Nicotine begginer

Hello! I’ve just registered on the forums, however I’d been an avid reader for a while.

I’m diagnosed sz (male, 23 years old) who is really bothered at his negative and cognitive symptoms - such as anhedonia, flat affect and disorganized thought/speech patterns. I believe I would be able to achieve much more if I could got rid of them.

On my profession (I’m a doctor), you’d better not to have intermitent, poor attention. I believe the patient always deserves the best of me. Lately, I’ve been afraid of the worsening of this condition to the point that I wont recognize faulty reasoning so that I act it out and miss a diagnosis or, even worse, misdiagnose.

So, I’m betting on nicotine to help me with this. Did nicotine use improve negative symptoms for you? Does anyone has experience on more than onde different mode of nic administration - cigs, vaporization, gum, patches? Were all of them somewhat equivalent? Please share your experiences!

I’m passionate about my profession and I find it really meaningful. I feel my symptoms somehow threaten it, what upsets me and gets me uncomfortable. I hope that nicotine will help.

Well, we have a couple nurses on here. I’ve heard that nicotine relieves symptoms, but it’s addictive so I wouldn’t touch it. How did you become a doctor at such a young age?

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I was thinking the same thing when I read it. Young Doctor

You would be a fool to start nicotine.

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Young Doctor Malone

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Nicotine gum makes me slightly more relaxed. Negative + cognitive symptoms not affected. Plus it’s an addiction that is hard to beat.

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Welcome to the forum.

I use snus. A swedish type of wet snuff you put under your lip. It makes me calm. Not noticed any differance in memory or attention span. My short term memory is catastrophic.

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I got approved on admission exams to Medical School when I as 17 so I could start college when I as pretty young.

Here in Brazil it’s harder to pass on admission exams but I could get my MD earlier than if I had studied on America. But, sometimes I just wanted to look older, as I fear that my former classmates (who are older), to some people, may look more knowleadgeble/trustworthy than I do. -.-

OK thanks…

"Patients with schizophrenia have worse executive function than controls. Compromised cholinergic pathways appear to worsen the executive dysfunction observed in schizophrenia. If these preliminary findings are replicated, they could lead to the identification of a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia who could specifically benefit from interventions enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission. " As found on:

Probably the dz doesn’t play the same for all of us, but I believe I am part of this subset of sz patients so that I would benefit from stimulating nicotinic receptors. However, as Big pharma probably wont be releasing alfa4beta2 nicotinic agonists soon, Nicotine is pretty much what we’re left with :-\

You sound delusional. It is ridiculous to assume that nicotine is going to do anything but get you addicted. Think for one second, what of all the schizophrenic smokers who suffer negative symptoms? The world is full of them. It does not help negative symptoms.

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You should see a PsyD, and eat some Choline rich foods

I agree with you, Malvok. A person would have to be a fool to deliberately start an addiction to nicotine.

The only reason nicotine will help you pay attention is because if youcre addicted to it you can’t pay attention unless you’ve just had some. Then as time passes you go all squirelly and fidgety waiting for more. It is a bad idea.

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I went on line and found a bunch of studies that showed nicotine was beneficial to schizophrenics. The majority of the studies were funded by a major tobacco company.

I’m happy I don’t use any nicotine. I was a slave to it for too long!

Jayster

PS Hey, I like Provigil!

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I agree. Once you’re hooked you’re hooked. It can be very hard to stop. And it’s hard to start because of nicotine poisoning. Nausea, shaking, vomiting.

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I smoke hookah on a regular basis. It helps some. About the only legal thing that does.

Instead of nicotine why don’t you try nicotinic acid

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I’ve used an e-cigarette a few times since being diagnosed and it didn’t help much with the negative symptoms. It made me feel a bit relaxed and relieved if I was feeling anxious but it also made me feel like the positive symptoms were acting up a little bit. I don’t think it’s worth risking addiction on the off chance it will improve your negative symptoms. You’re better off trying supplements that have been shown to help like pregnenolone.

What helped me the most, though, is getting on the right medication for me. When I was on 2 - 4mg of risperdal I had absolutely no motivation and the negative symptoms were really bad. I would spend a lot of my days just laying in bed and being content if I was lucky enough to build up the motivation just to watch TV. Eventually I developed akathisia from risperdal and had to go to the ER where they put me on 1mg cogentin twice a day and 5mg zyprexa at bed time. Ever since I switched to zyprexa my negative symptoms have gotten much better. Now my motivation practically feels like it did pre-diagnosis a lot of the time. I also take 50mg pregnenolone, 15mg dexedrine, and 20mg prozac to combat the negative symptoms but what really helped the most of all things was getting on the right antipsychotic. I no longer feel like a walking skeleton ever since I made the switch.

I hope everything works out for you and you find the answer to dealing with your negative symptoms. The negative symptoms can really be brutal, even worse than the positive ones at times I think.

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