Nicowhy?

[SinQuaNon]

Hi friends,
this issue may have been covered somewhere else, it has been bothering me for a long time.....
according to people such as Allan Carr and Joel Spitzer over at WhyQuit, and other smoking cessation gurus,
they are all of the opinion that nicotine addiction has no pleasure, and the only reason we do it is to stave of cravings, that we don't even get a high or any positives at all, nothing, zilch, nada!
What do you think about this, I think this is one of the reasons antis think smoking is useless and stupid

cheers
Anthony

 

[ace077]

Nicotine is a stimulant, it can keep you up longer, suppress appetite, help aid focus; in a lot of ways it's what many doctors call a "super drug" however while it's in your bloodstream it constricts your blood vessels, and prolonged use can lower your immune system. There are positives and negatives as there are with all drugs.


Sent from my Fuego

 

[alopezg1]

The Most irritating thing about Allen Carr is that I know he's right. But still, here I am, addicted to nicotine

There certainly is pleasure in smoking ; but it is only ever the pleasure of ending the discomfort and misery of withdrawal.
if you are curious , just see for yourself. Next time you feel like a vape, ask yourself: 'do I have to have a vape' sooner or later the answer to this question will be yes. Then it may seem that actually it's not that you want to have a vape but that you , for some strange reason HAVE to have a vape and feel uncomfortable if you don't . That is why you vape and why you smoked , because you feel uncomfortable if you don't . We neglect to look at how we feel before we have a ciagerette or a vape with ay kind of objectivity . It expresses itself as ' I thin I might have a vape now' but what it really means is ' I need nicotine i'm running out' We have a vape or a ciggie and the discomfort ends. Repeat this process several thousand times and very very strong attachment and dependence forms to our chosen method of nicotine delivery , or , what allows us to feel comfortable again

I was having a very tuff time a few years ago trying to quit. I had relapsed on the patch for the umpteenth time. I really wanted to quit and I was just disgusted with myself and really at a loss as to what I should do. I was slumped against the bowl of my toilet I remember crying. It suddenly occurred to me , out of nowhere , that the misery I was experiencing then and there was caused by cigarettes . That is to say that if I didn't smoke cigarettes then the whole awful situation would be unnecessary. That is to say , that just a moment before I saw the misery I was in , being caused by not being able to smoke a cigarette, but it suddenly occurred to me that the whole situation was caused byt cigarettes . They were the cause of the misery and the solution to it! it suddenly occurred to me also that if I never smoked a cigarettes again in my life it would be doing the same thing , in essence , as smoking a cigarette right then and there . I would be ending the misery . So I pulled myself together , got up from the damn toilet and just decided that I would never smoke another cigarette again in my life . A month went by in a flash , no cravings at all. In fact all the thoughts I had about smoking I found highly amusing , because they had lost there hold on me , there importance I saw how truly ridiculous they were , stuff like: 'well, what about global warming ? I mean the world is going to end soon enough and we're all going to die . I may as well have a cigarette' I mean that is ridiculous when look it with any kind of objectivity , and so is smoking . Anyway after a month or I had some argument with my girlfriend and it occurred to me that I this was the type of situation I would smoke in , it wasn't a craving by any measure, just an idle thought. I also thought that I understood the addiction , and that I had stopped so easily it wouldn't matter if just had a one, it would probably be foul anyway. Well, that was the biggest mistake I have ever made In my life so far. I broke the promise I made to myself and before I knew it I was back in the hole, smoking full time . It's obvious when you see it

 

[alopezg1]

and by the way I am not an anti. I do think though, that smoking is stupid , pointless , destructive and absurd. I mean , there are lots of things I enjoy in life . I particularly love spearfishing . I adore it in fact. But if it turned out , if it was discovered that spearfishing causes cancer, heart and pulmonary diseases , if I discovered that since I started spearfishing I had much less energy, my sinuses were blocked and my chest was congested . If it turned out that one in two people who spearfish, died as a result of spearfishing , would I continue to spearfish every day? I think the answer to that question is obvious and anyone who says they smoke because they enjoy it really hasn't taken a look at their addiction very closely at all . It's not about enjoyment, that seems obvious . There is enjoyment involved with with smoking , but it is only the enjoyment of replenishing your diminishing levels of nicotine , or , stopping withdrawal. But still, here I am, addicted to nicotine 'enjoying' every minute of it

 

[SinQuaNon]

Hi alopezg1
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, they make me feel quite uncomfortable and touch an emotional chord in me,
You have been through a lot on your nicotine journey as have I,
This whole question is what led me back to smoking, I had quit for 18 months cold turkey, but became obsessed with nicotine more than ever before! I was stuck, so I just gave in and smoked a ciggie, I guess I wanted to prove to myself that there was more to smoking than just withdrawal aversion! Yet I'm still asking that same stupid question! Ahhhhrggg

 

[alopezg1]

yes I understand

I am obsessed with this question also. The question is , how was that cigarette you smoked after 18 months of no nicotine? ishould thin it was pretty disgusting and din't do anything for you, I may be wrong .

