Cool glad to see you stuck it out. :clap:

Now go figure out how much money you saved because you quit smoking?

Congrats Tim! I had to finally quit those things as well, along with coffee.

Not money saved so much as money we simply didn't have to piss away on cigarettes. My primary motivation for quitting was financial. As it stands now, the cheapest prices per pack in the area by my house are around $4.00. I noticed a sign in Lake County, which used to be cheap, advertising cartons for $50 like it was a deal. And at the convenience store downstairs (downtown Chicago) they're a staggering $8.00 a pack. I can remember paying less than that for a carton.

Overall, I feel better, breathe easier, certainly smell better, and I don't cough up a pound of goo every morning. And the metrosexuals don't wrinkle their noses at me when I walk down the street now (although I do kind of miss that, because I still hate anti-smoking nazi assholes ).

OTOH, I've yet to lose so much as an ounce of the weight I gained when I quit. That's a bitch.

fuggin' quitters!

:)

Sounds like that would been a good couple of weeks to avoid you. :D

No kidding, it is still not safe. Bowling tonight, that is a real SOB when almost everyone else in the place is puffing. But I think I am finally committed, you set a good example.

To stop a terrorist, Hack will have to become... a rapist.

http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/...2695953796.jpg

I'm ready to stop the terrorists.

Who exactly does he have to rape anyway?

I mean, if it's a Congressman or metermaid I'm cool with it...

Great post dude. I quit 10 years ago and feel better than I have in my entire life. I can breathe, my food tastes better and I save a ton of money.

When I was in Korea in 1968, cigarettes were 20 cents per pack. I should have bought 1,000 cartons.

When you were in Korea in 1968 you should have eaten $20 worth of Kim Chee and died of the runny shits you old cantankerous fugg. :p LMAO

Next month on March 17th It will be One Year for me Smoke free

I quit in December after 36 years of 2-1/2 packs a day. I started smoking when I was a 20 year old in the Army stationed in Korea in 1970. It seemed like everybody smoked and in the evening at the NCO Club when drinking quarter drafts I started bumming cigarettes, but only at night when I was having a beer. One time a guy said, hey cigs are only 17 cents a pack, why don't you buy your own. That's how it started, a few months later after arriving back at the Seattle Airport I remember being shocked at paying 60 cents for a pack, how times have changed.

Now move ahead to 2006, I enjoyed smoking and didn't want to quit, but financially my wife and I have both retired a couple of years ago and just can't afford it. I've been smoking generic cigarettes for the last 15 years, even at that, in Maryland a carton of Basic Ultra Light 100's costs $30, multiply that by every 4 - 5 days a month and it's almost $200 a month.

My wife heard about a new prescription drug made by Phizer called Chantix that was approved in the spring of 2006. Unlike the patch and other type drugs, this has no nicotine, instead it works on the receptors in the brain that crave nicotine. I tried a drug similiar back in the 90's but it gave me nightmares and I had to quit. I told my wife if she got a prescription I would give it a try.

First week of December she got the prescription from our family doctor and I took it to Walgreens. Chantix comes in monthly packets, four months total if you want to go that far. The literature tells you if you don't quit in the first month forget about refilling the other months. Each month is $115, my insurance paid only $15 and I had to pay the $100, but I figured I spend that much a month on cigarettes anyway. I purchased the first month, it's marked as starter pack. Each day is indicated inside the package, you take one .5 mg pill a day the first week and then step up and take two 1.0 mg pills a day from then on. The literature tells you to pick a day in the second or third week to quit, I decided I wasn't going to pick a date, either I would lose the habit because the drug worked or I wouldn't.

I started on a Thursday with one pill a day, on Saturday I had four packs of cigarettes left and normally I would of gone and bought another carton, this time I didn't. By Sunday night I smoked the last of my cigarettes and hadn't bought anymore. Chantix is the best product I've ever used, and I didn't even refill the other months. Since I had been off cigarettes almost three weeks when the first month ended, and refills were $100 just like the first month, I didn't get the refills. Also, I was getting some nightmares but not as bad as the other drugs, and I also was wanting to sleep 10+ hours a day, I normally sleep about 7-8 hours, so I quit taking the pills. That was over two months ago and still not smoking.

