Booze or cigs?

[Dom]

It can be either. Whatever you are actually addicted to will be harder to quit.

I hate when peeps who were not actually addicted run around making actual addicts feel worse because they claim to have just quit and that actual addicts just need to grow some will power.

A habit does not make an addiction. 

What you happen to be addicted to (and it can be almost anything) is definitely the hardest. And there are different levels of addiction, too.

If anyone knew a sure fire way to kick an actual addiction, they would be a guru rolling in money. One cure that fits all does not exist.

[Gwaithmir]

I can't really say which is harder to give up because I was never really addicted to either. I was never keen on alcohol to begin with. I seldom have a drink now on account of all the meds I have to take. I used to smoke cigars and pipes, but gradually quit because I lost my taste for tobacco, I was becoming concerned about my health, and my favorite pipe blend was becoming too expensive. 

[adey67]

I've done both and except for the time I was physically addicted to alcohol and required drugs to stop back in the noughties I would say cigarettes are tougher, I quit cigs two years ago and booze 6 months ago and stopping smoking was definitely tougher than stopping drinking for me.

[adey67]

My doc says cigs can be harder to quit than Heroin. It depends on how much you smoke - if you have chain smoked for 50 years, it may be impossible to quit because your whole body chemistry has adapted.

No idea about booze.

This doesn't really belong in personal issues and support, unless Jerry has a personal issue with booze or cigs?

Sorry Dom.  I'm battling the bottle but this was a casual post so please move to appropriate home.

You can PM me any time if you need to talk bud, confidentiality assured. 

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I can't speak to the difficulties of beating alcohol addiction, because I've never been there. Nicotine, on the other hand... Before right now, the longest I ever went without a smoke or a vape was basic training, 1989. 8-weeks. I was a pack-a-day smoker for over 35 years. I tried quitting many, many times. Nothing worked. I finally found something that did and fuck the pharmaceutical companies that want $36/box (generic Wallgreens brand) for something I can make with retail cost ingredients for less than $2

[GenesisNemesis]

My father was able to quit smoking but never able to quit alcohol, so I'm going to say alcohol is harder to quit.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

It can be either. Whatever you are actually addicted to will be harder to quit.

I hate when peeps who were not actually addicted run around making actual addicts feel worse because they claim to have just quit and that actual addicts just need to grow some will power.

A habit does not make an addiction. 

What you happen to be addicted to (and it can be almost anything) is definitely the hardest. And there are different levels of addiction, too.

If anyone knew a sure fire way to kick an actual addiction, they would be a guru rolling in money. One cure that fits all does not exist.

(all that added emphasis by me)

A-fucking-men! It's why the cookie cutter, follow these directions explicitly, nicotine replacement therapies only work for a small percentage of nicotine addicts. You need a tailor made plan to beat a tailor made addiction, and every, every, every, addiction is tailor made to the individual, by that individual. I also love the nicotine "quit line" commercials. "Remember that cravings are usually of short duration... blah, blah, blah." Yeah? Well, maybe for some, but for me, trying to quit cold turkey was like having a rat gnawing at my thoughts constantly, every minute of the day. The disruption of my ability to focus on anything but the craving was enough reason to give in.

[jerry mcmasters]

My doc says cigs can be harder to quit than Heroin. It depends on how much you smoke - if you have chain smoked for 50 years, it may be impossible to quit because your whole body chemistry has adapted.

No idea about booze.

This doesn't really belong in personal issues and support, unless Jerry has a personal issue with booze or cigs?

Sorry Dom.  I'm battling the bottle but this was a casual post so please move to appropriate home.

You can PM me any time if you need to talk bud, confidentiality assured. 

Appreciate that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It's your biology, mental state, and health that factor into kicking something, I think.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I honestly don't think it's possible to rank addictions by how hard they are to beat, because it's really down to the individual how hard it is to quit a specific addictive substance. People go on and on about nicotine, alcohol, heroin, etc... but never (or, only very rarely) mention addictions to things like sugar, caffeine, theobromine (it's the alkaloid chemical that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs), etc... My dad's a type two diabetic who will probably kill himself with candies because he simply can't stop. So, what addiction is hardest to kick? The one you're suffering. I'm not sure you can even claim one is harder than another when suffering from more than one, because the reasons to beat one addiction are going to be different than the reasons to beat another.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I know I've never needed narcan for a smoker who was jonesing.

[Dom]

I honestly don't think it's possible to rank addictions by how hard they are to beat, because it's really down to the individual how hard it is to quit a specific addictive substance. People go on and on about nicotine, alcohol, heroin, etc... but never (or, only very rarely) mention addictions to things like sugar, caffeine, theobromine (it's the alkaloid chemical that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs), etc... My dad's a type two diabetic who will probably kill himself with candies because he simply can't stop. So, what addiction is hardest to kick? The one you're suffering. I'm not sure you can even claim one is harder than another when suffering from more than one, because the reasons to beat one addiction are going to be different than the reasons to beat another.

If we are going to rank addictions, sugar is wayyyy up there. It is incredibly hard to quit for several reasons. 

Firstly, your body pretty much instantly converts starch to sugar. So, you eat a potato or pasta, you are adding sugar to your system.

Secondly, every damn processed food you can buy has added sugar. Every. Damn. Thing.

Thirdly, sugar gives a short feeling of well being, followed by a crash, just like every other addiction. It gets to where you need more and more to remain functional and also avoid depression.

If you manage to completely cut starch and sugar from your diet, your body has to switch from using sugar for energy to using fat as energy source. It does so quite efficiently, but the switch itself can take a couple of weeks or so, and there are uncomfortable physical side effects for most during the period of change, not to mention the psychological withdrawal causing depression.