 

[alopezg1]

Its interesting also that my comments make you feel uncomfortable. I am sorry for that and it is not my intention , but why do they make you uncomfortable? Even if it is true that smoking is just a way of scratching an itch that smoking itself has started , I mean , so what. You don't HAVE to stop just because it's stupid. I haven't , I mean I vape now instead . If you feel smoking does something for you , if for instance you have lots of fond memories and associations that's ok, I certainly do. That is how addiction works though , it seems like a love affair , this thing has taken care of you for so long , been there for you etc etc It is in fact more like an abusive relationship where the victim is not so much so in love with their abuser but demoralized and degraded to the point that leaving the relationship fills them with fear and dread , and they cling even tighter to the destructive relationship. It's very devious

 

[SinQuaNon]

I am so so glad that someone else is thinking the same thing, I though I must be going crazy!!!!
To be honest it was neither here nor there it smelled good, but tasted really umm, like old fashioned like ancient hard to explain, it was odd and took me back to my first at 14, the nostalgia of it all really played up in my mind the weeks before hand and I was really glorifying it in my mind like it was my old identity, my friend, then I was back, got my mojo back, anthony was back and then the health worries started! As per usual hahaha
To be honest if they put " smoking is just withdrawal top up to keep u at the level u were at before you had one " on packets that would put me off more than smoking is addictive, lung cancer etc, as it is an insult to my intelligence or lack of it haha

 

[SinQuaNon]

No no don't feel sorry, I understand what your intentions are good! Yeah I seem to think its all the things around it that make it likable, the paraphernalia, the socializing with friends who smoke, the hunt for new devices, being part of a group identity, the danger, the thrill, the mystique, the escape from the situation,something to do, I guess the same could be said for coffee right? I mean when smoking was in its heyday it wasnt seen as a pointless addiction was it, much like coffee today, then with all the proof of the bad health aspects it really changed perceptions and lost any good aspects
I mean I wonder if alcoholics, ......... or opioid abusers or even coffee drinkers think about these same things? The major ones seem to get highs from their drugs, but is it all just the same

 

[alopezg1]

I certainly think vaping is a lot more interesting than smoking. I mean smoking just involves going to the shop , buying the cigarettes and that's about it . And vaping is actually quite enjoyable , what wiith all the flavours , I mean it's actually quite palatable . Smoking is for the most part, gross. The first cigarette of the day is amazing but after that they just get worse and worse . Having said that I am vaping now instead of smoking and I still have cigarette cravings ever day , still struggle a lot against them , even though the thought of actually smoking a cigarette now makes me feel sick. How strange . I don't mean to presumptuous here but if you are like any other smoker - myself included- that I have met then those peripheral things aren't why you smoke. It is being addicted to nicotine , is any addiction not pointless? I am not saying pleasure is pointless or bad , but addiction, is different to just pure pleasure seeking.

 

[alopezg1]

it's being unable to function without the aid of an specific substance , as though it were food or air . People saying they smoke for pleasure is a bit like saying that you eat for pleasure , when in fact you eat to stay alive , the pleasure of food is secondary and is not why we feel impelled to eat three times a day. Pleasure is not why we feel impelled to smoke 20 - or however many times- a day.

 

[SinQuaNon]

Yes and no , when I was in CBT trying to stop smoking. The therapist and i drew up a chart and showed the pros and cons of why I smoke and it made a lot of sense I still have it somwhere... A lot of these other things were just as important if not more so than the actual drug which in my case is nicotine, some people smoke purely for nicotine others not so much,the same with vaping I guess, I think I'm in the middle somwhere, I wonder if I hadn't smoked if I would have taken up some other addiction and maybe that's why so may kids today are on hardcore drugs, I don't do anything else apart from smoking and coffee not even drink, nothing against moderate drinking, just don't like it
The other interesting aspect the dependence side of thing, was the amount I thought about smoking after I quit, every second of every day for month then , after 18 months I was worn down, maybe I am more susceptible with a anxiety disorder could be, have you been past a mental,hospital and seen how they are all chain smoking all day long? Well I have seen it and that is all a lot of them do poor things.

Maybe there is an actual deficiency in the brain pre smoking that nicotine helps? Or did smoking cause the deficiency that's what I am getting at I guess?

 

[alopezg1]

well at least you now have the hobby aspect of it with vaping but without harming your health (hopefully) Do you still crave cigarettes now that you are vaping?

 

[SinQuaNon]

That is true,
I'm still smoking lol! but this is more of a logistics issue, its hard to get Nicotine in Australia, I have just really gotten into vaping in the last week or so and today I ordered heaps of liquids from Johnson creek and halo, as I think they have good facilities, I have been using blu ecigs and have cut down to about 5 or 6 analogues a day, i purchased an evod 2 yesterday Wow! and tried some nic liquids at the vendors place and I didn't smoke all day after that, so I am thinking they are going to work well for me! If not I will try aromeejuice with WTA's, I am determined to try hard at this and beat smoking. I'm still a bit apprehensive of vaping for some reason? I still see smoking as more natural and not so chemically even though I now this is plain wrong!

 

[SinQuaNon]

well at least you now have the hobby aspect of it with vaping but without harming your health (hopefully) Do you still crave cigarettes now that you are vaping?

Exactly why should we have to die for our addiction!