Deep-

That is awesome..

It just proves that ANYONE can break free of nicotine's horrid addition.

You will not regret it.. here is the thing... in the really tough times..

NO MATTER WHAT DO NOT SMOKE!

just that.. NO MATTER WHAT DO NOT SMOKE!

stick to your guns you can do it

Congrats!

72 hours without a cigarette.

Starting to think that I'm gonna make it. God bless those fine folks at Nicorette.

You've set a fine example, Tim. Year and a half...way to go.

Good luck.

And look at it this way - if you live and purchase smokes in New York, with the money you save, you'll be able to buy a fucking Porsche. :D

Been back in KC for a couple of years now....last time I was in NYC in '05 a pack cost $8.75.

How much are they down there now?

$3.35 or so per pack.

Money's is not my primary motivation, however.

I smoked from 1980 until Sept 1st, 2000 :eek:

I have not had a cigarette in 6 1/2 years..one of the hardest things I ever did..WILL POWER my friends!

Kudos to everybody that quit,and those who are trying to quit.

So how is everyone doing? Still smoke free?

Never started cigs. My hats off to all that quit.

I still enjoy an occasional NON Inhaling Stoogie

I started up again. :Pimp:
























Just kidding. :D

I'm trying to quit smoking right now as well. I use the visualization of me sitting in at home, on an oxygen tank, with the inability to go anywhere without the oxygen tank, weezing away, bed-ridden. Then I think about the suffering and pain that my wife, children, and their children would likely go through as a result.

Then I visualize myself on vacation or at a family get together with those same people enjoying myself at that age...enjoying my time with the wife, my grown children, and the little grandchildren.

I think what happens is that we get caught up in the moment too often...we say to ourselves "what's another smoke right now going to hurt?" We rationalize based on the here and now and not the future consequences of the action.

Just think of the misery that you will potentially endure if you continue on the path you are on. Then think of the happiness that you will have if you change paths. That's what is keeping me strong right now.

In other words after 72 hours (when nicotine is out of your system officially), it's all mental...

March 17th It will be one year with no Death Sticks...

Still fighting the wife to quit smoking behind my back its been over a year... we are working through it but damn i wish she could see

Yeah, still smoke free. Had a few tricky, white knuckle moments at work today, but I'm hangin' tough.

Damn it came and went quick....


It feels soooo good to not be a smoker..

I give you a lot of crap because you do a lot of moronic crap, but sincerest of contratulations for this.

Smartest thing you've ever done.

I rarely think about it anymore, which I guess is a good thing. I'm well over a year and a half now.

Hell, I'm even dieting and exercising again. I'll have to dredge up the Fat Bastard thread. :D

LOL Congratulations! And good luck with the rest of it. Geez, next we're going to be hearing that you are going to Anger Management classes and have started hugging Bronco fans! ;)

Seriously, tho, a year and a half and not even thinking about it anymore--that's an accomplishment. Good job!

:)

I'm still getting cravings... some worse than others...

but gum and toothpicks get me through...

I pray in 6 more months they are all gone

Live better and live longer!
20 minutes after you quit, your blood pressure has already decreased, your pulse rate has dropped and the blood temperature of your hands and feet has increased.

2 hours after quitting, you have significantly reduced the nicotine in your system.

8 hours after quitting, the level of carbon monoxide in your blood drops as the oxygen increases to the normal level of a non-smoker. This is one of the best advantages of quitting smoking, as carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and tissues of oxygen.

At 24 hours, your chance of a heart attack has already decreased.

At 48 hours. These will make you smile... a couple of nice little health benefits of quitting smoking are that you will find your sense of smell improved, and as those sensitive nerve endings start regrowing, your taste buds will come alive again.

In 2 to 4 days, all nicotine by-products have gone from your body. That means there is no physical addictive substance left to ****le your brain.

