Cosima11

My immune system seems to be weaker since I stopped drinking (probably related to my diet or vitamin deficiencies) which I'm aware of.. but the bigger issue right now is my addiction to cigarettes. I've kept it as a crutch but my body seems to be saying that's enough.. keep getting sick and now with a really sore throat.

So here I am on day one.. Any tips from others who quit early in sobriety? I'm approaching it the same as drinking.. cold turkey, one day at a time.

Wastinglife

I never crave nicotine until after a few beers. Then I would smoke a pack in one night depending how much I drank. I had 6 months sober last year and never bought a single pack.

mandypandy

I am trying to pack the fags up too. I seem to have been chain smoking since I gave the drink up. More drinkers die of smoking related diseases than drinking related ones, frightening.
I have just gotten Alan Carrs Easy Way to stop Smoking book on my kindle, but haven't read it yet. So although I have no advice, you are not alone

Cosima11

Yeah that's how it started for me too.. once you cross the line of also smoking sober it becomes its own separate issue. Hope you never have to experience it!

Interesting I had not heard that but I believe it.. Thank you for your response, I'll have to look up that book!

SeaOfSerenity

Two things I did (I went a year no smoking this month)

First.
I watched this video every time I was craving. If I relapsed I would target going longer than I had the previous attempt. Eventually, on one attempt I managed to get to a point where the thought of having to start from 0 was enough for me to resist cravings, which by that point had lessened in frequency and intensity.



Second.
I found an App that is pretty much the equivalent of the above video. It tracks your progress giving you updates on the health progress you're making. This proved helpful as a quick visual aid of the health benefits id be giving up during a craving and also tracked how many days without i'd been.
Unfortunately it's only available on IOS right now. If that's not your operating system of choice, have a look around for something similar. It was invaluable for me getting through the first year, especially 6 months where it was a daily struggle.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/smok...577767592?mt=8

all the best

Offthemast

Takes 4 days for the nicotine to exit your system. That's 4 very uncomfortable days. After that its mental. I used Allen Carrs easyway video. I'm finding quitting alcohol much harder than quitting smoking. I guess I still feel like drinking has redeeming qualities, which it doesn't.

mandypandy

That video is really good, very positive, scare tactics don't work as well as showing the benefits of stopping!

Cosima11

Thanks everyone, day 2 and yeah it sucks.. driving is torture, woke up angry for no reason, it took longer to fall asleep and I got less sleep than I would've liked. Wednesday-Thursday is my "weekend" so I now have 2 days off with nothing to keep me occupied.

True quitting smoking is easier but I wasn't seeing it that way cause it was to the point where I wouldn't have been able to quit smoking while I was still drinking/blacking out. The redeeming qualities of quitting far outweigh the ones of staying in it in my opinion

Awesome video thanks for that, I'll look into the app too! That's one thing I learned from my attempts to moderate my drinking.. it's probably easier to actually cut back with smoking but if I'm gonna suffer either way I might as well just try to get it over with as quickly as possible. Congrats on one year that's exciting!

Cosima11

Ok I'm on day 4, here are my rambling thoughts..Although cigarettes aren't mind altering (at least for regular smokers) the emotional addiction factor is still there.. It's a constant distraction and "escape" from dealing with life.

But smoking makes me feel gross and bad about myself in general. It's connected to my overall state of organization and cleanliness.. My car is a mess? My place is a mess? Of course it is there are empty packs of cigarettes scattered around (used to be empty bottles) so why bother tidying anything else up.

The only real negative is that smoking suppresses your appetite and I was worried I'd gain weight. But that's sort of cheating anyway, this will force me to eat healthier and be more active. I've been eating out of necessity, I'd forgotten it's normal to actually enjoy and look forward to meals..

So overall the idea of quitting for good is empowering. I've felt like I haven't accomplished much (externally) since I quit drinking but this is something I definitely wouldn't have been able to before.

It also helps that I didn't start smoking until I was 22 or 23 (same time my drinking "crossed the line") so I have memories of myself as an adult before my life turned into a living nightmare and that's what I'm clinging to now.

As for the cravings, they are subsiding a bit but still definitely there.

mandypandy

Hi Cosima11, although cigarettes are not mind altering in the drastic way drink and some other drugs are, nicotine is still a drug, a stimulant. I used to work in mental health. And if a patient who smoked gave up, their doses of anti-psychotics had to be altered. Reduced infact.
According to Alan Carr, it's the dropping nicotine levels between cigarettes that causes withdrawals and why you crave a cigarette, to stop the mini-withdrawals.
Add any external stress to the internal stress of dropping nicotine levels and the illusion of smoking reducing stress is born. It takes away nothing of the external stress (as it is a stimulant, it doesn't have a calming effect) but it does sooth the withdrawals and make you feel calmer. So you think it is calming your stress down.
But escape is deffo a factor. The disappearing acts I did, shouting I'm off for a smoke in stressful situations haha
Good to hear the cravings are subsiding a little for you. And yes, it is a dirty stinky habit!
Keep it up

Cosima11

Yeah I thought it would be harder hanging out at home with nothing to do but I was so wrong.. some annoying sh*t happened at work and I could barely contain my anger (I'm def cool calm and collected usually). There was also an unclaimed pack just sitting in the back there for the taking... why now? lol

It's true cigarettes aren't actually calming though and do nothing to solve the problem. Thought about that and how just like with drinking if you can get through the maybe 5 mins of overwhelming thoughts you're in the clear again and back to being glad you haven't given in..

