Thats it I have to quit smoking - Page 2

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Isn't it always like that? Or is it just me? I always wake up before the good stuff. .

--
H

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Yeah, me too. I guess as we got older we switched from "Damn!! I can't believe this is really happening!!" to "Damn, I know this isn't really happening." and thus the spell is broken.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Indeed. We never did it sleeping either.


Cees

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I quit smoking (for the 3rd time) 13 months ago. At the time I had smoked a pack a day for 15 years, so I had some addiction to nicotine. I used Nicorette gum for 3 months, then transitioned to regular chewing gum.

I did have some weight gain, mostly due to nightime snacking. That's still a problem, but it's cheaper than smoking these days.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I would definitely suggest exercise if youre trying to quit to help with that.

Last time I quit I also busted my ass in the gym and ended up loosing about 15 pounds.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

New York has also, this year, increased its tax on cigarettes, too. The new rates took effect last month.

NY's tax is touted as the highest in the nation--a not-uncommon phenomena in NYS.

The state of NY adds $2.75 to a pack of cigarettes while NYC adds another $1.50. I'm no smoker...but I believe it costs $7 to $8 bucks for a pack where I live upstate and near $10 a pack in NYC.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I started smoking in the mid70s....as a child of about 11 or 12, butts we'd find on the side of the road. Man, those were the days. It was fun to smoke. I have video of me smoking in the late 80s and can remember those days. Hell, everybody smoked!

When I first started doing morning radio in the early 90s I'd chain smoke for 3 and a half hours...while drinking what I'd call "coffee bombs" (strong, with enormous amounts of cream and sugar). The guy that cleaned up the studio was wiping the windows one morning in 92 (I believe) while I was doing my show. He showed me his rag and said, "look at that..." It was brown. I said "is that my smoke?" He nodded. I said "..and my lungs look like that?" He nodded again. I slowed way down on smoking after that. Then I got a soar throat one day and it really hurt to smoke. I quit cold turkey that day. I kept the last pack I ever bought (cheapass crap...might as well be weeds) in a bowl and told myself if I was going to restart I'd have to smoking those nasty stale ones. That works pretty well. Just don't buy any. Luckily, everybody in my immediate family has quit smoking.

Best thing about this is how much better everything smells and food tastes better too. Plus I stopped many many years ago with the horrible feeling I'd get waking up in the morning. Blah! Now, the weight problem come up after this and can be just as bad on your health.

Anyway, good luck to everybody who is trying to quit. Just remember, you have to really want to quit. It took my brother-in-law's dad dying of lung cancer to stop his son from smoking.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I wonder what will be the next target of the state(s) once the tobacco taxes cease to roll into the general fund? No state will ever deem it necessary to cut any type of program that those taxes support. I'm guessing beer.....or some/all type of demon rum.

Mort

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Being that my wife is in fairly poor health I've spent many a day and nights sitting in ER rooms. Since most of the rooms/bays are designed for 2 patients there is just a curtain separating one patient from another. I've sat there one night and heard the doctor come into the next bay and give the patient results of having terminal lung cancer.

That has to be a bombshell on a person.


Jeff

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I hope everything turns out ok with your wife.

Sincere best wishes.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

I quit a year ago this month actually! It took two boxes of nicotine gum but that's because I didn't read the instructions so wasn't chewing the gum right during the first box. You're supposed to chew until it tastes peppery then "park it" between your cheek and gums. Repeat that until the gum loses it's flavor. Never really developed the smoker's cough but did start to get a tickle in my throat which made me cough as I tried to sleep. Almost immediately that tickle went away when I stopped.

I'll admit that I used to LOVE smoking. But when it gets to the point where you get no enjoyment from it and you're blindly smoking one after the other just out of habit then it's time for a change. It was for me anyway.

Chewing gum also helps. Just make sure it's sugarless! Working out and exercising is also a great way to take your mind off of them. I think Chandler once said "I have the lung capacity of a 9 year old." That was me. Couldn't walk anywhere without getting winded. But once I got all the nicotine out of my system and started slowly working out I can now jog a few miles with no problems. It's nice to be able to take a really deep breathe and not cough as a result.

And you don't realize how bad it makes you stink until you get away from it. Sure, sometimes you might get a whiff of one and think it smells good but for the most part they stink! I see parents in their cars smoking with the windows rolled up and the kids in the back seat and think that's borderline child abuse now.

As others have said though, you have to want to quit for it to work. However, 7 bucks a pack is a pretty good incentive as well. If you can make it past the first couple of weeks you should be good to go. Good luck!