Between 2 to 9 weeks, your circulation improves, walking and exercise will become easier and your lung function increases.

By 3 months, your fertility improves. This is an oft overlooked reason to quit smoking. Men's quality and density of sperm increases and women's chances of conceiving are increased, with less likelihood of miscarriage, or giving birth to babies with higher risks of stillbirth, cot death, premature or low birth weight and lifelong afflictions.

By now, the tar stains on your fingers and teeth will be eliminated.

Within the first 9 months, you will find that you no longer suffer from shortness of breath, and coughing, sinus congestion or fatigue will be rapidly improved.

By 1 year your risk of coronary heart disease is already half that of a smoker!

Also by now, due to increased oxygen, you will have noticeable improvement in your skin and gums. The oxygen goes towards repairing dry skin and premature wrinkles.

After 5 years the risk of lung cancer drops by half. Also your risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas rapidly decreases. And every day thereafter these lifesaving health benefits of quitting smoking increase.

In 5 to 15 years, you will have no higher risk of stroke than that of people who have never smoked!

By 10 years, your chances of coronary heart disease will be virtually the same as that of people who have never smoked. In fact your risk of an early death from all causes virtually disappears and returns to that of people who have never smoked.

Did you know that only 12% of smokers can expect to live to 85, as compared to 69% of non-smokers? Why risk losing even one year of life or being one of the statistical average of smokers and lose 10 years? Or 25 years? Why risk an average of 12 years disability before you die?

If you quit before age 35 your risk is reduced by a dramatic 90% or more, and even if you're over 65 and you quit, your quality of life and life expectancy is significantly increased.


That's a lot of good reasons to stop smoking.

If this is a fear that helps you quit, keep using it and know (as you obviously do) that it's a reality. You explained perfectly the life my grandfather lived until he died a few months back. For the past 2 years, even though he was not in a home he couldn't go anywhere without his oxygen tank and even going up or down stairs required him to take breathing treatment.
My grandpa was a good man, but the kind of grandfather you see in movies and as you described, playing with his grandkids and vacationing he was not, his decision to smoke was also a decision to handcuff himself to a chair and oxygen tank when he got older.

It may be hard now, but your quality of life will be much better in the future. Good Luck :clap:

Who knows what chemicals they put in toothpicks these days, I sure wouldn't smoke those things.
:Pimp: --> :Lin:

Anybody else have any sucess stories with this? I've been pondering quiting (for the 4th time) and am hoping this could be a good alternative.

If you are counting on some kind of pill, patch or med to help you quit you will fail just like before. You have to really want it. Those pills, patches etc. only help you for the first 48 hours while you are having physical withdrawal symptoms.

In the long term your enemy is habit and social settings. You always have a smoke during/after X. Thats where the "want to" comes in. You have to will yourself past those cravings and thoughts. It's not going to be easy. Quitting is too damn hard.

I had a craving for a cig 10 years after I quit.

Two methods to try:

#1 - Hypnosis (98% effective)

#2 - Anti-freeze (100% effective)

My wife took it for a month and smoked the entire time then for whatever reason after she ran out she just stopped smoking.

That was right at the first of the year if I remember right. She grabbed one from a friend of hers the other night (after she'd had a couple beers) took one drag, coughed, gagged said "no f'ing way" and handed it right back.

In her case it seems to have worked but I'm going to add here that she was ready to quit. it wasn't a "I'm quitting because the doctor said to or anything like that. SHE decided it was time and she quit.

I can now drink a beer at a bar without going batshit wanting a smoke. That was brutal when I first quit.

those years aren't very good, anyway

Most of the Citys including olathe around here have banned smoking in bars

I love it...

It helps

Unless I'm just inundated with smoke, being around smokers has never bothered me. I've prided myself on NOT turning into a reformed-antismoking-hypocrit-c#cksucker, and I still think all these bans are fascist crap. But there were certain things that I associated with smoking in my mind, and drinking a Sam Adams on tap was certainly one of them.

