Amnesia and smoking

[numinicious]

I has a question. Okay, I lie. I has two questions. :)

Scenario: I have a character, Person A. Person A is a smoker, about 1-2 packs a day. He began smoking ~5 years ago, maybe more

Comments

[numinicious]

1. Why, thank you. I do loves me FH icons. :)

2. Thank you for reminding me about that! I do the same thing about not associating irritability with lack of nicotine/caffeine/whathaveyou.

[azurelunatic]

I know smoking is something that builds very strong body-habits. At a moment he might have ordinarily smoked knowing who he was and knowing he was a smoker, he might well reach for his pack of cigarettes and lighter. I don't know if he'd realize that this is what he was doing, but a gesture like that has passed deeper than conscious thought, and he might figure it out from that. Or if he doesn't figure it out, he might reach for his pocket, look vaguely confused at finding nothing there, and touch his mouth (in a way that approximates how he used to smoke).

I rarely wear a watch these days, and haven't for over five years, but I still glance at my wrist for the time. I took off a necklace that I'd been wearing 24/7 for almost seven years; it's been off for almost a month and I still reach to hold it and I feel a little lost when it's not there when I try to touch it.

[azurelunatic]

That is to say, anyone who smokes as a response to stress or something is going to connect "I am stressed" with "I need a cigarette", and thus "I am stressed" is going to trigger the physical habit of grabbing a cigarette, especially since he went through so many.

[numinicious]

I'm a smoker myself, so I know that half the addiction is simply the act, but I was more curious about a situation where, if he had no cigarettes, no lighter, freshly washed clothing and absolutely no recollection of ever having smoked, etc., if he would associate his stress/irritability with withdrawal.

Hehe, your image of a guy patting his pockets confusedly definitely helped. :)

[azurelunatic]

I guess it would depend on whether he figured out that he smoked, or how good his self-assessment of physical needs is. If he doesn't figure out that he's addicted, I don't think he'd figure it was that, especially if there are so many other good reasons to be cranky, like not being able to remember anything.

[lyorn]

If no one tells him that he was a smoker,

If no one tells him, he might still find out by looking at his hands, and by the smell of his things. If he has been without smokes long enough to notice the latter, IM limited E he's not likely to start again, though.

[liseuse]

As a smoker (ten a day, perhaps less generally) I have been known to get to about five in the evening before realising that my foul mood and general irritability is due to the fact that I haven't had a cigarette all day.

What usually makes me realise is that someone will be smoking near me and I'll get a lightbulb in my brain going "duh! no cigarettes yet!"

From the physical POV

[lilacsigil]

The physical addiction to nicotine will be gone in 48 hours, according to the Quit handbook at my side - it's the behavioural changes that stick around and make it hard to quit for good. He might not need someone to tell him he was a smoker, though. As his lungs start working again, he'll be coughing up all the lovely black tar that he's accumulated. His fingers and teeth may be discoloured, and his clothes, hair, car and home will smell of smoke.

Apart from that, I suppose you need to look at what relation his smoking had to the psychological stress that contributes to the amnesia - people smoke from boredom, stress, habit, as part of their social life, because they have an oral fixation, to be closer to a partner - or any combination of the above and more!