It is true, it seems, that Nicotine treats ADHD. There is at least one study that showed nicotine patches (18h and 24h ones) provide a mild to moderate relief for ADHD in people that do not use nicotine otherwise (e.g. nonsmokers). So, it doesn’t just treat the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.
Cigarette smoke is known to contain a clinically significant amount of MAO inhibiters that are not nicotine. MAO inhibiters are regularly used to treat depression and anxiety, and theoretically could treat ADHD since MAOI’s generally prevent breakdown of dopamine. There is some nuance here.*
- For example, there are different types of MAO (monoamine oxidase - an enzyme that breaks down monoamines. Dopamine is an example of a monoamine), like MAO-A vs MAO-B, which break down different monoamines, and MAOI’s (MAO Inhibitors) differ on whether they inhibit A, B or both. Furthermore, there are reversible vs irreversible MAOI.
This is super interesting. Can you link the sources? I’d be interested in knowing if this MAO deal is exclusive to cigarettes or is also present in the ecologically superior and marginally healthier pipe tobacco
Thanks to my wife I’ve come to learn that I probably have ADHD. I never would have realized it on my own, but it’s so obvious when someone points it out. If she has an extra cup of coffee she is buzzing and shaking for hours, whereas its basically a sedative to me. I can drink a whole pot and still pass out on the couch for a mid day nap lol.
I never would have realized it on my own, but it’s so obvious when someone points it out.
I’ve a bridge I could sell you, m8
I mean, it’s more than just the coffee, lol. It could be that i obsessively dig into projects and hobbies and lose all sense of the passage of time and my bodily needs like hunger.
Slight obsession =/= neurodevelopmental disorder
Thanks, how much do i owe you for this session?
How about a tiny bit of personal honesty and societal awareness?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic_in_the_United_States
If you think this isn’t happening with adhdh meds, again, I’ve got a bridge to sell you
Bro we already did the amphetamine crisis like 20 years ago.
Ah. And like the financial crisis, it was a one-off?
Hell no! Someone ban this scumbag!
Nic+Vyvanse+Caffeine. Father+son+holy spirit.
Nicotine only treats the symptoms of nicotine addiction.
Not true. Nicotine is a stimulant, so it has most of the effects of other stimulants, such as increased alertness. This stuff isn’t popular with high stress jobs because people want to be cool, it’s popular because it works. Finance bros popping zyns are the same ones drinking coffee all day long, same as students vaping all day
Also, to add to that, it’s important to know that nicotine is studied seriously by actual health organizations and has mixed evidence supporting it as a treatment for Alzheimers and other dementia cases. I understand the hatred for smoking and even tobacco, but we can’t overreact and act like boomers hating on THC treatments.
Not to mention that spreading misinformation like this will only serve to get more people to smoke once they figure out some of what you’re saying is BSI’m mad about alternative nicotine consumption solutions being limited to low power quitting aids, and not straight up alternatives to smoking with all of the drug and none of the lung tar.
I think Zyns and vapes are a step in the right direction in that regard, already orders of magnitude less harmful than smoking, but I’m also a huge fan of the traditional dry nasal snuff, which has fallen out of fashion. I can take as much snuff as I want for any period and get almost no side effects (except withdrawal of course), while I get noticeable sores if I use zyns for 3 or 4 days straight, even a single one a day.
Can’t say it’s 100% safe, as there is basically no research on it, and there is some evidence suggesting aged tobacco is a carcinogen by itself. Also there is some convincing evidence that fire toasted and fire cured things are carcinogenic, and some snuff is (this also includes food for grilling and smoking fans out there)
I decided I didn’t need my ADHD meds anymore when I was in my late teens. Spent most of my 20s smoking about a pack a day and drinking 6 or 7 cups of coffee. I quit smoking in my late 20s, struggled until my early 30s, then started taking my medicine again and realized I was an idiot.
Ah, yes. that explains why i still crave cigarettes after quitting 10 years ago.
I received my strongest encouragement to never smoke when my high school history teacher said he hasn’t smoked in fifteen years but will see someone smoking and think to himself: damn that looks tasty
Can patches do the same?
I’m at about 10 years myself. But I never have cravings. I once in a while smell someone smoking. And I just realize how long it’s been since ive smelt that smell.
Oh. So these are medicinal cigarettes I’m smoking?
