re: OFFICIAL: Addiction support thread (11/12 update)

I've been a Marlboro man for 22 years. I'm 42.

Has anyone had any luck with hypnotherapy?

Serious question here. For me, it's a programming issue. I love my cigarettes but I'm smart enough to know that I need to quit....

But I don't want to. I need to.

I know of 2 people that had hypnotherapy and it worked for them. Both were long time heavy smokers. I smoked around 2 packs a day until I was almost 40 but I turned to vaping and was able to stop. Though you could say I gave up one habit for another.

I get an absurd amount of liquid oxycodone every month (1500ml) due to pain swallowing food and drinks. It got much better after the radiation got rid of the tumor in my throat but I still claim that it hurts like hell even though it just hurts a little. I also get a script for 10mg valiums. I’m getting immune to them both so I need to lay off for a while. I’m also hitting a low low on my bipolar disorder so neither of those are helping. The radiation destroyed my thyroids and my esophagus so my thyroid levels are so high that the only way i can get energy is via the liquid ocycodone. Luckily I work from home and I’m a programmer so I’m able to automate most of my job duties while I sleep off and on during the day. I can’t drop it completely because it still hurts. Anything I eat, comes back up. I’m guessing there is a stricture in my esophagus so when I burp, food and drink and medicine comes up with it. I’ve contemplated some scary things but if it wasn’t for my dog then I’m not sure I would even still be around. I don’t believe in the Bible but I see how strong that it makes people so I’m searching for that faith so I can have the strength to fight the depression and everything else. I downloaded an audio bible but it just makes it seem less believable. I promise I’m really trying to seek faith and god but it just isn’t working. It’s kind of my last resort. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong religion. Maybe I’m just one of those people who have to see it to believe it. But I’ll admit that I need help. Not as much so with the drugs but with the depression and seeking faith in god for strength.

Exactly what Road just said, God loves you. I know how bad things can get and we have all struggled with different things but one thing that is constant is God. Just look around, the air we breathe, the wind swaying the limbs in trees, the creatures we see on land, air or water. The faith is there, you just have to accept it for what it is, which is hope in the Almighty. He is very real. If you need to talk I'm always here, lurking or posting.

Unfortunately no, but I hope he knows God does love him.

Wait....I'm pretty sure I will get run thru the ringer for this but here goes....

As for as faith, when I was about 18 or 19 years old, one of my favorite places to go was this little branch in the woods to collect my thoughts.

I live in Alabama, so the weather is inconsistent. One day a feeling came over me to build an altar of wood and rock next to said branch. I laid two small logs vertical about three feet a part, then laid a bigger log on top of the logs horizontally then placed rocks all around it.

I prayed there for a few weeks and vegetation started to grow, it was green and beautiful. It grew on the outside of it as well as thru it. Looked like small ferns on the outside in the front of it.

This was in the fall, I know it doesn't make since but it was green. Winter came and it stayed green thru the spring.

Then one day, my pastor called me out because I had went to a different denomational church and told him about it. He said I had denied my faith.

I said frick it and stopped going and praying. I didn't go for a couple of months to the altar I had made. Sometime in August, it was still summer, I went down to that branch where the altar was and to my horrible surprise. Everything was dead, the green plants were brown. Green everywhere else but there.

What I learned, is that God is real.

So true

What a story! Thanks for sharing

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Has anyone had any luck with hypnotherapy?

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Results are very "hit or miss". Overall, its statistically the least likely measure to help stop smoking but it can (in cases) be the best. Give you an example: My favorite candy is Almond Joy but statistically that is unlikely to be the case for most other people. Does not mean the next guy might not love Almond Joy but I would not bet on it.

If you know of a good hypnotherapist that is very affordable (and you have no issue of psychosis in you or your immediate family members - give it a try)

Good luck with the quitting.

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I went out of town today (alone) and drank 8 diet cokes and ate a large pizza all by myself.

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Now I don't feel so bad admitting I was bored last night and downed a 12 pack of cheap beer. Other then that I've been doing good on the booze front.

I also dropped another three pounds over the weekend... because I'm a bit under the weather and hardly ate anything. Since I'm feeling better this morning there is a grave danger that any large pizza near me will not make it through the night.