If you've had former addictions, do they sometimes come back to sneak up on you?

I’m a recovered alcoholic and also an ex-smoker. Alcohol ruined much of my life. I am 1 week and 2 days shy of my 14th anniversary of sobriety, and I can honestly say that no, it hasn’t come back to haunt me. It hadn’t until last night.

I got sober through the 12 steps of AA. It worked for me. I don’t know why. It doesn’t work for everyone, and I don’t know why about that either. Quite a number of people get sober through other means of counseling and some on their own alone. Then there are the people who can’t get sober and die from the disease.

Last night, I found out that my first AA sponsor decided to start drinking again after 25 years of sobriety. He’s been drinking for about a year and a half, and from his description, he’s fine. He’s drinking like a normal person, which means he rarely drinks.

Since this news, there’s been a tiny voice in the back of my head wondering if I could drink again, too. A louder voice reminds the tiny voice that I am also bipolar and that I was drinking to self-medicate that disease. Drinking for me was never a normal affair of one or two cocktails once or twice a month. Drinking was a daily thing. Drunkenness was a daily thing.

I’m not going to drink at least for today. The few thoughts I’ve had about drinking today have been weak. They rise at the back of my mind, and they go.

I quit smoking about 7.5 years ago, and that was hard. It was very hard actually. I have no cravings, and I don’t miss it in the least. I quit by weaning myself down from full strength cigarettes to mild and then to ultra mild. Finally, I bought the cheapest ones I could possibly find that tasted like shit, so giving up was a pleasure. I did use the nicotine gum for the first week, if I remember correctly.

I have no magic words to offer only hugs for anyone battling any form of addiction.

I was a heroin addict, a very hard core one. After about two years, I never thought about it again, I had a couple drug dreams, that was it. I drink, (not alot), and smoke tobacco. I do no other drugs, ever. My drug past, and it was a very heavy one, has absolutely no impact on my life today.

I never ever want to do drugs again. I occasionally get an urge for a cigarette, and I know if I ever drank again I would start smoking too.
The hardest addictions for me are the food addictions because I can’t just quit eating. I’ll get all skinny and cute and think I have it whipped then relax for a second and boom! 20 lbs. it really pisses me off. It used to be 80 lbs before I got it under control again but for the last 10 years I have kept it in that 20 lb window. That’s something I guess.

I celebrated 27 years of sobriety this week. My recovery has been much like @Hawaii_Jake,‘s I have not had a real desire to drink in many years. But as we say in AA, “alcohol is cunning, baffling, and powerful.” I, too, have occasional back of my mind thoughts that I could have a glass of wine. But it only takes a second for me to remember that no, I was never able to have just a glass.

I quit smoking cold turkey almost 25 years ago. Physically, it was so painful, I know I never want to go through that again. But for the first five years, every so often I’d smell smoke and crave it. Now it just repels me.

No matter how many times I quit to start becoming social or start a new hobby, I always end up going back to MMORPGs.

@Blackberry I have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re older than me so I don’t think it’s video games but if you were younger that would be my first guess.

@Judi I think that Blackberry is in his 30’s.

Really? For some reason I thought he said he was in his 60’s. Oops. My bad. I guess he’s not a dirty old man after all. ~

@Judi Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games

Almost everyone on my father’s side has an addiction- alcoholism, drugs, sex… on my mother’s side, there’s a high number of alcoholics as well. So, when I was 20, I swore I would not become addicted to drugs or alcohol—I didn’t want to lose any part of my life to addiction.

Unfortunately, at that age, I did not understand that addictions are not only to drugs and alcohol. I developed an addiction for sleep—I would sleep for anywhere between 12 to 18 hours at a time. I would make sure my son was taken care of, then go to sleep. It was my escape—I taught myself how to lucid-dream and stayed in that ‘world’ for as long as I could. It was a ‘happy place’ for me and I liked that alternate reality. I lost many, many days, weeks, months of my life. I missed many moments and opportunities. I lost my health as well.

I still struggle with sleep because it’s a required function—it will never be a “former addiction,” but something I have to regulate everyday. I have to monitor my sleep by following other peoples’ schedules. It’s too difficult to self-regulate, so I choose external sources for structure and schedules.

I try to explain it to them – everyone that asks. Dermatillomania is more than what they think. And it’s a vicious cycle.
They don’t understand. They act like I can just stop this over night. Like this is some minor inconvenience to my life.
It doesn’t make me feel good anymore. Nothing really has since Asher died. I miss him. It feels guilty and disgusting.
They think it’s because I’m a teenager. Because I’m too naive to control my emotions in a safe manner.
They just don’t get it.

@Judi Haha…..What the heck made you think I was in my 60s? I’m 27.

Thought you were in your 60s. You’re younger than my kids!

I have been sober for about four years and yes, sometimes I would really like a drink. When the desire hits I have to stop, reason it through, and remind myself that I stopped because I could not control the intake. One glass of wine always meant finishing the whole bottle. One beer always meant polishing of the six pack. So far that has been enough to keep me from starting back up.

In my 20’s I had a pretty serious spending problem. That one still rears its ugly head now and then. When I am super stressed I find the very first thing I want to do is go out and spend, spend, spend. Since we have no money and I have no credit cards, that one takes care of itself.

Thanks for all your answers and thoughts, guys.

I have just broken a 2 week bender of nightly Lemon Merangue Pie. I quit buying pies cold Turkey 3 days. Sara Lee is evil I think I’ll get a little high now. lol

I quit smoking a year ago. I still have my days where a cigarette plagues my thoughts….but by remaining firm, the urge will once again pass.

I’m very late to this thread. I figured I’d put my little bit in here.

I was a heavy drug addict for about 6–8 years. It started when I was 10 or 11 and lasted up until about 18–19 (I had a few relapses at 20). I started huffing from chemicals on our farm as kid. I really have no clue where I got the idea. At about 14, I was introduced to street drugs. My addiction was very forced. I was heavily addicted to cocaine, marijuana, pcp… just a lot. I was forced into a detox centre at age 17. I was there for 11 days – one of the worst experiences in my life. The pain and anguish was so horrible. After that, I was sent to an out of town 3 week program…then I was sent to a live-in drug rehabilitation facility. I remained there for a year and a half. I was the youngest person there and the first person to stay that long. Most were out within 6 months.

I have alcohol and drug abuse on both sides of my family (mainly alcohol and prescription medication). I can think of 23 people right now. Smoking is also prevalent in my family; however, a few people have quit in the last 4 years.

I have been drug free since I was 20 years old. I’ve had, um, maybe a total of 10 alcohol beverages since. So, about 16 years, I have been drug free. I quit smoking 85 days ago. I’ve been using an electronic vaporizer/cigarette to help me quit. It’s worked wonders. I still do miss an actual lit cigarette though at times – usually when I smell one that was just lit. It passes though.

Do the drug addiction urges still creep up on me? Sometimes. It is rare but it happens. The more time that goes by the less it happens. I think one thing that really helps is knowing the feeling will pass. They never last long. I know I will never go back to it.

I wish you the best in your battle. It is a very hard and painful one but the rewards are so worth it. I can only say to take it one step at a time… if that time is 5 minutes, 30 minutes…a day… do it. Don’t focus on tomorrow, focus on the now.