Sudden urge to smoke.

[Chino]

As some of you may know. I have been a smoker in the past. I have never actually successfully quit since I started. I haven't bought a pack since last November, but have bummed them here and there while out drinking. For some reason, this entire week, I have craved cigarettes to know end. I'm sitting here in the library dying for one right now. I've been telling myself for the last two hours "No, do not go buy a pack you douche". I don't know what could have triggered it, or why the cravings are so strong. Anyone else have this sort of thing happen?

[SystematicThought]

Since smoking isn't allowed on our campus, many people have been resorting to E-cigs. Personally, I have never smoked so I can't say if they quench that need, but people seem to like them

[El Barto]

It'll pass. Don't blow of 4 months of abstinence. I can tell you that when I quit, the feeling of failure I would have felt if I drove to the store to buy a pack bothered me much more than any cravings.

[Chino]

Since smoking isn't allowed on our campus, many people have been resorting to E-cigs. Personally, I have never smoked so I can't say if they quench that need, but people seem to like them

I feel like those will just prolong the issue. I'm shocked a college campus can effectively ban smoking. The three universities I have attended haven't even been able to enforce the 'no smoking within 25 feet of this sign' signs.

[lateralus88]

Don't do it. I've been seeing this happen to my roommate lately and it makes me sad to see him constantly fighting against it but then letting his desire to smoke win.

[Chino]

Slight side bar. Am I the only one who gets ads like this?

[SystematicThought]

I'm shocked a college campus can effectively ban smoking. The three universities I have attended haven't even been able to enforce the 'no smoking within 25 feet of this sign' signs.

I'm pretty sure that people probably do still smoke here on campus, same with drinking. The rules are just there

Not to derail, but if you want some great comedy, here's the thing I had to sign when I decided to go here. I don't mind these rules because I don't do half the stuff they prohibit so they don't really apply to me. It is a religious university, so I don't know what kids expect. I respect them, but I think it's laughable
https://www.bethel.edu/about/covenant

[El Barto]

Slight side bar. Am I the only one who gets ads like this?

I don't know, but I damn sure wouldn't tolerate that.

[Chino]

I'm shocked a college campus can effectively ban smoking. The three universities I have attended haven't even been able to enforce the 'no smoking within 25 feet of this sign' signs.

I'm pretty sure that people probably do still smoke here on campus, same with drinking. The rules are just there

Not to derail, but if you want some great comedy, here's the thing I had to sign when I decided to go here. I don't mind these rules because I don't do half the stuff they prohibit so they don't really apply to me. It is a religious university, so I don't know what kids expect. I respect them, but I think it's laughable
https://www.bethel.edu/about/covenant

Reminds me a lot of the catholic school I went to for 10 years.

"We view racism and sexism as sinful and reflective of some of the most harmful aspects of our culture. We will abstain from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability."

Just out of curiosity, what is their stance on homosexuality? If an overly gay person applied, would that hurt their chances of being accepted?

[Implode]

Slight side bar. Am I the only one who gets ads like this?
https://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6786/dtfadexample.jpg

I think you are. Looks like a little program has installed itself to change words into ads.

[Chino]

Slight side bar. Am I the only one who gets ads like this?

I don't know, but I damn sure wouldn't tolerate that.

The ad only pops up if I run my cursor over it.  When I run ad-block on chrome, it ends up removing the text, not just the link.

[lonestar]

Urges for any addiction usually only last a short time. Just find a permanent substitute and stick to it. The urges, over time, will get less and less as the sublimated habit takes hold. Though I still smoke, I do know a thing or two about addiction. Keep in mind though, that any addiction never goes away, it is permanently hardwired into your brain. Once you pick up again, all the time spent abstaining means absolute dick, you are right back where you left off. As we say in the recovery circles, while we are in this meeting, addiction is in the parking lot, doing push ups.

[Chino]

Urges for any addiction usually only last a short time. Just find a permanent substitute and stick to it. The urges, over time, will get less and less as the sublimated habit takes hold. Though I still smoke, I do know a thing or two about addiction. Keep in mind though, that any addiction never goes away, it is permanently hardwired into your brain. Once you pick up again, all the time spent abstaining means absolute dick, you are right back where you left off. As we say in the recovery circles, while we are in this meeting, addiction is in the parking lot, doing push ups.

Question, Lonestar. I brought this up with a woman at work the other day and it ended up putting her into a rage. I felt kind of bad. She was a raging alcoholic for years. She had stash spots all over the house. She'd camp out in her car waiting for package stores to open. And she tried to kill herself a couple of times. She went through a bunch of AA and has been clean for 5 or 6 years now. She brings it up constantly, which I'm sure helps in the recovery aspect, as well as helps keep you positive and motivated. She even refuses to do the stages of a recipe that call for wine or vodka in the pan. However, she too is a smoker. When it's time for her to have a smoke, she needs to put it in her mouth and then proceeds to walk throughout the store with it dangling there until she gets to the parking lot. I asked her something along the lines of "Donna, you were able to overcome an addiction that I couldn't even fathom having. How come you still let yourself smoke?"... She screamed (totally unexpected) "Because I'm not fucking ready for that yet!". Seemed pretty unwarranted, but I let it slide because I suspect that despite being sober, she is still insanely depressed.

