Are You A Smoker?

[Ale]

Congratulations, you have your addictions under control. :thumb: :thumb:

However, it is a commonly held belief (and one to which I subscribe) that an addiction cannot be "cured" but it can be controlled.

I quote:

"Inherent in the idea of a cure is the permanent end to the specific instance of the disease.
When a person has the common cold, and then recovers from it, the person is said
to be cured, even though the person might someday catch another cold.
Conversely, a person that has successfully managed a disease, such as diabetes,
so that it produces no undesirable symptoms for the moment,
but without actually permanently ending it, is not cured."​

I haven't had a cigarette in over ten years but after finishing a job (like Sunday which was a Brew Day) I can still find myself patting my pockets searching for a fag.

I also know that should I be diagnosed as having a terminal disease with a limited time to live my first stop after the doctor's surgery would be the nearest tobacconists!

Cured? Me? Sorry but "No! Never!"

I dont have my addiction under control because I no longer have an addiction.

I am a Christian after one fo those powerful conversions that you occasionally hear about. I saw you replied on the "pee" thread where I said about my brother, if I hadnt become a Christian I could well have gone the same way. When I became a Christian, the Friday before I had drunk about 40 pints. In the few months before that I had a few times bar staff and reliable friends told me they seriously thought I must have drunk 50 pints in a night. I'd come to the next day numb down my left hand side, but it didnt matter. I was addicted. I also went to the pub nearly every night and smoked cannabis every day for years. After my conversion I didnt drink for a few days, went to the pub on the Friday and could only drink 4 pints. After that I could not physically drink any more and had to go home. I did carry on drinking for a while but the desire and addiction had gone so I gave up completely for a while. I then started again in moderation.

Smoking was similar. I had been trying to give up for about 10 years but never reached 2 days. I got prayed for and never smoked again. The desire to smoke and addiction had gone.

The point being, you can get rid of an addiction, but it does take a miracle.

P.S. I also know alcoholics, heroin addicts, crack addicts and others who have been miraculously cured of additions. Its not a one off.

 

[Dutto]

There are 2 types of people, smokers and non smokers. You can't be an ex smoker classed as 'controlling' your addiction, by not having one. You don't control addiction, addiction controls you. You either smoke or you don't.

I've "Liked" this Post because it bring up so many elements;

1. There are 2 types of people, smokers and non smokers.

True. However, my wife was a "smoker" (i.e. she puffed away at cigarettes) but she was never addicted to the practice and stopped without any of the trauma that can be caused to addicts who stop.

2. You can't be an ex smoker classed as 'controlling' your addiction, by not having one.

By not smoking a cigarette you ARE controlling your addiction so therefore you must (by definition) become an ex-smoker. However, you will always remain an addict.

3. You don't control addiction, addiction controls you. You either smoke or you don't.

If you give way to an addiction then for sure the addiction is controlling you but that isn't to say that an addiction cannot be controlled. In the case of nicotine addiction, an addict who smokes is letting their addiction control them whereas an addict who doesn't smoke is controlling their addiction.

In my own case, my addiction controlled my activities to the level where I even refused to visit the homes of any friends or relatives if they even suggested that I didn't smoke in their homes. (I have offered them my heartfelt apologies since stopping smoking and thankfully they have been accepted.) :thumb:

So, in synopsis, an addiction can be controlled but it cannot be cured.

 

[Dutto]

I dont have my addiction under control because I no longer have an addiction.
...................

I hope and pray that you are correct. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Rockuronium]

Dutto, I quote' by not smoking a cigarette you ARE controlling your addiction so therefore you must ( by definition) become an ex smoker. That's like saying people who have never smoked are addicted to not smoking.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
If you are an ex smoker you are a non smoker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[terrym]

Dutto
I do believe your views on addiction to tobacco are incorrect.
You seem to be saying that you are only controlling your former addiction, reference your unconscious 'where's me fags' routine. And I imagine you look back on a life of smoking with mixed feelings. You may also part identify with still being a smoker. So these are shaping your opinions in my view
As I mentioned earlier I was a smoking addict, nicotine, social or whatever, but many years ago. However, unlike yourself , I have had a majority of life without smoking. I am no longer addicted, and so there is no need to control something which isn't there, since I have no desire for it in any shape or form, in fact the opposite applies.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I agree with terrym, i gave up 17 years ago and can honestly say i never give smoking a thought until i see those poor souls huddled round the corners of offices in the wind and rain and i think to myself thank god i kicked the habit and managed to stay off them all these years.

