Moving an addiction

[cyndys]

I wanted to see if anyone out there has gobe through something similar to this. I drank since the age of 15. It is really all I did. Never smoked, no other drugs. About 1 year ago (after 15 years of drinking) I started to go to AA meetings and it helped more than I ever thought it would. I still found myslef thinking about drinking all the time because a lot of my friends were still going out and partying. long story short...I have not had a sip in 1 year but I have found myself drinking more and more coffee every day and I even started smoking. I think it came up as I started stressing out at work more and more. I would usually grab a drink in the case but I tried hard to fight it off. Now I find myself grabbing a cup of coffee and a cigarette any time a pressure situation shows up., Sometimes I will have 12 cups in a day and smoke an entire pack in a day. When I was drinking I would have the occassional coffee but never smoked. Have I just traded one addiction for another? Has anyone else gone through this sort of situation? I am not sure what to do at this point?

[zoey44]

I was seeing an addiction psychiatrist who told me something that I would never forget. He said that part of recovery and part of going to meetings and counseling is develop coping skills. When something is tough in life what can you do so that you won't go back to drinking or using your drug of choice. It is learning and developing those new sets of skills to cope with depression, stress, anger...I think the best thing is to keep on going to meetings and / or counseling and bring this up. So many of us has done this when we are in recovery. I know it will help. It helped me as well. It is not as uncommon as you think it might be. God Bless.

[eddieddx]

I agree with zoey, it looks as if you substituded coffee/tobacco for your alcohol.....coming up with coping strategies will help you out (going for a walk, talking to someone, going to a meeting, journaling)....it takes time and practice. Good luck to you!