I use to chew and that was the hardest time for me after I quit. ALso you may want to stay away from your friends that smoke/chew until you feel like you've firmly kicked the habit's ass.

Quitting is all about "want to" as others have stated. If your doing it for any reason other than wanting to, you will fail. I saw a documentary on some baseball players that had their entire jaw eaten off by cancer. That scared the shit out of me and I felt like a pussy having a chemical dependecy.

Love the avatar slag!

A year ago Sunday past I took a half pack of smokes outa my pocket, crushed em’ up and said I don’t f**king need these anymore.
And quit cold turkey.

Best move I’ve made in the last 20 odd years.

come april 1, it will be 6yr no smoking.

65 hours and counting for me. 67 hours for my wife.

Cool. :clap:
It gets easier and easier to stay on this path the longer you are able to stay away.

Good job all that have quit Cigs.

but I still enjoy a Cigar on occasion.

Problem is thats almost all I ever smoked. Black n Milds and Sampeorna Xtra cloves. The cloves aren't available in the US anymore, so it makes it a little easier to quit.

I quit cigs for 6 months one time, started smoking cigars, pretty soon I was back on the smokes.


I have quit again, for the bazillionth time, for two months. Doc made me quit coffee too, that really blows.

Damn.... I made it a year and didn't realize it...

:toast:

If you didn't realize it then you already have it long since whipped. CONGRATS! :clap:

You must be a real bundle of fucking joy first thing in the morning now. :D

I quit on April 30th at noon. It has been two weeks and I honestly never have cravings anymore. Every once and awhile I get one but easily fight it off. The fiance has been a big help in getting rid of my habit.

Awesome Man!

Keep it up

it really is one of the best things I ever did

Cigars no inhale....but the smoke flavor will force you back...

Cold Turkey would be tough, but. Coffee/Nicotine stimulate the same area. Dr. will get you to quit coffee too.....

Oh and what Frazod said :D

I was the poster that wrote a couple of months ago about using the drug Chantix back in December to quit my habit of 2 packs a day since 1970. It's now been five months and I'm still smoke free, however after 36 years of smoking I did damage my heart.

About a month of ago I went to my doctor complaining about my feet hurting, he ordered a whole list of tests and x-rays, one of which was a nuclear stress test. A week after the test the cardiologist called and wanted to see me right away, he found blockage in my heart.

Last Thursday I went into the hospital for what's called an angioplasty. Your in a regular operating room enviroment but your in a twlight sleep condition, you can hear and see what's going on and you can answer their questions but you don't feel any pain, you will feel some pressure in the hip area when they are performing the procedure. The surgeon snakes a wire type device up to the heart from the vein near the top of the leg next to the groin. They put dye in your blood and can watch what they're doing with an x-ray type machine that is just above your head. After reaching my heart they found one artery was 100% blocked but had created it's own collateral artery in it's place, which they said is common. The middle artery was 50% blocked, so this is where the term angioplasty comes into play. The end of the wire can expand, they call it a balloon, and this expansion knocks out the blockage and then they insert a hollow metal section to reinforce the area. Much the same way a plummer puts in a new piece of pipe, this tubing is called a stent. My artery on the rightside was OK, so nothing was done to that one.

After one night in the hospital I was back home on Friday and really didn't feel much pain, it was a fairly easy procedure considering they are working on the heart. My doctor said to rest a week and then I can resume normal activities and I'll have more endurance than before since my heart will be working much better.

Why anyone starts smoking is beyond me. Absolutely disgusting. Glad I never picked up cancer sticks.

it's been 7 weeks for me now.... Keep up the good work. I used chantix for a month and decided against shelling out another $135.00 for a months supply. If you really want to quit than you will. you have to have it in your own head to quit and you will.. I even went to a lynard skynard concert and had people smoking all around me. i'm not going to lie and say i didn't want a cigarette but if you have it in your mind that you want to quit than you won't break.....

good luck and drop a line if the cravings get too much.....
we're all here to help...

