Smoking

[Friday]

I don't know how much quitting smoking had to do with my latest tailspin. I quit smoking during the same time this all (re)started 3 years ago, but I also had enough stress all on its own (violent assault, inability to protect someone I loved, divorce, oh my).

Point of this question... Is that I restarted on 10Nov. Had some crazy stress coming up 1 month later, it was already an anniversary, and I was at the end of my rope. Smoking, surprisingly, helped. I never quit nicotine. I'm ADHD. Need the stimulants to slow my thoughts down. I'm back to my old patterns. Once an hour during normal times, and chain smoking through stress.

I need to quit, again.

One thing I've realized is that I "square breathe" when I'm smoking. 4 in. 4 hold. 4 out. 4 hold.

Something my new trauma therapist has been trying to get me to do, but I get distracted. Sometimes I can do it once, but more often not, and I can't get 2 or 3 in a row, much less 5 or 10.

I'm beginning to wonder how much smoking actually "helps" versus the fact that for 7-14 minutes at least once an hour (and more often as needed) I'm breathing in a regulated manner?

For the smokers & ex smokers on here... Does any of this resonate? Make sense? Or do I just smoke weird?

 

[Sweetpea76]

I never thought about it until you mentioned it. Maybe that is why smoking is so calming when nicotine is stimulant? It makes sense. The first thing I want when I'm upset is a quiet smoke. My sufferer is a smoker too, and he also tends to smoke like a chimney when he is stressed.

 

[digger]

Yep. Makes sense. Was actually one of the things that helped me quit once I figured it out. That part of the relaxation from smoking, other than scratching the itch caused by nicotine withdrawal (which is effectively what your body keeps doing between each ciggie - you smoke, your body gets its nicotine fix, you put the ciggie out, your body starts withdrawing till the next one which then gives you a feeling of relief/calm because you've temporarily satisfied the 'need' again).....But back to breathing, yep, I figured it was helping to regulate my breathing too - which feels kind of stupid to say given all the other shit it did to my lungs, but it's true. That and that it was making me stop for a few minutes.....so it wasn't just about quitting the drug, it was about finding substitutes to keep my breathing calm and to make me take time to just stop everyone once in a while. Same with any addiction really I guess, figuring out why you do it other than the physical, chemical, side of things, is key to getting and staying stopped.

 

[Recovery4Me]

Same here...addicted to cigs. I bite the h3ll out of the filter : could explain why I was bottle fed.
However I believe, I only square breathe with use of e-cigs to control the uptake in nicotine.

I have been working on meditative breathing. Not great at it yet, fell asleep actually,:rolleyes: or then too fidgety to regulate. Still, when I run, I can regulate breathing. 2 in 2 out in time with the strides. Would awareness in regulation of clean breath-work be easier during some type of work-out for you?

 

[Friday]

Would awareness in regulation of clean breath-work be easier during some type of work-out for you?

Thinking about it... I have no rhythm. I'm a good dancer, good at other things that require rhythm... But the beat is external. The music, the other person, the cigarette. Even running (jogging) I need cadence to keep a steady pace, or I end up either sprinting (running full out), or falling down (Such. A. Clutz.). Huh. Food for thought.

 

[Nam]

I'm not a smoker. Something that is interesting (comes from a music background) that most people do have an internal beat. It almost always coincides with their heart rate.

 

[Nam]

I didn't mean to kill this thread. I feel like that outsider that doesn't know what she's talking about.....Sorry. So, um, boosting this thread. LOL.

 

[Nico]

I have ADD and I used to smoke...I did find it relaxing...but I quit because it was literally destroying my health. My sufferer smokes. He knows I don't like it and he had switched to these new style of dip things that you suck on, but don't cause a mess. Well, he had been deployed for the past 7 months and under ridic stress, so when we could talk I could hear him smoking. He recently returned and now he's into e-cigs. Those scare me because it seems like you can smoke a lot more nicotine, yet don't get the smoke.

Have you tried marijuana? There are many different medicinal types that help with anxiety, stress, and it's not addicting. I'm new on here and learning about PTSD, so I don't know if marijuana is a trigger for some.

 

[Friday]

Lmao Nam... You didn't kill it. Smokers are a dying breed ;)

 

[Chava]

Yes, the breathing is really calming. So is nicotine. I've been smoking since I was just a little zygote. The most f*cked up is when smoking reminds me of the reassurance of being hooked up to oxygen.

Quitting drinking some how brought me to life...had a sense of humor, more hope, lots of good stuff. Quitting smoking feels much harder because it's the opposite...I feel too slow, foggy, vacant. I've been doing Nicorette and e-cigs for a little while though because I can't afford cigarettes anymore. If I could I probably wouldn't worry too much about smoking. Hard to chain smoke e-cigs because the batteries make them so heavy and unenjoyable to hold. But eventually I'd maybe like the low nicotine or only vapor and just get that deep breathing. Focusing on my breathing, like in some attempt to relax or meditate, sometimes makes me panic. But smoking smooths things out. I just always over-do everything (chain-smoking...cutting back never worked for me). I've heard smoking is both a stimulant and a tranquilizer. Really hard to quit that.

 

[Kintsugi]

Funny you should make this thread. Every time someone tells me to do some deep breathing during/after a very stressful moment, I always think (and sometimes say), Yeah, I'm gonna go deep breathe into a cigarette."

But really, if you wanna talk about some regulated breathing, I recommend the green stuff. ;)

 

[Ronin]

Makes sense, quite a bit. I realized I get my breath together with smoking the most as well as anxiety just oooff as commenting on it and being all the hell that reaction. It wasn't even about nicotine as just breathing & occupying myself with something else than teeth gnashing. Boy if I knew how to get rid of it though, since addressing anxiety is so long term mission and I think better in tools-available-now terms.