Pop. Fizz. Gulp. Ahhh.....one more sip and I am ready to start. Better.
I have always considered myself to have above average control. One of my minor regrets is that I did not let loose enough in high school and college. However, these days I do have one addiction--Diet Cola.
It started off with being addicted to coke; however, in an attempt to stop, I switched to the foul-taste of diet cola. It didn't take long to become addicted to diet drinks.
It has now been many years where I drink an obscene amount of diet cola every day. I have actually lost bets that I could not stop drinking it--this coming from the person (me) who stopped eating meat and carbonation for a year over a $1 bet. I think I am now understanding addictions.
What about everyone else? What are you addicted to? How would you describe the sensation of addiction? I know it is bad and poison and I do drink more water then I ever did, but I can't seem to stop. Bows head in shame.
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
I need caffeine to feel normal.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
It's not really an addiction, but I can get really involved in video games. When I see this happening, I have to force myself to not play it at all for one week. After that, I can come back at more reasonable rates.
Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
Starcraft!
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
French Vanilla Cappuccino in the morning, coffee at work; Mountain Dew when it is hot in the summer (although I've succeeded in mostly giving up that particular addiction -- we will see how I do at sticking with it as summer drags on).
Farmgirl
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
Pepsi, not so bad. Cigarettes, very bad. Right now I'm cutting back each day because just going cold turkey doesn't work for me....or my husband, since I become impossible to live with.
space opera
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Chocolate and books. Got to read a book every day even while trying to cook. Got to have some sort of succulent chocolate confection... such as these chips or milk shakes or hot chocolate with dark chocolate Schoolboy biscuits.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
I've cut out pretty much every drinkable unneccessary calorie since spring break. I've lost about 4 pounds off of it so far. I just make sure to drink tons and tons of water, which is good for you anyways.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I've been cutting back on food for about a month. Just keeping an eye on calories and stuff. Well I ate a lot of sugar while on my vacation, though I did intersperse it with Subway and ever since I've been back I've had unreasonable sugar cravings.
I gave in today and bought a candy bar. We will see how long it staves it off for.
AJ
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Hatrack
Dihydro-monoxide
and Air.
Though I think giving up air would be easier than Hatrack.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Can someone try to describe the sensation of addiction? Is it a sensation?
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Ciggaretts Homeworld 2 Starcraft Age of Wonders 2 Food Jagermiester
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
I used to addicted to video/computer games, but I didn't find it was useful to tell girls at on dates that your interest is gaming. I pretty must stopped playing altogether and got into snowboarding, wakeboarding, and riding jet skis.
Addictions that I do have still are: 1. Coffee 2. See above 3. Coffee 4. Did I mention coffee? *goes to get more coffee*
[ May 12, 2004, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: Nick ]
Posted by Zamphyr (Member # 6213) on :
This thread is making me thirsty
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
Me, too. I'll meet you back here in 5 minutes with the diet dr. pepper.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
My drug of choice is caffeine.
And I am addicted to Snood, and, lately, javanoid.
Alexa, you do know that too much soda is bad for your bones, right? Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
But how much is "too much?"
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Want to read my paper on phenylalanine?
I'm addicted to caffeine, but only because of the headache I get if I DON'T ingest it. It doesn't keep me away--the dang stuff makes me sleepy.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Printed word.
It IS an addiction, and it's from childhood. Before the internet (Hatrack), it was books. I spent the last week separated from my an internet connection, and the book addiction came back full force.
For the record, Vanity Fair is wonderful.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
Mack, you know you're getting headaches because of your addiction, right? You're giving yourself migraines, because you've developed a dependancy on the caffeine. If you stay off the caffeinated stuff for a few days, the headache (withdrawl) will pass. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I'm with kat--the printed word is my primary addiction. Hatrack, fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes--if it's within reach, I'm generally reading it. Like kat, this is an addiciton from childhood.
Computer games are my second. After spending way too much time playing Morrowind a few months ago, though, I haven't felt any urge to play anything.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Noemon - exactly! Cereal boxes. User manuals. The backs of the shampoo bottles in the bathroom.
Michael used to say that I was every running or chasing and he needed to distract me, he'd throw magazines to the ground and I'd stop full force to leaf through it.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Alexa,
Is no one answering your questions?
Okay -- from this current caffeine addict, and always 'friend of Bill W.'
For me, addiction does come in the forms of cravings. I mean, I really really really want BAD whatever thing it is I'm addicted to. Like coffee in the morning -- yes I can go without it, but I will WANT it real bad all day. Of course, you know, we get those horrible headaches, etc. when we don't have it if we normally have too much.
