liz84

Hi

Finishing up day 3 of no drinking.

I guess I am wondering about quitting smoking at the same time from people who regularly smoked and then chain smoked also while drinking. I find that alcohol has no desirability to me if I can't smoke while I do it. It makes sense to me that quitting smoking could mean I may never care about drinking again but I just went 52 hours without a cigarette and it drove me crazy, lol. Horrible mood swings not because of no vodka but I just wanted to smoke. So tonight I went and smoked a cig... *sigh* Now I wonder if I keep smoking how long it will be before I pick up drinking again.

For those that have experience with this, do you think it's best to try again to stop smoking now while I am quitting alcohol or should I give it more time before quitting smoking? It's stressful not to smoke during this but I definitely do not want a drink if I can't smoke.

Opinions?

Bikeguy

I quit smoking 100 days after I quit drinking. I tried to stop the smokes sooner but doing both together threatened my sobriety. Once I felt I had a good grip on not drinking I then set my sights on quitting smoking. Both were killing me but at the time I quit drinking that was killing me quicker.

Dee74

I quit both at once...my smoking and drinking were bound together - but I was always able not to smoke when not drinking and not have any negative effects from that.

Others I know have found quitting the two at once too hard.

I definitely think quitting is the right thing to do tho - but it's up to you on the timing.

D

LaFemme

I quit my almost pack a day at the same time as my 1.5 liter a day. Like Dee the two were woven together for me although I think I might be able to smoke without drinking but drinking without smoking was impossible.

I hear you about how hard it is though....the smell of booze makes me gag, but when I pass a smoker on the street I take a nice deep inhale...

ADaisyifyoudo

I quit both at the same time. With rare exceptions (like beach trips with smoking girlfriends) I only smoked when I drank. Which of course meant every day, but only in the afternoons and evenings (small favors, I never was a morning or midday drinker). Some days that meant half a pack or more, depending.

Today is day 19 for me, it's been pretty bad in terms of mood swings and depression. At this point I can't separate the booze and the smokes in terms of what's driving my mood but I guess I thought about it like a band aid - rip it off all at once and get it over with. Since alcohol and cigarettes were so entwined for me I also thought if I continued smoking without drinking I might just ingrain the smoking habit even more deeply.

Pachystima

There is no way I could have quit smoking and drinking at the same time. I was a two-pack-a-day smoker and quitting that addiction was enough of a challenge for the time. Smoking was something I did all day long while drinking was an after work thing. The two were not particularly bound together while smoking and drinking coffee were. I had to quit coffee for a while when I quit smoking but was able to resume my coffee after a month or so. I quit smoking before I quit drinking though which gave me the confidence that I could quit drinking.

In my new life, coffee and impure thoughts are my two major vices.

leo21

Last year I quit drinking, but kept up my almost pack a day habit. I think deep down inside I really knew that it went hand in hand and in some sort of way I was still feeding an addiction. I slipped up after four months or so. This time around I simply stopped both of them at the same time. I figured if I was gonna feel anxious, moody, and have some sleepless night I might as well make it worth it and cut it all out. I was so used to having cigarettes handy to 'help' me not drink, when I believe now that they really helped me 'to' drink. If that makes any sense!! lol

TheTinMan

I had a friend at work that had 15 years sobriety. When I told him that I was going to try and recovery he agreed to be my temporary sponsor until I found one in my AA group. He told me not to change anything until I had a year of sobriety under my belt. I didn't take his advice lol but I did wait 6 months before I quit smoking.

I agree with some of the posters above. It's hard to do both at the same time. What it boiled down to for me was that alcohol was ruining everything in my life and I had to quit. I made that my main focus and then started to work on other parts of my life. I don't regret smoking another 6 months because I was able to maintain my sobriety and that was the most important thing to me.