smoking and alcoholism

angelov8 · MIP Old Timer

smoking and alcoholism

ljc · MIP Old Timer

My being addicted to cigarettes does not make me drink. that is simply just me trying to find some sort of an excuse to drink.

I do not believe in 'triggers' ... like I won some money on the scratch off lottery and figured wooohoooo, got some xtra money , so think I'll go have a drink. Or, oh that ACDC song on the radio or that love song by George Strait really got to me and pushed me toward a drink.
Bull !! I make me drink . Nobody or nothing else ,but me makes me drink.

It has been my experience since discovering that I am alcoholic that I am addicted to many more things than just booze. However, I have to address one addiction at a time. First things first.

According to the Doctors Opinion in our literature it is impossible for me to 'crave' alcohol unless I have already had it in my system. ( depending on how much you drank Auqaman the last time you drank, and how long its been since that last drink, you could possibly still have booze in your system and be going thru withdrawls ).

The desire or thought of a drink is rare for me to today. The desire or thought is way totally different than a craving.

Im a smoker. I dont like this about myself, but Im a smoker. Im addicted to them and I do have the desire to stop. I have not asked God for the willingness to do what it takes to stop. Well, thats not true, I have asked, I just havent done the work. I have not made myself accountable to anyone to the fact that I want to quit .

Its fear-nothing else but fear for me . Fear that ... oh my Gosh, what will I do when I run into a situation and need a cigarette ? Im gonna get fat if I quit smoking, and blah blah blah ....

Cigarettes haven't hurt me as bad as the booze did, so I justify continuing smoking them. My bad indeed.

There are many ways to stop. All kinds of patches, lozenges, hypnosis, etc. I am NOT a doctor and would not suggest any of these methods to anyone. I only know what would or will work best for me . And when talking to my sponsor about it, she has told me that anyone she knows in AA who has quit smoking has used the 12 steps.

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

Aloha angelov...I'm one of them too!! Been clean from nicotine for about 8 months
now and alcohol since 1979. Isn't it familiar that both alcohol and nicotine work
as depressants on the body and nervous system? And me being a depressant
all of my life also. Not much chance of me doing uppers at all. Even my prescripts
for pain in the past were downers however the hooks were in alcohol and nicotine
which at one time I use to do side by side...had to subdue all of the internal organs
that way.

I have always used the program against my addictions. I have not relapsed on
alcohol but have several times with smoking over a 25 year period of time. Each
time I do my body will play catch-up on all the nicotine that it has missed and for
example I went from cigarettes to inhaling cigars in the progressive nature of the
addiction. I know the pattern of relapse there intimately. So far 8 months clean
confirmed by xrays and doctors visits. Thought I had blowen both sides out just
before I went for help. Yep here to I didn't try to do it alone. Stick with the
program cause it works when you work it.

smile

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

My smoking goes up and down...more up. I take solace from the many who did successfully quit in the program. I have a desire but it's not strong enough yet. Talked to my therapist and was wondering what it will take for that desire to kick in. I hate that I binge smoke now. I'm sure I chain smoked while I was drinking, but I didn't care then. Now I am acutely aware of smoking the same way I used to drink...I don't do it all day, then I smoke a half a pack in an hour. Geesh. As long as I stay sober, I have a chance at least of quitting. That's the good news. If I drink...I will never ever quit....

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Hi Angelov,

I gave up smoking, drinking, and drugs (and my sick marriage) on or about the same week. It was a hell of shock to my system for a month or three, and I don't recommend it but they've all stayed gone and I'm particularly happy about the 20 year absence of my x-wife

.

If you're like me, you smoked when you drank. This causes and association in you memory/brain synapses that surely can trigger urges to drink, especially in tough times. And of course nicotine is a strong drug that makes the brain release dopamine just like alcohol and any other addiction does.

The problem with all mood altering drugs is that they are very good at relieving stress. So good that they enable/remove the our bodies nature ability to relieve stress thus creating a dependence on them, while increasing our sensitivity to stress lowering our tolerance to stress (a viscous circle). The solution to the smoking addiction is the same as for alcohol, creating a healthy dependence on our higher power/program, while reacquiring (and learning) natural stress relief techniques which would also included proper diet, vitamins, and exercise.

I'd start with indentifying which fears that I was tying smoke away. I learned alot about these through reading John Bradshaw's books and in particular "Healing the shame that binds you". "On the family" is a must read as well, followed by "Homecoming". Get busy, lots of work to do.

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Thursday 5th of November 2009 08:45:59 AM

Jane05 · MIP Old Timer

ljc wrote:

My being addicted to cigarettes does not make me drink.

I make me drink . Nobody or nothing else ,but me makes me drink.

I am addicted to many more things than just booze. However, I have to address one addiction at a time. First things first.

I've been where it sounds like you are. I too will smoke one right after another, BUT... that was and is not the time for me to think about quitting. Way too much going on to try and fix that when evidently something else needs addressing. My sponsor will start by asking me, "Do you have some unfinished business?" She will ask if I've be doing my written Tenth Step and so on.

Hang in there and I'm with "First Things First"

Thanks for sharing

-- Edited by Jane05 on Thursday 5th of November 2009 08:39:44 AM

kj · Veteran Member

angelov8 wrote:

Been hit hard with all day alcohol cravings last couple of days. That coupled with a negative mood and a bout of low self-esteem have me scared.

