Do You "Manage" Any Addictions?

My addiction is caffeine. If I don't get enough coffee every day, I start to get a headache, nausea, chills and flu like symptoms.
I manage it by making sure that I never run out of coffee. If I don't have enough cash for a bag of coffee grounds, then I at least buy caffeine pills, which are $1.49 at Walmart.
I used to also enjoy shopping too much, but that addiction got nipped in the bud by the expense of raising a child alone.

 

The caffeine pills at Walmart are called Jet Alert. Each pill is 200 milligrams of caffeine which is supposed to equal 2 cups of coffee. You're supposed to take one pill every 3 hours.
It's $1.49 for 16 pills in one of those foil blister packs. Coffee works better but if I'm down to my last couple of bucks and can't afford $5-$6 for a package of coffee, the $1.49 pills are better than nothing and they keep the headaches and withdrawals away. The caffeine pills do work to keep me awake and functioning, but actual coffee keeps me more sharp and packs more of a wallop.
I think that's because I drink strong coffee.

Once when I had an office job, I made a pot of coffee. My male coworkers loved how strong it was. My female coworkers complained of having heart palpitations and jitters.
I like cowboy coffee that keeps me awake and productive. I'm the sole breadwinner for my kid, I don't have time to sleep.

 

I used to struggle with my nicotine addiction. I was an on and off smoker for many years. I never smoked much, but still, it affected my health. I gave up three times. The longest I went without cigarettes was 5 years, and then suddenly I found myself in an extreme situation and started smoking again. I have now been nicotine-free for four years, and I want to keep it that way.

 

I'm kind of addicted to junk food like potato chips and french fries, and I do manage it in that I only ever indulge in it about once a month these days. To used to be way less conscious of it but as I grow older I worry a bit more about the diseases I might get from an unhealthy lifestyle so I try to exercise and eat healthy as much as I could. I also once was addicted to soda. It I was able to kick the habit and I now only drink water mostly.

 

Actually, you may not feel it, but you do get high. Not in the same sense of course, but when you indulge, you get some of the same responses in the brain. I'm willing to bet, everyone in here is addicted to something. But since it was never illegal to eat crap food (NOT junk food.. ALL crap food, so pretty much all of it in a grocery store at this point lol), well that's ok. People shake their fingers at smokers and drinkers and then go sit down to their plate of sugar and salt. It may not be in the junk food isle, but I assure you, they're all junk food isles now and they'll kill you as quick and more often quicker than the typical bad addictions.

I was a smoker. I was a heavy drinker (I still drink, but rarely). I was victim to the western diet. I did drugs for many years. Smoking and crap food were equally as hard to quit. That says a lot in my opinion. Now my biggest vice is coffee. Another one I'll likely have a hard time quitting.

 

I understand that ,Mythman and I'm aware of unit prices. I was merely saying that sometimes all I have is the $1.49 for the caffeine pills. When there's only $5 in your wallet, spending $4 of that on coffee is too much. I especially get in a tight bind like that immediately after paying my rent, which wipes out everything I have for a few days.

Once I pay off a rather nasty loan that has been raping my bank account, I'll be on an even keel, but for now I have to be very cheap and very careful.

 

I'd say I have a small and controlled addiction to gambling, I'm not at risk of losing my house or such, I usually make small $2-$5 bets on whatever games are on TV so that I'm more interested in watching them
Other than that I don't think I have anything that can be considered an "addiction"

 

I used to have an addiction to shopping. I would go everyday after work and one weekend day to pick up a little something. That quickly stopped when after a year at a very well paying job I had $5k in savings and really nothing to show for all of the money I spent because I either gave away what I purchased because I didn't really like it or wore it once and decided it wasn't all that great. I have a slight addiction to pilates. I like to go to class 4-5 times per week, preferably 5, and if I don't go I will become somewhat irritable and also feel very guilty.