Wicket

So it's the end of Day 30 and I'm feeling great.. still sober.
I haven't been around here much because I've been super busy (it's funny how productive you can be when you stop drinking) - but I figured I'd check in just to announce that I'm at the 30 day mark!

Quick update - I hit a rough patch a few days ago, had an emotional breakdown, and ALMOST went to the store to buy a drink or few. At the time, I didn't have access to the internet to post an SOS here. Luckily, I have a very encouraging boyfriend and I was talked out of it.

I think the breakdown was in part because of a medication I began taking again... it has been causing me anxiety and makes me an angry person in general. I've been to the doctor since, and I'm able to stop the meds in a couple weeks and switch to a different method, so that should help. Until then, I'll just keep pushing through it.

In other news, I'm having oral surgery on Thursday (having all four 3rd molars removed - aka "wisdom teeth").... Overall I'm feeling a little anxious about the surgery itself - this is my first surgery ever at 23 years old, and I've never been under anesthesia before. Not only that, but I'll be quitting smoking cigarettes after the surgery, just a month into my sobriety..
Has anyone had experience with quitting smoking shortly after quitting drinking, or even quit drinking and smoking at the same time?

Hope everyone is doing well!

Dee74

Congrats on 30 days wicket

I quit smoking and drinking at the same time cos both were linked for me.

D

least

Congrats on the first of many sober months. Keep going, it gets better.

Delilah1

Congrats on 30 days Wicket, that is the first of many milestones in your future!!!

jryan19982

I had all four taken out at the same time as well. That first full day after sucked. Be sure to keep up on your pain meds because I thought I was tough and would go 8 hours without the pills. Well that made it feel worse. Ice cream, ice packs, and jello!

Carlotta

Congratulations on 30 days and good luck with the surgery.
Be careful with whatever pain killers the oral surgeon gives you. Make sure you take them exactly as directed. Pain pills sometimes lead to relapse for alcoholics.
If you feel tempted to misuse them (meaning getting high/out of yourself rather than just to deal with pain) ask a trusted person to hold on to them and dispense them to you.

I quit smoking when I was two years sober and I did it through vaping. While quitting drinking was very easy for me, I still struggle with urges to smoke when I get stressed out. Smoking is my AV go to place. Probably because I only drank for a few years (I started in my 30s) but I smoked for 35 years and was mostly a 2 packs a day smoker.

ZeldaFan

Congratulations on 30 days! It sounds like things are going well despite a brief rough patch that you were able to overcome with loving support. I had my wisdom teeth out when I was 19 or 20 (I was in college so it all blends together) and it wasn't that bad. I had some complications due to an infection but meds cleared it up immediately and all was well. As long as you don't smoke, you shouldn't have any issues. I had also never been put under before and it's a weird experience. I remember counting down from 10, getting to about 7 and then waking up with no recollection of the passage of time in between. It's like I time traveled, haha. Other than feeling groggy for a bit it was fine so don't worry about that either. Keep up the great work and don't worry about the procedure. A weeks from now it will all be but a fading memory.

ZeldaFan

I quit smoking a few days after my last drink and did it through vaping as well. I had been vaping in my sober runs between drinking spells but when I was drinking I always went back to cigarettes. Now that I'm sober, I'm down to 3 mg nicotine juice and haven't had a cigarette for about three weeks. To the OP, I wouldn't suggest vaping after the tooth removal, though. Let that heal up first if you decide to try it.

Wicket

Thanks! I definitely plan to take the pain pills religiously to help with the pain, but also very carefully. I have thought about how it may affect me, as I have had some short-lived issues with pills in the past. I've told my boyfriend to help monitor when I take them as well, just in case I "forget" I already took one. Going down that road is the last thing I need right now.

As for quitting smoking - I've decided that I'm going cold turkey without any NRT or substitutes. I've quit smoking before and I've found that was the best way for me. Although we do own one, I wouldn't be able to vape during the recovery since it involves suction and I've heard it may rip out the stitches. By the time I'm healed up, all nicotine and the physical withdrawals will be out of my system, so I just have to keep it going!

Thank you all for your kind words and sharing your experiences!

Soberwolf

Excellent job on 30 days Wicket

Wicket

Thank you thank you!

Persys

"Forever to go" is the wrong way to look at it, hopefully you don't mind me saying that. To me it sounds like you are saying that it's a bad thing that you aren't going to drink poison anymore. Plenty of people live full, productive, and happy lives without it.

Something I see on these forums discussed often is taking drinking totally off the table as an option. No matter what happens. Otherwise you are just taking a break from drinking. The faster you can accept that reality, the faster your life gets better.

Also, my experience with smoking was that it was easier to quit than drinking. A few months and I barely thought about it anymore. Drinking was much harder to stop. Both equally possible, I'm your proof.

illi1111

Hi Wicket

Congrats on 30days!!!

I have 47 days sober and I'm on day two without cigarettes. I'm adapting my plan for alcohol and using a lot of the techniques to quit smoking.

There is a thread on here with lots of great info on how to quit. It really is helping me.

You can do it!!!

SoberLeigh

Congratulations on 30 sober days, Wicket. Hope that your surgery goes well.

mns1

Well done Wicket!

Wicket

Thank you all

2thru1

Hi Wicket I'm pretty new here myself and 25 days clean. I decided to give up smokes at the same time as my DOC which is Opiates. I do feel it created some additional anxiety on my mind and body. But now I thought it best to just do it all at once. Congrats on your 30 days. Wishing success on the s I am smoking. And hope surgery goes well. I Am 2thru1

Zebra1275

30 days down... forever to go

That's the wrong way to look at it.

A better way would be "30 days down . . . next up, #31"

Obladi

Congratulations on 31 days now, Wicket. I will forever remember holing up for our first sober big winter storm together.

Haven't quit smoking, but I'll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

I did have all four wisdom teeth removed about the same age you are and did it with local anesthetic because I couldn't afford to go under. I remember going home, climbing into bed with my water and painkillers at the ready and not needing any at all! Appears that the relief of having those infected impacted things out of my mouth was so great that it killed any pain. I may have cried (I do that sometimes after tooth extraction), but if so it was just tears without emotion. Again, I think maybe it was the physical release.

I took two of my kids for the same thing within the last few months. One needed just ibuprofen for the first day and the other needed the stronger stuff only on the second day.

Hope that gives you some comfort and reduces your trepidation just a tiny bit.

Thumpalumpacus

30 days, that's great, Wicket. And congrats on toughing out the rough spot.

I'm still smoking precisely because they are linked in my mind too -- "the drink bone's connected to the smoke-bone", right?

I figure if I sever the connection, a relapse in one won't tempt me with the other.

Plus, I'm stressed enough beginning recovery. I'd be a right jackass without my smokes.