Have any of you gone back to an addiction after quitting?

[caketastydelish]

I am a former soda addict. I drink sodas almost literally all day long. Then several years ago I made a decision to just quit cold turkey and I haven't looked back since.

The other day I drank some of a soda, by mistake. It made me nauseous and made me feel like I had to throw up (though I didn't). Presumably because my body was no longer acclimated to it.

Have any done something similar?

 

[FriendlyFire]

Mcdonalds

 

[Farm Boy]

More than once. A cigarette would probably make me actually throw up. I still want one. I've done out before. Thrown up on the first one back then finished the other 19 in the pack. Then bought another. Then quit again in a year, then done it all again.

 

[MaryKB]

I've never had a real addiction, like with a true chemical dependency like with nicotine or anything. I've had several dependencies on drugs I've fought through my life.

I've always had sinus congestion, I believe it runs in my family, and when I was little my mother started giving me Afrin as a daily thing. So from when I was about five years old until I was around twenty five, I always had Afrin with me. I used to carry a spray bottle in my purse and I'd use it like every four hours, and I'd go into a total panic if my bottle ran out or if I lost it or couldn't find it, etc. I'd have to keep a bottle next to my bed, because every few hours my nose would just seal up. Well I finally realized most of my problems were from rebound, and you know those bottles warn you not to use it for more than three days, because you become very dependent on it. So I took a two week vacation from work and I decided to just quit, and it was really difficult at first, but my body adjusted and now I'm not so bad. I still have congestion issues, but nothing like I used to have when I was on rebound, and I can clear myself up with sudafed now when I really need it (before nothing worked). I haven't touched Afrin for over ten years now, and I can't even use it if I'm really sick because I'll probably be hooked again.

I'm off coffee for about four years now, after I was reading how coffee doesn't really do anything for you except relieves your caffeine withdrawal symptoms, and how when you wake up and you feel you desperately need coffee, that's not normal but that's you suffering from withdrawal. I didn't like feeling that way, so I just stopped drinking it, and it took me about a month to totally get it all out of my system. My first two weeks were really hard, I spent a whole weekend in bed because I was so tired, but once I got clear my life got soooo much better. I wake up every morning feeling really awake, like I've already had my coffee, and I don't get headaches as bad as I used to. Now coffee makes me feel ill, sort of like how you describe you feel with your soda, and I can't drink it except decaffeinated. Maybe like once or twice a week I'll drink a cup of caffeinated earl grey tea when I need a little pick-me-up, and I do sort of get a bit of a high from it because my body isn't used to caffeine any more, and it's only a gentle amount.

I don't know if I'd call my wine drinking an addiction or a dependency, I just like to drink wine because I love the taste, but I have no difficulty going without it for times, like I've gone months before without drinking anything. I've decided not to drink until after my wedding, because I really need to lose about 20 pounds, and I haven't had anything since Thanksgiving. I even have a bottle in my house that's unopened I'm going to save for Christmas (oh I'll still drink on special occasions like Valentine's Day), but I don't feel any compulsion to open it, so I really believe I don't truly have a problem, it's just something I really enjoy but unfortunately causes me to gain weight (I envy people who can drink and put on pounds!)

I have great sympathy for anyone struggling with addictions.

 

[rah]

Yeah, I fought with cigarettes for almost 40 years. I quite many times. It's easy
10 years ago I finally quit for good (i hope) I still smoke in my dreams. I wake up sweating thinking I fell off the wagon.

 

[Farm Boy]

Heheh, yeah. Almost at 4 years. The withdrawl is long gone, but I can compare the mental state to being on, and off, the social and strong anti-depressant. If only it wasn't for, you know, the whole breathing thing.

 

[tetley]

Civ5.

 

[The_J]

I've quit in the meantime TV, computer games, the internet (to some extend only, obviously), and coffee.
The only addiction where I really quit and had to go back is nose spray, but that couldn't be avoided, I think (yeah, need to quit again).
I hope I'll never go back to any of the others (although coffee isn't that bad).

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I am addicted to doing nothing. Sadly I have not time for it anymore.

I once tried to become addicted to tobacco and alcohol but I couldn't.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Caffeine only and it only requires either a cup of coffee in the morning or glass of Ice tea in the afternoon. My wife claims I am addicted to PoE, but I only have 5000 hours of play so I tell her she is wrong and to go feed the cats while I full clear the map I'm playing.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Started smoking.
Quit smoking.
Started smoking again after a few weeks.
Quit smoking.
Started vaping.
Last month I forgot my vape at home and a coworker offered me a cigarette. I couldn't get over the smell. I'm still a nicotine addict, but tobacco disgusts me now.

 

[rah]

After 10 years I dislike the smell on peoples clothes but if I catch a whiff of smock in the air, it triggers a longing that has never been forgotten.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

When I was in the Navy I considered the possibility of being an alcoholic. I was concerned that without the intermittent forced dry outs of going to sea I might go into some sort of bottomless spiral, so shortly after getting out I quit drinking for six months just to prove to myself I could do it without having to remove all access. Can't say for sure whether that meant anything or not, but it's something I did.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

After 10 years I dislike the smell on peoples clothes but if I catch a whiff of smock in the air, it triggers a longing that has never been forgotten.

