Stress smoking

[Toyredtoy]

I'm stressed about everything at the moment and it's making me smoke more.. am I being unreasonable to hold off quitting until this gets better? Anyone else smoking more? ...

I'd say just keep in mind smokes and vapes won't be regarded as "essentials" when it comes to what supermarkets get delivered and potentially what you're allowed to go out to buy.

I hope I can!

I quit a year ago. I am doing fine. My brother died the middle of December and he was a smoker. I thought I could not stop but I just did.
Smoking is like an extra thing....

OP, I understand that you feel stressed at present, but smoking is the last thing you should be doing if you want to help your lungs to survive an attack of Corona virus.
It’s like preparing for a Nazi invasion by breaking the wings off your fighter planes!
Could you use nicotine patches instead, or mindfulness apps for stress management, or try prayer and meditation, or distract yourself with practical issues like helping to deliver food and medicines to housebound neighbours?
Almost anything would be a better choice than cigarettes in current circumstances.

You know YABU. You know Covid attacks the lungs. Give them a break with the alternatives @Babdoc mentions. This is the PERFECT time to stop.

I’m in the same boat Toy. Usually I have the odd sneaky fag a few times a day in the garden. Now I’m going out more due to worry and especially as everyone’s at home, we’re all bored shitless already and getting on each other’s nerves, especially mine!

I already have a slight cough from having a bad flu like virus last month (so ill I didn’t smoke for a week) and really conscious of how stupid it is to smoke in our current situation but really difficult to quit while being stressed out from how this is going to pan out. If the health implications of this virus don’t make me stop very soon, nothing will!

Yes good idea, make your lungs worse in advance of the virus attacking them

@Worried01can I private message you? I think we could help each other..

@Worried01

I keep a vape for times like this. But if you can order some of the gum even or the spray. I really don't think people who haven't been addicted to smoking understand how hard it is to come off if you're not in the right mindset, it's really patronising to suggest the OP should instead deliver food and medicine to neighbours when a) she might already do so, it's not an arena exclusive to non-smokers and b) might have the mobility to do so. Or that she doesn't understand that the virus is a respiratory one. FFS. Apps don't work, either, unless you really want to stop so I'd suggest at least the gum or spray or get a vape. I'm a Christian myself but I have the most horrendous insomnia of PTSD and praying doesn't make me go to sleep or break the condition. Only medication does this.

FWIW, my nickname is pinched off the Bernard Cornwell Saxon Chronicles, it's a name the pagan Uhtred calls the Christian archbishop, the books are works of fiction.

@Babdoc I would really struggle!

Do look at vaping, it's easy to supply with them, you can get juices online and it's also much, much cheaper. There were some really helpful vaping threads on here to look at but if you're well and there's a vape shop open it's worth it to go and get advice on which one is the best for your style of smoking.

Toy, people who haven't been addicted don't or can't 'get it' IYKWIM. I'm a successful ex smoker but it's not really helpful to scold someone with well I'm doing fine and my life blew up when the person is struggling. It's far more constructive to look at things like gum or lozenges or spray or vape even. I never got on with the patch and just smoked on it.

I think it's an absolutely terrible idea during a pandemic of illness affecting the lungs. Also, it's a myth that smoking reduces your stress levels. Your brain tricks you into thinking it does temporarily because it's addicted, but it's been shown to raise every marker of stress in the body and is making you worse not better.

PMed you back Toy.

@Worried01i replied

You can only fight on so many fronts at the same time. A few years ago I was really going through the wringer (child on life support, lost job etc) and didn't have enough left to fight nicotine addiction as well.

The addictive element in cigarettes is just the nicotine, OP. Why not try a nicotine patch or gum - it can be very effective at suppressing cravings. If your particular addiction includes the comfort of having something in your mouth to suck on, then a simple baby’s dummy could be helpful, at least in private.
It’s well worth trying a few options - if you can even reduce the number of cigs a day, it will help a bit.

I’m not trying to be “patronising”as a PP accused - as a retired doctor, who used to anaesthetise a weekly lung cancer bronchoscopy list, I’ve seen the awful end result of smoking, and I’d urge you to try absolutely anything that would help you to ditch the habit and find more successful ways to manage your anxiety. Best wishes.

One thing my therapist told me is that actually, sometimes you’ve got too much going on to add the stress of quitting an addictive habit.

I quit smoking six years ago. I quit vaping six months ago.

Never been more tempted to go back to it. If I feel like that now, it’s no wonder you’re struggling quitting.

That said. On the flip side - theres a lung disease going around. If you get it, there’s a good chance smoking won’t help recovery.

Just so you know, smoking vastly increases your blood pressure. I had a stroke and needed to stop smoking. I have a blood pressure monitor, tried not to use it much but one day I took my blood pressure, it was ok, I went out for a cigarette and when I came back in I took my blood pressure again..... I was completely shocked, I couldn't believe how much higher it was. Smoking really does not reduce stress.
I've managed to stop, I don't know how but I haven't had a cigarette for about a year now. I do use a vape though.
I smoked for 46 years, probably longer than some of you have been alive!!
If I can stop anyone can, I'm amazed at myself but I'm also quite proud.

In the same boat. I had swapped to rolling tobacco (I don't like it and will smoke a lot less) but I feel so anxious and so stressed worrying about the virus and if DP and I will get paid if sick/self isolating that I caved and bought cigarettes 😞.

If your particular addiction includes the comfort of having something in your mouth to suck on, then a simple baby’s dummy could be helpful, at least in private.

Are you for real? You may have seen the end stage of it all but you've no idea how clueless you are about this addiction. It's not just sucking on something like a dummy, FFS. You pull the smoke in by inhaling, duh.

Yes, it's a great idea to try to cut down, but the truth of the matter is, you have to really want to do so or your attempts are even more likely to fail.

I do still keep my vape for emergencies, although I haven't been temped to use it, but I can completely understand why people stress smoke and it's nothing but patronising to throw out, 'Well, it's so bad for you!' Everyone knows that.

Can relate.
I feel so stressed and miserable I have to keep reminding myself not to start taking up smoking and/or drinking.