I can tell by your username that they’re actually jazz cigarettes
You talkin bout that wacky tobacky?
The devil’s lettuce
The giggle bush.
I get hypomania from intense stimulants like Vyvanse but atomoxetin, which I’m on right now, doesn’t work as well even at the highest dosages. Sooooo I heavily self medicate with nicotine, it’s good that it also feels amazing
Just don’t smoke actual cigarettes, guys. I guess everything tobacco is bad (I’d argue for snuff though), but cigarettes really are that much worse than everything elseWhy take the atomoxetin if it doesn’t work and nicotine does?
Snuff fucks up your mouth. Scroll down to cancer and dental:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking/in-depth/chewing-tobacco/art-20047428
That’s moist snuff, taken orally, not dry snuff, which is taken nasally. It’s a common misunderstanding about snuff brought on by the US government’s refusal to update their terminology… In 2025 snuff means only dry nasal, while most people refer to “moist snuff” as snus or chaw :)
The atomoxetin does work, it’s just not as strong and as consistent as necessary. I have gotten the go ahead to use Ritalin at low doses in particularly low functioning days (along with atomoxetin), but last time I tried it made me dangerously hypomanic. So I take some espresso shots and pinches of snuff throughout the day, or maybe a Zyn, which I recognize the risks of using, but it’s only occasionalWell, it won’t be occasional for long. I heared from multiple people about how it started occasionally.
It’s not heroin lmao
Anyway, I only get zyns as a treat from friends traveling abroad, as it’s not available where I live. If I had that crazy impulse to get more and more nicotine I’d just start smoking, and that hasn’t happened even though I’m doing this for years now
Why not nicotine gum? Or the patches?
(Asking as someone who grew up around smokers, dippers, and chawers - and now I’m incredibly grossed out by tobacco spit)
Pricing and availability are both better for the real stuff where I live. Also, I’m not trying to quit, I actually enjoy the flavor and the buzz, so I’m not really trying to sub.
I’ve never dipped, it seems interesting but I also can’t get past the spitting thing, grosses me out
France trading ADHD for Ennui
I prefer vaginal but do you boo.
My theory, which there’s no evidence, is that we ignore the effects of modern society, and that people are very anxious. And sometimes we’re too caught up in our own ass to recognize anxious behavior, but some people get overwhelmed. I feel a lot of people are in a constant state of fight or flight and with things like the fear of missing out or the constant push and pull of this meaning of life, making a peasant’s wage without even a peasant’s day off creates very scatter-brained, anxious, citizens. Cigarettes are stimulants. People do drugs because they’re sad. People normalize this sadness because what else is there? I mean, imagine losing your job and being really good at it, but then some subservient cock sucker is getting promoted. And you sit there and expected to internalize this. I mean, you ain’t no rocket scientist, but you can fucking do basic algebra, and the numbers don’t fucking add up. Not only that. You learn that the metrics aren’t even taken in account, certain variables. So it’s just like lower the bar we’re doing great. I also think the emotional trauma that people experience can manifest itself. As it repeats itself over and over again, the brain chemistry changes. It is a self-fulfilling fucking prophecy. is the by-product of a world with exponential gains is the by-product of a world with exponential gains but no improvement at the bottom. Mass shooters are the byproduct of socioeconomics. Stop calling people incells. They’re fucking mad, angry, confused, and poor. Men are suffering. Women are suffering. Families are suffering. And memes, they don’t do enough. There is no war but the class war. https://www.theviolenceproject.org/
So your link is to a great org, doing good work, but I was secretly hoping it was a link to a “violence project” detailing a plan for a violent class war … :( I think I need to relax
This may be a joke but nicotine treats symptoms of adhd
Is this for real? It would make sense why my adhd feels like it is getting worse as I age. I quit speed, then smoking, then caffeinated drinks.
Edit: yes, thank you all for adhdsplaining stimulants to me. I know about speed and caffeine. I was simply asking about nicotine.
Depending on your type of ADHD, you can use stimulants, but for some it will make it worse.
If your ADHD is of the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder type then it will be treated by stimulants. If it’s of the tiktok self-diagnosed for attention type then god help you.
