Can smoking cigarettes cause anxiety meds (soma & klonopin) to have a lesser effect?

[clockwork672]

Can smoking cigarettes cause anxiety meds (soma & klonopin) to have a lesser effect?

This may be an odd question, and I have never posted here, but was looking for a place to ask about this.

My problem lately has been the effect of 2 medications I'm on, Soma and Klonopin. For the last 4 months or so these medications have not been giving me the effect that they usually do (I can usually take a few of one or the other and get a nice relaxing high for my severe anxiety). I have been on these meds for a good 5-6 years, without growing a real tolerance to them (at least for the Soma). So I am trying to figure out anything that I have done differently that could be causing this, just about the only thing I can come up with is that I started smoking menthol cigarettes (about 3 a day).
Does anyone know if smoking cigarettes can cause these meds I'm on (muscle relaxer/anti-anxiety) to have a lesser effect? I don't really want to give up smoking, but if there's a chance it's the problem here then I will. Also does anyone know how long I would need to quit smoking to know if my meds are working better without them? I was thinking of trying to give them up for a week and see what happens.

Thank you %)

 

[T. Calderone]

I have heard people say that cigarette smoking reduces the effect of benzos and I'm not sure if this is true or not. But you're not even a heavy smoker so I doubt those three smokes daily will affect your meds. Just for fun I googled this topic and found an article from pub med:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10427467

 

[Flaga121]

From the psychology side of things, ciggs increase anxiety so they will make you feel like your meds don't work as well. But just for the immediate time during/after smoking.

 

[ovo1024]

I have also heard/ noticed cigarettes or nicotine in general reduces the effects of benzos. i dont know about somas tho. i do know cigarettes increase the nod for opiates tho

 

[clockwork672]

Hey guys Sorry for my late reply. I thank you all for the responses. I've decided to go ahead and try to quit smoking, if only for a week or so, to see if I notice any differences with my meds. T. Calderone Thank you for the article, I'm not sure if it's what's causing my current issues, but I'm going to try to test it just in case.

 

[blight12]

Yes, smoking seems to add a stimulating effect on benzos and other sedatives. Usually sedatives like benzos or Kratom making smoking much more enjoyable, as the bad stim anxiety parts of smoking are cancelled out but the nice mental boost of smoking still seems to be added in the mix. Basically yes, smoking on benzos makes me marginally more alert for the short duration of the smoke.