Smoking Dreams

Discussion created by maria9 on Aug 22, 2008
Latest reply on Sep 7, 2008 by karen19

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I have a ques. for you all. I have smoking dreams, not that I'm smoking but that other people around me are, people that don't smoke are smoking like it was the most natural thing for them to do. The problem gets worse when I wake up because usually the craving for that cig. is so intense it's the worst of the cravings. Please let me know if you all have had any of these experiences and how you've handled it or is this just me? Thanks.

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angela21 Aug 30, 2008 4:17 PM
Well, I am in the process of quitting smoking and I haven't reached this point yet, but I am speaking from the experience of recovering from other addictions (alcohol to be exact). I have been sober for 6 years 5 months and I still have dreams about drinking on occasion! Of course right after I stopped the dreams were much more intense and I would actually wake up panicked that I had drank. The only thing that I do now is that I wake up and tell myself that my demons are trying to trick me and that I'm too smart for that. I hope this helps. Good luck.
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jim_taddeo Aug 30, 2008 10:45 PM
I have dreams in which I am using, many of the old substances, including smoking. It makes me feel horribly guilty most of the time. It wakes me up alot of the time. The best that I can tell it is the subconscious mind replayng the waves of addiction. I think these subconscious patterns are the same that trigger cravings in my waking state. They are an underlying component of my addict mind. The same feelings arise from the dreams of "other" substance and I wake up the same way. I feel like I slipped but then I wake up and I know that I didn't. I have had to actively and purposely redirect my conscious thinking, gently, sometimes not so gently, placing the addict back on course. It truly is a lifelong recovery process. How these things arise in your mind vs how they arise in mine is the difference between us of course but the fact that it happens to all addicts is very interesting indeed. So it happens to us all not just you. :-)
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maria9 Aug 31, 2008 11:14 AM
Thanks for letting me know that I'm not the only one. Yes, I agree, I believe it's the subconcious mind speaking, I just can't let it speak for me. Thanks again.
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maria9 Aug 31, 2008 11:17 AM
Thanks Jim, I'm glad other people have experienced the dreams, they're very real, it's amazing how cravings can come at you like that. But the bottom line is not to give into them, they got me once but not again, SMOKING IS NOT AN OPTION.
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aloha-lady Sep 1, 2008 5:00 AM
When you see people smoking in your dreams are you jumping at the bit to join them or are you looking at them in disgust. I have those dreams too, in fact I did smoke in one of my dreams and I woke up freaking out afraid I'd ruined my quit... thankfully I hadn't. It made me realize that I am afraid of returning not afraid of what I'm missing out on. I read that one of the reasons we have these dreams is b/c when our bodies are trying to recover from the smoking damage you can cough up nasty stuff, sometimes at night, that has a remnant flavor of the smoke... this may make you wake up even thinking you DID smoke... its just your body healing. Please stay strong and NEVE TAKE ANOTHER PUFF!
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maria9 Sep 2, 2008 4:53 AM
In my dreams I'm not smoking it's everyone else around me smoking, mind you it's people that don't smoke in real life. I think it's actually my subconcious trying to tell me to smoke "see everyone else is smoking you should too" and I'm trying to run away from it and when I wake up the cravings is still there and they are the strongest cravings I get. If I get one during the day I can deal with it but in my dreams the craving just builds and builds. I haven't had any in a while so maybe talking about it helps, but if I do I'm going to try and face it in my dream, I'll see what happens. Thanks all.
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karen19 Sep 7, 2008 1:08 PM
I never remembered my dreams. I was going to a consoler for some other things and he told me to try to remember my dreams and write them down. It was supposed to help with the problems we were discussing. I went to bed each night and tried very hard to remember my dreams. I don't know that I ever really dreamt anything because for a year I could only remember one of my dreams. I did wake up and I did write it down.
since I quit smoking and started on the chantix I have had many dreams. Most of them are weird but not scary. In them I have found myself smoking. In the dream I know I am not supposed to smoke and it is like in the past when I would lie about quitting. It upsets me and wakes me up. I have to really think "did I smoke last night?" I then tell myself there is no way. I DON"T SMOKE ANY MORE.
I actually like that I am dreaming now. It has beeen a while since I dreamt of smoking. I hope you are able to get over the fact that people that don't smoke are smoking in your dreams. there is so much in dreams that we just can't understand. The important thing is that you don't let those dreams build your cravings. "Smoking is not an option!"
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maria9 Sep 8, 2008 3:53 AM
Yep, SMOKING IS NOT OPTION!!!! But isn't it amazing what the mind does.
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