drinking and smoking
 

Hi - I was wondering if anybody has quit drinking and smoking at the same time? I tried googling stuff about it, and some things said that it was better to do them at the same time, and some stuff said it was harder to do them both at the same time.

Any thoughts?

Thanks :)

Exactly what you found: depends. If you try, and sense yourself losing the battle: smoke, don't drink.

12 years ago I decided to pick my battle and I picked smoking. Smoking was my baby. I got through that. (yay me)

But in that time my drinking has become much worse. I think it might be addictive transference of some sort.

Now I am looking at tackling the drinking.

If I were you, I would go for broke. Why have two crummy transitions.

I've quit drinking but I'm working on the smoking. The two used to go hand in hand so I decided to quit drinking but reduce smoking. Down to two per day now.

Im shooting for both at the same time. Both make me feel ******...

Some guy in my IOP quit cigs too about 30 days into sobriety. His realization was something along the lines of, "if I'm living healthier and cut out the booze, why the hell am I still poisoning my body with nicotine? Makes no sense." He seems a lot happier now that he's kicked the cigs and said he feels a lot healthier too. If you can quit drinking, you can quit cigarettes. On your new path, why would you possibly still want cigarettes in your life?

I'm still smoking but hope to cut that out too. I have to be careful because for me the two go hand in hand, but all at once just seemed a bit too overwhelming.

I quit drinking almost 2 years ago. I chose to focus on that first, and continued smoking until 2 weeks ago.

I tapered down to a few cigs a day and am using nicotine replacement (vaping). So far, so good. No withdrawals and I am not turning back.

I am not sure I could have done this in tandem or soon after sobriety. It takes resolve and focus and I needed all I could muster to kick the alcohol demon. Now that the obsession has lifted and I am strong in my recovery it was time to kick smoking too.

Good luck - and do some research about vaping. It isn't for everyone and lord knows it is so new that there is little research about it, but I know countless people who have thrown out their regular cigarettes and enjoy a smoke free life now. Worth looking into.

Hey there, I did not quit at the same time but I am two days off alcohol and nearly 8 weeks from cigarettes so fairly close when you think about it but not exactly quitting two things at once. I think you can only try and see but I guess you would need to be aware of your biggest demon in case it became too difficult. That said, giving in to one could make things even harder if you feel like you've failed. ooh sorry, I've not been much help so far. Maybe considering how long you have had each addiction and how bad they are compared to each other might help? Sorry I've not been more helpful. Good luck which ever way you choose.

I quit both at the same time in 2006. I started drinking again after about 30 days but have never picked up another cigarette.

I quit both and it worked that way for me. Others have trouble.
It's an individual thing I think?

D

I'm with Trachy and Dee. It can work both ways. And Trachy is right. Drinking is worse. At least it was for me. I didn't like I smoked but I didn't hate myself like drinking made me hate myself.

I quit drinking 17 months ago and I'm on day 8 of quitting smoking.
Just me but quitting smoking is much easier..for me anyway. But I'm a one thing at a time girl anyway.

Good luck! I hope you can do both!

I quit smoking a few years ago but do vape. I am cutting back on that (milligram wise: down to 11mg) but that is also hard for me to quit. Unfortunetly it has become very familiar. Anyway, so much freaking better than inhaling combusted plant material (tar) and the chemicals.. but do look forward to dropping that once I secure more time away from the alky. Great work everyone! This is really amazing!