NFT: What potential/actual addiction did you avoid/escape from?

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Had an older friend(actually best friend) when I was a kid. He smoked two packs a day..$0.75 per pack, so $1.50 per day. I figured that was about $500 per year. When you at 12 to 14 in the 60s/70s that was a lot of money.

In comment 15263911 section125 said:

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Had an older friend(actually best friend) when I was a kid. He smoked two packs a day..$0.75 per pack, so $1.50 per day. I figured that was about $500 per year. When you at 12 to 14 in the 60s/70s that was a lot of money.

when you are....

pack or so per day through my college years, reduced to about 2 packs per week through age 25. Tapered off to just a few per weekend socially/drunk by age 29.

Got engaged at 29 and my fiance told me it was a non-negotiable. Had to stop. Since then, I've smoked maybe 2 total packs of cigarettes in 8+ years, primarily confined to very late nights on special occasions like bachelor parties or etc.

In comment 15263918 bigbluehoya said:

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pack or so per day through my college years, reduced to about 2 packs per week through age 25. Tapered off to just a few per weekend socially/drunk by age 29. Got engaged at 29 and my fiance told me it was a non-negotiable. Had to stop. Since then, I've smoked maybe 2 total packs of cigarettes in 8+ years, primarily confined to very late nights on special occasions like bachelor parties or etc.

or Giants’ losses..😎

My friend, you have a protracted lifetime addiction.

Totally out of control when it come to the NY Giants.

Optimistic, hopeful and positive about things you have no control over is no way to go through life!

or is it?

Alcohol in '83, after one of my best friends was shot to death in a drunken argument leaving a bar. I was a heavy, daily drinker at the time for quite a few years, and was supposed to go with him, but was too hungover and decided not to go. Gave up alcohol a few months later as a New Years resolution. Looking back, that's the only New Years resolution I ever actually followed through on. Lol

In comment 15263925 Bill2 said:

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My friend, you have a protracted lifetime addiction. Totally out of control when it come to the NY Giants. Optimistic, hopeful and positive about things you have no control over is no way to go through life! or is it?

😂😂

... social drinker ... but currently struggling with getting off the energy drinks. Monsters and Red Bulls are the go-to. Not even about the potential rush. I have a wicked sweet tooth.

I got through yesterday drinking more water. Then on the way in today there was a magnetic pull and my car stopped at a corner store. DAMMIT!

I'm going to be in the vicinity of my wife. and of course kids (6/4/2).

If my kids see me smoking a cigarette even once, I will have failed myself.

(I don't say that in judgment of anyone else, just my own self-expectations as someone who grew up with parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles who smoked cigarettes and how much easier that made it for me to fall into the same trap)

from alcohol. Definitely crossed the line into alcoholism years before that.

Gave up cigs years ago but still use nicotine lozenges and have an occasional cigar or pipe. So, work to be done on the nicotine front but that's my only vice/addiction.

In comment 15263931 bigbluehoya said:

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I'm going to be in the vicinity of my wife. and of course kids (6/4/2). If my kids see me smoking a cigarette even once, I will have failed myself. (I don't say that in judgment of anyone else, just my own self-expectations as someone who grew up with parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles who smoked cigarettes and how much easier that made it for me to fall into the same trap)

Some have said that stopping cigarettes is the hardest of addictions to break and I tend to ascribe to that. I mean, it’s virtually a 24 hour addiction. If I got up at night to use the bathroom, I’d light up, or first thing in the morning.

....haven't had a drop since September 2020.

In comment 15263937 BillKo said:

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....haven't had a drop since September 2020.

Yeah, back in the mid ‘90s, I developed IBS (maybe acts up a few times a year, but no biggie now) and was told to stop carbonated beverages. I can’t recall HOW MANY Diet Cokes I consumed per day back then, but haven’t had soda in about 25 years.

with some moderate injuries, thankfully nothing long-term or life threatening. I was prescribed some excessively strong opiates that I have since learned are highly addictive. Thankfully, I was just starting my career and rushed back to work. The pills would not have allowed me to perform my work duties, so I never got into them. I have seen similar prescription drugs ruin several lives in recent years.

6 Volvos and boring everyone to death with my car repair stories.

Diabetes diagnosis did it for me.

Started at 13, gave it up at 39. Smoked 3 packs a day due to job stresses. Took a double pneumonia to set me straight

made the decision to deactivate in 2015. Actually reactivated a few weeks ago to follow the page of the woman who breeds the puppy we are waiting for to see pictures since its the only platform she uses. I've gotten a nice glimpse of what I've avoided the last 6 years and it reaffirmed how toxic it got on there.

it just was too much and too time-consuming. Eventually, I had to be much more judicious and start turning people down.

and had my last cigarette on 1/4/2009. Went to a really dark place with alcohol and some hard drugs for a few years prior to that. I was an uppers man...cocaine, amphetamines...never got into heroin/opiates. It was all hard to give up, tried and failed several times before that.

