Alva

Has anyone had success with this? I have attempted to quit smoking several times over the last few years but the fear of not being able to smoke when drinking always played a major part in my failure and return to the horrible habit. Now that I am not drinking (day 10) I have set a quit date (Oct 1st) and was hoping "this is the time" I succeed.

Anna

I'm not a smoker, but I hope you have success with your quitting smoking.

sissy07

Hi Alva,

I am on day 42, and I quit for about a week or so, then started again. I am trying to cut down (I only smoke at night) and will try again a little later. I just decided that quitting both drinking and smoking at the same time was just too much for me - I wanted something to look forward to at the end of the work day. I really want to quit, but just like when I was drinking, I guess I just don't want to quit enough to quit. I am giving it some time. You, on the other hand, may get a real lift by quitting both. Ideally, that would be the thing to do....I just don't have it in me right now. Good luck to you!

Terminally Unique

Check out Joel's Quit Smoknig Library at WhyQuit.com, particularly his free eBook, Never Take Another Puff.

Eliasson

I quit smoking and drinking on August 11 of this year. Sort of. I thought it would be too hard to quit both at the same time so I switched to a low nicotine e-cigarette. Still has a little nicotine but none of the tar and carcinogens etc. I figured it's a start. I'm now slowly cutting down on the e-cig and hope to be completely nicotine free by October 11. It's hard to do both but it can be done. I've heard it said in AA not to try to quit smoking right away but I really just wanted to begin living an all around healthy lifestyle and am glad I've done it this way. In my opinion quitting drinking is the first priority tho so don't put too much pressure on yourself to quit smoking, you will quit when you are ready. For me, being sober is my number one priority! Best of luck to you!

Itchy

Hi Alva! I just happened by and saw your post. One year ago tomorrow, 21 Sept 2010, I checked into a VA hospital for detox for 7 days. I was a three pack a day smoker I kid you not. 19 years ago I quit smoking for 18 months and fooled around and smoked one to see how high it felt and it did, but you can't feel that when you smoke regularly. Within a week I was back to my then 2 pack a day habit. That was before I had a problem with alcohol. I could not get myself to quit again for 18 years.

I decided, and told the docs in these words, that it would be a shame to waste a perfectly good detox on just one drug when I was addicted to two. Having my last failure and relapse in smoking held me through all temptations this time because I accepted that if I ever had one drink, or one smoke, within a week I would be worse than before. We all think we need to catch up for what we missed.

I decided I don't have another 18 years to give up to drinking and/or smoking. I learned from that relapse in smoking. So it has been one year and I have to admit that I did just now relaize out of the blue reading your post just how good I feel. 30 drinks give or take daily 24/7, from wake up to get right with a scotch in the coffees and chain smoking all day is not how I want to live ever again. So far no lasting really bad effects that may not have come along with the age anyway. I did use the patches to help for a long time.

I did gain weight, but I can lose the weight not mouth throat and lung cancer like my Dad died from. Looks like I made it and dodged the bullet. I can't believe how much money we are saving too.

Folks who say they can't afford to do neat stuff really don't have a clue how much it costs to literally burn and Pix their money away! They can train and do nearly anything from flying to diving to hitting the slopes to racing you name it. But many just sit around complaining how being sober isn't any fun.

They haven't hung around drunks sober enough. Now that is not cool and more boring than anything I ever tried.

mirage

I'm in the same boat, Alva. Drinking without smoking was near impossible for me, so quitting smoking never stuck. Now that I've got a little time behind me with the drinking, I'm thinking more seriously about quitting the cigs. I was afraid to quit both at the same time. I know me, and I figured I'd be more likely to say 'screw it' if I missed one of them, and I'd go back to both. I think I'll have better success this time, too, when I decide to quit for good. Good luck!!

Bikeguy

I couldn't quit both at the same time, I tried and decided booze was killing me quicker. I quit drinking 7 months ago and gave up the smokes after I had a solid 6 months without drinking. At least I didn't have to go through detox with smoking like I did with alcohol.

HFA

I had to quit them both at the same time. One was always a trigger for the other. They went hand in hand for me

LaFemme

I'm with HfA...quit both at the same time, 14 months ago.

SSIL75

I quit smoking years before I quit drinking but a few things helped.

1 - I decided at the very core that I no longer wanted to be 'a smoker'.
2 - I made myself wait a half hour when I had a craving. If I still REALLY REALLY wanted one, I had one but I put it out as soon as the craving was done.

Alva

Thanks to everyone for your input and comments. I'm going to go ahead on October 1st as it was my moms birthday. She was a smoker and died of cancer at 57 so I find it to be a fitting day/tribute to stop. My step-daughter is leaving for Europe on the 3rd which will end some huge stress in my life. We don't get along at all so I won't have that or drinking as an excuse this time

ajangel

I really want to quit smoking too. I decided to have more sober time behind me first. I felt it would be too much stress on me all at once. I say if you area ready, go for it. I quit for a 3 years. I felt great. Good luck to you.

yeahgr8

Most the guys i came into sobriety with quit after a couple of years...why would you want to make life harder for yourself with under one month sobriety?

lostfound

I'm having enough trouble quitting drinking to worry about quitting smoking right now. I agree with those who have said that it feels nice to have at least SOMETHING to take the edge off/look forward too... but I believe I read somewhere that smoking interferes with the recovery after quitting drinking... not sure, I may have to look that up.

LoftyIdeals

Hi Alva...I am 46 days sober, and I tried quitting both simultaneously. It worked for a week, and then I broke down and got a pack. I smoked those, and then went for the lozenges and gum only. I broke the nicotine crutch a week ago Sunday. This morning, I swam my mile at the Y, and found a nicotine gum piece. I studied it, and thought, naww...don't need it. It felt great. Is my head a mess from all the withdrawal? Yeah, a little, but I'll get over it. Plus, if I absolutely cannot avoid a craving, which I don't think will happen, I already told myself I'll cave on the smoke, but not the drink.