I freaking DREAMED of smoking a cigarette last night

[Aerows]

When will that go away? I've been off them for 3 months and using the gum and e-cigs.

It was so *REAL* that rush you get when you really need a smoke and inhale it.

Note: I'm not going back and I haven't actually smoked, I just dreamed of smoking.

Reality is that I don't stink, have much better health and just ecigs are alot easier to manage than the filthy cigarette habit. But for one stupid second it invaded my dreams LOL.

Happened to anyone else?

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I think that's perfectly normal.

I gave up alcohol over six years ago and sometimes have had drinking dreams and I'm told that's common, as well. Good for you!

[arcane1]

2. Get used to it!

That little monster never goes away, it just taps you on the shoulder now and then when you're vulnerable, including during dreams. It visits me too! My grandmother says even she still gets the occasional visit.

But we kick its ass every time!

[Aerows]

15. I'm still kicking its ass

and determined to continue kicking its ass. It was just so weird LOL

[Unknown Beatle]

3. It's better to dream you're smoking

a cigarette than actually smoking one while awake.

[Aerows]

16. Amen to that! n/t

[Zamen]

4. You'll always get the occasional craving

Never goes away completely. All you can do is try avoid people or situations that might trigger it.

[d_r]

5. Yeah I've had them

It gets better.

[malthaussen]

6. Sorry, Aerows.

My mother quit smoking about 20 years ago, and she still dreams about them. Scarcely a day goes by she doesn't want to take a drag. She went cold turkey, though, YMMV.

-- Mal

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. I feel like I've failed, when I dream about smoking

it takes a few minutes to realize it was only a dream, I didn't actually light up.

The dreams are pretty rare now, after 15 years without a smoke.

No ecigs for me, but if marijuana is legalized here, well ...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. I quit 13 years ago and they still pop into my dreams.

It doesn't make me crave a smoke when I wake up, though. I also seem to sense during the dream that there's something amiss about me smoking.

[Aerows]

14. Well, I'm with you on that one

it did seem odd that I was lighting a cigarette, and I *knew* it was wrong.

[NJCher]

9. my experience with that dream

I was a former smoker, and it took everything I had to quit (24-years ago). After I quit, I took hundreds of people through the cessation process by becoming a facilitator for the American Lung Association. I not only had that dream, I heard others tell about it in the 8 meetings we had to take them through the process.

I was told by other facilitators that when we really want something, sometimes we satisfy that desire through a dream. If that is the case, then your dream is a positive way of dealing with the desire for a cigarette.


Cher

[Aerows]

12. I feel better about it now

But yeah, I lit a cigarette and I knew it was wrong in my dream.

[NJCher]

17. Great

The fact that you felt it was wrong in your dream says that you want to quit on a very deep level. When someone wants something that bad, it's prol'ly gonna' happen.



Sniff, sniff. I smell success.



Cher

[Aerows]

27. I hope so

I feel so much better, I don't want to get back on that hacking, low energy train again.

[mulsh]

10. that's "the dream" people in recovery sometimes have. When I worked in drug/alcohol counseling

nearly every one I worked with had "the dream". A few people don't. The worst part for me was waking up angry at myself for backsliding. Until I realized it was just a dream.

Most folks I've known who had dreams like that have successfully quit the substance they were using. I haven't smoked anything since 1982. Haven't had "the dream" in around 15 years.

[Aerows]

13. Well hopefully

I'll quit the dream and keep living the current dream of not smoking the damn things.

[Eleanors38]

11. My Dad (R.I.P.) quit cold turkey in 1956. I asked him 25 years later if he still missed smoking...

He said "yes."

But he also said it is easy to get past that. I never acquired that habit, so I don't know about the seeming contradiction. Good luck.

[KittyWampus]

18. AEROWS! I dreamed of smoking for maybe a year after I quit!

I told myself it was the old "cells" giving out their last gasp before making way for healthy new cells.

But I was lucky and just quit. Probably because I smoked Drum and not the chemical laden pre-rolled kind.

But I did have a few dreams and a few urges.

My recommendations are:

1. drink various teas. gives you something smoking to hold in your hands and do with your mouth. So many flavors to choose, no calories. Taking in more water too.

2. convince yourself that smoking stinks BAD. When you smell a cigarette, tell yourself it smells disgusting… even if you have to "lie to yourself". Eventually it becomes the truth.

[Aerows]

20. I drink unsweetened decaf iced tea

from sun up to sun down. It's great advice, and I already am following it - I LOVE tea.

It felt wrong in my dream to be lighting up. I did it but I immediately felt I had done something wrong, despite the fact that in the dream I got that huge rush. I didn't want the rush.

And yeah, they stink. I quit because I was fed up with the mess, the stink, the hacking cough and the general ickiness associated with smoking.

It just freaked me out to dream about it, enjoy it, and then go "Oh SHIT. I dreamed about a cigarette and enjoyed it for half a second."

I don't ever WANT to enjoy one ever again, even for half a second. I WILL NOT start again after this long.

[shenmue]

19. I get tempted sometimes

but I've been smoke-free for 12 years.

[RebelOne]

21. I smoke, but I have been a vegetarian for the past 15 years

and often dream of eating a big juicy sirloin steak, but then I wake up before I take a bite.

[Aerows]

23. I eat a big, juicy, rare dripping rib eye

or filet mignon every chance I get - and I like just the breath knocked out of them, so to speak.

Apparently, my HDL levels are very strong (110) as opposed to most people that struggle to get them to 40. (Got tested the other day with a general physical).

I don't mock vegetarians, and there are some health benefits for being a vegetarian for a while, but I don't think it is anymore healthful long term than being the omnivore that our species is.

I say this as a person that gets a lot of exercise and shuns sweets and carbs, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

But I digress - I guess what we crave follows us into our dreams even if we don't want it to.

[rurallib]

22. 40 years later - I think the last time I had the dream

was about a year ago.
I never really missed smoking. When I had the dream I would always wake up sweating I was so mad at myself for starting again.

I have heard from others that some form of the dream lasts all your life.
Who say nicotine is not addicting.

Over the years it came at greater intervals. Last interval was @5 years but it is still there.

[Skittles]

24. it won't go away

that is the nicodemon within you, waiting to strike....so always be on guard

[Aerows]

28. I want to STAY

a non-smoker badly, and have tried two other times before this one. I'm three months in this time, and I'll be damned if I go through that shit again - everyone around you praying you would just go smoke and quit being an angry harridan.

It was just weird. I'm encouraged, though, to find out it is normal and isn't signs of my impending falling off of the wagon to smoke - because I really don't want to.

I have a pack of cigarettes that are sealed with the number six on them - that's the day in April I quit, and there are six cigarettes in there. I look at the damn thing every day to make sure it is there, and to recognize that I don't need it anymore.

I know I'm kind of OCD like that, but it has helped me. It's a little cue that "hey I don't smoke anymore".

[Skittles]

29. the "smoking dreams" actually help me

in my dreams I am so upset and disappointed that I "smoked" - so when I wake up, it just makes me more determined to never smoke again

[hay rick]

25. I had that dream for many years after I quit.

I quit in 1980. I had that dream occasionally for at least a decade, probably longer. It always gave me a sick to my stomach feeling of failure.

[applegrove]

26. I smoked herbal cigarettes after I quit smoking. They

we're awful. I had about two packs a week. After a while I quit those too in wholehearted disgust. Now whenever I see or think of a real cigarette I get that herbal smoke disgust feeling. Worked out well for me. I never crave. Been almost 7 years.