vivid-red

Obviously smoking is deadly too....but I really think cigs help keep me sober.

I've made it 13 days without a drop and my life's much more manageable now.

I can see why they say you are becoming sane when you stop getting drunk.

SamanthaIam

I get super anxious if I smoke when I'm coming off alcohol... seems like it makes me feel about to have a heart attack! After the initial 72 hours or so, I like having a smoke just to have a habit or a thing to do instead of drink. But it all seems so crazy, doing things that are bad for me... I even tell myself I can have junk food or fast food if I don't drink. Weird, huh?

CarolD

Good to know you did quit drinking..

vivid-red

Ideally I would like to quit smoking too....but damn it is the most addictive thing ever I've tried patches, gum everything.....

DarkDays

Stop the Cigs, liberate yourself from the clutches of all evil addictions.

Well done on not drinking.

SamanthaIam

Yes, hendrix, very well done on not drinking. I should have said that right up front.

vivid-red

It's early days still in my sobriety....

I've found a new hobby though-collecting vinyl records-

much better to have something to show for your cash than empty bottles/cans.

SamanthaIam

Ha, so right, hendrix! I would have the Mount Everest of Empties if I'd saved them all.

I like vinyl, too.

Dalek

I used the "at least I'm not drinking" excuse for a long time, along with "at least I'm smoking less now that I'm not drinking," but it would be a stretch to say that cigarettes actually kept me sober. They sure didn't keep me sober when I was drinking and chain smoking. Mostly, they just kept me addicted to nicotine while ripping my lungs apart.

thisisme

After one year sober I quit smoking. The hardest addiction ever for the first 30 days, then respite....slowly the desire fades.
6 years later I can smell a smoker from across the room. I guess that makes sense because I can spot an alcoholic from about the same distance in bars.

It was recommended to master one addiction then the other and that worked for me.
Be on guard for replacing one addiction with another.
Best to you.

vivid-red

I thought this was a stupid thread title after I made it....

Anyway, I've made it 2 weeks sober but I have been drinking a fair bit of shandy (less than 0.5% alcohol).....it's sold in soft drink section so I suppose as long as it doesn't give me the desire for real beer I'll be OK.

dr4t7

I completely agree!

keepfinding2

Odd, but good. I'm a little concerned you're trading one potentially deadly substance for an even deadlier one. Have you tried looking into quit plan?

Db1105

I got sober in AA back when there were hardly any non smoking meetings. Coffe and cigarettes were a lifesaver for me also. Times have changed. I don't know of any smoking meetings in my area and if you smoke you're considered a pariah. It was suggested to me to work on one addiction at a time. So, that's what I did.

tacks

Thanks for posting.

Strongly agree. To rephrase it, NOT being able to have a smoke when you feel like it can, at times, make you want to pick up -- in a very BIG way.

I'm not proud of having gone to rehab twice. But having said that...

The rehab where they let you have a smoke almost whenever you liked was a great experience.

The rehab where patients who couldn't have a smoke in the middle of a sleepless night was unnecessarily stressful. And I am NOT the only one who felt that way. People hiding matches, getting caught when sneaking smokes added sooooo much additional stress and anxiety.

I know of two cases where people were going to leave rehab for the smoking issue alone.

Smoking is, of course, bad. But jeez let's confront just one issue at a time.

Dalek

For anyone who would advise that people keep smoking if they are quitting drinking lest they get drunk again, here's a question...

Would you advise that someone who was quitting smoking keep getting drunk lest they smoke again?

Doesn't sound nearly as smart, does it?

Addict "logic" sounds good, until you flip it around and hold up the mirror.

Then it is exposed for what it is. Same old, same old.

gaffo

Cigs were a terrible addiction for me. I quit almost 18 years ago, on my eighth try. It was awful. It's been so long I couldn't honestly compare it with quitting drinking. I got some good addiction genes. Alcohol and tobacco have just mowed through my family like a lawn tractor through grass so I really knew I'd have to quit them both. I didn't really plan a strategy. I don't know if quitting them both at once would be any better or worse than individually.

Dalek

Oh, I should add that I actually tried the "getting drunk" quit smoking program.

It didn't keep me from smoking, any more than smoking kept me from drinking.

Gottalife

You're a hard man, but that's quite in character for a dalek I guess lol. For 20 years or more I held the view that smoking wont kill as quick as the booze, so deal with that first. Then I got a really hard lesson. I stopped smoking at around 20 years sober and went through three years of hell.

I didn't relate it to stopping smoking at the time, I thought I was having "the twenty year blues" I have heard about, working the steps, going to meetings, nothing seemed to make much difference. But then I met up with an old friend of similar sobriety and she described the exact same experience.

We were talking about it last night and we conlcuded that we both had been taken right back to step one. Maybe we weren't as sober as we thought. Perhaps there was more to smoking than simple chemical addiction. This business of going through a second recovery was no fun akthough the way we feel now is infinitely better than when we were smoking both in a physical and spiritual sense, we have both been truly set free.

So now I realise I was wrong for all those years. I would say to anyone who feels the need to give up smoking in early sobriety, go for it! One recovery is better than two. As a side note I did give up smoking for a few months in early sobriety and it was a piece of cake in comparison. I gave up for my girl and when we split up I thought I might as well smoke again- silliest thing I ever did!

Itchy

I was smoking three packs a day, and drinking more than 30 units of alcohol a day. Had been for years as I retired at 45 my first time and could drink all day if I wanted and did later on.

I could not quit the smokes and they were messing me up as badly as alcohol. My hat is off to you folks who quit one or the other with no help during detox. I just knew that if I could just detox and survive I would quit drinking. But since I found I qualified for the VA hospital detox medically for 7 days, I checked in, and decided not to waste myndetox on just one drug. So I quit both. They put me on the patches which I stayed on for a year.

I will have two years sober and being a non smoker this coming September.

I did not respond well to reformed smokers or drinkers who became drinking and smoking nazis. A good example is my FIL and BIL? They both smoked two packs a day and made fun of my attempts to quit smoking. Until they each had massive heart attacks which they survived.

When I had had enough of my FIL doing his pontificating on how it is unhealthy to smoke and yada yada yada, I calmly pointed out that I woukd have more respect for their diatribes had they quit on their own without having the doc tell them that their next smoke could and would kill them. They did not quit from good sense, but mortal fear!

I never quit because of preachy people or scare stories. And even though my wife still smokes and drinks I don't say one word and honestly stay out of it.

If anybody asks for my help or advice on quitting either or both I'll do what I can. But I can and do talk with folks on smoke breaks and or drinking a beer with no issues. I don't crave,want, or miss either one.

So I can support doing one at a time. But realistically both are as dangerous. The only saving grace with drinking is that there are no second hand highs.

So congrats on quitting one, worry about the other later. I just wanted both gone from my life.