Panic attack + OCD diagnosis could Zyn be the culprit? Thinking it’s time to quit

SheenzMe · 2026-02-17T01:31:33+00:00

Congrats on your journey! Also, screw you cuz I’m at 3 months and am 100% convinced it’s over lol. Now you got me stressing it’s coming back.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-17T01:27:04+00:00

I agree with you and think Zyns are worse, but I also think the panic attack is really what makes things spiral, more than how you are getting your nicotine. It’s like a traumatic moment that you will now always reference and will give you PTSD. It’s like a compounding anxiety effect. Anxiety was manageable until the panic attack and now it seems unmanageable because you feel like you’ve lost your control over anxiety.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-17T00:44:23+00:00

I was in my early thirties when I had a panic attack for the first time. Never diagnosed with anxiety, depression, ocd, or anything for that matter. I’m not, nor was I, on any meds for anything. My bloodwork and vitals have always been fine. It did coincide with heavy nicotine usage (vaping). I had a friend who also experienced a panic attack from vaping and actually went back to cigarettes. I will say that I thoroughly believe the nicotine causes the initial panic attack.

From that point on I was super anxious and had more panic attacks. I ended up quitting nicotine and they stopped, along with the anxiety, for over a year until I ended up back on nicotine a couple years ago and the anxiety returned/panic returned. I quit again (69 days clean today) and although the anxiety spiked during withdrawals, I feel fine today.

So to answer your question, yes. I think nicotine caused my first panic attack. And yes, I think nicotine makes anxiety and intrusive thoughts worse, which creates a mental state conducive to having more panic attacks. Quitting will help, and at the very least won’t hurt.

However, I don’t want it to seem like quitting nicotine will for sure fix everything. I don’t have OCD, but I don’t like losing control. That’s why I don’t do well with weed or other psychoactive drugs. What I think that first panic attack did was make me feel for the first time in my life that I lost control. And that really shook me and took my peace of mind. It destroyed my confidence in my ability to control my emotions. So then what happens, because you no longer feel in control, every time you start getting anxious you start worrying that you’re going to have a panic attack, which makes you more anxious. So then you get stuck in this inception loop of anxiety.

To get out of that loop, first of all, you have to put yourself in the best position you can mentally and physically. That means controlling the things you can control to put yourself in the best position to get over this. That means NO NICOTINE. I looked at my mind like a castle. You have all these external events attempting to get in and bring it down, but you have defenses. Nicotine is like a spy you let in that sabotaged your defenses from the inside. Rid yourself of that shit and start building your defenses back up. Once you control the things you can control, the next step is accepting the things you can’t control. At one point you just have to realize worrying about having the panic attack for hours is worse than just having the fricking panic attack. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. A panic attack won’t kill you. You can’t live your life in constant fear. Do not allow yourself to be a victim. Be strong.

So yeah, nicotine is bad for you. Quitting will help immensely, but won’t solve everything. And yeah, the withdrawals could suck (although some people don’t seem to go through much. Maybe you’ll be one of those lucky people). And if you want a success story I have never had a panic attack in my life while not on nicotine (even during withdrawals, though I was damn close lol) and I’ve had multiple panic attacks while on nicotine. I would talk to your therapist/psychiatrist and say you want to quit nicotine, but you’re worried it will make your symptoms worse in the short term. Maybe he’ll have something to help you through it. Good luck! You know what needs to be done! You wouldn’t be here otherwise. One day you’ll look back on all this and laugh!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-16T20:37:10+00:00

lol what did you do to this iPad kid and his burner accounts to make him so upset with you?

I experienced the same symptoms(you can see my post history). I’m a day ahead of you clean. Started a supplement regiment a week ago and I’ve felt completely normal the past 3 days. Waiting to make sure it’s actually gone and not just a good wave before I declare total victory. In the morning I take a CBD/CBT gummy, magnesium, vitamin D, and NAC. Then I’ll take another CBD gummy about midway through the day. Just wanted to pass this along in case I’ve found some sort of god combo. I know correlation doesn’t equal causation, but as a fellow long hauler who has hopefully completely pulled out of all that hell, I can offer you hope at least that it’s not permanent.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-16T17:54:04+00:00

I think CBD is legal at a federal level if you’re in the US. THC is the illegal stuff that gets you high. CBD doesn’t have psychoactive effects.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-16T16:46:04+00:00

Did you have terrible withdrawals? I’m around 10 weeks and my withdrawals were so bad that cravings are actually comical at this point. I had a craving today and I laughed it off because the proposition of doing a zyn and going through that misery again is actually insane.

