wanting to quit smoking...

[brokenhalo]

it's only been a week since i quit drinking, and eventually i would like to quit smoking. my concern is that it currently provides me with a very reliable coping mechanism, albeit not the healthiest of choicces. i've smoked for close to fifteen years, and currently smoke nearly a pack a day. am i expecting too much of myself to try to kick nicotine this early in my alcoholism recovery process? i see it as my next step to being more healthy and increasing my vitality. how soon did others quit nicotine and tobacco after they quit their alcohol or narcotic? what steps did you take? did quitting tobacco make it more difficult to stay clear of your primary addiction?

thank you in advance?

bh

[Dime]

Hi brokenhalo, Welcome!!

There seems to be two schools of thought on the subject. Personally I think it depends a whole lot on the individual and their comfort zone. I started smoking in recovery and quit around a year later. Getting the support here worked wonders for me and it was easier than expected. My feet were firmly planted in sobriety when I quit however.

For me personally if I had smoked going into recovery I definitely would not have tried to quit at one week. I would have felt safer doing it immediately than at one week. My mind was not ready for another major change at one week after just accepting quitting another substance. Quitting when I was firmly in sobriety worked well for me.

[outonalimb]

Hi brokenhalo...

I don't really have any advice but I do want to say congratulations on your new sobriety. Great job !! Keep going !!

[TTOSBT]

Hi brokenhalo!
I have been sober for 14 months. Yesterday was my first smoke free day.
My sponsor suggested waiting, up to as long as a year until I quit smoking.
I did not disagree. My only suggestion is that you are very solid in recovery. Give yourself the best chance at success for both. This is my opinion.
I have smoked off and on for 24 years, more on than off.
I am started taking Wellbutrin a week ago. Cigarettes started tasting different, kinda gross a couple days ago. The habit is hard to break though.
But I am trying to treat it like I do drinking, it is not an option. I will not drink no matter what and now, I will not smoke, no matter what.
Wish me luck and I am here to support you when you are ready!

[Astro]

My best wishes to all of you on keeping up the quit!

We have a Daily Check-In here on SR, I hope you'll join in and post your progress http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...rt-viii-3.html (Daily Check-in Part VIII...)

[Impurrfect]

Congratulations on a week sober!!!! I was nowhere near ready to quit the cigarettes when I was new to recovery. I decided I would "try" at one year clean, but I wasn't ready then either.

For some reason, shortly after having 2 years clean, I was ready to quit smoking and I did. Honestly, I think it's an individual thing. When I was ready to quit, I was ready. I did try a year before, and I was just angry at the world and only made it two weeks.

So, if you think you are ready to quit and it won't hurt your recovery, go for it. If you aren't sure you're ready and you still need that crutch, even though it's not the healthiest thing, many of us have done it to get through early recovery then tackled the smoking...do what's best for you.

Hugs and prayers!

Amy

[turnedthecorner]

One thing at a time, BH. I too am addicted to the ciggies.

I simply couldn't toss the ciggies and the bottles out all in the same run. I figured it'd leave me rocking naked in the corner all night if I did. So, booze goes first. When I have found a comfortable place again and am anxiety-free and have a certain level of strength and confidence rebuilt; the ciggies will go.

But for now I am proud I got rid of one vice. They went so well hand in hand, you know. Glass of wine and a ciggie. Without one, I am hoping the other may wither and die.

Take it easy, you're just into your 2nd week like me. Take it slow...

[totfit]

I think it depends on the individual. I never felt "sober" when I smoked. I certainly didn't feel "clean" and sober. Nicotine is a bitch to quit, because it is a very addictive drug. There is certainly a lot of evidence toward the fact that it is the most addictive and deadly drug when taken through smoking tobacco.

I think if when quitting drinking you are looking for a lifestyle total change adding smoking to the quit might be a good idea. It is certainly not recommended to smoke dope while quitting alcohol or use other substances, so I really don't see why we should hang onto smoking either. It is really to each their own. I mean we don't even have to quit drinking. I am just glad that the worst substance I now ingest is a bit of coffee. My life is certainly much better. Especially after a three mile run in the morning and enjoying the ability to breath fresh clean air without having to cough up phlem.

[SeekSobriety]

Congrats on quitting drinking and for your desire to give up smoking as well. I gave up Alcohol, Nicotine and Caffeine addiction simultaneously, it worked for me, I felt that if I was going to withdraw I might as well do it all at once. Of course everyone is different and you will have people give you many different stories on the matter. I found a majority of people I met at AA not very supportive of my quitting drinking and smoking concurrently (mostly because many of the people telling me not to do it are current smokers and are protecting there habit!) Of course not all people in AA were this way to me but I did have to protect myself from people that could not relate and who attempted to get me to continue to smoke to justify there continued addiction of Nicotine a mind altering chemical. I found acceptance from AA members who were also in Nicotine Anonymous, so hopefully you will find some supportive people there. For myself, Nicotine was a trigger for me to drink and drinking was a huge trigger for me to smoke. So it was only natural for me to give up both of those simultaneously.