You know I "tried" the Mormon religion at one time. I sat through that part where they told me I should give up coffee, etc. I really really did it. For about two months or so. But you know that first week -- I was physically ILL -- I mean really! I had headaches, bodyaches, nausea, just like flu -- for four days. I shook, I sweated. I hated it. (and this is just coffee withdrawal, good thing I gave up drinking a long time ago).
Sugar can do the same thing. My grandmother, when she got cancer, when on a very very strict diet that include absolutely NO sugars (fructose or refined or whatever) and she shook for several days.
So I think definately there is a chemical reaction and response by the body, and that same chemical response is what creates the cravings for these things (candy bars, caffeine, alcohol).
Unfortunately, I have been known to be a person of extremes -- all or nothing. I don't do well with the moderation idea. It's my weakness. That's why so many things in my life on in the "nothing" category now.
Farmgirl
Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
quote: Ciggaretts Homeworld 2 Starcraft Age of Wonders 2 Food Jagermiester
hey Telperion the Silver do you play Broodwar on US east?
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
May I also say that I am addicted to books. I stay up way too late some nights because I can't put one down. Most of my life I've probably been sleep-deprived.
Religious beliefs aside, I've never tried alcohol, cigarettes, or coffee because I know I'd be addicted to them very fast. I don't even want to know what they're like. I drink a can of Coke every blue moon and I can feel how easy it would be to develop a craving for it.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Michael used to say that I was every running or chasing and he needed to distract me, he'd throw magazines to the ground and I'd stop full force to leaf through it.
That'd probably stop me too!
When I undertake a major house cleaning, I have to be especially careful or I'll end up sitting and reading the stuff I should be sorting into piles and throwing out.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
I found that my Bob addiction was competing with my reading addiction. Then we started taking turns reading to each other over the phone every night. Bliss. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I'm always getting distracted when I try to clean Which is why I seldom try to clean... it seems... futile..
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I'm fully aware of why I get those headaches, lusty.
Caffiene acts to constrict the blood vessels, so when you run out of it, there's a surge of blood flow to the head, giving you a headache.
And those are MOTHERS of a headache.
But, I only have one caffinated beverage per day now.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
I thought I was the only one who read the backs of cereal boxes and shampoo bottles!!! I feel as though I've finally come home....
space opera
Posted by Yank (Member # 2514) on :
quote: Noemon - exactly! Cereal boxes. User manuals. The backs of the shampoo bottles in the bathroom.
Yeah, me too. If there's nothing around to read I go crazy. I'll read *anything* at that point, and if truly is nothing around to read, I'll write something.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: I found that my Bob addiction was competing with my reading addiction. Then we started taking turns reading to each other over the phone every night. Bliss.
Must be a big phone bill. Seriously though, that's awesome. Why don't any girls I know like to read? Besides the young ladies here on Hatrack of course. Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Free cell phone minutes after 9pm. Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
Addictions
Coffee....lots of it. cigarettes reading diablo II old, antique, classic cars reading about my next project (a hot rod) going to sea pulling back into port
good enuf?
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
Caffeinated Pop (I can't stand coffee or those caffeine pills) The Computer Driving Music
And to a lesser extent (meaning I don't -have- to have it but I'd never, ever refuse it and I buy it whenever I can), gum.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: Free cell phone minutes after 9pm.
Oh, I assumed you used your house phone for some reason. I get free minutes after 9pm too. Now to find the girl to read to.... Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
I managed to break my caffeine addiction as an undergrad. Stopped drinking all that cola. Truthfully, it wasn't really that hard. I already had a supply of Tylenol for my sinus headaches, so there wasn't much difficulty.
Unfortunately, when I began to work nights I had to start drinking the stuff again to stay awake.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
For the last week or so I was lucky to get sleep at all. So I was drinking a ton of coffee. In fact my watchteam has the most coffee drinkers out of my entire work center. I forget what day it was, but we went thru 3 pots of coffee in just under 5 hours.
Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
Jamocha Shakes from Arby's. When you're working third shift and coffee gives you a stomach ache, those things are life-savers.
Here's a question: What is the difference between addiction and obsession?
Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
Jamocha Shakes from Arby's. When you're working third shift and coffee gives you a stomach ache, those things are life-savers.
Here's a question: What is the difference between addiction and obsession?
Posted by namaki (Member # 6519) on :
The difference between addiction and obsession...
I think the line is pretty faint.
I would suggest that addiction would technically cover the continued use of "stuff" (should I call it substances?) that is known by the user to be harmfull. Also there is the question of withdrawal symptoms, which I believe are defined medically.
Obsession is the mental churning, constantly returning to odd ideas, weird thoughts. I think addiction would come under the "compulsive" part of obsessive-compulsive.
my .02 $ worth Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I have two theories on addiction.
