reggiewayne

Hey all. I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing pretty good. Coming up on 30 days!!! Anyway, I wanted to get some opinions on the smoking issue. Basically when my disease really took off, I picked up smoking. What 30 year old man "starts" smoking??? I did! I have smoked for about 5 years. I always attributed it to drinking. I would say "I like to smoke when I drink". Well, it turns out I also smoke when I don't drink.

I feel that smoking is robbing me of feeling "complete recovery". Meaning, I am not dealing with hangovers anymore, but I don't really wake up and feel great everyday and I think that has to do with smoking about 10 cigs a day. Also, I will not work out if I've smoked that day (saw a documentary once where it said you're 5 times more likely to have a stroke - after you've smoked - while working out). So, every morning I have this will power game of "do I go to the gym or do I smoke"....

The simple and obvious answer is just quit , but I don't want to jepordize my sobriety / recover. In a perfect world I would quit them all, but I wanted to get your guys' take on this.

Thanks in advance. Stay clean everyone!!!

Crow3000

I think the whole quitting smoking will jeopordize your recovery thing is a bunch of hoggwash. What an addict thing to say...

I'm around 30 and smoked around a pack a day for five years, ten cigs for about ten years. Quitting smoking was the best thing I did for my recovery. The second best thing I did was exercise. Also I heard somewhere that smoking is bad for you and might even kill you.

One tip though ... It took about six months to really feel better in the lung department. I thought I was always going to be winded when running, turns out it just took forever, so hang in there and don't smoke even a single cig EVER. And yes you will start to feel amazing in the morning.

totfit

While you may feel more relaxed after smoking it is only because it is qwelling the withdrawal. Smoking actually makes one more anxious in the long run and can contribute to relapse. If you feel strong cravings and feel it a threat, use some nicotine replacement such as the patch (in my opinion the best). Also, not smoking and going to the gym will do wonders for your outlook generally and your long term recovery outlook overall.

AmericanGirl

I smoked heavily for years, gave up completely for 2.5 years, started a little bit again after a family death 2 years ago and since have smoked about 3-5 cigarettes a day. I let myself keep this up when I quit drinking because it was too overwhelming to give it all up and alcohol was the much bigger problem. Now at eight months sober I'm ready though ; new years resolution here we come! Join me if you feel ready!

Dee74

I dunno about hogwash - I quit both at once, but I know for many other people here it actually endangered their sobriety fighting cravings on two fronts.

I think sometimes we can fall victim to a kind of perfectionism - all or nothing thinking - I must be totally 'clean' from NOW - I'm not sure how realistic or advisable that is....

But you know yourself better than anyone Reggie. If you think you can do it, then see your doctor and get all the help you can with quitting aids etc.

D

NoAlcoholToday

Couldn't agree more.

Continuing to smoke when you are in recovery will increase your chances of a relapse and here is why:

"Acetaldehyde toxicity is a strong contributor to alcohol and sugar addiction; Cigarette smoke produces acetaldehyde which temporarily increases tetrahydroisoquinoline (THIQ) production and intensifies the euphoric experience from the alcohol. Chronic acetaldehyde exposure increases your propensity for addictive biochemistry because it diminishes natural endorphin synthesis, and binds with seratonin further depleting its availability causing you to seek the THIQs produced by acetaldehyde and seratonin produced by the sugar more urgently and consistently"

Toronto68

Reggie, I can tell you from my personal vantage point, I would jump at the opportunity to quit smoking if I had quit drinking and now wanted to quit smoking after 5 years. About 4 or 5 months after I quit drinking, I managed to quit smoking for 5 days. I hadn't done that for 15 years, and when it happened 15 years ago, it was utterly out of the blue with no intention of quitting behind it, and I should have left it that way.

Even when I take all of the things we do with our bodies and look at the substances as an addiction MENU (and I do call myself a drug addict as an alcoholic), I still see smoking and drinking as very different for me.

But I'm just not you. So I think you should do what you know you have to.

I have noticed that you seem like you want your recovery pace to advance a lot in little time, and that has made me wonder whether you are trying to rush or something. But now that I get the impression you started your abuses later, maybe you have a different concept of time when it comes to quitting. Whatever. I would say you should remember the importance of staying away from drinking and not let the additional quitting scare you. Just because you try to quit smoking does not mean you are going to experience an urge to drop everything you started with the No Alcohol mode.

