# What Bad Habits or Addictions Have You Overcome in Your Lifetime?



## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

The main bad habit or addiction that I had in my life was smoking.  I usually just smoked a pack a day of Marlboros, but sometimes if working odd shifts I'd find myself smoking more.

Over thirty years ago, after smoking for around fifteen years, I quit cold turkey...but not without many tries before the final one that stuck.  I always liked smoking, but was starting to feel the effects of labored breathing, lung congestion, etc.  I was too young for all that, got smart and made the change.

It added around ten pounds to my weight, but well worth it in the long run.

Have you ever had a bad habit or addiction that you were able to overcome?  Are you working to overcome any now?


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## Falcon (Feb 26, 2016)

I'm trying to overcome the habit of checking the door locks before retiring for the night.

Was that the front door or the patio door I just locked?  Better check it again................................and again............and ???


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## RadishRose (Feb 26, 2016)

I'll be smoke free for one year next month.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 26, 2016)

Falcon, there's some good meds for that

A pack of Newports a day for more than twenty years. Now I'm hooked on lozenges. They smell a lot better and way less expensive than smoking. There are many people I've met that do the same thing...lozenges instead, like Methadone for cigarettes. You're still hooked but it's less harmful.

:love_heart:Good for you Rose:love_heart:!!!!!!!!!


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## RadishRose (Feb 26, 2016)

Good for you too, Fur!!:love_heart::love_heart:   !!!!!


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## Pappy (Feb 26, 2016)

Smoking, and more smoking. Finally quite in 99, cold turkey. 40 plus years, and now I'm starting to pay for it.


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## Linda (Feb 26, 2016)

Pappy, at first I read that as you saying you stopped smoking when you were 99 years old.  I thought WOW, I didn't know he was that old. 

When I was little and maybe up through the 2nd grade I chewed pencils till you couldn't even tell what they were anymore.  I started in at the sides and away I went.  I can still remember the wonderful satisfaction of those first few chomps on a new pencil!  I also got great satisfaction out of biting my nails and bit them clear down to the quick.  That hurt really bad and they'd bleed but I just couldn't stop.  I can't recall why or when I stopped those two things but probably around the 3rd grade.


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## Shalimar (Feb 26, 2016)

After smoking for many years, I quit cold turkey. It will be six years the first of July. I feel great, so far no smoking related problems have turned up. It took four years until I ceased to crave the occasional cigarette. Now, even the smell makes my sinuses react, as they do to many chemicals. Sometimes Complex Chemical Sensitivity is a good thing!


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## FazeFour (Feb 26, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> After smoking for many years, I quit cold turkey. It will be six years the first of July. I feel great, so far no smoking related problems have turned up. It took four years until I ceased to crave the occasional cigarette. Now, even the smell makes my sinuses react, as they do to many chemicals. Sometimes Complex Chemical Sensitivity is a good thing!



Big Win! To all you former smokers, Congratulations. I'm still working on it.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

Falcon said:


> I'm trying to overcome the habit of checking the door locks before retiring for the night.
> 
> Was that the front door or the patio door I just locked?  Better check it again................................and again............and ???



That's okay Falcon, that's a good habit really.  It gives you peace of mind so you can sleep soundly and it keeps you safe.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

Pappy said:


> Smoking, and more smoking. Finally quite in 99, cold turkey. 40 plus years, and now I'm starting to pay for it.



Glad to know you quit when you did Pappy, but sorry you're starting to pay for it.  Things would be worse though if you didn't kick the habit when you did.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 26, 2016)

Something else, until high school I chewed my nails. Then I went opposite extreme and had natural claws. Always Crazy Glue in my bag to fix breaks. Raising kids and nails were last thing to worry about. Then in my late forties I discovered acrylic nails. A touch up once a month and perfect paws every day. Don't know HOW she did it but my middle girl used to bite her acrylics...hurts me to think about.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

RadishRose said:


> I'll be smoke free for one year next month.



