Snus and anxiety medication interactions?

[esfoster5]

I used to be a member of this forum years ago when I switched from smoking to snus, back when it could be ordered online really cheap. Once the price skyrocketed, I went back to smoking because it was just too expensive paying the UPS charges, and then I quit tobacco entirely a year ago.

A couple weeks ago I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and given a script for Xanax. Since it still makes me a bit loopy, I just deal with the anxiety when I have to drive somewhere.

Tonight on the way home, I was tired, anxious and just completely out of my mind, so I stopped to get a can of Monster and a pack of General, because I realized I'd been using tobacco to cope with anxiety for the past 8 years and I needed something to calm me down, and I didn't want to risk getting addicted to cigarettes again.

My Google search seemed to say there shouldn't be any negative interaction between the nicotine and the Xanax, but I couldn't find anything about snus in particular.

Does anyone here have any experience on the topic? (I know there's still a lot of mental health stigma, so feel free to PM me if it's not something you want to discuss in public.)

[lxskllr]

I'd look at the Xanax documentation. Snus will be the same as cigarettes as far as interactions go. If the documentation doesn't mention anything, you may still notice some kind of interaction, but you'll have to decide whether it's acceptable or not.

[wa3zrm]

Monster, Xanax and Snus... interesting mix. I'd drop the Monster... don't think it would mix well with Xanax...JMO.

[Faylool]

So what you are saying is you quit smoking a year ago but you vape, correct? And finally you got diagnosed with anxiety since quitting smoking and you're using Xanax but still have anxiety so you wanted some snus after a year without it. But you vape. In fact you vape WTA juice so why would that be any different than snus ( or smoking except the health part) everybody is different how they react to things. If I were to take Xanax regularly I'd be depressed. Irritable in the morning until I took one then depressed, like sad. Whatever nicotine or the whole tobacco snussing ads to Xanax would be minor compared to the drug itself IMO and don't worry. If you can handle the Xanax your doing fine.
I would rather snus all day than take that class of drug BUT that's just me. I'm thankful snus helpse with my own anxiety. When I quit chewing Nicorette after ten years I went 3 months and I was extremely anxious. Jiggling in bed Really wound up. I simply started chewing Nicorette again, a LOT of it. It helped. But snus and WTA helped a whole lot better. I wonder if I had never smoked if I would have ever developed such anxiety?? Seriously. I'd use snus so I wouldn't be tempted to take extra Xanax so in my opinion its a good thing to do. Now drinking is of course a horrible thing to mix it with
Sorry you're having anxiety. It sucks. Glad you found a solution

[Faylool]

Scratch the vaping and WTA. I thought you were somebody else!!
But the rest works.

[esfoster5]

I'd look at the Xanax documentation. Snus will be the same as cigarettes as far as interactions go. If the documentation doesn't mention anything, you may still notice some kind of interaction, but you'll have to decide whether it's acceptable or not.

I'd looked it up on anxiety forums, medical forums, and drug abuse forums to see if I could find anything. There seems to be conflicting information as to whether nicotine can make the Xanax less effective (because one's a stimulant and the other's a depressant) or if it doesn't interact at all. I read post on one forum where someone said there physician had never even heard that there might be an interaction. Knowing the level of nicotine in the blood peaks differently between snus and a cigarette, I wasn't sure if there might be a difference steady flow of nicotine from snus and the sudden spike from a cigarette.

Monster, Xanax and Snus... interesting mix. I'd drop the Monster... don't think it would mix well with Xanax...JMO.

The Monster was just for a caffeine jolt because I was tired. I drink iced tea all day long most of the time and have never once felt caffeine withdrawal when I don't have it, so I doubt it even did anything. The one time in my life I felt any effect from caffeine was when I was young and dumb enough to drink three energy drinks in about 20 minutes to see what would happen--couple heart palpitations, but no effect on my energy level whatsoever.

[spinyeel]

Energy drinks should be put in the same category as cigarettes. Evil,nasty over hyped poison,making a lot of businessmen filthy rich,at the expense of peoples health. A good percentage of them children.

[Bigblue1]

I'd looked it up on anxiety forums, medical forums, and drug abuse forums to see if I could find anything. There seems to be conflicting information as to whether nicotine can make the Xanax less effective (because one's a stimulant and the other's a depressant) or if it doesn't interact at all. I read post on one forum where someone said there physician had never even heard that there might be an interaction. Knowing the level of nicotine in the blood peaks differently between snus and a cigarette, I wasn't sure if there might be a difference steady flow of nicotine from snus and the sudden spike from a cigarette.



The Monster was just for a caffeine jolt because I was tired. I drink iced tea all day long most of the time and have never once felt caffeine withdrawal when I don't have it, so I doubt it even did anything. The one time in my life I felt any effect from caffeine was when I was young and dumb enough to drink three energy drinks in about 20 minutes to see what would happen--couple heart palpitations, but no effect on my energy level whatsoever.

