Stopping drinking....any tips?

[onthebutton]

I've decided to stop drinking. This isn't because I drink too much (I go out 1-2 times a week), but more because I want to stop smoking. The two seem to be very connected, the minute I get a little buzz going, I start jonesing for some nicotine.

I'm soliciting advice, and wondering if once I knock the smoking out, I'll be able to go back to drinking without the nicotine urges coming back too.

[TheBlueMonster]

um, stop going out to drink. If that's all you need to do to stop drinking, than go for it.

[siccjay]

Bang Bitches.

[Asufiji2004]

I was in the same boat when I was in College. If you like to smoke, then you tend to smoke more while drunk. If your intention is to quit smoking more than drinking, then just man up and quit. I decided one day enough was enough didn't buy another pack and never looked back. I smoked for 7 years, if you have a little discipline it's much easier than people make it out to me. If you need a little help use the patch.

I drink about 2-3 times a month and never have an urge to smoke, so it is possible.

[tdarko]

tips? it depends on how dependant you are.

if you are truly and alcoholic you need to get help.

but if you just have a problem with going out and getting hammered and its affecting things then stop going out.

i used to go out 5 nights a week and get hammered every one of those nights, drive drunk and act like a nut. it affected my career and that is why i stopped.

[webgator]

It took a complete lifestyle change for me to quit smoking, even AFTER I was in remission for cancer.

It will be four years in January and it took a new job, moving houses and leaving behind all my drinking buddies to wuit smoking.

As for drinking, I still drink, I just don't drink every day and I don't binge drink anymore.

I think once a smoker develops the habit where you start 'jonesing' for a smoke, it'll be hard to not feel like lighting one up especially when you drink and are so use to smoking while drinking. It's more psychological than anything I think and while you're physically dependent on it as well to a certain extent, your mind just wants that urge satisfied. I suggest not drinking for at least 3 months. Then, when you do drink, if you do, don't get drunk. Your mind will be more impaired and your judgment will be worse than if you just had 1 or 2 drinks.

Anyhow, hope it works out for you.

[onthebutton]

This isn't really quitting drinking because I drink too much now, it's about using no drinking as a tool to quit smoking.

[MonkeeMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I've decided to stop drinking. This isn't because I drink too much (I go out 1-2 times a week), but more because I want to stop smoking. The two seem to be very connected, the minute I get a little buzz going, I start jonesing for some nicotine.

I'm soliciting advice, and wondering if once I knock the smoking out, I'll be able to go back to drinking without the nicotine urges coming back too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I quit smoking squares cold after 15 years and didn't have any problems going to bars etc. Never did quit the good stuff except for a couple years when my job did random testing. I think you just have to really want to quit and you will. Stopping drinking as an aide doesn't really click for me. Good luck.

[Blarg]

They definitely go together. And a big part of giving something up for good is getting rid of the things that go with it that draw you back to it. I think it's the little things that form the "setting" that reminds you of the habit that can be the worst of all when you're trying to quit, because those things are constantly popping up in your life and reminding you of your habit. Booze will probably always make you want to smoke, and it probably won't be the only thing. Sex, or playing poker, or lots of other things may trigger it.

The more of those triggers you an put aside for a while, or forever, the better. Some you'll just have to struggle through, because they're worth keeping. But giving up something like booze, for a while anyway, isn't that big a sacrifice. As you get stronger and the smoking habit seems more and more under control, you could start drinking again and feel more in charge of the need to smoke when boozing brings it up.

It may not be only booze, though. Your going out and doing certain things may be strongly associated with smoking, too, just like the booze is. So skipping the booze will very likely help, but there will probably be other pscyhological triggers you'll keep encountering as you keep encountering the same situations.

Associate boozing and smoking with certain social situations, and sociability itself may be a kind of trigger. You may have to set up new associations in your mind about sociability, either by conscious thought or by finding social situations which don't lend themselves to smoking and drinking so much -- with a different crowd, in healthier environments, etc. Like, if you're still going to hang around in bars and casinos with the same people, and lots of them are smoking and drinking too, quitting might be very hard. If you spend more of those hours socializing with different people, by playing around outdoors, or by socializing in less "party" type surroundings, you may get the psychological breathing space to stop thinking about your habit and being tempted. Then, after a while, you might be able to go to your old haunts with aplomb.

[Stuey]

[ QUOTE ]
I've decided to stop drinking. This isn't because I drink too much (I go out 1-2 times a week), but more because I want to stop smoking. The two seem to be very connected, the minute I get a little buzz going, I start jonesing for some nicotine.


[/ QUOTE ]

I also found I cannot drink without smoking not even 2 or 3 drinks. I have no problem smoking and not drinking though. And quitting both was the hardest thing I ever did. It has been over 4 years now I think and I still want a cig. I don't miss the booze though. Crazy hey.

Quitting smoking is stupid hard the article I have quoted below shows that when you smoke your self-control is lowered. We all know that when we drink our self-control is pretty much non-existent!




[ QUOTE ]
From Scientific American MIND July 2005

Where Addiction Lies
By Nicole Garbarini


Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


When smokers satisfy their urge for a cigarette, they dampen their mental resistance to addiction. Researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor imaged smokers' cerebral blood flow as they puffed on a cigarette after a night of nicotine abstinence. They also took images as the subjects smoked a low-nicotine cigarette. Comparing the two images removed signs of activity related to the non-nicotine aspects of smoking, leaving a map of pure nicotine stimulation. The drug intake increases blood flow in areas rich in nicotine receptors. But it also decreased blood flow in areas involved in memory formation and regions that normally moderate drug-seeking behavior.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[/ QUOTE ]

Photos were included but not required to understand the ideas.

Related links

Smoking linked to increased alcohol consumption (http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin/000215a.asp)

Alcoholism, Smoking Linked (http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/nicotine/a/aa001211a.htm)

You can do it but realize it won't be easy even if you are not a heavy drinker it is just as hard imo. It is worth it. gl

[onthebutton]

Thanks for the advice. What's [censored] up is that I go days without smoking. Once in awhile when I'm not drinking I like to have a smoke now and then, but I never smoke during the day, at work, etc. But when I start drinking, I always want one. I go days at a time between smokes often, so it isn't like I can't go 20 minutes like some people.