I'm very fortunate I survived with my health intact, and for some really good people who helped me get out of it. I pass no judgments on anyone elses drinking, smoking, drug use. I just do my best to be there to help others when people ask for it.

It's scary to think back to how carelessly I treated my life, my health, my job, and my relationships back then, but it's important for me to remember that, keeps me very grateful for all the good things I have in my life now.

that the receptors in the brain for nicotine are immediately proximate to those for heroin which are immediately adjacent to those for chocolate.

I am Jonesing for a chocolate bar right now.

In comment 15263967 Bill L said:

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it just was too much and too time-consuming. Eventually, I had to be much more judicious and start turning people down.

RAZE had the same problem..😜

that is an interesting subject. I will say I have had two significant surgeries and a couple of smaller ones and I can see how others can become addicted to painkillers. I have never been that way- don't do drugs, moderate to lighter drinker.. But, they give out a TON of painkillers after surgery.

I couldn't believe how many painkillers they gave me and told me if I felt I needed more to reach out to them. I sued maybe 6 total after my two cervical disc fusions.

In comment 15263976 jvm52106 said:

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that is an interesting subject. I will say I have had two significant surgeries and a couple of smaller ones and I can see how others can become addicted to painkillers. I have never been that way- don't do drugs, moderate to lighter drinker.. But, they give out a TON of painkillers after surgery. I couldn't believe how many painkillers they gave me and told me if I felt I needed more to reach out to them. I sued maybe 6 total after my two cervical disc fusions.

sued= used..

this, my father just turned 80 and I said to him the other day, shit you're 80 may as well take up smoking again. He was hard core, couple packs a day.

I figure once you get to a point in life where you can say "you lived a full life" may as well enjoy the rest of the ride.

but i guess people don't think that way - or maybe not all do, but today I can say I feel like I will.

I'm firmly in middle-age - late 40's and I feel like if I live to see 60 I'm going to enjoy the back nine. But who knows, by then I could have grand kids and feel like life is too precious to pick up some enjoyable vices like smoking a pipe or cigars, or regular day drinking or day trading stocks, online gambling, whatever.

I've worked my ass off since I was 15 or 16 years old, ate well for the most part, exercised regularly, once I retire I feel I owe it to myself to sit on a lake fishing smoking a cigar as my main activity.

So, to flip this OP a little, I'm looking forward to a late in life vice/addiction.

Any recommendations? Can't do cigarettes - both parents did - they nauseate me. just the smell of them even.

While I avoided nicotine in Jr High School, I had issues when in Navy with marijuana. I see in the kiddo's I work with is their addiction to electronic devices (cell phones primarily). I hear throughout the week of teenagers making suicidal threats. These last 14 months of increased self-isolation has increased their addiction to electronics, made their poor social skills worse, and decreased their direct support system which has led to more suicidality and depression. Our local Dept Children's Services has been overwhelmed as they are now even more into homes than ever before.

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In comment 15263906 Big Blue '56 said:

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At what age did you give up drinking BB56? Just curious. I tend to think one day I will need to give it up - over the years my alcohol consumption has increased as the stress of daily life has and continues to increase. Not a good path I am currently on.

In comment 15264008 Bergen346 said:

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In comment 15263906 Big Blue '56 said: Quote: . At what age did you give up drinking BB56? Just curious. I tend to think one day I will need to give it up - over the years my alcohol consumption has increased as the stress of daily life has and continues to increase. Not a good path I am currently on.

40s..I just felt like shit the next day and not because I was drunk..I ALWAYS had to have “one more.” Others were able to stop when they had too much. Not me..

Bourbon + Marijuana. I know you have the Bourbon part down but the mix is lovely in moderation.

Gave up booze in 2018, was also a smoker till 2006. Life is better without both.

Thankfully I have been lucky to not succumb to that terrible addiction.

Both my father and grandfather were alcoholics (my father was worse), so there was something in the genes that made them susceptible to alcohol addiction.