This brings me to something i have been meaning to ask for a while and this thread jogged my memory, does anyone here still smoke in their dreams? (as i do)

.

 

[Ale]

Dutto, I quote' by not smoking a cigarette you ARE controlling your addiction so therefore you must ( by definition) become an ex smoker. That's like saying people who have never smoked are addicted to not smoking.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
If you are an ex smoker you are a non smoker.


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Got to say I agree with Dutto on that one. Someone who is addicted to cigarettes is a smoker imo, whether they are currently partaking or not.

I have done several years of volunteer work with the homeless and most are drug addicts and understandably so. When they are on the street and its freezing cold they have pushers offering them heroin, usually for free until they are addicted, which will make them feel warm. Most say when the cold gets into your bones its hard to keep resisting day after day and night after night.

It takes an average of 7 times going through rehab until they kick the habit. Despite my own experiences I always advise them that, barring a miracle, they will need to learn to live with their addiction rather than get rid of it. A lot are also alcoholics and very few can drink normally later on. Total abstinence is the only option. They will always be alcoholics.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Got to say I agree with Dutto on that one. Someone who is addicted to cigarettes is a smoker imo, whether they are currently partaking or not.

When you stop smoking and get to the stage where you no longer miss them or think of yourself as an x-smoker you are no longer addicted to nicotine.

You may think i am talking out of my **** but its only when smoking is being discussed that i remember i was a smoker, i never give it a thought otherwise.

.

 

[Dutto]

This link is worth reading on the subject of "Addiction".

https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/addiction

Unlike Chippie_Tea I remember that I am still a "smoker who doesn't smoke" every time I pass someone smoking in the street and get a whiff of the wonderful aroma of burning tobacco. :thumb:

The other side of the coin is that I never stop or discourage anyone who smokes from lighting up in our house; but I am fully aware of the stale smell of tobacco that lingers for days after they have left.

 

[Gunge]

Anyone got a light?

 

[Clint]

Some varied and interesting thoughts on getting hooked on stuff....
I had a conversation many years ago with a chap I worked with whose ex girlfriend was an alcoholic. He'd described her alcoholism as an illness, I sympathetically disagreed and voiced my view that alcoholism was an addiction and it could cause illness...he was quite angry about this and insisted he was right. I like a debate but decided he wasn't in the frame of mind to hold one so decided I needed to be somewhere else.
What's people's views on this? Are addictions or substance reliance illness?

Cheers

Clint

 

[Gunge]

Clint, I can't answer that, but it really winds me up when addictions are referred to as 'dependencies'. How can anyone 'depend' on something (alcohol,hard drugs etc) which renders them incapable of doing anything useful, ie getting a job? Maybe they depend on them to ensure the benefits and handouts keep flowing.

 

[geetee]

Some varied and interesting thoughts on getting hooked on stuff....
I had a conversation many years ago with a chap I worked with whose ex girlfriend was an alcoholic. He'd described her alcoholism as an illness, I sympathetically disagreed and voiced my view that alcoholism was an addiction and it could cause illness...he was quite angry about this and insisted he was right. I like a debate but decided he wasn't in the frame of mind to hold one so decided I needed to be somewhere else.
What's people's views on this? Are addictions or substance reliance illness?

Cheers

Clint

My thought is that people refer to addiction, particularly overeating and alcohol, as addictions to remove the guilt from themselves. it almost suggests that it is therefore something that has happened to them without them having any part in it.
To my mind addiction is a state of mind, an extreme form of liking something that some people push to the limits because it suits them. When it becomes dangerous to their health or finances it then becomes an illness.

 

[Clint]

Yeah I think these descriptions are the way I interprete it...I think dependency is the wrong word...my kids depend on me to go out to work to get paid to pay the bills to buy food and xboxes...