Once on the other side of that adaptation, sugar will not taste good anymore, way too sweet.


But, in a society that consumes added sugar with most every bite, while avoiding fat at all cost, such a conversion can be next to impossible. 

So, yes, sugar is a very serious addiction, and the world we live in doesn't help.

[adey67]

I honestly don't think it's possible to rank addictions by how hard they are to beat, because it's really down to the individual how hard it is to quit a specific addictive substance. People go on and on about nicotine, alcohol, heroin, etc... but never (or, only very rarely) mention addictions to things like sugar, caffeine, theobromine (it's the alkaloid chemical that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs), etc... My dad's a type two diabetic who will probably kill himself with candies because he simply can't stop. So, what addiction is hardest to kick? The one you're suffering. I'm not sure you can even claim one is harder than another when suffering from more than one, because the reasons to beat one addiction are going to be different than the reasons to beat another.

That's a very good point for example I can relate to anyone with an addiction to any substance including things like food and sugar which are not often considered as addictive per se because I have been addicted to substances ie alcohol and nicotine so I can identify with that but yet I cannot identify or relate to those who are addicted to gambling or sex yet I accept they are addictions behavioural addictions as powerful as substance addictions but I have zero I can relate to as I've never ever gambled or been a sex addict.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I honestly don't think it's possible to rank addictions by how hard they are to beat, because it's really down to the individual how hard it is to quit a specific addictive substance. People go on and on about nicotine, alcohol, heroin, etc... but never (or, only very rarely) mention addictions to things like sugar, caffeine, theobromine (it's the alkaloid chemical that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs), etc... My dad's a type two diabetic who will probably kill himself with candies because he simply can't stop. So, what addiction is hardest to kick? The one you're suffering. I'm not sure you can even claim one is harder than another when suffering from more than one, because the reasons to beat one addiction are going to be different than the reasons to beat another.

If we are going to rank addictions, sugar is wayyyy up there. It is incredibly hard to quit for several reasons. 

Firstly, your body pretty much instantly converts starch to sugar. So, you eat a potato or pasta, you are adding sugar to your system.

Secondly, every damn processed food you can buy has added sugar. Every. Damn. Thing.

Thirdly, sugar gives a short feeling of well being, followed by a crash, just like every other addiction. It gets to where you need more and more to remain functional and also avoid depression.

If you manage to completely cut starch and sugar from your diet, your body has to switch from using sugar for energy to using fat as energy source. It does so quite efficiently, but the switch itself can take a couple of weeks or so, and there are uncomfortable physical side effects for most during the period of change, not to mention the psychological withdrawal causing depression.


Once on the other side of that adaptation, sugar will not taste good anymore, way too sweet.


But, in a society that consumes added sugar with most every bite, while avoiding fat at all cost, such a conversion can be next to impossible. 

So, yes, sugar is a very serious addiction, and the world we live in doesn't help.

Yeah, but Coca-Cola and Hershey might suffer if the realities of sugar addiction were ever denounced the way smoking, drinking, and illegal drugs are denounced.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I honestly don't think it's possible to rank addictions by how hard they are to beat, because it's really down to the individual how hard it is to quit a specific addictive substance. People go on and on about nicotine, alcohol, heroin, etc... but never (or, only very rarely) mention addictions to things like sugar, caffeine, theobromine (it's the alkaloid chemical that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs), etc... My dad's a type two diabetic who will probably kill himself with candies because he simply can't stop. So, what addiction is hardest to kick? The one you're suffering. I'm not sure you can even claim one is harder than another when suffering from more than one, because the reasons to beat one addiction are going to be different than the reasons to beat another.

That's a very good point for example I can relate to anyone with an addiction to any substance including things like food and sugar which are not often considered as addictive per se because I have been addicted to substances ie alcohol and nicotine so I can identify with that but yet I cannot identify or relate to those who are addicted to gambling or sex yet I accept they are addictions behavioural addictions as powerful as substance addictions but I have zero I can relate to as I've never ever gambled or been a sex addict.

Even so-called behavioral addictions are chemical in nature. Sure, you're not imbibing any chemicals, but you've developed an addiction to the chemicals produced and released by your body when experiencing those behaviors.

There are a sub-set of epileptics who experience a short, sharp euphoric sensation before an epileptic event. Among them, there's an even smaller sub-set who refuse medical treatment for their epilepsy because it interferes with that euphoric sensation. It's a perfect example of just how insidious addiction is, whatever form it takes in any given individual. It doesn't matter how many times we hear "you're gonna die if you don't quit 'x'" without a good enough personal motivation.

[c172]

All three times I've taken a puff of a cigarette, I have come out of it with respiratory symptoms similar to a cold. So that habit never happened for me.

OTOH, while, I do very much enjoy being drunk, my body doesn't. I'm not willing to force incontinence just for some drunken jollies, much less to drown my sorrows. So that never became a habit, either. My drunken moments were isolated, and (dare I say?) planned.

[jerry mcmasters]

I remember smoking a few cigarettes as a kid because why not. My reaction was "I don't get it." Not to downplay nicotine/smoking addiction, but for me it didn't get a chance to take hold.

[Bcat]

I think as with anything it depends on the person.

[Bcat]

I remember smoking a few cigarettes as a kid because why not.  My reaction was "I don't get it."  Not to downplay nicotine/smoking addiction, but for me it didn't get a chance to take hold.

I tried one once in college--just a few puffs.  I didn't like the smell and I didn't really get the draw either so just never smoked.