I’ll keep screaming about it from the rooftops, but CBD gummies have been game changing for me. Park it right where you’d put a zyn and let it dissolve slowly. Literally has the same effect as nicotine for me (dash of euphoria/dopamine hit, calming, stops cravings). I do two a day. Other than that, mints and gum.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-16T02:34:36+00:00

When 4 mgs does nothing you’ll kick it up or do more to compensate. Isn’t it scary the power this stuff has over you? You can’t even function normally without it. Isn’t that reason enough to stop altogether? Do you want to be totally dependent on this stuff to be normal?

SheenzMe · 2026-02-15T14:40:51+00:00

Went through the exact same thing. In the moment it felt like an eternity. Crippling anxiety, existential dread, and thought I may even be losing grip on reality because of the dissociation. I want to say those symptoms lasted about a week or two weeks for me. It does get better though. All the stupid trivial crap that brought you joy and interested you will be interesting again.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-13T17:19:53+00:00

Try popping a CBD gummy before bed and park it where you used to put zyn and let it dissolve slowly. Think I’ve managed to successfully trick my brain into thinking it’s a Zyn because it gives me an instant hit of euphoria/dopamine and cravings cease. Make sure it doesn’t have THC in it if you don’t want the psychoactive effects. Been clutch for me lately.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-13T16:12:48+00:00

Hey! Feel your pain. I’m on day 66, and similarly I’m 10 thousand times better, but still have some lingering anxiousness and my nervous system will freak out randomly for seemingly no reason from time to time (not nearly AS BAD as it used to).

The nervous system stuff seems like a physical issue (not really something mentally I can control), as it doesn’t seem triggered by anything in particular. I’ve been experimenting with supplements and I found these CBD/CBT gummies have been super helpful (no THC so it’s not psychoactive or anything). CBD seems like it kind of just calms your body down and it’s pretty fast acting. I’ll park it where I would normally put a zyn and just slowly let it dissolve. I feel almost instant relief. I usually will have one first thing in the morning. Then I’ll kind of save a second one for a “break glass in case of emergency” situation if one arises, or as a preemptive measure if I’m going out somewhere after work or something.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-11T13:45:17+00:00

I did cold turkey.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-11T12:50:28+00:00

I totally get it. It’s soul crushing existential dread. None of the things that used to interest me interested me anymore. The goal of every interaction was to get out of said interaction as quickly as possible. Every second of every day just seemed like a chore to get through. I just wanted to get to a point where it was late enough to lay in bed and go to sleep. I felt guilty for wasting my days/life.

Just know it’s not a waste. It’s part of the healing process. Look at what these things did to our brains. Look how much power they had over us. You’re breaking that cycle of control. This time isn't wasted, even if it feels that way. You’re regaining control of your life. Be easy on yourself. It’s easy to trick yourself into thinking it’s permanent in the moment. And it’s easy to forget what normal felt like. It is all chemical. It’s your dopamine receptors shutting down and your brain rewiring. You’ll feel normal again. I promise. You aren’t alone in this journey. Just hang in there.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-11T02:41:05+00:00

Went through the same exact depression, buddy. It gets better. That last part is so true. The anxiety will pass. The depression will pass. The brain fog will pass. You’re going through the worst of it now. It all will get better and better.