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Well there's now another reason for you to quit. It appears that smoking is implicated in pneumonia.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/heal...r-Smokers.html

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Valuable stuff Lew said there.

I quit 6 years ago. Hardest thing I ever did. Worth every little struggle.

Keep positive, and remain committed to maintaining your quit. Even if you have a lapse... stick with it and do not allow yourself to give up.

When I was quitting, I joined quitnet.com. Great site for support and like-minded people. Haven't visited in ages.. but it's a great tool to help out.

Re: Thats it I have to quit smoking

Quit on Feb. 11, 2008 after 25 years and haven't had one puff since. Chantix for 3 months did what 10 years of cold turkey could not. Just now getting to the point where there are no cravings, not even with alcohol or after a meal. Best thing I ever did and Lew is correct, you will never quit if your reasoning is anything but "I simply don't want to kill myself any more."

I've quit dozens of times for dozens of reasons, but I always went back because I missed the pleasure. In fact, every time I quit, I knew I would go back because I immediately started looking for an excuse to smoke. It wasn't until I got sick of the morning hack I had developed that I was able to quit. The difference this time is I know I'll never go back, whereas before I knew I would smoke as soon as I found a reason (and it's funny, I always found a reason ).

As usual, it looks like I'm late to this party.  I decided that I needed to quit smoking about 2 weeks ago.  I have tried to quit cold turkey before and failed.  So I decided I would use the patch.  Started off with the "Step One" as I was smoking about a pack a day.

So far, so good  I have had some pretty bad "nic fits" but I have not smoked in 8 days (the length of time I've been on the patch).  I think the longest I had gone without a cig over the past 10 years was probably 10 hours.  I did have to change when I was using the patch though.  I first was putting it on at night so that when I woke up in the morning it would reduce the cravings, but I was having some crazy ass dreams.  One of the side effects of the patch.  So I now put it on in the morning and take it off at night.

One of my friends also turned me on to "Blu"  electric cigarettes.  They make them with different stengths of nicotine, including nicotine free.  (Those are what my friend smokes)  He started using them when he quit cold turkey.  He says that because he smokes the nicotine free variety, they don't help with the "nic fits", but it really helps with the oral fixation aspect of smoking.  I think I might give them a try.  In the non-nicotine variety of course.

tyler

For three years, I smoked three packs of cigarettes per day. I smoked Camel and Lucky Strike, then Kool, then a ton of other brands. I tried to quit several times, but could never go more than a couple of days without smoking. Then, I had chest pains around age twenty, which convinced me to do two things. I quit smoking, and that same day I began running. I convinced myself that if I could go one week without a cigarette, that I would have it beaten. On the first day of quitting, I ran for thirty-three seconds (that was all I could do) on some power lines.  Some thirty-two years later, I've run six marathons and dozens of other races, and have logged approximately 30,000 miles.  I found that when I did something else with my time (like running), it helped me considerably in my quest to quit smoking.

Best wishes to whomever is trying to quit. :)

I quit about 7 years ago after over 25 years as a smoker.  Of course I tried many times to quit, tried this tried, that, including hypnosis.  During an extended period of unemployment during the last recession I was forced to sell my house and downsize.  I decided that would be a good time to cut out the cigarettes, too, since even then they were pricey.  Plus I figured I was going through one hellish, depressing life changing event, so I'd hardly notice the added pain.  I had my last cigarette the day I moved out of the house and into a condo. 

I used the patch.  Started with the highest nicotine level and worked my way down.  What I found is that the patch took enough of the edge off to make it possible to get over the urgent cravings.  A friend of mine had told me that with most addictive behaviors if you can postpone gratifying an impulse to indulge for 10 minutes or so, the urge will pass and you'll get distracted by other things until the next urge hits.  The reason most people fail when they try to kick booze or cigarettes or what-have-you is that they give in to the impulse long before the 10 minutes are up.  I think he's right, or at least he was in my case.  When the urge to smoke hit, it wasn't as bad as when I didn't have the patch, and I was able to just push it back until I realized - often an hour or more later - that it had gone away and I no longer wanted a cigarette.  Of course, I still get the odd urge to light one up.  Not usually when I'm around smokers (now that my nose is working again, I actually find the smell of cigarette smoke kind of icky.)  But sometimes when I watch an old movie where everyone is smoking, or read a period novel where the characters are constantly lighting up, I get a real craving. 

