OK so I am 2 days away from 3 weeks. So far so good no real urge to drink, which make me feel like I have it kicked this time. You known what I find harder is saying no to the cigerette. I quit smoking back on new years. Now with out drinking it want it more than ever, lesser of two evils?

flipper wrote:

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lesser of two evils?

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Which one?

In the U.S. alcohol accounts for around 80,000 deaths/year. Tobacco accounts for 425,000.

I've been tobacco free for years but whenever things aren't 'rosey' my 1st thought is lighting up. 2nd thought is how good the smoke would taste with a tall scotch rocks.

A.A.'s founder Bill Wilson, a heavey smoker, died of emphysema and pneumonia on January 24, 1971.

One one hand, its a mistery to me why both A.A. and N.A. consider tobacco an 'outside issue'. On the other hand, singleness of purpose makes sense because it easier I suppose to deal with one addiction at a time.

I always say that if my addiction only goes as far as caffine and nicotine I'm doing well. I know the program teaches us to just up and quit, but in order to save my lungs I've switched to the gum. I hope to eventually switch nicotine gum for regular sugar free gum.

Wow, ... How timely is this for me ???

I quit cigarettes 4 weeks ago ... 3 weeks ago I had a heart attack along with pneumonia and 'congestive heart' failure ... After spending four days in the hospital, on oxygen, diuretics and such, the memory is still very clear ... just before being rushed to the hospital, I felt like I was drowning but on air, not water ... I had forced myself to inhale my last cigarette to which I immediately began coughing ... and if you're a smoker, you know how it feels to take a big drag and then have to cough ... it hurts like hell ... so I stopped smoking, thinking my lungs would clear, they did not ... a few days later I had to go to ER ...

I too, was told it was not a good idea to stop smoking and drinking at the same time ... since I haven't drank for a while, I felt it time to give up the cigs ... my breathing had become labored, even at rest, and sleep was impossible ... so I quit ... even though i went through some hairy sh_t, I still want a cigarette ... but now that I've incorporated the 'desire' to stop into my AA program, I have less and less cravings ... and they're farther apart ... (it's truly amazing to be gasping for a lung full of air and think, oh man, I wish I had a cigarette!!! ... ... that is just sick ....)

I wish everyone trying to quit the cigs. success ... things are starting to 'smell' better and Oh God, the food now tastes 'out-of-this-world' ...

God Bless,
Pappy

I was an advocate of delay in giving up the smokes. Booze was the priority, so I put off giving up smoking for about 20 years. When I did give up, it was a real battle. About 5 years later I ran into one of my old friends in AA and she described having about three years of emotional unsteadiness post fags. I had the same thing. In many ways it took me back to earrly recovery. Mostly it was anger I had trouble with.

My doc said I was depressed, I couldn't work it out. At the time I did not connect it with not smoking, it seemed more like the 20 year blues that some of us seem to go through. But when I heard my friend's experience I began to think there was much more to my smoking than just physical addiction. I did not enjoy my journey back to newly sober one bit. It seems I had a strong emotional reliance on having a smoke as a way of calming down and dealing with things, and when this was no longer available, I went cranky.

So today I am not so sure about putting off giving up smoking. If you feel the need to do this, it might be tough, but it might be worth it in the long run. Perhaps a good strategy for cutting down might reduce the physical withdrawals.

Like others here - I had to wait to quit smoking. I needed a firm program in place and it was at 1 and a half years sober that I quit smoking. By then I was able to recognize I didn't need or want that crutch either. Before then, I was not able to come at quitting smoking with enough of a desire to stay quit. I totally chain smoked during my first year and a half sober - Oh well. I was ready when I was ready. People said it would happen that way for smoking too and it did. I wanted a "non smoking" lifestyle almost as bad as I'd wanted to be sober - so when I had a firm program in place, I used the same tools to quit smoking. Alcohol was what constantly kept me addicted to cigarrettes anyhow. I always picked up smoking again when drinking. I tried to quit smoking before drinking many times and failed. When I finally got sober - I was able to quit smoking on about the 2nd or 3rd try. It started with a desire that one day at a year and a half sober to just "not be a smoker" any more. I counted days for smoking just like I did during my first year sober. When I was ready, it worked. I also started working out and that was an activity that was incompatible with smoking. Adopting healthy living habits will help a lot to stay clear of addictions to substances in general.

What concerns me the most here Flipper is that you stated because of having 3 weeks without a drink you think you might have "kicked it." At more than 3 and a half years sober, I can't afford to ever think I "kicked it." Drinking was an addiction that did not just pollute my body - it completely wrecked my life and poluted my soul. Furthermore, it is cunning and baffling and many relapses start with a feeling of complacency along the lines of "I stopped before so I can just do it again." I am only 1 drink away from being right back where I was 3 and a half years ago. In fact, it would be worse in all likelihood.

It's very good to feel proud of you sobriety time, but do not get complacent and think you have alcohol beat. None of us have it beat. We surrender to it on a daily basis knowing that it always has the power to kick our asses if we let it no matter how long we have been sober. At 3 week sober, I was going to over 7 meetings a week and practically living in the rooms of AA. It's not the time to be thinking you have won...it's the time to be building tools to arm yourself against relapse and to start getting busy with the steps. Thinking you "kicked it" this time is sort of an indicator of relapse thinking.

P.S. - not trying to down you but Alcoholism is such that it will have us focusing on everything but the real problem so that it can sneak in there and ruin us again. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help another alcoholic so that's what I want more than anything for you!

Okay, ... Since this topic surfaced again, thanks to Col ... Today is the 25th of May and I am 30 days 'smoke-free' ... Yea to me!!! ... And thanks to our program which provides the necessary spiritual tools to cope with withdrawal and cravings ... 

 

Pappy