My grandfather was able to overcome it and lived until he was in his 80s with a great professional and personal success; however, my father wasn't so fortunate. As the youngest and most talented child of my grandparents' eight kids (from what everyone told me as I was growing up and even now), my father succumbed to the addiction and died in a motorcycle accident when I was only seven and he was in his early 30s. There are some stories of how wild he was that I've found out in the past few years (my relatives appear to feel more comfortable being frank with me as I've gotten older) from him being an enforcer for the local mob to him having a string of girlfriends after he and my mom split up when I was young. Obviously he had many demons that he was dealing with, but whether they were the result of his alcoholism or whether his alcoholism was his coping method for his wild ways, who knows.

and I didnt stop, but i drink way less than I used to

What I changed is "only social drinking," no more drinking alone at home watching TV. Worked like a charm

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but not coffee. I've kicked them for a few weeks at a time but I definitely consume less than I used to.
The biggest scare for me however was after having a tooth extracted I took a heavy duty pain reliever just to get some good sleep finally. The next day I took another without ever feeling any pain. On day 3 I could feel the urge, I grabbed the bottle handed them to my wife and said hide them, flush them, whatever but get them away from me because I can feel something setting in.

After watching the first episode of “Crime of the Century” on HBO, I told my wife how I dodged a bullet not getting hooked on painkillers. I was prescribed Oxycontin in college, and my first experience with pain pills included mixing with alcohol and it was awful. I never messed around with painkillers from that point on, but have had close friends go to rehab because of their painkiller addictions.

to show some of our vulnerabilities.

Alcoholic here. I have never been a dramatic drunk, never mean, but that was part of the problem and harder for me to control, simply because I didn't feel like I was hurting anyone else but myself, but in reality I was hurting others by hurting myself. Anyway, it's been a struggle of on again off again behavior since 2011. I'm currently in a good dry spell (no drinks since last august, three years has been my longest before thinking "one beer won't be a big deal").

I have issues with anxiety and depression that alcohol intensifies, so each time I decide to have a drink I know in the back of my mind this could be the time that I am not able to come out of the intense depression that will inevitably come from my decision to play with a fire that I am not able to safely back away from.

Anyway, thanks for people sharing personal demons. Sharing helps give others hope in that they, themselves are not alone with their problem.

In comment 15263967 Bill L said:

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it just was too much and too time-consuming. Eventually, I had to be much more judicious and start turning people down.

All those sad dudes!

Haha, jk, for me it was smoking. From age 18 - 27, smoked about a pack a day. I quit cold turkey after watching High on Crack St on HBO. I felt like the cigarettes were controlling my behavior like crack was these addicts. Haven't touched one since. I also calculated how many total cigareetes I smoked and how much $$$$$ I spent and it was staggering.

addictions, but I got off of Twitter, cold turkey, the day after the election, after having spent 2-3 hours a day on it for about 6 months

... my wife is also a recovering addict herself and has big family issues with substances on her side.

Fortunately, hard liquor almost always made me sick to my stomach... not just a one-time throw-up, either... rather, I'd be puking for hours on end. Drinking is totally debilitating for me.

What's somewhat notable is that I still often tried to "drink big" in my younger days... most of peer group drank hard, and I just wanted to be a part of.

Anywho: turned out to be a blessing looking back.

My wife, OTOH, could drink most grown men under the table and still want more and be totally unable to stop... she's a "Real McCoy alcoholic" if there ever was one... without working the program of AA she'd be dead years ago... no doubt.

My parents smoked my entire childhood, and so did most family members. I always found it really annoying, but my brothers both smoked on and off into adulthood.

I feel like my bigger vulnerability would be gambling. That's one that if I weren't married or had kids I could see myself making a mistake and getting in over my head.

...not for me, I bailed - over time, all those relationships disappeared and a couple of those guys were never healthy and got into stronger drugs, one died at 51 a few years back.

Managed to avoid the major harmful addictions so have been fortunate. I am currently spending way too much time in front of screens and recently have been taking digital breaks around dinner time.

Soda. Drank WAY too much of it until mid 20s & then went cold turkey. I try now & again to cut back on the beer, but with mixed results.

Started as a trickle, went full blown in 80s
Never needed the money, but sold it in bars anyway just because I was way too into the party scene
Dropped out of college to bartend in south florida
Got arrested by fbi, went on extended vacation to Morgantown, WV federal penitentiary
Even when I got out still partied some
Never had an epiphany, i was just a rambunctious suburban kid and when the enjoyment of it was minimal and the staring at the ceiling not sleeping was at it maximum , I just tapered off it and lost interest
Actually went back to college, became an accountant, studied my ass off finally 10 yrs later and after many failures became a CPA. Was always worried they wouldn’t license me but they did, in 3 states no less
Now I am basically semi retired, finally saved $$$$ instead of blowing it, financially secure
Go figure. In spite of myself, it worked out. Great wife sure helps a lot!
Occasionally I have been around I coke over last 20 yrs, just wasn’t interested. Just loved to party when I was was young, tons of females, crazy times
I don’t even regret it. I had a lot of fun
But now I am so content watching football, boxing, Netflix. Working out hard. U have to drag me to go out. Funny thing in my worst condition, still never miss workouts. That’s my real addiction! Love it

