CrushedbyCrack

Well, I'm not going to get too far into this, but I will point out the comparison between cigs being legal vs. drugs being not....what about the fact that alcohol is legal....whooaaa...don't even want to go there with all the problems people addicted to alcohol have. As far as trading for the lesser evil. I wish my husband only smoked cigs. Funny thing is, he's on chantix and trying to quit, and is down from a pack and a half a day to about 3 cigs if it's a sober day and 9 cigs to a pack of cigs if not. AAAAHHHH it all makes me crazy.

bookmiser

I thought that I could avoid this controversial subject, but what the he!!
I'm in.
I have been a smoker for over 30 years. Scary, I know.
I've quit a couple of times. Once for 10 months and once for 6 months.
Both times, I've used the Nicoderm CQ patch. A 10 week wean.
Works for me. For a while. lol
This last time, I swore that I did not want to ever start smoking again.
I made myself that promise.
Then..... da da da dum.
It was late one night at work and I had just finished my meal break.
I got up from the chair and pushed it to the table. Lo and behold, under
the chair lay a cigarette pack. (not my brand, btw. who cares?)
The temptation was too strong. I bent down, opened the pack, saw it
was half full, and immediately put them in my coat pocket.
Who's were they? Why did I pick them up? Best question of all...
How much longer before we close, so I can get outta here and light up?
I was torn. I was angry at myself. I said to myself over and over,
"just put them back where you found them, stupid."
I was weak.
When I left work, I drove to the nearest convenient store and asked the
clerk for a book of matches. Not a lighter, just matches. This was a one time deal. If I bought a lighter, that meant that I had succumbed and I was not heading that way.
I never found out who the cigarettes belonged to. I never confessed my theft.
I did however take up the addiction of cigarettes once again.
I kept telling friends and family that God tested me that night and that I failed miserably. My hubby (who's never smoked a day in his life. punk!)
says, "Linda, you can't fail miserably. You can only fail."
Believe me. You CAN and I did.
So, to answer your question, Cupicake. I've missed you, btw, is ciagarettes
an addiction like illegal drugs?
I believe they are. In Ohio, where I live, cigarettes have been banned from every public place. You are not allowed to smoke within 30 feet of a public door front. If cigarettes become illegal, I believe we're all (smokers) in for some real trouble. This is just my opinion.
If cigarettes were illegal and they may become so in a not so distant future,
then the smoker's would become no different than an illegal drug user today.
There is a definite "high" to smoking. I know it. I've experienced it.
There is a craving for cigarettes to the addicted. I know, I've been there.
There is an "I'd do anything -for- a- cigarette feeling among smokers.
I've witnessed it and been part of that crowd.
I commited a crime. I stole someone else's property.
I'm Linda and I'm a addict.

Cupicake

oh Linda...I miss all of you everytime I stay away for too long.
You've captured my sentiments exactly. When I really think about it and analyze my behavior and smoking...I am truly an addict. It may not make me paranoid like my exrah was on coke and crack...I don't sweat profusely from it (except when it's really hot outside then I just end up reeking like a cig because the smell sticks to your sweaty skin)....I don't blow my nose constantly (but I do cough a whole lot caused by post nasal drip that I think is caused from smoking)....I don't abandon my family and stay out all night or days in a row....BUT....when I run out of cigarettes and it's 2 or 3 am, I first rummage through my house (all manic like) to make sure there isn't a pack or a couple of cigs lying around....and if there were I would promptly light them and smoke them thereby putting myself back in the same predicament. If I don't have any in the house...oh yeah...I am going out at 2 or 3 am in the morning to buy myself a pack (this I try to do on the sly so that no one knows that I'm fiending this badly for cigs). Now I just make sure that I always have extra packs at home so that I'm never out of them and I can rest comfortably at night knowing my little crutch is right there for me if I need it.

bookmiser

Cupi,

lol. You said crutch. (said in a beevis and butthead tone)
I would never allow myself to be without. Now that! is an addiction.
Thanks for not judging me on my confession. I was really embarrassed to
put it out there, but I wanted people to know how I feel about those nasty little boogers. lol
love ya,
Linda

Cupicake

See...there I go minimizing it again...
Yes it is an addiction...
Although I still have this mini me nagging behind my ear saying..."you know it's not the same".
See...still conflicted. I can't help it.

bookmiser

I know what you mean. I've seen some terrible things when my son
was active in heroin. Horrible, horrible things. I can't imagine ever
being that way over a cigarette. But...
Ya just never know. Time will tell. If God grants me that kinda time.
I'd really love to quit again. I know it's mostly habit. The first one in the
morning sets the habit into motion. Ya know?

Cupicake

LOL...waking up sets my habit into motion. But you develop routines in life and smoking is a part of a smokers routine. I wake up, I smoke...I eat, I smoke...I have coffee, I smoke...I walk outside, I smoke...leave work, smoke.......
It becomes so much a part of a routine that if I do one without the other I end up feeling like I'm missing something....and I'm usually very well aware what it is I'm missing.
But still.....I can not deny what everyone above has said.
A

