My oldest kid has been participating in a longitudinal study about tobacco for several years now. A staff person comes to our house (or does it over the phone during the pandemic) and asks me a few questions and then asks my child many more questions and then they take a urine test.
Most of the questions relate to attitudes or experiences regarding different types of tobacco. They ask no mental health questions EXCEPT “has a dr diagnosed you with psychosis or schizophrenia?”. (Our staff person was shocked when the answer was yes the first time. She’s supposed to remain neutral and always had, but she broke a little and even read the question a second time in case we hadn’t heard correctly.)
But, I recall learning in high school that people with schizophrenia were significantly more likely than the general population to smoke.
I was just wondering if you had heard this or if you smoke?
I do smoke, yes. I have quit three times in the past, but life seems to conspire to drag you backwards with stress. The next thing you know I’m smoking again
I think it’s because my nerves are fried, and nicotine seems to settle them. Not healthy no, but the way that it is for me right now
Me too, I can’t afford to buy packs of cigarettes. So I buy 200g of tobacco each week. Because I saved up for two weeks I bought a 200g can and a container with 280g. I want to check out if the biggest container really can last for two weeks. But I’m in doubt of that.
I read some articles about it online. I was never a smoker besides of some cannabis before I got psychosis. I remember just dragging once on a cigarette when I was 17. Now I’m fully addicted and into it.
I have seen smoking around me in the house but that never triggered something in me. They offered me cigarettes but I neglected it. Once I saw a movie in the tv where an old guy was smoking, and then I got an urge and stood up from bed and have gone to the grocerie store to buy my first pack and some lighters. I can’t explain it, the urge was really hard, now I’m dependent on cigarettes to feel good.
I do get it. I smoked almost 20 years ago (2 packs a day for a year), then went cold Turkey off of them and haven’t touched one since. For some reason lately, I’ve been wanting to smoke. I’ve held off so far. My husband wouldn’t be a fan. And my kids would definitely give me ■■■■.
I’ve been thinking about getting this essential oil smoker thing. It’s meant to help smokers quit. It’s basically a bamboo straw shaped nicely and you put little pieces of cotton with essential oils inside (they have some that taste more like tobacco, I guess, and some that don’t).
I’m glad you said that about having a strong urge out of nowhere, because I do feel that, but not sure why that would be.