In comment 15264055 crick n NC said:

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to show some of our vulnerabilities. Alcoholic here. I have never been a dramatic drunk, never mean, but that was part of the problem and harder for me to control, simply because I didn't feel like I was hurting anyone else but myself, but in reality I was hurting others by hurting myself. Anyway, it's been a struggle of on again off again behavior since 2011. I'm currently in a good dry spell (no drinks since last august, three years has been my longest before thinking "one beer won't be a big deal"). I have issues with anxiety and depression that alcohol intensifies, so each time I decide to have a drink I know in the back of my mind this could be the time that I am not able to come out of the intense depression that will inevitably come from my decision to play with a fire that I am not able to safely back away from. Anyway, thanks for people sharing personal demons. Sharing helps give others hope in that they, themselves are not alone with their problem.

My wife will have an occasional glass of wine, that’s it..I could get away with a drink here and there, but after awhile, I’d be back full time, so I’ve never even taken a sip of anything.

Btw, What’s amazing to me was how eady it was for me to stop alcohol as heavily invested in it as I was..Never really missed it and Yes, people drinking around me has never bothered or tempted me.

Cigarette quitting was brutal. I must have failed 50 tines way back when. The thought of never, ever smoking again proved far too much for me to handle, so I capitulated over and over again..

One day, Over 40 years ago I took a different tack. I didn’t make it final in my mind (given how it’s mostly a mental addiction after the physical cravings leave). I simply said to myself, “I’ll go back, I’m just postponing my next cigarette.” That relieved a huge mental burden FOR ME..I never went back.

Never touched coke. My old man-Maryland graduate-scared the hell out of my siblings & I with the Len Bias tragedy.

I know multiple people who died young of heroin. Tragic.

weed aholic - sober for 15 or so years

alcoholic - sober for almost 4 years

I was quite functional at both 95% of the time, but I'm sure it wasn't my best life.

Smoking is verboten now, but I remember being at prep school and getting “smoking permission” from my parents so I could smoke at school. How ridiculous does that seem today anyone under 30? But that’s the way the world was for a long time, smoking was okay and it was done everywhere by nearly everyone. WWI to like the early 90s and smoking was either encouraged or at the very least accepted as completely normal and even necessary. As a kid I remember candy cigarettes - and I known those still exist - but how fucking evil is that? Teaching kids to smoke. Wow. Advertisements for smoking were everywhere - TV, print, radio. The Marlboro Man was everywhere. Welcome to Marlboro country! Does anyone remember Joe Camel? That campaign was designed to appeal to children. Again, how evil is that? Anyone remember all the crap people would “buy” with Camel dollars and Marlboro miles? (Or whatever they called those incentive programs).

But, it was totally accepted and social normal. As a kid my mom would send me and my friends to buy her cigarettes- like we were ten - and no one ever questioned us or failed to sell cigarettes to us. I remember being young adult in NYC and laughing at the very idea of non-smoking bars which were emerging in SF and LA. Now I can’t imagine going to a smoke filled bar. People used to smoke on the Metro North - does anyone remember how smoke filled the car and especially the bar car would be by the time you got to Stamford? Going from New Haven to New Canaan was local and I’d smell like an ash tray by the time I got off. Good lord... but it was totally normal. People used to smoke on airplanes. Imagine.

And of course the tobacco companies hid and denied and lied about all the efforts to market to kids and all the knowledge they about the health impacts. And then it all changed, in like a couple of years smoking went from being socially acceptable and really encouraged to being completely unacceptable and a clearly substantiated and undeniable public health cost and the acknowledged most severe personal health risk.

Anyway, yeah, I’m glad I quit smoking almost 20 years ago when I first needed to get life insurance. That was a horrible and insipid and expensive addiction. I thank God I am no longer a slave to nicotine.

I don’t drink or hang out with Mary Jane anymore either. Haven’t for more than two decades - probably couldn’t have put down the cigarettes if I were drinking. After college, I saw way too many of my friends turning a bend I didn’t want to go around. Probably half the guys I skated with in college are 12 steppers now and probably most of the other half should be! My best friend from prep school and I met up once in the city when we were like 25 and I couldnt believe how hard he was partying with booze and drugs. He looked like he was 50 in his face. That woke me up for sure. I don’t miss any of it. Glad I avoided any lasting health damage. I sure as shit don’t judge anyone who partakes in any of these things or struggles with excess.