Addictions

Yes, thatbags like many things in life, it is comparative, isn't it. You raise an interesting point.
For example, in the world of substance abuse, it is better to be addicted to methadone than to heroin. Someone once said to me that she didn't realise that her partner was actually addicted to alcohol rather than just having a strong liking for it.
I am addicted to crisps and if I buy them, I will eat the lot. I am probably addicted to cheese as well. Or do I just have a strong liking for it?
Stop me now before I trot out the old, but true, hackneyed saying about moderation in everything.

As I see it, addictions are when one is unable or unwilling to stop eating or drinking certain things. That kind of addiction is bad in that it can lead to health problems, but otherwise it's quite simply enjoyment. I like cheese too but I would never say I am addicted to it. Sometimes when we feel we are 'addicted' to a certain food, what we really mean is that we feel guilty if we eat/drink it because of the whole climate of fear about foods to which we are constantly bombarded.

I'm addicted to Diet Coke. I can cut back and even give it up for a few days but I always return to it. It reminds me of when I gave up smoking but although I managed to give up nicotine eventually, I can't seem to do it with Diet Coke.

I reckon true addiction to a substance, whether it be alcohol, food, prescription (or other) drugs, results in the user displaying behaviours associated with addiction i.e. deception, secrecy and self destructive tendencies.

Not sure that a strong liking for cheese, ice cream or even chocolate would qualify. Binge eating is something else.

I believe people can have 'addictions ' and are prone to them, so can lurch from one to another. Drugs,alcohol, nicotine and even food.
I know sugar is ver y addictive too but it's different having an addiction to having a strong liking for something.

I think addiction applies when the behaviour is compulsively repeated despite negative consequences. So, if it doesn't bother or negatively affect you or anyone else, it's not an addiction IMO.

I thought true addiction also lead to chemical changes in the body and mind, leading to withdrawal systems when the the person stopped taking the substance.

In Vampirequeen's case, I think caffeine is addictive and does cause withdrawal systems. When I unaccountably went completely off caffeine in any form for about 4 days, I developed a splitting headache that went as soon as I had my first cup of coffee. When the same thing happened when I repeated the sequence. I immediately started drinking de-caff coffee.

With cheese, flapjacks etc, where you can manage without them without any discomfort, albeit life is so much better when they are a dominant part of your diet, no, its not addiction, just comfort eating - and I am all for comfort.

It's not only the caffeine. It contains phenylalanine which is not only addictive but makes you thirsty. Win/win for Diet Coke. I try to ration myself and make myself drink water instead but it's very difficult.

I think I'm prone to addiction or addiction type behaviour. Most people smoke on and off for some time before they're addicts. I was hooked after my first cig. I've heard and read others say the same sort of thing. Pete Townsend said he was hooked on heroin after his first use.

I would find it very difficult to get through the day without umpteen cups of tea and I have one cup of coffee with a top up every day. I don't know if this counts as addiction but it seems pretty harmless.

I come from an addictive family so I suspect I might have inherited the gene so am wary of becoming hooked on anything harmful. I never drink alcohol in the week, for example, and I have entirely eschewed tobacco.

Does cake count? I have cake every day too!

I'm addicted to smoking. Tried and tried to stop but no luck so can't see DGC. HURTS but Ds and dil are adamant must not smoke.

My family is very addictive. My father used to laugh about his great-uncles being decanted out of gutters most days. He told us he wasn't an alcoholic, but he was. He could barely survive a day without. He would be OK if he knew when his next "fix" would be. Three of his seven siblings were alcoholics, and many of my cousins on his side are also addicts of various sorts. with that history, I am very wary of all stuff like that - I managed to get off nicotine and coffee, never drank much [I am a really cheap drunk], and never, ever taken any drugs of any sort.
So yes, addictions are real - to nicotine, alcohol, drugs, caffeine...
But I think that cheese and flapjacks are more a habit. If they are there, you really enjoy them; but you don't crave them like a cigarette or that first cup of coffee. I drink de-caff incidentally.

Smoking is so difficult to give up. People who have never smoked simply don't understand how strong nicotine addiction is. I read somewhere that it's harder to give up than heroin.

Smoking addiction isn't just about the nicotine. I didn't realise how many rituals are involved until I stopped. The whole process of opening the packet, the tobacco smell that reaches you as it opens, selecting the cigarette, drawing it out of the packet, closing the packet, placing it between your lips, flicking the lighter or striking the match (again with the smell and this time a sound too) then finally lighting and the first inhalation.

Also smoking tends to happen at set times in the day e.g. after meals or with a cuppa so it's hard to change that behaviour too.