Congratulations RadishRose, a one year anniversary is a good long time....kudos!


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

Fur and Shalimar, congrats on quitting the smokes!  FazeFour, glad you're still working on it, don't give up! :love_heart:


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## Debby (Feb 26, 2016)

Like lots here, smoking was the thing that I gave up and like Seabreeze said, I gave it up many times. It's a hard thing to do and that's true even when it makes you feel lousy.  For the last couple years, I used to have to suck on one of those strong Halls cough drops just so that my throat could tolerate it!  Hated it but couldn't give them up for ages.

So congrats to all who did kick the habit and Fazefour, just keep trying.  One of these days it'll take.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 26, 2016)

I smoked 1 - 1 1/2 packs a day from age 15 to 40.  I had to quit - it's was far too much work to breath and I wanted to continue doing so.  I quit Feb 1, 1993.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Feb 26, 2016)

I have a very bad habit of cutting people off in mid sentence and then, finishing for them, what I think they are saying. Sometimes I even get it wrong! I don't know what makes me do that. I know it is rude and must be annoying. Most people are gracious enough to let it go. My son will say, will you just let me finish? I wish I would remember to shut my mouth until folks are done speaking. I'm trying, I really am.


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## Manatee (Feb 26, 2016)

I quit smoking in 1961 after I woke up one morning with a collapsed lung.  That was extreme pain, a 75 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I decided to never again do anything that could threaten my lungs.  My lungs recovered and no problems since.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

Way to go Ameriscot!  You're so fit and healthy now, that's great that smoking didn't have any effects too damaging.  You did ten more years than I did, but I had a non-smoking hubby always prodding me to quit, or I might have put it off longer too.

Ruth, it sounds like you're impatient waiting for them to finish their sentence.  But the good thing is you're aware of it and trying to correct the habit.  Maybe you can train yourself that when you're about to cut them off, to nip it in the bud before a word comes out.  Maybe a deep breath, look them in the eyes and let them finish.  Good luck, it helps that your son is honest with you about it, that's gotta help.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 26, 2016)

SeaBreeze said:


> Way to go Ameriscot!  You're so fit and healthy now, that's great that smoking didn't have any effects too damaging.  You did ten more years than I did, but I had a non-smoking hubby always prodding me to quit, or I might have put it off longer too.
> 
> Ruth, it sounds like you're impatient waiting for them to finish their sentence.  But the good thing is you're aware of it and trying to correct the habit.  Maybe you can train yourself that when you're about to cut them off, to nip it in the bud before a word comes out.  Maybe a deep breath, look them in the eyes and let them finish.  Good luck, it helps that your son is honest with you about it, that's gotta help.



I found that having someone nag me to quit would turn me the other way.  I did it for someone else once - it barely lasted 6 months.  When I finally quit nobody was bugging me to.  It was all up to me and I had lots of support.  I guarantee if I hadn't quit when I did I wouldn't have made it to 45.  

I actually started jogging about 6 months after I quit.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

He didn't really nag, that would have made me go the other way too.  I just knew I was getting out of breath going up a flight of stairs, and that wasn't normal.  I started Jazzercising and jogging right after I quit.  It helped my lungs to clear out and although it was tough at first, I felt great after a week or two.


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## Karen99 (Feb 26, 2016)

I am another former smoker..quit 15 years ago.  I woke up one day and said that's it and it was.  It felt WONDERfUL not to smoke.  My husband quit a few years before I did. I started smoking in college where they handed out free "sample" packs of cigs.  My gf got paid for passing them out.  Hard to believe now..oh how times change.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 26, 2016)

Congrats Karen, good for you! :applause2:


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## Ameriscot (Feb 26, 2016)

SeaBreeze said:


> He didn't really nag, that would have made me go the other way too.  I just knew I was getting out of breath going up a flight of stairs, and that wasn't normal.  I started Jazzercising and jogging right after I quit.  It helped my lungs to clear out and although it was tough at first, I felt great after a week or two.