Angelov08 - The first paragraph of your post screams to me that this is what your post is about-- to me the increased smoking is overlaying some other thoughts, angst, or "negative mood and a bout of low self-esteem" which maybe why it suggested somewhere that it is linked to relapse - by not looking at lies beneath the smoking.

I think it is important to not overlook what you are saying and focus with your support system on staying sober today.

Back to basics -- one day, one hour, one minute.

Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers..
kj

Avril G · Senior Member

FIRST THINGS FIRST I was told, when, once I had gotten back to AA and on the programme after a relapse after 6 months without alcohol, I decided that not only was I going to quit drinking for good, I was also going to quit smoking AND start a diet. I am so glad that someone intervened in this thinking, and I stopped the drinking firstly.

My smoking probably more than doubled without the booze, as did eating chocolate and other stodgy stuff guaranteed to pile on the pounds. I was 5 years sober when I first tried quitting ciggies, and did quit for 3 years after having hypnotherapy, but relapsed again after my sponsor had left her cigarettes at my house. HER FAULT!!! biggrin

I found it harder to stop and stay stopped after this (as with the booze) and I am now just over 19 years off the booze, and after 12 years of numerous half-hearted attempts to quit the cigarettes again, I had a pretty bad heart attack, and once stabilised in coronary care unit, the doctor explained to me what had happened and said, 'Is there anything you want to ask me?' and I said, 'YES, do you have any nicotine replacement patches?' And from then on I haven't smoked and is now just over 2 years since.

This health scare did something for me which I hadn't yet managed to do for myself, and for months I had been stopping starting, stopping starting over again, and praying for help to quit the ciggies for good, so maybe HP heard my prayers?? Maybe I needed to see what potentially I had to look forward to if I carried on smoking?

Whatever it was I am very grateful, I have too much to do before I snuff it.

jasperkent · Senior Member

I agree "FIRST THINGS FIRST." I also agree that nothing can make me drink. However, I do believe in triggers-- persons, places and things that might cause me to think about drinking more than usual.

One ingredient of cigarette smoke is acetaldehyde. It has a synergistic effect with nicotine. It is also a carcinogen. It is also known as the "hangover chemical." When the liver breaks down alcohol, acetaldehyde is one of the byproducts.
Being poisonous, it makes the body feel sick.

This alcoholic drank in the morning to ward off that sickly feeling and the shakes. Thus, acetaldehyde could be a trigger for me. Either way, I'm trying to quit smoking for health reasons. I smoked a pack a day for 38 years. I also smoked other things for about 35 years. Lung cancer and emphysema both run in my family. I have no business smoking.

Right now I'm cheating-- I still use nicotine, but I haven't smoked in 3 days. I intend to quit nicotine completely, but I'm too stressed out to try it "cold turkey" right now.

Thank you all for being here.

acetaldehyde (s'tl'dhd) or ethanal (th'nl'), CH₃CHO, colorless liquid aldehyde, sometimes simply called aldehyde. It melts at 123°C, boils at 20.8°C, and is soluble in water and ethanol. It is formed by the partial oxidation of ethanol; oxidation of acetaldehyde forms acetic acid.

angelov8 · MIP Old Timer

An update:

Thank you all for replying. There can be so many messages sometimes that they move down the list fast!

KJ hit it on the head that something else was going on. The increase in smoking was just one indicator. I'm happy to say that I was able to identify the issue and decided to respond in a self-loving and healthy way. I had taken on a writing challenge that felt very positive and progressive, but that ultimately turned out to be way too much. It was born of wanting to be all fixed now and move forward in MY(not His) vision of how things should be. I was disapointed to drop the challenge, but I immediately felt reconnected to a gratitude for recovery, and sense of calm.

As far as the smoking and alcoholism question goes, I was gratified to hear what those of you who talked about your experiences had to say. There was something for me in every relpy-ha!
I especially appreciated talk about the science oriented connections about the two addictions. I always smoked heavily when I drank. I definitely associate the two together. When I quit drinking, I essentially stopped smoking regularly. In fact, one of the first times I noticed my attachment to alcohol, was when I tried to quit smoking. I tried at least three times. All three times, I quit sucessfully until I took a drink. The last time, I knew I had to quit drinking in order to stop smoking. I admitted I didn't know if I could stop drinking. I recognized that this was an issue. It took about five or six more years, and other trials, to admit I was an alcoholic. Of course that is my priority, the drinking has completly infected my life. Smoking has not messed me up over all in the same way, but boy is it still killing me.

Thank you all for caring to share,
Blessings,
Angela

Rob84 · MIP Old Timer

My smoking increased a lot after I quite drinking also.

I never thought of it as a trigger, at that time (mid 80's) almost everyone drank coffee and smoked like crazy during the meetings so I think it's B.S. about cigs leading to drinking.

I quit the cigs in 1988 (4 years sober), mainly because I started waking in the am feeling almost hung-over and coughing from them.

The common wisdom I always heard was worry about staying sober and don't try to change all the other habits till you are on firm ground and have a desire.

Don't beat yourself up about the smoking IMO.