Source
r/ADHD•
tinywayne

Methods for diminishing nicotine cravings on adderall? Nicotine patches specifically, but general experiences and ideas welcome.

Adderall makes me crave nicotine (duh).

I’m a former light smoker, and hated smoking at work so I would go a full day craving a cigarette so badly that it was messing with my focus.

I switched to the juul about 2 years ago with the idea that it would help me get through a work day and not be dying to get out and drive home so I could smoke a cig. And it did help, but then it became a pretty powerful and expensive addiction (Which I want to stop).

I stopped my meds for about 4 months and was able to make it through a day without any nicotine consumption. But my work output and focus went to shit so I’m back on meds now.

Again, on meds the cravings are strong. I’m not necessarily going through withdrawal of nicotine (maybe I am though?) but I still just want to get rid of that little nagging feeling of needing nicotine.

I started with nicotine patches last Monday at the lowest dose of 7mg but by weds I was doing two patches. Now I’m on 14mg and I think it helps.

Wondering if anyone here has successfully used patches long term as an alternative to smoking or vaping when they’re on their meds. Or any other ideas or experiences people have with nicotine and ADHD meds.

Posted Mar 26, 2020, 2:33 PM UTC

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botrocket•

I have been having a lot of issue with this myself, I was on Wellbutrin which helped a lot with smoking cessation but I had to stop taking it cause it gave me some truly awful memory problems.

I hope you can sort this out, good luck friend

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Justcouldnthlpmyslf•

The first time that I quit, I bought a big bag of Dum Dum pops and every time that I had a craving, I would have a Dum Dum instead. I know that it sounds stupid, but because anytime I had gotten a Dum Dum up until that point it had been randomly at a bank or hair salon or whatever, I associated them as an unexpected happy. So if there's something small that makes you do an involuntary wiggle like you're an excited puppy, maybe you can use that as a substitution/reward. I actually managed to quit for about three years after doing this.

Alternatively, you could try switching from a Juul to a vape with a tank. I worked my way from 6mg down to 3mg by mixing juice of both strengths and adjusting my ratio slowly. Eventually, I want to work my way down to 0mg and quit vaping altogether, but I'm not there yet. Please understand that I'm typing this comment with one hand because my vape is in the other, so take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

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Flaky-Guarantee•

I've found champex to work well, but it's not for everyone. I haven't experienced any of the common side effects.

Chew on cinnamon sticks, the real ones. But whatever you try, you need to drop the vape, it is reinforcing the habit of suck yay! That you are trying to break.

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bobeta•

I chew nicotine gum all day at work. It’s actually fantastic gum.

Also, you can chart my nicotine usage to when I’ve been medicated almost to the day. I started back on Vyvanse after five years and within four hours had bought my first pack of smokes in...five years. Glad vaping has come along since then.

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