them. They worked but they never made my craving go away completely the way Zyban did and I started smoking again a few months later. Now I haven't smoked a cigarette in over two years.
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Herewith I'd like to post a few questions my doctor didn't know the answer to.
> >
> > Since 1996 I've been using an antidepressant (Seroxat, which consists of paroxetine), and an anti-psychosis farmacon (Melleril, which is thioridiazine) for controlling both my Borderline disorder and my depression. Next to using these, I've been smoking along with it (about a package a day). Now I want to quit smoking, and I've been almost free of smoking for two weeks now. That goes well, I don't long for cigarettes that much, but I do notice a severe change in my mental state that resembles the way I feel when I'm not using the proper amount of medication: I feel wobbly and dizzy, I'm mentally very unstable, with severe mood swings, I'm loosing grip on reality, en I'm getting depressed again – it feels I'm on the verge of a new psychosis.
> > Of course I'm very worried about this – and about how this will continue - , and I've searched the Internet for a relationship between smoking and the use of these meds. I found that the excretion of thioridazine is affected by smoking, and that a farmacon that is used to help smokers quit (Zyban) is in fact an antidepressant which could harm e.g. people with schizofrenia.
> > My questions: could quitting smoking indeed have that much influence on my medication that I'm at risk for having a relapse? If so, how should the dosage be adjusted? And could I also prevent these effects by using nicotine chewing gum?
> >
> > Thank you so much in advance for a reaction!
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Ivan
>
> Ivan -
> Quitting smoking does cause relapses of depression in many people. I don't think it is only because it interacts with your medication. Smoking directly affects dopamine levels in the brain and probably other neurotransmitters also. The nicotine is what does this so using nicotine gum should help. Nicotine itself has health problems but nothing as bad as what smoking does to your lungs. Still, it might be better to try to adjust the dosages of your medications instead.
>
> I'll see if I can find references and more details on this. If I find them I'll post them in the next couple of days. Or maybe someone else here will know more.
>
> I quit a couple of years ago and could not have done it without Zyban and Prozac and nicotine gum. Good luck!
>
> Jane
poster:Else
thread:71026
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010720/msgs/71175.html