Bjen

I sure am full of posts today. Must be learning how to open up. LOOK OUT GUYS!! WON"T YOU BE SORRY!

For those of you that smoke....... Do you ever relate to your A when you've tried to quit smoking and can't? I can't quit and I hate it. Sometimes when I sneak a cigarette or finally give up and start again I feel so mad at myself. I realize the differences here, don't get me wrong, but, addiction to addiction, I have to understand alcoholism a little with my addiction to cigarettes. What are your thoughts.

Sunflower

Nicotine addiction is horrible-I know I also smoke--I don't think you can com[are it to alcohol--it doesn't ruin lives--or kill people in car crashes--or make people assualt someone etc....I suppose it does ruin lives-referring to health wise...I have quit-over and over again---MY AS IS TH REASON I SMOKE!!!! lol

ICU

As I've been weaning myself from smoking, the same thoughts have crossed my mind...the addiction (both physical and mental) is hard to break no matter what the substance.

You're right about smoking not being the same as other addictions in some respects, but there still are serious consequences just the same.

I'm learning to be gentle with myself when I give in to it and smoke more than I had planned on a particular day. But, the lesson is that it's about progress, not perfection. I have cut my smoking back by over 60%, have a plan, and work towards it...one day at a time!

eyes wide open

I also have smoked, I have been smoke free for 2yrs in April. Yes I can relate how hard it is for the alcoholic to stop. I did try to quit more than a couple of times. I also cut back. Until I really got sick of them controlling my life did I really try and it was very hard after 25yrs of smoking. I still have the thoughts to going back to smoking, I have to think what will it do but start the whole thing over again. It must be something you want very much to quit.

embraced2000

i've been smoke free for 4 months now. yes, it was hard to quit. but if faced with losing my family, job, or home.....hands down....no choice to make but to keep my loved ones.

i still crave cigarettes, still think about them, dream that i'm smoking....but i guarantee you, i would never choose cigarettes over my husband, or other things the alcoholic give up.

that's where the power of reasoning comes in for different types of addiction, i think....jmho.....i think other types of addictions like alcohol and drugs, people lose their power of reasoning.

again...jmo

mallowcup

A Pediatrician told me that nicotine is ten times more addictive than heroin. I'm a nurse and I smoke. I know better and get a real judgemental look from people because I'm a nurse. Of course because I know better and smoke anyway, it does have an invalidating effect on all that I am and all that I know. The hospital will become 100% smoke free in Novemeber 2008, so it's time to quit. The problem is that I enjoy smoking. I suppose the physical part is a real issue, but it represents a break for me.
Smoking is a bad habit, it doesn't mean you are a bad person. For this principle, I tend to use it as an excuse.
I guess as our individual rights disappear, I cling to my rights.
Right now, I should be entitled to a 15 minute break in the morning and a 15 minute break in the afternoon with a half hour lunch. None of that happens. There are no breaks and no lunch. You eat on the run. A supervisor will come and stay while I run to get a tray if I bring it right back. They will not cover for anyone who wants to go for a smoke. This is the part that I resent. My break is my business. The minute you tell me I can't do something that I am entitled to do, I get a warriors heart. This is particularly agitating when the person telling me how bad smoking is, is a big fat overeater.

WantsOut

I quit smoking because I decided to love myself and don't want to see myself die of a horrible illness or have to tote an O2 tank around or any of that stuff. I struggled for AH's health, I decided the struggle for mine was as worthy a goal. Also I had a lot of nerve lecturing about consequences when I was refusing to acknowledge the serious consequences of my own habit.

Also when I would try to quit and couldn't I felt like such a loser. Having control over my habits makes me feel more in control of myself.

That said, I have to stay a mile away from friends who smoke. Certain people, places, and things make me want to smoke and so I shun them. I take not smoking that seriously.

I think drinking and smoking are equally physically harmful to the person doing the drinking or smoking, but drinking is far more dangerous to people around the drinker. (Obviously I think the threat from second hand smoke is greatly exaggerated).

Zoey

I smoke and I do not want to quit. Even if I loved someone dearly I would have to leave them if they asked me to quit.
However I do not have childern, perhaps a mothers love is stronger?

I do not believe any of their BS about second hand smoke, except if someone has some lung problems, then of course it irritates.
I try to be very considerate, as I know how bad it smells.

However we have all these toxic chemicals in our enviroment and they are perfumed, scented so covered up. I hate sneaky killers, at least with cig we know we are running a risk.

I wonder how many that scream about smoke have ever checked their home for Radon???
I also think their statistics are made up for scare.

When Dr. and EPA and ACA go check homes for toxic chemicals and radon if someone has cancer, and are honest then I might believe part of their statistics.

Somehow I always think "Follow the money" Think I can see what is going on, but don't smoke, costs too much. Too much taxes that states never spend for health??

No comment on origal question, sorry.

HolyQow

Cigarettes don't make me turn into a psycho.
Cigarettes don't make me scream obscentities at my other half.
Cigarettes don't make me desire sex from someone other than my spouse.
Cigarettes don't make me passout at 3 in the afternoon.
Cigarettes don't impair my judgement.
Cigarettes don't make me snore.
Cigarettes don't make me forget where the bathroom is in the middle of the night.
Cigarettes don't make me slur every word.
Cigarettes don't cause my voice to become louder.

Well you get the point.....

I do think the need for a cigarette, the addiction part is similar, but the results are much different.

HolyQow

I forgot, the excuses to smoke might also be the same;

Frizzy said she smokes BECAUSE of her son.....(I know it was just a joke)
My AH says he drinks BECAUSE of us.....(but he isn't joking)

So we justify it in our minds, the same way an alcoholic justifies it. My AH quit smoking....because we couldn't afford it...so he could drink more

I suppose that just baffles me, if he can quit one addiction, cold turkey, why not the other one? (I have smoked 25+ years btw) So there must be something a little different about it. It probably effects the brain differently.

Sunflower

Interesting to hear all the responses to smoking --as I said I do smoke as well..I have seen as a nyrse people die from end stage lung diseases and I still do it--go figure??
I am also on Morpine for my illness-so I am a medically supervised addict I guess you could say.Once I was not allowed to get a refill for my morphine for 4 days secondary to insurance problems.By the 3 rd day I cannot even put into words what I felt--my whole body was screaming in pain and for the drug itself..It was very different than the few times I have tried to quit smoking..very different---I felt the feeling that I would do anything to get my medicine-anything-and it was one scary feeling. The Md and I discussed my fear--I have to be on it or I cant even get out of bed--but if the day comes where I have to stop I will have to do so in a hospital....scary....

harleygirl92156

I remember back when hubby was active, sitting at our counter the morning after he binged, chewing him up one side and down the other.

"If you don't stop drinking...puff..puff..puff..it is going to kill.....puff..puff..puff.....you one of these days. Your going to pickle...puff..puff..puff your liver...puff..puff..puff...or have an accident and ...puff..puff..puff....and kill your self of someone else..puff..puff..puff...puff...puff.......you get the picture.
What was I thinking?

lostmdboy

I have been quit smoking 12 years in Oct. I know it was harder to quit then drinking is for me now. At this point I have become an anti-smoker. I really hate being exposed to it. I sure Hope in 12 years that I feel the same about alcohol that I do about cigs, because I do not miss them AT ALL. I sure hope I get that way about beer cause I could use one. lol

ICU

Whew! Thank goodness no one has brought up the subject of 'chocolate' addiction! ;-)