Misc The Use of Oral Snuff as an Antidepressant

[It's a baby!]

Hello all.

I started smoking cigarettes when I was 14. I also developed depression around the same time and was put on Prozac for a little bit there. I have greatly changed my life since then and am happier but I still deal with a certain amount of depression - it's just that I've trained myself to dissociate myself from it.

Anywho I recently quit smoking cigarettes and began dip.

My goodness this stuff is good. I've taken to it like a fish in water. And you know what? I can't remember feeling this happy, relaxed and cheerful for such an extended period of time in months if not years. I really think this is purely due to the dip. I use large pinches of copenhagen snuff and leave it in for long periods of time. I've also begun gutting - which is quite a bit stronger I can tell you!

The feeling I get from it is great and totally functional. I am willing to accept the health risks for the quality of life large doses of nicotine are providing me.

Now, is this sustainable in the long term? I mean sure I might lose the ability to get a buzz but I'd still be rather high on nicotine all day if I'm doing enough, right?

This seems to have worked incredibly well for me. Am I fooling myself? What are your experiences?

 

[DynoSpec]

chemicals can help with depression in the very short term imo.

its only a matter of time until the nicotine from the chew stops working due to tolerance and such.

go talk to your doctor, he might have some ideas of herbal remedies for your situation.

 

[It's a baby!]

chemicals can help with depression in the very short term imo.

its only a matter of time until the nicotine from the chew stops working due to tolerance and such.

go talk to your doctor, he might have some ideas of herbal remedies for your situation.

I don't really get on well with normal anti-depressants; there might be one that would work but I don't want to spend months switching from pill to pill. As for natural remedies, Omega-3 seemed to help some but I ran out and haven't bought more; St. John's Wort was . . . I dunno, it worked like an SSRI is supposed to (unlike Prozac which made me feel awful) but I didn't like it, too numbing and I'd have weird mood swings and just didn't feel quite in control sometimes. I also started getting involuntary twitching in my face which freaked me out so I stopped using it.

I mean what you've said in your post about nicotine isn't necessarily true right? If you can take SSRIs to help with depression in the longterm and they still work why not nicotine?

I have found one study suggesting that nicotine helped depression but it was in people who were nicotine-naive

 

[DynoSpec]

i dont believe anti depressants work, nor did i recommend them.

imo, this is like drinking to avoid anxiety,which may seem to help at first but not usually in long term

 

[It's a baby!]

i dont believe anti depressants work, nor did i recommend them.

imo, this is like drinking to avoid anxiety,which may seem to help at first but not usually in long term

A'ight my bad, sorry it's late and I always misread stuff late at night

Well I guess I'll have to wait and see. For now though I must say it's working pretty well.

I'd also add that I really don't think being "on nicotine" all day is comparable to drinking all day. Drinking all day is certainly more dangerous - it just destroys the liver even if you build up a tolerance. Dipping tobacco, on the other hand, is rather safe: it raises the incidence of cancer in the oral cavity by about 60% which is not very much (and this is in lifetime users, who often end up dipping in very very large quantities such that they're getting way more nicotine than any smoker except maybe chain-smokers). Smoking cigarettes one's whole life reduces life expectancy by 8 years, life-time use of dip reduces life expectancy by 15 days.

(that study is linked on wikipedia and is reputable and peer-reviewed but I really need to get to sleep, I'll post tomorrow if anyone likes).

 

[dokomo]

A'ight my bad, sorry it's late and I always misread stuff late at night

Well I guess I'll have to wait and see. For now though I must say it's working pretty well.

I'd also add that I really don't think being "on nicotine" all day is comparable to drinking all day. Drinking all day is certainly more dangerous - it just destroys the liver even if you build up a tolerance. Dipping tobacco, on the other hand, is rather safe: it raises the incidence of cancer in the oral cavity by about 60% which is not very much (and this is in lifetime users, who often end up dipping in very very large quantities such that they're getting way more nicotine than any smoker except maybe chain-smokers). Smoking cigarettes one's whole life reduces life expectancy by 8 years, life-time use of dip reduces life expectancy by 15 days.

(that study is linked on wikipedia and is reputable and peer-reviewed but I really need to get to sleep, I'll post tomorrow if anyone likes).

60% is a massive increase. Oral cancer is no fun, ask anyone who's had it ( like Roger Ebert) http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/wC/roger-ebert-jaw-cancer-photo-esquire-0310-lg.jpg

I think people have pretty much answered your question - it might be "working" for you now (and I say "working" like oxycodone "works" to help depression), but its unlikely to help for the long term and you may be left simply maintaining an addiction on top of your problems with depression, not to mention the potential health consequences.

 

[Lando138]

Of course if your getting a rush, buzz, high, or whatever, you're going to feel better. I've dipped for years and i still find that putting a fat dip in will reduce anxiety or cheer me up a bit when i'm down (i'm bipolar so i understand where you're coming from with the depression ) but this is probably due to the fact that i'm addicted and its relieving the craving more than acting as a miracle drug. So i guess what i'm getting at is enjoy it while it lasts but eventually the buzz will go away and you're left with an addiction to deal with on top of your depression, so i wouldn't put too much hope into this as your source of relief.

 

[It's a baby!]

Alright guys well thanks for the responses.

Just in terms of that mouth cancer thing, you're right, mouth cancer freaking sucks, but a 60% increase chance of mouth cancer simply does not compare with the damage that cigarettes do:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1779270/ <- great study here

Hah it's funny because in that OP I referenced gutting (swallowing the saliva) as a way to preserve my ability to get a buzz.

Silly thing to say. I should've known my tolerance to nicotine would simply increase accordingly, which is exactly what happened just in that short period of time. On the day I made the OP I gutted and was so buzzed I was sick; now I'm gutting and don't feel sick or buzzed in the slightest

 

[qwe]

i don't buy the "you're just not depressed cuz you're getting a rush"

different people like different drugs. drugs have totally different effects depending on the person. if a person recieves "totally life-changing depression lift-ness-ation" from a certain drug, but not only doesnt get high but hates the feeling altogether of other drugs, i think there has to be something to the self-medication hypothesis. it makes sense to assume that many have a little too much of a certain neurotransmitter, or a little too little of another, and that's why they easily become dependent if they aren't careful. and it explains how much people cling to their DOC

anyway, even given all this, i'd try to keep it to the weekends. otherwise you're going to be taking it to feel normal, and your body will make you want more and more, and it always becomes unsustainable if you have any money problems. stick to the path that allows you to get even higher on even lower doses, it's better for so many reasons

 

[Lustmord]

I think that I just threw up thinking about someone swallowing that shit.

 

[thelung]

Tobacco to treat depression? I don't know about that one...