Nicotine / Tobacco is harder to quit than heroin, that is a fact. You are right Unhooked, People don't seriously consider tobacco or nicotine to be addictive. Thats why 99% of them will say "Just use your will power and quit!" :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/5/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 149 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,725 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $1,571.95 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 18 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 50 [B]Seconds:[/B] 59

Cigs and alcohol, same or different? This is a tricky one and one that causes many opinions. But somehow I feel I need to add a little on this subject. I think I am a "little" qualified on both matters. One, I smoked for 50+ years and I have been in recovery for alcoholism for 30 years. Now with that out of the way, each drug brings its own set of differences and each drug come with similar characteristics. But for some all drugs are addictives. For me alcohol cause many problems that effected my life and family. I was not functional. I never knew for sure what would happen when I drank. I had to stop. I had small children. That worked for a while and I drank again. When I quit over 30 years ago I did it for me and life has been good. Smoking was and is another beast. When I started, at 12, it was acceptable. 11 years ago I lost a sister to lung cancer. 9 years ago I lost another sister to lung cancer and 4 years ago I lost a bother to cancer related to smoking. So I have been in a constant thinking of quitting and trying to quit for some time. Fear was part of it. Age was part of it. Wanting to be accepted by society was part of it. Health always is a big issue. Cigs and alcohol, same or different? For me quitting smoking has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I guess with this quit I just knew this has to be it. I do not think I can go though another quit. It is called surrender. So I think they can be the same and yet they can be different. Keep the Quit Sparky [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]4/30/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 93 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 930 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $279.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 12 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 28 [B]Seconds:[/B] 48

I know people who think it's kind of wimpy to belong to a smoking support gtoup & sometimes people will say something like, "you mean like AA?" & they'll kind of snicker. They're also surprised that I would join a group because wimpy is the last thing people think of with me. I think addiction is addiction & you can't say one kind is harder to kick than the other, it depends on so many individual factors. I think we've discussed this before & there were people (including me) who have had an easier time giving up other addictions that might be considered by most as hard to quit. On the other hand, we all probably know someone who had just thrown out their smokes one morning & never looked back. We also probably know someone who just can't seem to quit drinking or smoking dope or whatever. At least part of the difference with smoking, I think, is that many still don't take it seriously as an addiction and so don't respect teh effort to quit as much as they would if it were alcoholism or another drug addiction. That's my $.02 (CAD) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/13/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 80 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,600 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $880.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 8 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 44 [B]Seconds:[/B] 51

Bobbi, Each addiction is equally addictive and destructive. Support is an amazing way to discuss emotions, get information and receive support :) Many members leave the site as they are ready to move forward and continue on the positive path. We hope that everyone will continue sharing, ask questions and support one another. We can all learn from one another's experiences :) Josie, Support Specialist

I too would guess it depends on the person quitting. Heroin is supposedly the hardest to stop but may not even need to use boards. Nicotine isn't easy either but I know some who have successfully done it without even feeling the need to use a forum. Btw, looking at joyfuls do you have a drinking problem list, I would reckon Wembley Stadium should be the venue for AA meetings. Maybe that is not big enough either. It no suprise that we come close to the top of units consumed per person per year charts. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/12/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 20 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 500 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �84.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 12 [B]Mins:[/B] 43 [B]Seconds:[/B] 50

All quits are different and people's needs are different. Many have stopped coming to these boards and are still smokefree and many have stopped going to AA meetings and are still dry. Some need the crutches to remain addiction-free more than others - there's nothing wrong in that, it's just the way it is. :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/18/2004 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 1170 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 23,400 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �5,850.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 187 [B]Hrs:[/B] 21 [B]Mins:[/B] 58 [B]Seconds:[/B] 11