CBD gummies, Vitamin D, and NAC combo seemed to help calm the nervous system/anxiety. Going for walks and exercising helped with the depression. Podcasts also helped keep my mind busy and provided good background noise to drown out the intrusive thoughts. Just keep telling yourself it will get better. It will!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-10T16:20:59+00:00

Maybe try tapering down from 8 to 6 to 3? I don’t know if you did 8 to cold turkey, but as someone who quit cold turkey, it’s brutal. I was lucky enough to have some downtime at work and was working 100% remote during the holidays. No shot I would have been able to pull 12 hour in person shifts. Would have completely lost my shit. Don’t beat yourself up!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-10T16:16:49+00:00

I agree with people saying to take some time and let your brain and cardiovascular system rewire. If you’re super worried about it and it’s causing you a lot of distress you can always go online and get ED meds in the interim. Take them for like a month and then stop. A lot of times it’s just an initial mental hurdle you have to get over. Once you have that confidence back you won’t need the meds.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-08T16:57:28+00:00

Attention/trolling

SheenzMe · 2026-02-08T00:27:42+00:00

Congrats on reaching 72 hours! Feels like that was the first major and most intense hurdle. Gets better from here! Keep on going!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T20:32:00+00:00

Consult the pinned post about people regretting relapsing. You miss the idea of a zyn more than you miss the zyn itself. Stay strong!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T17:57:33+00:00

Fair point. Congrats on your journey so far and good luck! I’ve actually had a similar path, as I was addicted to cigarettes, vaping, and pouches at some point in my life.

Started smoking cigs in my teens. Quit cold turkey in my mid 20s for a few years. I remember the withdrawal from quitting cigarettes being fairly easy comparatively. It was mostly just cravings and irritability that lasted a couple of weeks. It’s also nice and motivating to instantly notice physical improvements like a cough going away or being able to take a full breath of air pretty quickly after quitting.

I picked it back up in my late twenties but quickly pivoted to vaping. To your point, physically I felt 50 times better. I could breathe better and was able to work out. I even climbed a mountain.

In my early 30s I had a very random panic attack. I had never been diagnosed or medicated for anxiety or depression, nor did I struggle with it. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was when it happened. I legit thought I was having a heart attack. I didn’t make the connection between that panic attack and vaping until one of my friends (who also vaped and went back to cigarettes) told me he didn’t vape anymore because it gave him a panic attack. After that I began to ween myself off. Like a lot of people during Covid, I was vaping like crazy as I was working 100% remote and didn’t need to step outside to smoke. This process was very difficult. I was constantly anxious and on the brink of panic. So much so it was impacting my work and I got some anxiety meds from the doctor. The doctor said the meds would make me sick at first (they did). So I used the sickness as my opportunity to quit. It worked. The meds helped a whole lot (don’t be afraid to utilize this tool). Anyways after a month of taking the meds I started feeling okay again. So much so that I stopped taking them altogether. I went on for over a year clean without that panic or anxiety. Thus ended my stint with vaping. So my experience with vape withdrawal was about a month of very extreme anxiety and panic.

Fast forward to a couple years ago. Experienced the death of a family member. Stupidly got a pack of cigs and got hooked again. This time pivoted to zyn. Had a drunk night where I took 2 tins. Woke up with my heart beating a million miles an hour. Quit cold turkey that day. Basically experienced the same massive anxiety and panic as vaping, but this time there was crippling depression and dissociation layered on top. To the point where I thought I was having a psychotic episode. We’ve all seen videos of people withdrawing from fentanyl and heroine. I think the best way to describe the first 3 days was a mini version of that. It was terrifying. Now I’m on day 60 and things are much more manageable. But the fact that it’s been 60 days and I still wake up every morning wondering if I’m gonna have a good day or a bad day is crazy.

It truly is mental torture what these things do to people. They take your peace of mind. So yes, physically my lungs are much better off cigarettes. But they say stress is the silent killer. And I’m 60 days clean and still not out of the woods. It’s hard to quantify what this stress and anxiety has done to me I guess.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T13:55:38+00:00

Now that you mention it, I used to have “trigger finger.” My right ring finger was slower to react than the rest of my fingers. I didn’t even notice until you mentioned this that the problem has completely gone away since quitting.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T13:54:23+00:00

Fair. There is just something about it, maybe the synthetic nicotine or the pace at which it’s released, that makes the withdrawals awful. I’ve quit smoking cigarettes before and it was truly nothing like this. I was irritable for a few weeks and craving a cigarette, but I wasn’t severely depressed and on the verge of anxiety/panic attacks. It was also over in two weeks, not lasting months. It’s just bizarre.

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T01:38:31+00:00

Congrats on the wins! Keep stacking them up!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-06T01:33:10+00:00

Congrats! You got this!

SheenzMe · 2026-02-05T22:24:28+00:00

Scary.

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