I was the same - out of breath after one flight of stairs.  I started to feel I was sometimes suffocating.  I had lost a ton of weight the year before and had already started exercising but nothing too strenuous until I quit.  It didn't seem to take me too long to start breathing easier, even after 25 years.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 26, 2016)

Karen99 said:


> I am another former smoker..quit 15 years ago.  I woke up one day and said that's it and it was.  It felt WONDERfUL not to smoke.  My husband quit a few years before I did. I started smoking in college where they handed out free "sample" packs of cigs.  My gf got paid for passing them out.  Hard to believe now..oh how times change.



I remember them giving out half packs for free at a festival in downtown Detroit every year.  I always came away with tons of free ones as I went to every volunteer more than once.


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## Linda (Feb 27, 2016)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I have a very bad habit of cutting people off in mid sentence and then, finishing for them, what I think they are saying. Sometimes I even get it wrong! I don't know what makes me do that. I know it is rude and must be annoying. Most people are gracious enough to let it go. My son will say, will you just let me finish? I wish I would remember to shut my mouth until folks are done speaking. I'm trying, I really am.


My husband and I both have this terrible habit and we don't just do it with each other but with everyone.  We are trying to break ourselves of this.  I think he started it and then I picked it up in self-defense but he won't admit it.


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## Peppermint Patty (Feb 27, 2016)

I suffered a back injury and got sent to a "pain specialist".  He prescribed Norco, which is the same as Vicodin--a narcotic.  I took the med for a long time and decided to quit.  Nuts to being an addict said I.  I had a new Rx of 90 pills, to be taken 4 x day.  I started out with 3 a day, then cut back to two, and finally just one!    Then I was free of that garbage!  Hooray!  I am very proud of that accomplishment!  It wasn't even as hard as I had anticipated it to be.


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## vickyNightowl (Feb 27, 2016)

Smoking but I'm a neww quitter,37 days today,cold turkey,congrats to all quitters!


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## Mrs. Robinson (Feb 27, 2016)

I quit a 5 pack a day smoking habit on Nov.17th,1988. Cold turkey. Hubby quit his one pack a day habit two days later-if he hadn`t,I know I never could have stuck it out. Something I have just recently learned....my brother in law was just diagnosed with bladder cancer and apparently bladder cancer is found almost exclusively only in cigarette smokers. It`s the #1 cause of bladder cancer. We`ve all heard of it being the cause of lung cancer,throat cancer and emphysema and COPD,of course,but bladder cancer was a new one for me. My brother in law has smoked most of his life (he`s 78) and now has to quit-but we`ll see.


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## tnthomas (Feb 27, 2016)

Peppermint Patty said:


> I suffered a back injury and got sent to a  "pain specialist".  He prescribed Norco, which is the same as  Vicodin--a narcotic.  I took the med for a long time and decided to  quit.  Nuts to being an addict said I.  I had a new Rx of 90 pills, to  be taken 4 x day.  I started out with 3 a day, then cut back to two, and  finally just one!    Then I was free of that garbage!  Hooray!  I am  very proud of that accomplishment!  It wasn't even as hard as I had  anticipated it to be.



Congrats Peppermint Patty! Opioids are powerful and produce dramatic effects, but are sooo hard to kick after using for a while.




vickyNightowl said:


> Smoking but I'm a neww quitter,37 days today,cold turkey,congrats to all quitters!



'grats vickyNightowl!   :clap:        Keep up the good fight!   


I'm five years _clean & smokeless_....was a long time coming but better late than never.

I quit using alcohol, be 10 years in June.


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## Lynk (Feb 27, 2016)

I have been a nail biter all my life but finally got out of the habit last year.  I have not bit them since.