I think it's the vaping that did it for me. Helped to disassociate the nicotine high from the smell of tobacco.

Another thing: sugar.
I went on a really low carb diet for two years don't like chocolate or cookies as much as I did before because it's just too damn sweet.
Can't they make all the sweet junk food without artificial sweeteners and maybe only a third of the sugar they use now ?

 

[rah]

Because 66% less calories doesn't sound as good as 0.
But yeah, i would prefer if they just did everything with 66% less. We'd get used to it.

 

[civvver]

Dota2, video games in general. Though I think I have finally quit dota2 for good, not on purpose, just lost interest. But I'm very much a binge player, don't play for weeks then play 4-5 hours a night for a few days.

I tried to quit caffeine once for like two days but the headaches were too much. Though I only consume the equivalent of one or two cups a coffee daily so it's not too bad. Plus caffeine isn't bad for you, I just don't like wasting money on pop and energy drinks.

I have never seriously tried to quit drinking. I drink frequently, not heavily.

I think it's the vaping that did it for me. Helped to disassociate the nicotine high from the smell of tobacco.

Another thing: sugar.
I went on a really low carb diet for two years don't like chocolate or cookies as much as I did before because it's just too damn sweet.
Can't they make all the sweet junk food without artificial sweeteners and maybe only a third of the sugar they use now ?

The couple times I've been to europe I always noticed their desserts are not sweet compared to US stuff. Like if you have had real german apple strudel vs american apple pie. One is apples bathing in glaze, the other mostly tastes like baked apples and dough. Both are tasty in different ways but it is striking.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I've been on and off caffeine a few times, and off for months recently. Not nearly as strong an addiction as nicotine or such, and thus less direct impact if having any again. Still, reliance on it was a sufficient problem to quit it and tank the withdrawal. Unpleasant, I wouldn't want to be addicted to something worse.

When I was in the Navy I considered the possibility of being an alcoholic. I was concerned that without the intermittent forced dry outs of going to sea I might go into some sort of bottomless spiral, so shortly after getting out I quit drinking for six months just to prove to myself I could do it without having to remove all access. Can't say for sure whether that meant anything or not, but it's something I did.

Alcoholism is in my extended family and I was worried about it when I started drinking many years back, but it turns out that I seem much more predisposed to stimulants. I suppose I never drank with enough regularity to develop addiction, but the urge to drink that frequently never manifested either. With caffeine it was very fast and easy to get hooked.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Alcoholism is in my extended family and I was worried about it when I started drinking many years back, but it turns out that I seem much more predisposed to stimulants. I suppose I never drank with enough regularity to develop addiction, but the urge to drink that frequently never manifested either. With caffeine it was very fast and easy to get hooked.

In retrospect the periodic dryouts weren't really what the navy was doing for me. The frequent drug tests that kept me at just drinking made a lot more of a difference. Once I got settled into civilian life it turned out the drinking was always something I could take or leave compared to my drug of choice.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Nicotine
As others have said easy to quit, hard to stay quit

I did have a period (about 2 years) when I drank much too much coffee but didn't find it difficult to cut down when I left the job where I was drinking too much of it

 

[trader/warrior]

Well, I am a bit hesitant to post it, but in the last year and a half I have been working on quitting drugs and alcohol, this might be some of the reason I have been a lot less active on here.

I managed to quit on my own with the help of a therapist and a social worker rather than full on rehab. Then with the luck of living in a nation that is generous with helping in these situations, I got into a small collection of apartments with 24/7 staffing for motivated people in recovery, while still having a lot of freedom to live your own independent life. Generally people coming out of long-term treatment, but I decided to seek a space here just to be sure I could defeat the addiction and get a true change of environment.

With weed I had an early (before I moved to the new apartment) relapse. It only induced paranoia and guilt and I ended up throwing away what I had left. At this time I also got some benzos and they just did nothing for me and was completely uninteresting and guilt-inducing.

However alcohol was about 10 times more difficult after I had a relapse about 5 months in that lasted 2-3 months. Walking past all that beer in the grocery store everyday is quite something different when it comes to the power of will when it comes to the more "casual", but long term habitual drug addictions (i.e rather than heroin or meth, extreme physical addictions. Not that alcoholism cant get to that level, it just didn't for me. You can literally die from alcohol withdrawal).

I was shocked at how once that barrier of having a drink was broken, how quickly it went out of control. I was open with my therapist about the relapse, but it took a few months before I could get the courage and willpower up to go to the staff where I live and explain the situation, go on Antabuse with them actually watching me take it to ensure that drinking was simply not a possibility.

Once you've had a decade or more of drug addiction, the lengths you have to go to to defeat it is pretty staggering, and it doesn't surprise me that many people never do even though it wrecks their lives.