So If you don't mind. Why do you still smoke when you know you are extremely capable of overcoming addiction?

[lonestar]

I will give you this answer, cause I'm not done smoking yet.


Kinda sounds like a cop out, but there is a lot of truth to it. When I was drinking, I thought about quitting many times, and tried and failed many times, but when I got out of the hospital over 20 months ago( ), I knew I was done. I didn't know how to live life sober, that's where the programs came in, but I knew I was done. Same thing with smoking, I think about quitting all the time, it's very high on my to do list, but in my heart of hearts, I know I'm not done yet. Make sense?

[Chino]

I will give you this answer, cause I'm not done smoking yet.


Kinda sounds like a cop out, but there is a lot of truth to it. When I was drinking, I thought about quitting many times, and tried and failed many times, but when I got out of the hospital over 20 months ago( ), I knew I was done. I didn't know how to live life sober, that's where the programs came in, but I knew I was done. Same thing with smoking, I think about quitting all the time, it's very high on my to do list, but in my heart of hearts, I know I'm not done yet. Make sense?

Yeah. Totally understandable. So what would it take for you to know you were done?

[lonestar]

Not sure, I do know it won't be as drastic as what was needed to get me out of the bottle though. I think the financial aspects of it are gonna do it, I feel I'm pretty damn close as is. And best of all, I already know all the recovery tools necessary.

[Tick]

I quit 25 years ago. I had failed 3 times before finally succeeding. It took me a full 2 years to get to the point I didn't crave one anymore. Fight past the urges. Don't give in and sooner or later you will be rid of even the desire to smoke. Its a liberating feeling. Its worth being strong. You are already on the road, don't go off now and waste the effort you have made. The temporary agony is worth the payoff.
If you have a cigarette you will be a smoker again. Trust me you will be. You can't have even one or you will be back to square one. BE SMART!

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

It'll pass. Don't blow of 4 months of abstinence. I can tell you that when I quit, the feeling of failure I would have felt if I drove to the store to buy a pack bothered me much more than any cravings.

This is me.  I only smoked for about 3-4 years, but even that short an amount of time smoking is hard to kick.  I've now been smoke-free for 2 years as of November.  2010, we had a Thanksgiving Eve show, I had a cold and my voice was fucked.  I thought "Well, let me hold off smoking til the show has come ond gone.  It's only a couple weeks away and maybe it'll help". Oddly,  I felt zero ill effects form stopping.  It sometimes made me feel like shit inside anyway.  So when the gig came and went, I told myself "No withdrawal symptoms.  Why continue?"  So I didn't.

Now, whenever we're drinking, especially if it's been a lot, I really do have the urge for one.  I continually, even now, have to tell myself that even so much as one drag off of a cigarette will reset EVERY SINGLE DAY of my progress back to zero and I will be a failure and a loser.  I don't want to be a failure or a loser.  Well, at least not any MORE so than I might be.  So with that mindset, I brush off the desire and move on.

FYI, I'm not calling smokers and people who have a hard time quitting failures or losers.  I'm simply saying that this is why I have to tell myself in order to keep my head on straight.

As mentioned, the feeling of victory you'll feel after fighting off the urge and moving on feels far better than what the cigarette will offer you.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

As we say in the recovery circles, while we are in this meeting, addiction is in the parking lot, doing push ups.

That is the greatest quote ever  but it's soooo true!

[Implode]

Lonestar, I remember you mentioning how it's nearly impossible to escape cigarettes in the cooking world. Like you said everyone smokes or something. Do you think that would make it more difficult? Or was drinking all around you as well?

[kirksnosehair]

This may sound crazy, but it's the truth.  Quitting heroin was easier for me than quitting smoking. 

[Chino]

I think the length of time it takes for someone to become 'an addict' is completely unpredictable and unique to each individual. Think about it. To become an addict, your brain has to wire itself in such a way to expect certain stimuli. Everyone's brain is completely unique. Some learn things faster. Some problem solve with more ease than others. Some brains are wired to do math, play music, paint, process, etc... The rate at which someone's brain becomes accustomed to something is probably just as unique. I imagine that someone with severe OCD would have a much harder time quitting an addiction over someone with no OCD tendencies. I smoked heavily for a good 2 year. I would regularly blow through a dozen smokes in a six hour period, not to mention be able to finish a pack in a 3 hour visit to the bar multiple times a week (you could smoke inside). I can honestly my brain was wired want smoke in those two years. It didn't need decades like most adults have told me.  This goes both ways. What applies to becoming addicted can most likely also be said for quitting. A girl I know has been a smoker since she was 14. She's now been at it 10 years. Even through pregnancy she wouldn't stop. She cut back to only 4 or 5 smokes a day, and switched to lights (like that makes a difference). That's something I couldn't fathom. I know everyone says "put yourself in my shoes", but if I'm carrying a baby on board, what ever pack I have is going in the trash as soon I found out. It was quite sad really. She has wanted to stop for as long as I've known her, and this would have been a better time than ever to quit, but she just couldn't get herself to do it.