1. You start out using something because it makes you feel better than normal. You wind up using it just to feel normal. If you don't have it, that becomes a reason to feel like crap.
2. The thing you use to escape from your problems is becoming the source of your problems.
I also think there are addictive substances and addictive personalities. An addictive substance, say, morphine, will cause a lot of people to be addicted. But I think there are addictive people who can turn something as simple as bread hot from the bread machine into an addiction. Only 55 more minutes...
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
namaki,
quote:The difference between addiction and obsession...
I think the line is pretty faint.
I actually think the difference is more concrete. I don’t have my books with me, but my layman understanding is that addiction *creates* need, whereas obsession *is* an extreme and often inappropriate need.
I don’t think being substantive or not is a necessity to either addiction or obsession. You can be addicted to gambling as much as you can be addicted to games, porn, or alcohol. The nature of addiction causes the person to need to do the behavior more—often in an accelerated frequency or intensified degree. Ie: Drinking diet cola creats a need to drink diet cola via chemical dependency.
Obsession is like washing your hands 100 times a day, keeping your house so clean that the indents in the carpet from visitors bother you, or following Britney Spears. You are satisfying an extreme urge (that can be argued by a majority as misplaced), but the nature of your satisfication (<--my new word!) does not create or intensify a need or behavior.
quote: Obsession is the mental churning, constantly returning to odd ideas, weird thoughts.
I think both have mental churning, weird thoughts, or returning to odd ideas. I don't see a distinction based on thoughts vs. substance.
[ May 13, 2004, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: Alexa ]
Posted by namaki (Member # 6519) on :
Alexa,
I believe you are right that addiction is of the sort that creates its own need - like both you and pooka have stated so eloquently.
I also think that there is a lay-man's use of the term addiction that differs semantically from the medical use of the word.
I tend to put my need for sugar into addiction, and my bulimic reading into compulsion. But my sugar addiction (until proven otherwise) is a lay-mans type of addiction. I will want sugar, and probably get restless if I don't get it, but if I can get my hands on a few veeeerrrrry loooooong books, I don't think i would notice the "withdrawal" symptoms.
When it comes to obsession and compulsion, I do see a difference, though the two will often be tied closely together. Washing your hands 100 times a day is compulsion. But often it is obsessive thinking that creates this compulsion. The compulsion becomes an acting out of obsession. The minute you decide to commit the act (whatever it is), there is a mental release of tension. Maybe the actual compulsive act will take place several hours later, but the simple act of letting go (I *will* have that piece of lemon pie that is in the freezer), will create that sense of relief, I think.
I have thought much more about the obsessive/compulsive distinction over the last few years than about what addiction is/is not.
...Hmm... I think we derailed this thread. It was most definitely about addiction and not Obsessive-Compulsiveness Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
quote: Pop. Fizz. Gulp. Ahhh.
Hehe, I saw this, and immediately thought "Pop. Six. Squish. Uh uh. Cicero. Lipschitz."
Oy, me and my musicals!
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
So I'm not the only one Raia? Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
Kat, Noemon, AfR, and Space Opera:
You are not alone. I can spell methylchloroisothiazolinone from memory. Ah, the blessed shampoo bottle.
[added: forgot someone to include on my cool shampoo bottle readers club list]
[ May 13, 2004, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: peterh ]
Posted by tt&t (Member # 5600) on :
quote: Noemon - exactly! Cereal boxes. User manuals. The backs of the shampoo bottles in the bathroom.
Yeeeup.
And Hatcrack. Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Oh yes... how could I forget... I'm addicted to men... *growl* Posted by littlelf (Member # 6145) on :
I am a former Dr. Pepper addict, which was not easy to beat! But recently, thanks to those damn supermarket sales and my reverse Atkins diet, I bought a bunch of Diet Dr. Pepper. It's evil stuff, The Pepper. I'll be OK, though, with the help of some Clearly Canadian for those carbonated fixes until I can get back on the Perrier.
THanks for listening.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
I love Pumpkin pie. I really LOVE pumpkin pie.
Last night I ate half a pumpkin pie and a glass of milk before I went to bed. This morning for breakfast I had other half and a couple glasses of milk.
I came to work and the room next door bought doughnuts, and so I had one. It is lunch time, and since today is the last day of school, the principal bought SO MANY PIES!
I am eating a piece of lemon pie and key lime pie.
I am so sick. I can feel the sugar racing through me. I can feel myself lay down the fat. I must eat one more bite....ugh...shiver… want to vomit. one. breath. more. breath. bite…….I may be dying. This may be my last pos...
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
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![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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Besides the young ladies here on Hatrack of course. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Now to find the girl to read to.... ![[Cool]](cool.gif)