quit smoking support @ woofmang.com
people helping people beat the addiction to nicotine
 
help support our communityDonate FAQFAQ SearchSearch RSS FeedRSS Feed MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

nicotine addiction, how much does it take?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    quit smoking support @ woofmang.com Forum Index > taking action
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
moose200x



Quit Date:
May 11, 2009

Posts: 182
Location: Knoxville, TN

PostPosted: July 26, 2007 2:17 PM    Post subject: nicotine addiction, how much does it take? Reply with quote

i am horrible at explaning my ideas, so bare with me here Smile please note this is not some crazy idea to still be able to smoke "once in a while" we all know that there is no way to be an ex-smoker and still smoke Smile my question is just what makes someone addicted, and how much it takes to get them re-addicted. i myself cheated on my 2nd week, smoked one cig and never thought of it agian. but MANY members suffered through the i smoked 1 and then it was 2 packs by night end Smile

in the below examples pretend there is no mental addicton. obviously the ex-smoker would never be able to fight off just 1 a day Smile


question 1
lets say a never been smoker makes himself smoke only 1 cig a day, everyday. will he eventually become addicted? what if he only smoked one a week?



question 2

An ex-smoker smokes 2 packs a cig during the course of one day after 1 year quit. The very next morning he is recommited to not smoking. How bad would his cravings be?
_________________

Quit attempt #2!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Seabrez



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 4458
Location: Gulf Coast

PostPosted: July 26, 2007 2:37 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, Moose, the what if game!

Shooting from the hip here...I'll have to go get facts to back it up later...

It has been stated that as in example #1, one time, one a day is enough to hook a person. The thing with addiction...it has the ability to become addicting with just one. And addiction is based on tolerance levels. So, the one would eventually continue to increase as the body adjusted to the status quo amount and then require more of the substance to achieve the same affect as previously achieved. The example of what if is exactly what happens to teenagers and the process they go through in being hooked. It looks like they can handle it, because it's only once in awhile, but the addiction is adjusting the receptors in the brain and creating a path of attachment to the dopaimine (sp) rush created. This is very vague in my writing, but it's the basis of how it works. If I'm not totally correct, I'm sure Kevin will be able to shed light on the absolute of it all and it's workings.

#2...the person would go through the full force of quitting craves and the whole nine yards of quitting. Because the half life of nicotine is what throws a person into withdrawal to begin. With nicotine intake of 2 packs...it would definitely be withdraw.

The just one and it's back to fulll addiction...the brain receptors do not go away that once transmitted the chemical dependency on the addiction. They are basically woke up with the one, and then it's back to the original attachment to the substance. That's why once an addict, always an addict!!!! The addiction is always there...with a quit it's just becomes dormant, not removed.
_________________

Living in Freedom
Deb

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corn 5:17 NASB
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Zuzu



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 962
Location: Marin

PostPosted: July 26, 2007 2:51 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the answer to #1 is "not necessarily" - I have a brother in law who smoked "only when he dranks" (mostly on weekends) - he quit entirely and it wasn't even difficult for him - he occassionally (once a year maybe) has a smoke and it's not a big deal for him. He probably was never "really" addicted.

I don't think this is necessarily wierd - when I was in my 20s and 30s I occasionally used opiates and never got addicted. That's not true for some of the folks I used with. I think some people have a proclivity toward addiction to certain drugs. I know, for example, that after my very first cigarette - I was hooked.

In terms of #2 - I think it would be REALLY, REALLY hard the next day - ask anyone who has relapsed. The messed up thing when you ARE a nicotine addict is that you can't "just" smoke "recreationally" - just like my junkie friends can't use opiates "recreationally" (though I probably could... I no longer 'want' to.)

But then I think about... now... after three years... when I no longer have cravings and I really (honestly) don't "miss" it - why would I smoke a pack?? I'm not filled with rhetoric at all when I say.. at this moment.. that sounds totally disgusting. Two years ago, that didn't sound disgusting.. which is how I knew I still had a long way to go re: my recovery in this addiction.

I always told myself "when I'm free from the addiction, when I no longer crave nicotine... when I no longer think about smoking or not smoking... AT ALL... THEN, once I've achieved my goal of being free of it... I give myself permission to make an informed decision and go back to smoking if I want to - if that's what I choose." Well... I have to tell you, when you're free of it, really, the choice is so easy.... no frill'n way. That didn't happen for me overnight.. and it didn't even happen in a year (though the cravings had lessened dramatically. so much so that I don't think I'd even call them cravings.. but thoughts and desires were certainly still there for me.) I'd say I was a slow healer.. slow to recover.. slower than.. hmm... maybe everyone else here.... but good things do indeed (FINALLY) come to those who persevere!

-Zuzu
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Seabrez



Quit Date:
-

Posts: 4458
Location: Gulf Coast

PostPosted: July 26, 2007 6:42 PM    Post subject: Reply with quote

Moose,

I posted two new topics in this forum to help answer your "what if" questions. Please read them for more information on the addiciton.

Topic: Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances
Topic: An Answer to Moose's Addiction Question

Hugs
_________________

Living in Freedom
Deb

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corn 5:17 NASB
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
kevin
Site Admin


Quit Date:
-

Posts: 9538
Location: cincinnati, oh

PostPosted: August 1, 2007 12:15 AM    Post subject: Reply with quote

i've read a number of times that over 98% of people who smoke regularly do so because they have no real choice: they're addicts.

the flip side of that coin is that somewhere under 2% of people who smoke regularly do so by choice, by force of habit, or whyever; not because they're addicted.

that being the case, that means that, in the us alone, there are somewhere in the area of 750,000 people who regularly smoke but who are not necessarily addicts.

maybe you're one of them, john; just be aware that not being an addict does not mean that smoking won't kill you.

my mother smoked for 30 years or so, and when she decided to quit, she carried a pack of cigarettes around with her for a year, in case she ever craved one so bad that she felt she just had to smoke one.

she told me later that she never had a single crave, and she could never understand why it was so hard for my father and my brother bob and me to quit.

after a year, she threw away that stale pack of cigs and never smoked again. unfortunately for her, the damage had already been done; she developed severe asthma, copd, and finally congestive heart failure from smoking. the congestive heart failure is what finally killed her.

it was not a pretty sight.

imagine never being able to catch your breath. imagine trying to breathe through a pillow, with somebody pushing down on the pillow, tighter and tighter every day. cause that's what she said it was like, and i could see that it was true.

my mother's last few months alive were a nightmare, and she finally begged her doctor to do an operation that he'd already told her she only had about a 2% chance of surviving. she told me that if she was just going to continue to get worse that way, she'd rather be dead. she said a 2% chance of getting better was better than a 100% chance of getting worse.

she never recovered from that operation.

trust me. you don't want to go there.
_________________

keep choosing life!

kevin

the zen of the quit
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    quit smoking support @ woofmang.com Forum Index > taking action All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

quit smoking support
woofmang dot com