You might be interested in reading what some of the recent studies regarding quiting alcohol dependence and nicotine dependence simultaneously have been finding.

From Struggling With Alcohol? Better Quit Smoking, Too - Health News - Health.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) — Overcoming alcoholism is tough enough. That’s one reason many alcoholics who smoke continue to light up even while they’re in recovery from alcohol dependency.

But new research suggests that tackling both addictions simultaneously may offer the best chance of success.

Recovering alcoholics often admit they’re using nicotine as a drug, said Dr. Michael M. Miller, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

“They can tell you, ‘I don’t want to quit [smoking], because it changes the way I feel. I use it to deal with stress,’ ” added Miller, who’s also director of NewStart, a chemical dependency rehabilitation program at Meriter Hospital in Madison, Wis.

A study of alcoholics in treatment for their alcohol problems used brain scans to examine how performance on cognitive tests changes with abstinence from alcohol. Twenty-five alcoholics stopped drinking for six to nine months, but the 12 who smoked continued to smoke.

“We found that the smoking alcoholics over six to nine months of abstinence did not recover certain types of brain function as the non-smoking alcoholics did,” said study author Dieter J. Meyerhoff, a professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Decision-making skills, thinking speed, 3-D visualization and short-term memory were affected, calling into question the prospects of long-term sobriety, he noted.

And while smoking and non-smoking alcoholics improved on several other cognitive tests, such as learning and remembering words, smokers’ brain function, in general, took longer to recover.

The findings were published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Studies indicate that 60 percent to 75 percent of people in alcohol-treatment programs smoke cigarettes, and 40 percent to 50 percent are “heavy” smokers, consuming more than a pack a day.

Yet treatment for tobacco dependence is not routinely included in alcohol treatment programs, Boston University researchers reported recently in the journal Alcohol Research & Health, published by the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

“I would say that over half of chemical dependency treatment agencies now talk about nicotine, encourage patients to stop [smoking] and provide them assistance to stop, such as with nicotine-replacement therapy or prescriptions for Zyban or Champix,” Miller said. “So that’s a tremendous advance.”

Oftentimes, though, smoking is excused. “What you don’t see,” Miller said, “is building nicotine into the treatment plan and considering tobacco use to be a relapse of addiction.”

The concern had been that addressing both dependencies concurrently would pose “too great a difficulty for the patient” and impede recovery from alcoholism, the Boston researchers noted. But studies now suggest that quitting smoking does not derail alcohol treatment — and may even improve the likelihood of longer-term sobriety, they said.

In fact, Miller said studies show that people in recovery for other addictions who delay smoking cessation can later relapse to their chemical dependency because of the stress of quitting smoking six to 18 months later.

“So stopping everything at once — getting all the psychological stress out of the way at once — is the best way to go, and also getting all the physical withdrawal syndromes out of the way at once is the best way to go,” he concluded.

Meyerhoff agreed that tackling smoking as part of an alcohol treatment program is a smart tactic.

“The alcoholics have shown that they are willing to change one behavior, namely excessive drinking,” he said. “If they are in that mindset, it is a great opportunity for treatment specialists to also convince them of the negative effects of continued chronic smoking.”

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has advice for recovering alcoholics on quitting smoking.

SOURCES: Michael M. Miller, M.D., president, American Society of Addiction Medicine, and director, NewStart, Meriter Hospital, Madison, Wis., Dieter J. Meyerhoff, Dr. rer. nat., professor of radiology, University of California, San Francisco; U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, Md.; February 2006, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research; Vol. 29, No. 3, Alcohol Research & Health

Here is a article detailing quiting smoking and alcohol options and concerns.


Smoking Cessation in Recovering Alcoholics: Fiction Versus Fact - April 15, 1998 - American Academy of Family Physicians

Congratulations again and may you find much health, happiness and longevity on this new path of freedom from the bondages of chemical dependency, I know that in the past 10 months my life has been changed so much for the better.

For quiting smoking resources I recommend either www.whyquit.com (FANTASTIC place with a wealth of information and very strong smo-briety)
I have also spoken with many people who had great success with the late Alan Carr's book "Easy way to stop smoking"
Thankfully we live in a time where the truth and dangers about smoking and tobbacco are impossible to escape, especially now that being a smoker is a being a "social-outcast" who in not welcome mostly anywhere anymore.
I wish you only the best, you can totally do this!
I highly recommend at least 7 minutes of moderate paced walking a day, it will help tremendously.
Congrats! Thanks for letting me share.

[Sikkisirus]

Good luck on quitting the ciggies and booze. I quit smoking just over 4 years ago and sure I put on a little weight but with the chest feeling way better I walked more and lost the weight too.