bookmiser

Yep! I can relate.
Here's to quitting. Someday.
hugs,
Linda

Gmoney

I guess we're all different. I've been a cigarette smoker for over 35 years and I've never experienced a "high" from smoking cigarettes. I stole packs when I was a kid because I couldn't afford to buy them and I recall hitting my friends up for a cig or two when I ran out, but that was basically because they always asked for mine. Since I've been employed (since 17) I've supported my "bad habit" and have never resorted to picking up butts off the ground or stuff like that. I tried to quit once and didn't smoke for a month. Sure...I craved them, but to be honest, I don't recall any withdrawal symptoms like those described here. Deep inside, I truly believe that once I develop the desire and willingness to quit...I will. Right now, I do not want to stop - simple as that. So I don't play with myself, worry about it, or fool myself over it. As I mentioned previously, addiction is addiction: whether it be to nicotine, caffiene, food, shopping, sex, gambling, or posting on internet websites (LOL!!). Some folks claim to get a "high" from exercise!! Can you believe that? Then there are others who say drinking coffee or energy drinks gets them high. I've never been high off of coffee and I don't drink energy drinks, but if they say it happened to them...who am I to argue? Each of us has to come to grips with the negative aspects of addiction FOR OURSELVES and either make a change or accept it for what it is. One thing I know for sure is that I can point out all the negatives till the cows come home, but an addict doesn't stop using (whatever it is) until they want to stop.

Cupicake

I don't know if I would classify it as a high...maybe it's more like a buzz...but when I used to smoke marlboro reds the very first drag of the day gave me a slight buzz but i don't get that from marlboro lights. I agree that there are very big differences and everyone has made very good points to that fact but in my very humble opinion I think that on a very basic general level when classifying addiction they are the same.
I don't want to sound ignorant...I know I will never know what it's like to do any of the aforementioned drugs because I will never do them...I just know what it's like from a loved one's perspective and I guess I try to identify to try to understand.

Wascally Wabbit

All I know is for me, it is a drug. It keeps me sane, or so I think. I can't feel the rush or the high unless I go without one for a long time.
But, it has devestating effects that are truly ugly. My father died at 54 from lung cancer. I had a good friend die at 44 from lung cancer. I have a friend who's mother is 38 freaking years old and has throat cancer from smoking.

I don't mean to rant about smoking, but nicotene is a drug. The high just isn't as obvious.

Gmoney

I'd be the last to dispute that nicotine isn't a drug. Of course it is. And yes...the effects CAN BE devastating for SOME people...I'll even stick my neck out here and say MOST people. But, just like any of us can cite extreme scenarios to make our points, we can also cite scenarios that conflict with those same points. For example, my mother will be 80 years old this year and she smoked filterless cigarettes for almost 50 years before she quit. She doesn't have lung cancer. I know a guy who died of lung cancer and he never smoked a day in his life! Go figure...

I also know of people who smoked, but once they quit smoking they became very self-righteous about the horrors of smoking cigarettes - preaching about what it can do and what everyone else should do. I'm sure their intentions were well-meaning, but I had to remind one person that he never got on his soapbox until after he quit and that no one could tell him anything while he was a smoker. It's like telling a gambler not to play Lotto, or telling a sex-addict to be celibate, or telling a shopaholic not to use their credit card...save your breath...they're well aware of the dangers, drawbacks and downside.

No one is disputing that nicotine isn't a drug (it's kinda like sugar), but I'll share long and hard against anyone saying it's like cocaine, heroin, or meth....especially if they're pointing the finger at my addiction. What most people fail to mention is that it isn't the nicotine found in tobacco that causes cancer, it's the 100's of carcinogens in the smoke.

I didn't put down the dope to become a perfect example of Homo Sapiens (without vice). There's no wings on my back nor halo over my head, but JFT...I'm clean.

laketime

I quit the day before Tgiving. So Im about 2 months clean from nicotine. They will kill you and it is a slow agonizing death. All kinds of things ,heart disease, hardening of the arteries, all kinds of cancer, emphazema, high blood pressure, sexual side affects, circulation problems, anyway I smoked fro over 20 years heavily and think about them every hour. When my AS was in rehab I noticed all the councelors (addicts in recovery) were smokers. I asked the director about it and she said that most addicts will "cross addiction" swap one addiction for another. Cocaine for nicotine. etc So, I say yes definitely the same thing, addiction is addiction. P.S. I used the new drug Chantix to help me quit. It really worked well.

hello-kitty

I quit smoking one week ago today (yay me!) and I can guarantee you from personal experience that the intensity of cravings (the mental anguish, the moodiness, the desire, the iritability) for cigarettes, while really bad, are ABSOLUTELY nothing like the cravings I experienced when I quit smoking coke. It's a completely different level of intensity of addiction. I guess if you are using the comparison between being addicted to cigarettes and trying to quit, and your loved ones being addicted to hard drugs and trying to quit, I would say it's about 1% of the intensity.

I am using Chantix too. I recommend it as well.

Cupicake

I'm sorry hello-kitty...i got kind of lost in your comparison...are the cravings stronger for the cigarettes or the drug?

I will have to do some research on this Chantix...for when I'm ready....

hello-kitty

No, when quitting, I'd say it's much easier to stop smoking cigarettes than it is the other stuff. The cravings for cigarettes are not as strong, but you still have to want to quit smoking more than you want to keep smoking.

Day 8 for me now with no cigarettes. Yay! Chantix helps with the cravings alot. But I still want to smoke when I feel stressed or in situations that trigger my cravings (like driving my car). However, I have set my mind on quitting and I will not be deterred. When I want a smoke, I repeat to myself over and over, "no matter what happens or how bad things seem, I will not smoke a cigarette". I am also avoiding the people I know who smoke right now because I don't think I could be around people smoking. I'd end up bumming one off them.

Cupicake

Thank you Kitty.
Congrats by the way...keep it going.
You too laketime and everyone else who is attempting to or has kicked this habit.