[wkiml]

somewhere along Lonestar's response and something I picked up in my therapy/meetings

An addict's mind is wired differently than the average person, once addicted always addicted. Our therapist warned each of us that our mind will always be addicted in one form or another and will replace one addiction with another addiction, not neccessarily in a bad habit, but the mind needs that "rush" that the alcohol or drugs gave us. Some people may smoke more , other may be come addicted to shopping, others caffeine . Some may become addicted to working out, get the release of the endorphines into the brain .

It all comes down to our brain chemistry being out of line from that of the norm and how we approach and attack each addiction is basically the same but our brains will never be without the craving for the stimuli

Not sure if it makes alot of sense to someone who has never battled an addiction, but its much much more than just willpower

[Chino]

This may sound crazy, but it's the truth.  Quitting heroin was easier for me than quitting smoking.

I've been told the same thing in regards to cocaine... even though many recent studies show that your brain rewires itself more hardcore on cocaine than just about anything else. So much so that even after 10 years clean, your brain will still release copious amounts of dopamine at the sight of a razor blade.

[lonestar]

As we say in the recovery circles, while we are in this meeting, addiction is in the parking lot, doing push ups.

That is the greatest quote ever  but it's soooo true!

AA is the most quotable organization ever.

Lonestar, I remember you mentioning how it's nearly impossible to escape cigarettes in the cooking world. Like you said everyone smokes or something. Do you think that would make it more difficult? Or was drinking all around you as well?

Dude, the amount of drinking in restaurants is fucking ludicrous. I just accept that it is a part of it, kinda makes it easier on me to resist the urge since I'm so used to it being so omnipresent. Might be the same with cigs.

[wkiml]

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/science-addiction

Explains an addicts mind

[Chino]

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/science-addiction

Explains an addicts mind

I have been fascinated by this the last few years (well, the brain in general). It makes you think how pointless it is to send someone with a cocaine addiction to jail. Incarcerating someone time and time again is not going to do anything. People with serious drug use issues should not be put into a facility with all the other criminals, they need proper medical treatment and study. Think how much good it would do for the world if people with cocaine and heroin addictions were sent to controlled facilities where they were treated for an illness, rather than treated as a threat toward society. Think of what could be learned with all of those brains and doctors rather than jumpsuits and correctional officers.

[SystematicThought]

"We view racism and sexism as sinful and reflective of some of the most harmful aspects of our culture. We will abstain from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability."

Just out of curiosity, what is their stance on homosexuality? If an overly gay person applied, would that hurt their chances of being accepted?

The university doesn't have an official stance on homosexuality, even throughout the whole Minnesota Marriage Amendment vote. Being openly gay will not count against you in the admissions process and religion classes are taught with a rather neutral stance on the issue.

[Chino]

"We view racism and sexism as sinful and reflective of some of the most harmful aspects of our culture. We will abstain from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, and disability."

Just out of curiosity, what is their stance on homosexuality? If an overly gay person applied, would that hurt their chances of being accepted?

The university doesn't have an official stance on homosexuality, even throughout the whole Minnesota Marriage Amendment vote. Being openly gay will not count against you in the admissions process and religion classes are taught with a rather neutral stance on the issue.

I like hearing stuff like that.

[SystematicThought]

100% whole-heartedly agree

Anyways, yeah, E-cigs actually kind of bug me. My roommate does it in our dorm room and the smell gives me a headache.

[lonestar]

When I got out of the hospital, I had amassed 17 days without a cig. I picked up an e-cig to help me out, and after using it a few times, just reliving the habit fired up the ole neural centers enough to relapse within a day.

[Chino]

When I got out of the hospital, I had amassed 17 days without a cig. I picked up an e-cig to help me out, and after using it a few times, just reliving the habit fired up the ole neural centers enough to relapse within a day.

Same thing that happened with me. Except it was 21 days, and instead of smoking, it was masturbation.

[lonestar]

Here's a little blurb to show how deeply ingrained smoking gets. At the end of November, my roommate suffered a severe brain injury, so severe that he couldn't recognize his own parents for two weeks, yet in that time, he still craved cigs and would look around his hospital room for them.


(he is doing very well now btw)

[SystematicThought]

Is it the roommate that went to the same high school as my roommate?

Good to hear he is doing better

[lonestar]

Yeah, that's him. We've lived together for over eight years. He still isn't at home yet, but his memory and brain function are good. Mostly balance and vision issues now.