Regards,

Joe

My 5 year smoke free anniversary was yesterday!  I smoked a pack a day for 15 years and I enjoyed every single one of them!

Tyler if you can go 8 days without a smoke you CAN quit. The first 2 weeks are the hardest!! after that every day gets a little better. The worst is almost over for you.    

I quit using the patch and nicotine gum. I wore the patch, and when the urge to smoke got really bad I would chew a piece of nicotine gum for that extra little hit. I used them for about 3 weeks, after that I was nicotine free. 5 Years later I still have the occasional urge to smoke & I have had the occasional Cigar, maybe 2-3 a year in the last 2 years, but the thought of going into a store to buy a pack of smokes is long gone.

A few tips I can suggest to help are:

Do not go to the Bar with the boys!
Avoid places you smoked.
Tell your smoker friends not to smoke in front of you (THIS IS HUGE) 
Have lots of snacks in the house and car, Sun flower seeds did the trick for me.
A cold glass of water or Coke really helps kill the urge to smoke.

The best part of quiting for me was:

Money! About $4500.00 a year (not buying smokes and my life insurance bill being cut in half)
Sleeping was greatly improved, I don't feel tired in the morning anymore.
Taste, every thing tastes better when you mouth is not an ashtray!
I can run up the stairs without being out of breath.

The only draw back for me was weight gain, about 20 pounds that I can't seem to shake, but thats because every thing tastes so f-ing good!   

Good Luck to everyone trying to quit. YOU CAN DO IT.

  

Edited by Robbie R - 3/3/10 at 11:26am

Did anyone who used to smoke find that after meals was one of the toughest times not to light up?  I thought that was the most difficult time for me.

My two year anniversary was last month.  I used Chantix, after trying everything ever made for smoking cessation.  The thing about Chantix is it blocks nicotine receptors.  You smoke the first week while taking the pill and by the end of that week you are getting no nicotine buzz at all.  It's like drinking non-alcoholic beer.  The knowledge that if I smoked I would get all of the bad with none of the good kept me off smokes until my 3 months with Chantix was up.  After that, the cravings were so low, it was a breeze. 

Like Joe said above, the nic fits are ripping your mind apart for a while, but if you fight them for ten minutes, they are gone.  After 3 months, they last about 3 minutes.  After 6 months, 1 minute - which is easy.  After a year, 10 seconds tops.  After 2 years, I smell smoke on people's clothes and it grosses me out.  Not to the point where I'm one of those Nazi ex-smokers (I swore I'd never be that), but it is kind of gross. 

So after 25 years, Chantix was a godsend.  Some people get really depressed or have bad dreams.  I had a lack of enjoyment while I was on it, great food was just blah, a great baseball game was "ho hum",  but no real depression.  As far as bad dreams go, there was this one dream about a woman tattooed with strawberry vines, but it went away after 3 days (darn it!).

So stick to it Tyler, you can succeed.  It seems hard, but get stubborn.  If you think you can handle it, buy a pack and leave it unopened on the counter.  Tell yourself that if you open it, you are a loser.  My last pack is still on my counter, unopened, after 2 years.

I quit once and for all on March 31, 2009. What did it for me was reading a book called The Little Book of Quitting by Allen Carr. Nothing fancy really, just a pocket sized book that makes a lot of sense and puts smoking in perspective.

I read the book before I went to bed, smoked one cigarette the next morning when I woke up, thought about something I read in the book and threw the pack away. Haven't had a cigarette since, and don't want to.

Every day since I quit, I've put 8 dollars in a basket for each pack I would have bought, and we'll be using some of that money to go to Las Vegas for my one year quit anniversary. On March 31 of this year, there will be $2,920 in the basket.

For me, I found it pretty amazing how much better I felt after I quit, and how quickly I noticed the change. The night time cough was gone within a week, and the throat tickle that made me cough at least once a day took just two or three days to go away. Within 2 weeks I was sleeping better, my sinuses stopped bothering me and when I came down with a cold it took 2 days to go away instead of a week or more.

Mark:

Make sure you get rid of all your ashtrays, lighters, etc. in the house and in your car. Chantix is good and its works for a lot of people. I quit when my daughter was born as she has asthma and so does my wife. I still miss the smokes but once they are gone you are going to notice a lot of things.

1) Your taste will come back. You will notice things in food that didn't notice before.
2) Your house, car, etc. is going to stink. You will walk into your closet or get into your car and the smell left over from the cigarettes and wonder how
you could have lived with that smell.
3) You won't cough as much.

