A question
 

I have a question if there is any of you that have done this. I am a scheduled drinker, meaning I usually start my daily consumption of beer (around 15 a night) at around 6pm when I get home from work. I do not smoke during the day, but when I start drinking I will smoke about 6-8 of those little cigars called backwoods and I do inhale them. Now, it is right about the time I start my drinking and after 2 or 3 beers I smoke because it enhances the buzz. So I was planning on not drinking tonight thus I thought I would not smoke. But I was racking my brain about what would happen if I smoked but did not drink. I just finished a smoke and noticed that the cravings for booze had subsided a little because I got another type of buzz, nicotine buzz. Of course I realize what I am doing, trading one for the other. But if I can stay away from booze by smoking the cigars for a while, could I then concentrate on stop smoking? It sounds freaking ridiculous to do that, but has this been a road traveled by anyone else that successfully did this? It is like I am trying to fight 2 habits, so fight the big one first? I don't know. I have smoking the cigars for about a year now. Thanks for reading.

Fight the big one first.

Mark

Yeah, :agree.


I wouldn't suggest anyone pick up smoking to stop drinking, but if it's something you already do, and it helps you get over a craving, I see no reason why not to go with it for now.

When I quit drinking, I smoked more than I ever have, and after a couple weeks, I was back at the level I started at with cigarettes. It's not the greatest, but it beats the alternative, IMHO.

TB.

Hi Loco,

Yup! I'd 3rd the motion. These are both dangerous addictions but I would surely get rid of the booze first. After all, that's how I did it myslef! LOL Quit the booze in January and JUST quit smoking this week. It's all good in the end Loco but get rid of the booze first IMHO.

Love Pancake xo

Hi and Welcome,

I'm glad you found us!

I quit both.

Although I traded the drinks and cigs for running and biking. Took a long time to adjust but it was worth it.

My suggestion would be to address the alcohol addiction, NOW.

Smoking calms me down (yeah, I'm addicted) so quitting drinking & smoking at the same time would not work for me.

Early sobriety & nicotine fits at the same time? I'm not into that kind of torture!

I still smoke but I do exercise everyday & I eat better. Maybe try to pick up a good hobby especially for the evenings.

I think both are equally as bad. My dad died from COPD at 61, and he stopped drinking 30 years earlier, yet still died pre-mature. I have a problem with trading one addiction for another, but thats just me. Hope you are able to quit both

Very interesting, thanks for sharing your thoughts Loco. And welcome to SR :)

I know, and guess what? My dad died of cancer at 47, my mom at 50 from cancer I am 40! Good lord I am a freaking moron. I chewed tobacco for 20 years, quit in 2002 and looking back my drinking went up quite a bit then. Its a damn yo yo. I am a day and a half in and not feeling too bad. Stomach upset and mild tremors. I wrote this down today and it got me through for another few hours, I just printed it out and put it in my pocket. Read it when I am having cravings.

cons of drinking:
not spending time with kids/wife
hand tremors, sometimes hard at work,try to mask the problem/say it is low blood sugar
can kill me, liver,kidney, eventually suicidal thoughts will eventually occur
have diabetes,compounds the problems with neurothapy and kidney function (probably main reason i have diabetes)
lose job then family
outcast with family members
costs money, $300 a month
feel like crap most of the day until high again
can't drive at night
sex drive erosion
not being able to have sex at night
peeing the bed
trying to hide urine soaked bed time clothes
avoid overnight trips with kids, wife because afraid i will be all weirded out because most do not drink like me
hiding beer cans
guilt
goes against my moral compass and thoughts about what a father should be
no energy to do anything besides work
afraid of getting caught drunk by surprise visitors at night
i do not like me anymore

pros:
I do not care about the above when i am high

Agree big one first... Exercise reguarly and it should help you balance out for a good attempt at the nicotine. Humbly on day 55 this time.

thanks for that list lococerveza. tho' not every one of them applied to me enough of them did for me to relate. how can you look at those 2 lists and not want to quit???

i have written those things down before. it's a good reminder because when you get enough days under you, you can tend to forget the awfulness of it all. thanks again for the reminder.

I say if the smoking helps you quit drinking go for it. But make sure you quit smoking when you have the drinking under control as it is super bad for you. I smoked like a chimney when I drank but hated smoking by itself. If I smoked and didn't drink I would get chest pains, pains down my left arm and tingling in my left leg...felt like I was going to have a stroke. But give me a case of beer and I could easily smoke a pack or two with no pain. It was the same with weed...I hated smoking it without drinking, I would get all paranoid and fidgety totally couldn't enjoy it, but once I had a few beers in me there was nothing better than smoking pot. Good luck to you!

Honest list. Kudos to you.

i'm smoking a lot more cigarettes since i quit drinking. i figure i'll deal with the nicotine addiction later.

For me the drinking always led to smoking, the smoking never led to the drinking...so logically get rid of the drinking first...unless you start having an early morning cigar and reach for the beer then this is, as it is anyway, all semantics and get outside help asap for the drinking!

Did that make any sense lol

smoking will kill a person as surely and steadily as drinking, so I see no difference. Andf smoking affects other people around you, just like drinking. Especially if you smoke in a house with other people. I lost 20 percent permanent lung capacity from second hand smoke and my father passed 20 years early from smoking, yet he quit drinking. IMO I feel its unwise to say its fine to deal with one over the other for the time being. They both do long term progressive damage. thats just my opinion.

i've also been smoking a lot more since i stopped drinking. i used to only smoke socially during breaks at work.. never even thought about it on days off or once i went home for the day. now that i don't drink i smoke on my days off and by myself at night. i know it's bad but there's so much less shame in being addicted to cigarettes than alcohol. i can relate

You had a good pro :-)
But l think the answer is in the con's ...
It's not to hard to see.

"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. "
William Blake