So anyway thanks for the response, it is all interesting! How are you doing?

mandypandy

I caved I smoked like a mad idijit last night. I frucking hate going back to square one grrrr.

You keep up the good fight though, you're doing well and almost over the strong physical withdrawals

Cosima11

It's ok we've all been there, be patient with yourself.. there's no real timeline for these things. Quitting didn't even cross my mind until I realized it was contributing to my feeling physically awful.

Thanks for the encouragement

MindfulMan

I quit about 12 years ago after smoking a pack a day for 30 years (I started young). I used Chantix (Champix in the UK) which made it relatively easy. It blocks the nicotine receptors so you feel no effect from cigarettes...so you get nothing out of smoking and kinda just lose interest.

After I was through the physical withdrawals I read Carr's book. That's what KEPT me from starting again.

I was still drinking like a fish then.

Last May I lasted 2 days in rehab before I caved and picked up smoking again. EVERYONE smoked and it was something to do. About 4 months later, 3 months out of rehab I decided one morning to not buy a pack. I just stopped for good. I had been prescribed Wellbutrin for depression and the anti-smoking medication Zyban is just Wellbutrin by another name...but it didn't help me quit the last time.

You will gain weight. Don't worry about it. You can diet off fat. You can't diet off cancer, heart disease or COPD. One thing at a time. I was in outpatient rehab when I quit the 2nd time and they advised us NOT to quit smoking if we were recently sober. Nicotine cessation is no joke, it's a highly psychoactive substance and your brain does a real number when you quit cold turkey, it can also be a huge relapse trigger. Of course I did it anyway, but it was almost like I'd quit before I'd realized it! Kind of like that old Irish proverb....may you be in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead.

You can do this. Not sure how long you've been sober from alcohol but if the nicotine bye-bye causes stress that makes you have intense alcohol cravings, I say wait and fight another day.

I have an app called Sober Time that tracks my sober days. You can have more than one tracker, so one is alcohol and one is nicotine. I rarely look at it anymore, but since I'm here...alcohol is 290 days and nicotine is 170.

Cosima11

Thank you for your thoughtful reply MindfulMan! I'm at 4 and 1/2 months and I did actually think about this being a relapse trigger.. so far I have no desire whatsoever to drink but I'm more concerned that if I relapse with smoking I might start questioning myself.. Like see you failed with that why would you think alcohol is any different. But it IS different.

Anyway, yeah it's strange that I'm even doing this. I was just getting comfortable in sobriety (was finally sleeping well and didn't feel like I was on such an emotional roller coaster ride) so why am I throwing myself back into discomfort? I guess I don't want to get complacent..

Maybe it's just the newness of this or sober time in general or both but since I quit smoking I definitely feel I have more mental/emotional clarity.. I'm realizing I need to fill my time with healthier things if I want to keep growing. I don't know if this will last or if I'll be successful (with the smoking) but I guess I'd prefer this new state of awareness to the haze and monotony of my life as a newly sober chain smoker..

Lpg

I hear ya, since quitting drinking my smoking has ramped up really quick. Once I'm at peace with the no drinking I will need to think about quitting smoking. Great advice here to revisit when the time comes.

shortstop81

I quit smoking years ago by using Allen Carr's book. Then when I went to rehab I started again - EVERYONE smoked and it seemed a good way to socialize.

I had a hard time coming back home and I started collecting "smoking buddies" at work. It got to the point where I could recognize I was using nicotine as a way to deal with stress, as well as a distraction from difficult emotions.

I remember in treatment watching a video where a doctor says that even while sober, continuing to smoke keeps the addictive brain patterns alive. It made sense to me - the same reward centres are activated with the nicotine, and the cycle of stressor-reward-withdrawal, etc continues.

I didn't do anything too fancy to quit this time, other than getting more involved in exercise and healthy eating which didn't jive with smoking. I really hated the way I felt when I smoked, and there were times I'd take in too much nicotine and made myself ill. I mean, I'm a true addict - I'll always take anything to the extreme.

I don't miss it one bit.

Weather Forecast

When I stopped drinking I upped my smoking from twenty per day to thirty. Now I'm coming up on thirteen months off the cigarettes quitting the day I celebrated my second full year off the booze. I'd second what most people have already said - there was nothing fancy happened and I didn't use any gimmicks or special tools.. Like you I went cold turkey. I found it much, MUCH, easier to quit smoking than I did to quit drinking. I hope you manage to do it when the time is right, which is probably the most important factor when quitting anything. It just has to be the right time. . .

kittycat3

I’m nearly 6 months smoke free after over 20 years of smoking. I quit and you can too.

Post here often (there is a nicotine thread.) Find some people in your real life you can reach out to. Remember that anytime you smoke you are just resetting the clock - for me when it’s really bad I just remember how bad early days were and the thought of going thru that again is a big deterrent. Yes the first days / week 1 will suck but it really gets better. I barely think about cigs anymore. (PS I found quitting cigs harder than quitting booze! It’s not easy but worth it!). So far I’ve saved hundreds of dollars!

Cosima11

Keeping the addictive brain patterns alive makes sense to me too.. I felt chained to this habit and saw no way out of it. Amazing how quickly things can change! (not saying I'm in the clear yet for relapsing but my perception is definitely different).

I do find myself eating more but not to an unmanageable extent. Just have to be more conscious of what I eat now which isn't a bad thing.

For anyone considering quitting, it is worth it and you notice benefits pretty much right away.. I already feel so much better physically and it's only day 6. Thoughts of smoking come and go but I wouldn't call them cravings as they were initially.