Hey man, Did you ever think the anxiety and jitteriness is from the amount of caffeine you consume? Just throwing that out there. If you were feeling out of your mind then self medicated with a caffeine Bomb with adjuncts, it sounds like you were "chasing the dragon" Seriously if your consuming mass quantities of caffeine when the levels drop they can seriously effect your system not unlike any other drug. Food for thought.....

[esfoster5]

Scratch the vaping and WTA. I thought you were somebody else!!
But the rest works.

Ha, I'm not even sure what vaping and WTA is. A quick search seems to be something along the lines of e-cigarettes, right? I've never tried anything like that, not even when my dad sent me out to buy him a particular brand of e-cigarette he wanted that was only for sale locally a few states away.

And yeah, I know, alcohol and benzos are a bad idea. I have a huge collection of mostly full bottles of high-end bourbon that's been sitting around for years because I don't drink more than once in a blue moon, and unless I'm drinking alone, the alcohol just makes my anxiety worse until I get to the point of totally wasted.

And you might be on to something with the anxiety being caused by smoking--my anxiety issues started my senior year of high school about the same time I took up smoking. I've lived a charmed life to be quiet honest, because I went from a straight A high school student (before I took up cigarettes) to failing out of college 5 times and never being able to hold a job for more than 3 days. If I didn't have such a supportive family, I don't know where I'd be right now.

The truth is, after I quit tobacco and before I started the Xanax, I couldn't even make a forum post or a blog comment because I had so much anxiety. I've even got a spreadsheet marking down every dose of Xanax I take just so I can keep track--I'm trying to be as responsible as possible because I know how dangerous benzo addiction can be.

Thanks for sharing your story and caring enough to offer so much advice.

[esfoster5]

Hey man, Did you ever think the anxiety and jitteriness is from the amount of caffeine you consume? Just throwing that out there. If you were feeling out of your mind then self medicated with a caffeine Bomb with adjuncts, it sounds like you were "chasing the dragon" Seriously if your consuming mass quantities of caffeine when the levels drop they can seriously effect your system not unlike any other drug. Food for thought.....

It's totally possible. But having so much anxiety that I'm a grown man entirely unable to support myself financially, I've lived back and forth between my parent's house, where my father has pitchers of tea constantly available, and my grandparents' house where my drink of choice of was bottled water. I never noticed a difference in my anxiety level due to caffeine or the lack thereof. I've always assumed by caffeine tolerance is just naturally high, because I remember a long night at a diner years ago with an ex-girlfriend where we each had cups of coffee coming constantly for at least five hours running--she was jittery as hell; I felt the same as always.

But I was also really strange with my smoking habit, too. You know how most smokers or coffee addicts need a hit first thing in the morning? I never did. When I smoked, I would wait until mid-afternoon, drive around in circles for three hours, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and then come home and not have another cigarette until the next day. Even at the point when I had a two to three pack a day habit, I could go for 12 - 24 hours before I'd have withdraw symptoms. I was like a binge smoker, not the conventional addict. I've never met anyone else with that same type of smoking habit, and my therapist didn't understand it when I explained it to him either.

[Frosted]

Mate, you can't pile loads of recognised 'drugs' like caffeine into your body and it not affect it. Caffeine in reasonable amounts, whether you are recognising this or not, will definately have a physiological affect in some way. It is impossible for it not to. Hangovers for instance make me feel jittery as hell even after drinking a small amount, so believe it or not snuson, I hardly drink :-) Cannabis for me will do the same, strangely. Every drug that you put in your body has an affect though nicotine is not recognised as having that jittery effect except in large amounts.

These days, the only thing I put in my body is one cup of coffee in the morning and nicotine throughout the day and I feel a hell of a lot better for it.

[Frosted]

.....and as Xanax is a benzo I'd get off them sharpish cause if you get addicted your life will be millions of times more difficult than it is now. It will be hell.

[Burnsey]

These days, the only thing I put in my body is one cup of coffee in the morning and nicotine throughout the day and I feel a hell of a lot better for it.

My m/o as well and I have not felt better in decades. As to the benzos.....hell, as you say, and heart ache with it ....get away from them while you can.

[trebli]

But having so much anxiety that I'm a grown man entirely unable to support myself financially, I've lived back and forth between my parent's house ….

Don't be too hard on yourself, my friend. Regardless what the government claims, he economy is still bad. It's hard for many to find work. In my area we have former professional people who are working 2 or 3 part time jobs at a convenience store. They work 12-16 hours a day, but only earn a fraction of what they once earned.

[Frankie Reloaded]

For what it is worth, snus almost always strengthens the calming effects of Diazepam for me. That is also a benzo, something like mother of all of them...