You started on an antidepressant and started feeling better. You start doing more, start some light exercise, eat a little better, and decide to quit smoking. Suddenly you start noticing some side effects from your medications that weren’t there before. A healthier lifestyle should have you feeling better right? What is going on?
Unfortunately, smoking can have an impact on some of the medications that we use for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. Studies have shown that smoking can speed up how quickly our body breaks down some of these medications for use, causing a decrease in the amount of medication in the bloodstream (Silva & Kamens, 2021). When you start smoking after you have been stable on a medication, the smoking potentially can cause your regular dose of medication to be less effective (Oliveira et al, 2017). The same concept applies if you quit smoking after being on a medication for a period of time. When you are on a stable dose and you quit smoking, you may experience an increase in medication serum levels, possibly causing an increase in side effects.
Why should you care? Why does anyone take medications in the first place? We want to feel better and have a better quality of life. If smoking changes how that medication works for us, we need to take the steps to ensure that we are getting the most from our medications. This is why it is important for you to talk to your prescriber about if you smoke or if you quit smoking during your medication appointments.
While this isn’t about whether you should smoke or not, it is about being aware of how smoking can affect some medications. However, smoking cessation is a great way to start the path to feeling better…. But we will save that for another time. 😊
What changes have you noticed related to starting or stopping smoking?
Oliveira, P., Ribeiro, J., Donato, H., & Madeira, N. (2017). Smoking and antidepressants pharmacokinetics: a systematic review. Annals of General Psychiatry, 16(1), 17–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-017-0140-8
Silva, C. P., & Kamens, H. M. (2021). Cigarette smoke-induced alterations in blood: A review of research on DNA methylation and gene expression. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 29(1), 116–135. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000382
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