The simultaneous quitting of opiates and cigs

[Ridethecircuswheel]

Hello BL,

I'd like to start this with: If you're struggling with any sort of addiction and are in the first few days of doing so, please have strength and remember all the reasons you quit instead of letting your addicted brain play tricks on you.

I've been a heroin junkie for about 3 years. I'm only 21 too, so youth is on my side, but trust me it won't be for long because time FLIES when you're a junkie living day to day on each fix. I'm an incredibly weak, overprivileged person. I think being overprivileged makes me weaker so as soon as I even begin to feel the pain of withdrawal I start scheming for how I'm going to get high right away. I start smoking cigarettes in January so I've smoked for 7 months. I started smoking while I was on suboxone and quickly found my way up to smoking a pack of day because I suffered from boredom, no job, and an aching heart from losing my girlfriend.

I jumped from heroin to loperamide and am tapering by 2mg each day. It's gonna be a quick drop but I find it will be easy to deal with because I just moved to a major city and have a shot at college and a structured life. I find stressful change HELPS me get clean because I have a lot going on and a lot to look forward to.

So. Has anybody had to quit both drugs AND nicotine at the same time? I'm going to go ahead and assume a lot of people have, mainly because we all run out of money at some point, and if it boils down to smoking or getting high I'm gonna assume you picked getting high and had to suffer the mental anguish of being high without that nicotine jolt.

I find that it's not too hard to quit smoking (i know i havent smoked very long) but i honestly believe that it depends on how much the drug means to an individual that pretty much can determine how hard it is to quit. My dad has been smoking for 30 years and when we're together I find myself lighting up way more cigarettes than him. To me this means that I'm more impulsive, and he's more relaxed about his addiction.

Every so often the urge to smoke just pops into my head and if i sit and walk myself through the urge it will go away in 5 minutes. After a meal is when I really want a cigarette. As for the opiate withdrawal I'm going to say that the loperamide is helping but I still feel restless and irritable and am suffering of extreme boredom which is a symptom of opiate withdrawal for me.

 

[neversickanymore]

I tried to quit methadone, xanax, oxy, and cigarettes at the same time figuring a person can only feel so bad.. I made it five weeks and then started smoking again as my addictions were making a huge psychological push.. for the first five weeks it was josing mostly for cigarettes.. but then it switched one day and started to focus on the opiates.. yeah I started smoking again and then waited another seven months to quit the cigs. worked out well for me. quitting smoking is all about impulse control and learning to think through cravings.. after kicking the benzos and opiates at the same time and then quitting smoking I found the quitting smoking to be almost entirely psychological and not even close to as physical as I thought... tuff part of cigarettes is that they are everywhere so you need to be on your game when the drive hits.. Good luck.

 

[ad lib]

^^ I agree with neversickanymore. Cigarettes can be especially challenging because of their availability.

Willpower. If you hav enough you can accomplish anything. Neversickanymore has been free from active addiction for over 1 year, and as for myself I've been opiate free for 6+ months. It is possible. There are success stories all over BL

 

[weekend addiction]

I quit taking Vyvanse (low prescribed dose), cigs, chewing tobacco, and cut back on alcohol and caffeine all at the same time for health concerns.

2+ weeks since I stopped chewing nicotine gum. And about 5 weeks wince I stopped taking Vyvanse and smoking cigs. I've been a bit disorganized but I made it. I would use kratom and nicorette to taper. That's what I used to get me through my little situation. That and some extra weed thrown in the mix.

I'm glad I did this all at once because now I'm done with it.

EDIT: Do you perhaps have any questions? I only saw the one there. The Vyvanse has been much harder to live without. For someone who smoked and dipped I am amazed how easy it can actually be once your finally ready.