Not all types of ADHD necessarily need stimulants. While stimulants are often the first line of treatment for ADHD, they don’t work for everyone, and non-stimulant medications are available as alternatives. In fact, about 20-30% of individuals with ADHD do not respond to stimulant medications. Non Stimulants work by increasing the levels of norepinephrine in your brain and takes longer.
Yes. All stimulants treat the symptoms of ADHD. You were self-medicating that whole time, although your results were way worse than you would get with a controlled dosage of a time-release stimulant like Adderall. If you don’t want to go back to stimulants, even under a medical setting, regular exercise will help regulate your symptoms (I personally like 30 to 40 minutes of cardio 3 to 4 times a week).
I knew the caffeine and speed was self medicating. But I did not realize about the nicotine.
I hike 8-9km a day over about 2 hours.
When you say speed, do you mean Tina that bish?
I meant the Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock action movie.
Yeah, nicotine too. Pretty much any stimulant. ADHD is thought to be caused by low dopamine, and exercise is thought to alleviate symptoms by producing dopamine. I know doctors reccomend strength training and aerobic exercises like running or swimming, but I don’t know how hiking stacks up. If it’s strenuous enough that you feel tired by the end, I’m sure it’s helping.
Anyway, everyone’s different. For me, if I don’t run at least a 5K 3 times a week, my symptoms are terrible, but strength training doesn’t seem to help much.
Nicotine is a mild simulant, yes. All of those things are frequently used by people to “self-medicate”, but the downsides are obviously pretty steep.
And most self medication options are pretty bad at the medicating part.
Wait whats the downside to caffeinated drinks?
I believe there are downsides only if you are drinking too much caffeine or if it is in conflict with one of your medications or existing health conditions, afaik.
Healthline weighs the pros and very few cons of caffeine.
Oh ok. Phew.
I was under the impression nicotine was on a similar risk profile to caffeine. Are you referring to the tobacco plant in general?
this is my impression as well regarding nicotine. however, i have noticed people are not interested in examining that and continue to conflate nicotine with cigarettes (high risk) and vaping (misconstrued risk).
i also believe many view a nicotine addiction through a sort of moral lens they don’t apply so readily to caffeine.
It’s generational trauma regarding smoking. The last couple generations were pretty moved by the discoveries regarding smoking and now overreact. Attitude is much more rational in gen z
Can’t believe I’m seeing this level of rationality on this community.
Nicotine in pretty much any amount is cardiotoxic, caffeine (in moderate amounts) is pretty much neutral afaik. They both may or may not be carcinogens depending on the study. Thats pretty much it I think
I vape. It is helpful. I’ve quit a couple times,and it’s correlated with suicidal thoughts. (I hesitate to claim it is casual, but definitely correlated.)
Stimulants help with ADHD symptoms. Adderall is chemically similar to speed.
Why do you suspect the link is connected to your ADHD? Could the suicidal thoughts not just stem from nicotine withdrawal?
I’m talking about suicidal thoughts at least a month up to several months after not having any nicotine, so it seems unlikely to be withdrawal symptoms.
Stimulants help with ADD symptoms, this is simply a fact.
To widen the anecdotal data set, I have ADHD and have been using nicotine since I was 16 (29 now). I quit for ~8 months a few years back by making my own vape juice and tapering my nicotine dose down over a period of several months. I never experienced withdrawal symptoms, but my mental health tanked on lower doses and it got even worse when I was completely off nicotine. I was way more irritable, impatient, scatterbrained, and depressed. It was not fun
Do you drink any coffees or teas? I don’t really touch caffeinated sodas these days, but I believe coffee and tea with caffeine are great since the caffeine is a stimulant which can help with focusing. The most important thing is consuming caffeine in moderation and at the right time, I believe. Drinking coffee only really helps in the first hour or so of waking up for instance or before a twenty minute nap.
I feel that Healthline does a pretty decent job of weighing the pros and cons.
No. I on occasion drink iced tea, but that is like one a month at the most. I used to drink chai daily, but switched to a variety that uses chicory instead of black tea.
“treats”
“Temporary alleviates” then. It also has a mild, though short-lived, antipsychotic effect, which is thought to be the reason people suffering from schizophrenia tend to be chain smokers at a higher rate than the general population.
Can confirm, had a schizophrenic roommate for a little over a year and I always made sure he had his smokes. Just made things easier for both of us.
Tbf he said symptoms, not cause.