Cheers

Clint

 

[Dutto]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "addiction" as ...

"The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity."​

Other definitions include ...

"the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is
psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics,
to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma"

"the condition of being abnormally dependent on some habit,
especially compulsive dependency on narcotic drugs"

"Habitual psychological and physiological dependence on a substance
or practice beyond one's voluntary control."

"A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance,
such as a drug or alcohol."

"A habitual or compulsive involvement in an activity, such as gambling."​

There are many more definitions available but ALL of them agree that an addict is in need and dependent on the subject of their addiction; be it heroin, nicotine, gambling etc.

Just because a person breaks the ongoing dependency by ceasing to indulge in their addiction in no way indicates that the person is "cured" no matter how long the duration ... :nono: :nono:

... otherwise no-one would ever relapse. :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Just because a person breaks the ongoing dependency by ceasing to indulge in their addiction in no way indicates that the person is "cured" no matter how long the duration

Having not had a cigarette for 17 years i must say couldn't disagree more, people smoke because they are addicted to nicotine once their body is free of the stuff they no longer crave it, a minority will fall off the wagon but that can be said of all addictions it doesn't mean we are all one stressful incident away from starting smoking again.

.

 

[Dutto]

Having not had a cigarette for 17 years i must say couldn't disagree more, people smoke because they are addicted to nicotine once their body is free of the stuff they no longer crave it, a minority will fall off the wagon but that can be said of all addictions it doesn't mean we are all one stressful incident away from starting smoking again.

.

So why do people relapse and start smoking again?

In some cases this can be over twenty years after "giving up smoking" ...

... although in most cases it occurs after a few weeks or even days!

 

[Tanzanite]

I am addicted to crunchy peanut butter but i dont get ��£15 a day from the government to eat it . I know people who spend all day in the pub. Dont want to work ,say they are alcoholics, get paid every thing and booze money on top , They have not got time to work there to busy spending our firkin money on booze and fags, This does not apply to a lot of people out there on various benefits, but how do you get to 50 and never had a job. One of these guys i know starts his daily stroll down to Witherspoons a 8.30am drinks approx 16-18 pints cider a day and smokes by his own admission 80-100 roll ups a day. He says hes a reg alcoholic, His wife works full time but he claims every thing for the flat they live in all bills etc , they eat as cheap as poss (pot noodle **** is a meal before he falls into bed at 5pm ****** every day) and he drinks all the rest of her wagers plus his benefit and alcoholics allowence. He get Viagra from the docs because he cant do the marital duty through stress (he wont will he with 18 pints strong bow down his neck) he sells these to supplement his habit. This person is one of many in my local town who do this sort of thing , They all say there ill because there alcoholics and suffer depression. To me there bone idle **** artists who would be rounded up and put to work on a van every morning, cleaning up the countryside or what ever needed doing. The only illness these people suffer from is getting there back off the bed to go to work, and the depression bit is worrying about were the next pint is coming from. They give a bad name to the deserving and disabled and need weeding out, its no use making every disabled person suffer (Osbourne and Camoron) because of these waste of spaces. Are they ill NO if they are its through choice.

 

[pms67]

100 roll ups a day?????? By 5pm, thats one every 5mins, where does he find time for 1 pint never mind 18,i think the viagra is just to keep his head sticking up till gets to bed 😂

 

[Clint]

....ah,but are they becoming a new smoker/drinker as opposed to relapse? Are you classed as a smoker/drinker/druggie after prolonged useage /habit/addiction or does casual use count? I think it's fair to say most of us on the forum like /enjoy/use alcohol...how it affects us individually classifies us to an extent...I think....I know a couple of people who drink....one has made serious amounts of money,an intellect, held a world record,written books...lost the lot,several times...****** up most of the time . The other played football at a professional level in his younger days, but now works in a manual job, suffering I'll health and getting worse...on the **** all the time...
I struggle to see how the first is dependant on booze to be successful. .only his ability to have it all go to sh1t is and the other his spiralling I'll health and inability is dependant on his continued drinking. ..
Both hopeless heading the same way...

Cheers

Clint