Reply #6: Not an addict, but maybe some insight

[Droopy]

I guess I am addicted to cigarettes, but I'm sure it's nothing as intense as being addicted to a heavy drug. When I try to quit smoking I do have dreams about starting smoking again, though.

It seems to me that being addicted to a drug may have some parallels with mental illness. I have used drugs in the past, though not heavily, and I've also been severely mentally ill. When I was sick I would sometimes experience the sensations of an LSD trip. It was so strong that I thought someone had drugged me on more than one occasion.

After I got psychiatric help my symptoms pretty much disappeared except for some nightmares. The nightmares were so intense and seemingly real that when I would wake up from one I would be stunned and I temporarily could not separate reality from the dream that I had. The good news is that those dreams have faded with time.

Heavy drug addiction, like mental illness, is very traumatic to both your brain and your body. You and I will probably never be totally free of the affects of that trauma. I hope you are going to NA and counseling wouldn't hurt, either, if you are not doing that. I take pills for my head and see the headshrinker on a regular basis and I'm learning to cope with something that will probably be with me for the rest of my life.