How many a day do you smoke? Why can't you see your DGC? I don't see the problem as long as you don't smoke when you're with her. Have you tried the patches etc? I used nicotine gum for about the first 10 days but tbh it was the habitual behaviours and triggers that were harder to get over. Also the danger times at 6 weeks and 3 months when you think you might get away with having just one. You can't let that happen or you're hooked again.

I can confess to having a problem with alcohol, I've always enjoyed a drink & unfortunately at times this has led to difficulties. I now however rarely drink, occasional glass of wine when I go out or beer with a certain friend.

I smoke, have done on & off from age 14 (now 61), I have given up for long periods, longest 7 years, I only started again after my H walked out on me & my 5 year old DD. I am now down to 2/3 a day so I'm hoping the desire to smoke will gradually cease

I'm a cheese lover but I can have my favourite cheese in the fridge for days & not touch it - that's not an addict

Surely addiction is a physical symptom? Drinking a lot is one thing, but shaking in the morning until your first drink is addiction. I think some people do have addictive personalities and also believe in the addictive gene in families. I fought hard to give up smoking 24 years ago and have never had another and think it is perhaps easier to give up( or not start) than it used to be. Not knocking anyone who cant give up. of course, but when I was a smoker, you could smoke in the office so my routine was to light up every time I picked up the 'phone. If I had to go outside to have a cigarette as you do now, I would certainly be smoking less. But, I would never, ever knock anyone with addictions, nobody chooses to be in thrall of a substance.

I think ALL addictions are bad. I define an addiction as something that controls you rather than the reverse. This covers something as simple as time wasters like say.........Candy crush to the real physically harmful ones that end up resulting in lifetime horrors. I'm daily grateful that we in this country still have freedom to choose. I feel that any addiction limits that freedom. Methinks anything we can easily give up for days (or longer) is NOT an addiction.

I think the shaking in the morning would only apply to someone who was drinking an awful lot during the day/evening - it's a physical withdrawal symptom.

You can be an alcoholic even if you only drink at certain times of the week, it's all to do with your relationship with alcohol, how much you look forward to it and depend on having it in your life.

Addictions can be psychological or physical leading to withdrawal symptoms when substance stopped

I am addicted to Sainsbury's brand of Chocolate & Nut Ice Cream Cones. It has chocolate and vanilla ice cream topped with hazelnuts and the cone is lined with chocolate at the bottom. OMG they are so lush. 184 calories isn't bad. Morrisons, Tesco and Aldi have a similar product. They are only £1 box at Sains.

When they run out, I cannot stand Cornetto as they are too sweet and they are smaller. It takes a couple of days to get over it, but it's my only real sin.

vampirequeen GIving up smoking is very hard. I smoked from age 16 until 31. Have not smoked since, but fell off the wagon the first month, then I was OK. I really feel for you and remember well trying to quit. My dad had quit when I was a toddler having smoked all through WWII as all did then. He said even into his late 80s that smoke drifting his way brought on the urge to smoke. Wow.

I was lucky as it was not so much a nicotine addiction as a ritual and hands thing. Luckily after quitting I went to work in a smoke-free office per company policy and that reinforced things for me. Plus I then had a non-smoking boyfriend.

It is very very very difficult. I wish they had Vapes back then. My stepson is doing better with those than with the patches. He felt silly at first as they are not very 'macho' in his opinion. But he's doing so much better and is using the Vape less and less.

My heart goes out to anyone fighting addiction, whether to alcohol, food, cigarettes or anything that takes over their life.

I think of addiction as something that makes you feel horribly unwell if you try to give a thing up, and that alters your behaviour in a damaging way. I'm guilty of using the word too lightly sometimes.
I've 'leant' on a gin and tonic or three to relax me after a difficult working day and now I'm retired I don't touch the stuff. I used to say I was becoming addicted to them,( and cigarettes as a stress buster) but when the particular stress was removed I just stopped indulging, so I wouldn't count them as a real addiction. I didn't notice any physical reactions when I gave up, and the smoking was kicked cold turkey. The money I saved was a great motivator.

But smoking is definitely an addicition, and most people don't feel 'horribly unwell' when they try to give up...they may feel irritable etc. but withdrawal symptoms are nothing like those of giving up heroin or alcohol if the person has been dependent on either for a long time.

Yes, all addictions are 'bad' IMO.

My reason for this stance is that you are not in control of your life if you have a true addiction, be it to alcohol, drugs or GN. If you can't go without something without having some kind of withdrawal symptoms, 'not good' (to borrow a phrase from 'so-called' President Trump ?)

Marnie have you tried hypnosis?

I agree, Anya, it's all about control. Alcoholics might go weeks without a drink but once they start they can't have just one (or two).