BullDog777

strangely enough, i quit smoking during some of my worst benders about 2 years before i got sober.

i was horrible to be around for a solid 2 months and then it was over. now, i'm replusled by the smell. it literally turns my stomach. i haven't had a cigarette in about 3 and a half years.

it was one of the best decisions i made for myself. i have a ton more energy now than i did when i smoked. not only that, but i enjoy not smelling like an ashtray anymore.

my mother got diagnosed with stage 3 lung disease after being a chain smoker for 30+ years about 4 months ago.

I smoked for about 15, and i'm glad i quit when i did. i like being able to exercise

December15

My own view is that smoking impedes recovery. The reason is that a sober person that continues to smoke uses addictive thinking to continue smoking. The nasty thinking is still there. The idea that quitting cigs will harm your sobriety doesn't hold much weight with me, I see it as addictive thinking. But I am just me and I have much to learn so could be talking rubbish.

ellis

i was told by my dr that nicotine, alcohol, and sugar
were on the same chemical receptors in the brain
and thus should all be quit at the same time

however i've heard of people going out again after quitting smoking
it's really up to you
do you feel strong enough to quit now
honestly are you ready

you can always start smoking again if you feel your sobriety threatened

December15

One interesting fact is that smoking is the cause of forty percent of hospital illnesses, while alcohol is the cause of fifty percent of hospital emergency visits - Lancet.

Wartrace

I quit smoking three weeks after my last drink. There were no issues. If you really want to quit I highly recommend Alan Carr's "the easy way to quit smoking". He tells you to smoke until you are finished reading. When he said to have my last smoke, I couldn't finish it. It was so powerful that when I went into a c-store during the first three day withdrawal period and saw MY BRAND staring me in the face I was able to resist buying a pack.

December15

I tried this but it didn't work. What did work though was being trapped at a camp site in snow without any access to a shop that sold cigs. I have now gone over a month without nicotine.

jamdls

I had quit smoking about a month or 2 before I had to quit drinking (due to an overdose), when I got out of the hospital I started smoking again and I'm not sure that I could have/would have maintened sobriety in the early days had I not been smoking. I was told by an addiction specialist that I shouldn't worry about quiting smoking until I'd been alcohol free for a year so I didn't. After a year of sobriety I again quit smoking and lasted about 2-3 months then the holidays were upon me and for the first time in a year I craved alcohol, well I knew I didn't want to drink again so instead I bought a pack of cigarettes and they did keep me from drinking. If you can quit both alcohol and cigarettes at the same time good for you, I still haven't managed to quit cigarettes completely but I do keep trying.

BullDog777

HOLY GOD....SUGAR TOO??!!

SCREW THAT! nobody takes my sugar!!

rws177

I quit smoking when I stopped drinking. It was all part of my plan of being healthy and smoking just didn't fit into that. I know a lot of people who still smoke and that does not bother me, after all who am I to judge to anyone really. I'm will BullDog777 though, no one will take my occasional sugar away!

dubbguy

I quit both at the same time and feel like doing so has helped make it easier if anything.
Especially once I had crossed a point with quitting cigarettes I knew to drink again would basically mean also smoking so they kind of reinforced each other in a good way to keep away.
I wouldn't have exercised at all either if I had still been smoking.

tsmba

I quit cigs after being sober 51 weeks. My personal feeling has always been that nicotine is just another drug that we need to be done with. I find it interesting that many NA zealots proclaim that a person isn't "clean" if they are on medications they disagree with, yet they never question their own smoking. There's a definite perversion of logic at play in that scenario!

NYCDoglvr

My experience: I was told in early recovery (first six months) to not even consider giving up nicotine until I'd passed the one-year mark.

I went from two packs per day to zero after 1 l/2 years because I had a very, very strong desire to be a non-smoker. I saw the incredible addition: if it was three a.m. and there was a blizzard I'd go out to buy a pack of cigarettes. It was awful withdrawal (used nicorette for several years) and after 18 years I still want to smoke once in a while.

LaFemme

I quit smoking (pack a day) the same day I quit drinking...the two were linked for me. I think I issue the cigarettes more than the booze