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## Ina (Feb 27, 2016)

Work can be an addiction too.  When I was young, I would work myself right out of some jobs. I would start at the bottom of the the ladder, and work myself from one department up to the next, until there was nowhere else to go.  Then I would get bored and quit.  I was always challenging myself to be better, which is of course futile, you just can't win that type of game.  

It was only after I ended up running a large business that I learned to stop, but not before I took myself down to 90 pounds and had to spend a couple weeks at bed rest.


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## Carla (Aug 19, 2016)

My first watch was a Cinderella watch with a blue band. I was so proud of it. Have had many over the years--one with diamonds around the face, Timexes, the Swatch, one Liberty Bell 1772-1976 bi-centennial, a couple better-made watches and one very pretty one for 35 yrs at the company I worked for. Some are in my jewelry box but I no longer wear them. Phone and car have clocks.


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## Carla (Aug 19, 2016)

Whoops. Sorry for the post here. I-pad and fat fingers


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## Bobw235 (Aug 19, 2016)

My wife would have said I was addicted to my Blackberry when we used them for work. An incoming message prompted a red light to flash on top of the device and I'd see it and check the message. I had quite a lot of responsibility, so I checked it all the time. It was hard to put it down at night and make time for us without interruption and it did cause problems. 

Around this time I also had a problem with alcohol, not so much an addiction perhaps, but a really bad habit of self-medicating to get rid of the stress of the day. I finally sought help and stopped what had become a very dangerous health issue. Took over a year to feel better. Today I drink red wine, but that's it, and only in moderation. Never going back to the way it was before.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Aug 19, 2016)

It looks like there are some nail biters here and I was one of them also. I stopped years ago but when I get nervous I bite and pick at the cuticle instead of the nail itself. Just as bad and unsightly, at times I injure the nail bed and it takes time for the nail to grow out correctly. I keep trying though.


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## Lon (Aug 19, 2016)

I quit smoking 25 years ago after a gazillion attempts. Going into the hospital for four days after surgery did the trick.


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## Warrigal (Aug 19, 2016)

I used to drink heavily but haven't had one for the last twenty years.


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## Manatee (Aug 19, 2016)

Back in 1961 I woke up one morning with a collapsed lung.  The intensity of the pain was unforgettable.  I have never smoked since.  

I find the less you are exposed to smoke, the more offensive it becomes.


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## Cookie (Aug 19, 2016)

Smoked, drank, did recreational drugs and partied for a short while when I was young, but quit that scene when still in my early 20s and got into healthy living.


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## Butterfly (Aug 19, 2016)

Warrigal said:


> I used to drink heavily but haven't had one for the last twenty years.



Me, too, Warri.  For me it is 19 years.


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## RadishRose (Aug 20, 2016)

Quit smoking a year ago in March.


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## Ruthanne (Aug 20, 2016)

I have been addicted to painkillers at times.  The longest time was about a year and I could have continued to be prescribed them but I read they can greatly damage your kidneys.  So, about 2 years ago cold turkey I quit them for good and it was very hard.  I really craved that good feeling I got from them but just kept going each day until I was "unhooked".  Now I know better than to want to be prescribed them any more.  I take regular pain relievers now that are not addicting.


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## Butterfly (Aug 20, 2016)

Ruthanne said:


> I have been addicted to painkillers at times.  The longest time was about a year and I could have continued to be prescribed them but I read they can greatly damage your kidneys.  So, about 2 years ago cold turkey I quit them for good and it was very hard.  I really craved that good feeling I got from them but just kept going each day until I was "unhooked".  Now I know better than to want to be prescribed them any more.  I take regular pain relievers now that are not addicting.



I hear from people all the time that the pain killers make them feel "good."  I've been on and off pain killers several times in my life, some of them very heavy ones.  I never had the experience that they made me feel "good."  Even when I was on several of them at once around the time of my hip surgeries and immediately after, they only helped with the pain and some made me sleepy. I never had any desire at all to take them when I didn't need them, and just quit taking them when I didn't need them any more.


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