Ok my darlings problem solved. For those who are interested type "addiction"into your browser and go to the HBO site to learn about this topic.. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/20/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 71 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,278 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $710.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 16 [B]Hrs:[/B] 9 [B]Mins:[/B] 34 [B]Seconds:[/B] 11

You know I don't know how I feel about addiction as a disease either. To me, if you have a disease, you are sick and there is nothing you can do to stop or prevent it. You have diabetes, you are a diabetic. You have to control it with diet. With addictions, I think we all play a roll in our addictions and bear personal responsibility for letting it take hold and grow. I can't think about my addiction being something beyond my control. If I think of it like that, for me it is harder to quit. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]4/22/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 38 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,520 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $304.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 19 [B]Seconds:[/B] 25

This is getting a little weird. Every time I get a thought in my head about something smoking or addiction or related, someone ends up posting about it. I don't want to ruffle feathers but I have never bought into the addiction as disease theory. I feel it's a perfect storm of genetic predisposition, life events, role modelling & cultural influences. I believe each element has to be present at the right time & in the right proportions for each of us, for an addiction to result. Nicotine addiction is not seen in society as being as serious as other addicitions, maybe because it's legal & "respectable" people do it. I think that's one thing that makes it so hard to quit. I know if I talked openly in the real world the way we do here, people would think I was whining, looking for attention or just a little whacky. For me,I knew I was addicted to nicotine but I never thought of myself as an addict. In fact, when I first started lurking here & reading the posts, I thought, "these people should get over themselves, they're smokers not smackheads." I truly did not believe there was a connection between smoking and repressed emotions the way that link is commonly made with other addictions. I now absolutely believe that not making that connection is the major reason I could not quit before. One thing that makes this such an evil addiction is that you can do it openly and the habit aspect of it, day in & day out re-inforces the actual addiction so that habit & addiction are not separate anymore, your habit fix becomes an addiction fix. Even those who do believe that addicition is a disease don't generally believe that it can be cured, that's why addicts are always recovering & never recovered. I know I will always be a nicotine addict, I'm afraid of ever not believing that because if I ever think I can have just one, I'm lost. What a ramble! Sorry, it just fell off my fingers onto my keyboard! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]5/13/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 17 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 340 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $187.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 18 [B]Mins:[/B] 51 [B]Seconds:[/B] 20

Bear, good topic. Addiction is addiction. As a recovering alcoholic I know I can never ever have a drink. If I drink I will continue the addiction. If I pick up a cig I will continue to smoke. Alcoholism has been classified as a disease for some years. My opinion is that this nicotine is a lot tougher to get rid of. It is a drug, so if it isn't is should be considered a disease. During one of my quits, someone called me an addict :mad: I was so angry. I was okay for me to be an alcoholic, but drug addict no way. Once I could accept my alcoholism I quit drinking and that was 30 years ago. I now accept I am drug addict and I am powerless over my addiction to nicotine and I have stopped smoking. Just some thought. Sparky [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]4/30/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 30 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 300 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $90.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 3 [B]Mins:[/B] 12 [B]Seconds:[/B] 30

Bear, I'm a little confused about what aspect of addiction you want to talk about. Do you mean about it being a disease? Now that you mention it, I have always heard alcoholism and drug addiction discussed as a disease by some, but never nicotine addcition talked about in those terms. -aloha [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/22/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 69 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,760 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $469.20 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 17 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 57

Anna Does this mean you no longer get out of bed, clean, put away groceries, or eat? ;p Wow! You are one amazing woman! -aloha [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/22/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 69 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,760 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $469.20 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 17 [B]Mins:[/B] 9 [B]Seconds:[/B] 42

People with co-dependent behavior enable unacceptable behavior. They are basically enablers. This behavior can be in the form of abuse from people and/or things. They don't think enough of themselves to stop it. This concept started with people married to alcoholics.....but they found these people are controlled in many other facets of their lives. I have been emotionally abused in my life...and a few years ago went for some counseling at the proding of loved ones. I never thought much about going to counselors. Well....she had me read this book titled Codependent No More. At first I thought...yeah right. But in reading it I found myself quite abit in the description. It is sort of being on a small scale self destruct mode as you don't feel worthy enough about yourself to make the changes needed. Can it be we never cared enough about ourselves to make this change sooner. Just a thought. Mercy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/21/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 129 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,580 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $576.63 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 17 [B]Hrs:[/B] 0 [B]Mins:[/B] 4 [B]Seconds:[/B] 25

My interest is the why of addiction and can it be cured.Is it like any other disease and the medical community has defined it as a disease !!I,ve done a little reading on the topic but thought if it was brought to the forum perhaps we could expand and educate ourselfs on this very complicated issue. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/20/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 71 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,278 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $710.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 16 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 7 [B]Seconds:[/B] 30

Bear..... If I get you right... your talking about, not what addiction does......but why we're addicted. Can I put my opinion in? (where the heck is spell check?) Can it be we tend to have co-dependent behavior? It really is an interesting concept. Mercy [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]1/21/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 129 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,580 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $576.63 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 16 [B]Hrs:[/B] 23 [B]Mins:[/B] 57 [B]Seconds:[/B] 37

Mercy Some how I just knew you,ld probably done your homework on this one :) The only reason I brought it up was it seemed to me whe were spending more time on the symptons than the disease.If nobodys interested fine. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B]3/20/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 71 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,278 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $710.00 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 16 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 59 [B]Seconds:[/B] 5