Take the money that you would spend on cigarettes in a week and put it into a savings account. You will be amazed at how much you have in there at the end of the year.

One thing to keep in mind. Don't substitute one addition for another. In other words smokers that quit tend to replace one addiction with another. One such addiction is food.
You can really pack on extra pounds after smoking as your replace your smoking with eating something. Carry around some gum or other things you can chew on to
replace the need to have something in your mouth.

Good luck with the Chantix and congrats on quitting. It is a life changing thing and one that you will have to have the will power to stay away from for the rest
of your life.

This is a matter of personal sacrifice. It sucks, it's hard, you will feel like strangling people for about a month, and it will seem as though there is no way you can make it through....

BUT YOU CAN.

If there was a $20,000. reward on the other end, you would quit. You would succeed. You would endure the withdrawal and find yourself a winner in 5-6 weeks.

Well, THERE IS a $20,000 reward on the other end, if not much more! It won't come to you in a lump-sum cash refund, but rather in a greater weekly expendible income, fewer trips to the doctor, a larger pool of potential friends, a better-smelling home enviornment, healthier children (if you have any), better sex, more energy, a number of years added to your life expectancy, cuts in your health insurance costs, better concentration at work (you won't be spending a half-hour of every hour anxious for the next cigarette break), a much-increased ability to taste food, increased ability to fight off disease, hugely decreased liklihood of acquiring diabetes, heart disease, and numerous cancers...the list goes on and on.

WHAT THE F**K IS STOPPING YOU? Are you suicidal? That isn't a dumb question.

I know, I was a 20-year smoker (1 1/2 packs a day) and I understand what this horrible addiction means to you. One night during a blizzard, I discovered I had only a half-pack of Tarrytons left, and actually went out on foot from house to house begging for my neighbors to sell or give me a pack of smokes. After almost two hours suffering the high winds and painful snow against my face, I was able to get a pack, but almost immediately upon getting home I felt so humiliated and so weak and so stupid that I made a promise to quit smoking. I did finish off the smokes I had, but quit cold turkey the next day. I've never gone back. This whole incident caused me such sheer indignity that the horror of tobacco withdrawal seemed a small punishment. That incident made me ready to quit.

It's probably true that you need to be brought to a point where you are ready to quit, willing to sacrifice, and pissed off enough at yourself and the tobacco companies for keeping you as their slave that you will will endure the 30-45 days withdrawal from smoking that quitting may demand (this depends upon the indivdual -- some people have no problem quitting, others require a longer withdrawal period. Remember that it is said quitting tobacco is far actually more difficult than quitting many hard drugs).

Tobacco companies own a large percentage of our population. Yes, OWN. You might as well be a sex slave, a prostitute. Tobacco companies augment the tobacco they sell with a whole roster of toxic (i.e. deadly) chemicals intended to keep you smoking and addicted to smoking. There have been a few rather spineless laws enacted over the past decade that make it just a tad more difficult for these corporations to entice you and reign you in (do you really think the elimination of Joe Camel from t.v. and billboard advertising is going to affect the sales of Camel cigarettes in the long run?), but you can be sure they are now engaged in increased activity in third-world countries where such laws do not exist. Bottom line: these assholes know what harm their products produce, but they go about promoting them in any way they can to whomever will fall for the bait.

YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR THE BAIT.

Doesn't that make you angry enough to want to rebel?

THEN DO IT!

This sounds self-righteous, and I apologize for that. However, I have a highly addictive personality and I do not kick such habits easily. I found smoking to be relaxing, socially functional (with some people), and part of my very identity. But I am angry, and you should be, too. Corporate America owns you as long as you smoke. On top of that, it is poisoning you! Shortening your life by perhaps decades! Keeping you marginalized in a society that is growing less tolerant of smokers! Costing you a phenominal percentage of your income now that states are increasing tobacco taxes!

There are products and services out there that can support you if you decide to kick this insidious habit and give a big "fuck you!" to the tobacco companies that enslave you. You might not succeed the first time, but repeated efforts are bound to produce results.

Regain control of your life!!!! And good luck.

http://kickbuttsday.org/
http://www.tobaccofreemaine.org/explore_facts/index.php
http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/drugs-tobacco.aspx?id=search_properTobacco#
http://whyquit.com/whyquit/a_symptoms.Html
http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/withdrawal1.htm

Awesome, Mark!  Big congrats! 

 

Congratulations!
 

And, just like in the movies...he gets the girl, too!