Hi Bobbi, AA meetings are medicine for alcoholics. I have 11yrs. sober. Smoking & drinking are both drugs just like heroine, cocaine, etc. They're all just as bad and as hard to quit. Quitting anything that an addict is addicted to is all about learning how to deal with your emotions. This site is medicine for helping us addicted to smoking just as AA is medicine to help people addicted to alcohol to not drink. I had 16 mos. smoke-free & I stopped coming in here as often & relapsed. With any addiction, it's one day at a time till u die. Addiction is never cured. I stopped coming in here for my medicine & I relapsed which shocked me & I think many others. Being over confident will get you! The disease of addiction never goes away! It's always there waiting for you to come back and use whatever drug it can kill u with. All drugs kill, period. Some kill faster than others but that doesn't mean that they are worse drugs than smoking. Smoking is sneaky b/c it's legal. It kills just the same as alcohol, heroine or cocaine. It just takes longer. It's sooooo sneaky. Other addictions such as eatting, shopping, sex or anything that gives us instant gratification, keeps us from feeling our emotions at that moment & in turn keeps us from the experience of emotional growth. For example, I started drinking when I was 17 and quit in 1996. So if you start at 17 and count up 11, my emotional age today is 28 even though my physical age is 44. You can't grow emotionally if you're using something to help u escape from your emotions. Now here's something very important that I can't stress enough. If you're an addict you have to quit any drug that you're using in order to be successful in recovery. If you are a smoker and drink a lot and try to quit smoking but not drinking then the odds are that u won't maintain your quit because after one drink your judgement starts to change and before u know it, you will be smoking again. Same thing goes with any drug. If u keep drinking you will relapse in whatever you're trying to quit. Not to mention when we quit any drug and have to learn how to deal with our emotions, depression sets in b/c it's one emotion out of many. Alcohol is a depressant and also provides instant gratification so that u don't have to deal with your emotions. So u see, quitting drinking goes hand in hand with all the other addictions. I didn't know I was an alcoholic. It took me 3 dui's to figure it out. The consequences of getting a dui are fear of going to jail (gr8 motivater) and knowledge that you start to gain in classes and AA meetings. Knowledge is power. I didn't know any better until I started to get the knowledge I needed to realize that I was a drunk! I'm not a drunk anymore though, lol & I'm happy to know that I'm an alcoholic. With cigaretts & smoking it's different. It's much easier for people to realize they're addicted. The easy way to tell if you have a problem drinking... #1. Do u get drunk? #2. Do u get hang overs? #3. Are u ever late to work or do u lose jobs. #4. Do u forget things that happened when u were drinking? #5. Do u dance on tables? LOL I did! #6. Can u dance or do kareokee without drinking first? #7. When u drink do u think you shoot pool, drive or sing better than when your sober? #8. Do u drink b/c you're happy and b/c you're angry, b/c u got a new job, b/c u lost your job? Any excuse is a good reason to drink, just like smoking. #9. Do u wake up next to someone and not remember their name or what u did with them? #10. Do u forget your drive home or where your car is? #11. Have u ever got into any legal trouble b/c u were drinking? #12. Have u ever had ONE black out. All these things above do not happen to social drinkers. [color=Blue]There's no in between. You're either a social drinker or a drunk. [/color] SELF HONESTY & KNOWLEDGE ARE THE KEYS TO RECOVERY. Well 2 of the keys, of course there's tons more that helps one to recover from an addiction to any drug. Also I get so tired of hearing people say, "I only drink beer, I don't drink the hard stuff". LOL Alcohol is alcohol no matter what color the bottle it comes in or what name it is given. Vodka, beer, henessy, etc, all in different bottles with different names but they all have the same thing in the bottle, lol. DENIAL IS NOT A RIVER IN EGYPT, LOL. Get honest. Only you can be honest with yourself & that's what's important. Once someone chooses to stop "surviving", struggling and get help, people come out of the woodwork to help them. Just breathe....... [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]7/7/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 25 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 500 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $120.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 44 [B]Seconds:[/B] 17

I had a disscusion the other day with a freind as to which is worse to be addicted to, they were so positive that alcohol would be the one. that after awhile a person should get off the boards on not smoking that talking about it all the time would just make you want one more, but talking about drinking like aa meetings a person that is addicted needs that. I feel what ever addiction you have you need support for how ever long, as you can never take another drink or another smoke. One in the same I think. some do take breaks from the boards after awhile, could that be the reason not needed after awhile? Hope this makes sense, this is a hard one to put on paper. hugs and prayers, Bobbi [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/27/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 127 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,810 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $317.50 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 18 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 4 [B]Seconds:[/B] 8