B

i must have quit twenty times, sometimes up to 6 months before starting up again...

while some remdies work better for some people, i finally quit after a year of using the nicotine gum...

i would take half of a piece of the gum, chew it like 5-10 bites (do NOT make the mistake of thinking that this stuff is like regular gum; do not chew it like gum - you will get sick to your stomach if you just pop one into your mouth and chew it like gum)...

start with half a piece and adjust so that your craving for smoking is minimized...

at first i was using the gum more than 10 times a day, but as the year wore on it took less and less gum to keep me from wanting to smoke...

the other big advantage to using the gum is that you can use it every time that the craving strikes (even a year or two after you've quit)...

i finally quit cigarettes (and pipe smoking - no, not that kind of pipe) in '87, but used the gum on occasion over the next year whenever the craving struck (like eating out, being in smoke filled bars, drinking heavily, watching chiefs games, etc.)...

good luck tim, just take it one day at a time...

p.s. just remember that the harder it is for you to quit, the easier it will be to stay quit..

that's what keeps me from even taking a single puff off a cigarette, it was just too hard to quit and i don't ever want to go through that again...

I like the way a fresh firm pack feels in my hand.

I like peeling away that little piece of cellophane and seeing it twinkle in the light.

I like coaxing that first sweet cylinder out of its hiding place and bringing it slowly up to my lips.

Striking a match, watching it burst into a perfect little flame and knowing that soon that flame will be inside me!

I love the first puff, pulling it into my lungs... little fingers of smoking filling me, caressing me, feeling that warmth penetrate deeper and deeper until I think I'm going to burst!

Then... watching it flow out of me in a lovely sinuous cloud, no two ever quite the same!

I quit smoking about 5 years ago when we lived in Colorado. I, foolishly, started dipping again, though. Started back slow, only dipping when we were outdoors or working in the yard. Now I'm full on with the dip again, going through about a can a week (which isn't that bad, but still).

Welbutrin, Frazod. It’s what helped me quit.
Course, I think it has as much to do with your mentality. By the time I tried it, I really wanted to quit, had come to hate cigarettes, the smell and especially the cost.
I know guys that have quit and remember to the day when they had their last cigarette. Personally I can’t even remember how long it’s been now. That’s how much I miss them.

This is an old thread - I haven't had a smoke since August of 2005.

But thanks anyway. :)

I am actually a Doc(man do I hate to let that out on here) and I have recently had some real success with the Chantix. It is a medication you take in two stages and usually within 3 -4 weeks the patient has stopped smoking. It would be worth asking one of your health care providers about.

Good for you. :thumb:
And I’ll be sure to look at dates of quoted posts more closely next time. :redface:

People, the statistics don't lie. I quit cold turkey on Saturday. It's been hard but with deep breathing\relaxation exercises, vigorous exercise, proper support, and reading this website: http://whyquit.com/
I know I can do it, and you can too. I quit for five years and relapsed a year ago. Nicotine addiction is an insidious disease. Make sure you read this story:
brians story

11 week anniversary today...hell yeah.

Tomorrow will be one week. And not to brag, but it has been fairly easy for me. I just quit cold turkey. I walked up the back porch and my wife asked if i wanted the last smoke in the pack. I told her i didn't need them anymore. Anyhow, I've got the worst chest pain/pressure that I can ever remember. I keep reading that its normal. Anyone else experience these, and how long before they are gone.

14 weeks yesterday.

You should call your doctor and ask him about it.

I think one of the best things for you to do would be to take up a hobby. Lift weights, go running, fishing, whatever. Constantly keep your mind focused on something else other then smoking. Its bad for you man. I honestly dont put a whole lot of confidence into the patches or the gum. I think theyre a waste of money.

See your doc ASAP.

Its not as if the pain is unbearable. I never really had chest pains when i smoked except the occassional Sunday after a long saturday night. This is more like someone kicked me in the ribs a few days ago. Just kinda nonstop soreness.

Again, this thread is from August of 2005. I'm almost at the two year mark now.

Two years. No cigarettes.

Very cool! :holdman: