Quitting Smoking

[Frazod]

Both the wife and I need to quit, and since we've tried to quit at the same time before, and THAT REALLY SUCKED, I took the plunge first.

Haven't had a cigarette since last night. I've quit several times in the past, sometimes for up to three months - quitting ain't the problem - it's staying quit that kicks my ass.

Any advice on non-smoking methods/products or encouragement would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by bringbackmarty

Good luck man. My advice would be to sequester yourself for a minimum of six weeks away from your smoking friends. (If your wife is still smoking than this is impossible.) after six weeks, then you can go hang out with your smoking friends, but only for 1 hour, no more. the following week, maybe make two hrs. if you go to a bar or place where people smoke, try and limit your time there to minimize the temptation for relapse. I did the gum for three days to get me over the 48 hour hump. then quit cold turkey. I was ready, just as you will be someday, hopefully now. Exercise helps some. I tried zyban another time, which did cut down the cravings, but I had to step down off of that because of the dizzy side effects I was having. hope this helps.

To be fair you had a couple other motivating quit factors, right?

[Biohazard]

Originally Posted by onescrewleftuntwisted

I WAS AT THE DOCTORS OFFICE YESTERDAY MY LEFT LUNG IS FULL OF FLUID MY RIGHT ABOUT HALF FULL AND ALL OF THIS STARTED AFTER I QUIT SMOKING

7/16 of one inch Turn It Off!

[onescrewleftuntwisted]

why you neg reping me i will never know, calling me stupid for stating the truth, i dont get it man

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by onescrewleftuntwisted

why you neg reping me i will never know, calling me stupid for stating the truth, i dont get it man

Use your brain. You have one lung thats useless filled with fluid. The other is half filled with fluid. But your not in the hospital? If this is true you need to go see another Dr. and or head to the hospital ASAP.

[Bowser]

There might be a few things here to help you out -

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzz_log/entry/2005/08/15/1700/

I didn't really look it over, just saw it and passed it along for you.

[teedubya]

I quit smoking tobacco. The trick is linking in your mind more pleasure to NOT smoking cigarettes, and linking MASSIVE amounts of pain to smoking cigarettes.

Once I made that correlation in my mind, I never again smoked a tobacco cigarette. Not once since 1997.

Also, here is a good way to stop smoking, www.air-2.com it is a vaporizer, where you can load tobacco or any herb... and get only the good essense from the plant. Many people are using it as an alternative to smoking cigs.

The fire from the cig, and the heat really bugged me. The fact that I am burning all these toxins and having them go in my lungs and body, bothered me. My g-ma died of lung C... and I linked that to the experience. Plus that stanky clothes, car and fingers from smoking.

I felt so much better when I stopped smoking. Very pleasureable and rewarding to have quit.

[teedubya]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Okay you are now an official idiot. I'll notify AliChiefs to have your status made "Official".

Pot meet kettle. Every thread you used to post had OFFICIAL in it, sucka.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by chagrin

OK, I will fix mt errors...

I smoked 2-3 packs of Marlboro "Reds" daily, for 11 years (from 14-25) woke up one morning coughing up blood and quit.
I started smoking again 7 years later for 2 years. I simply tired of it and quit.

Here's what my experience taught me:

You will quit when you are strong enough and ready to quit. You can't win a fight with your body, it's a fight you can't win.

Frazod, you seem like a pretty strong willed dude from what I read on here. It's all about your will - power. Do you believe your will is strong? It is the only thing that will keep you from starting again. Think about how you would like to wake up tomorrow morning coughing blood, or unable to walk 2 blocks. Consider the punishment and IF you are ready inside, you will be successful.

Good luck dude!

P.S. As I have mentioned plenty of times here, I am a cancer survivor. Be strong!

I use to sell smokes out of my shop, and I have heard it all. IMO, you will quit when you have "willed" yourself into being a "nonsmoker". You cannot look at it like, "I haven't had a smoke for a month." That just means your dieing for a smoke and haven't had one for a while.

You have to get to the point of, "smoking, whats that anyways, those filthy rotten smokers, they should quit and clean up the worlds air and save a lot of money."

Hope I helped.

For your retirement fund, put the 3 bucks a day in your IRA for the rest of your working life and see how much money you retire with, AND have healthy lungs. BE a non smoker now.

Good luck.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by chagrin

HA, sorry, I will say it myself...Frankth and Beanth!!

I started when I was 14, quit when I was 25...11 years.
I apologize. thank you for correcting me

LOL, you don't appologize to Delt for anything except to appologize to the fat chick who's life he just ruined.

[Fire Me Boy!]

My wife keeps saying she's going to quit... blames her habit on an oral fixation. I've offered to give her something to suck on ANY TIME she wants.

In all seriousness, I'm done arguing with her about her smoking... I know she won't quit until she's ready to quit. Hopefully that sooner than later. I used to smoke quite a bit, but I've always been strange in my "quitting." I, too, like to smoke -- it's not about addiction, and the reason I can say that is used to I would smoke a pack a day for a few months, then quit outright for a few months, no problems whatsoever. None. Zip. Then, six months or a year later, I'd decide to start again. This last time around, I got bronchitis in January and decided that was a good time to quit again (since I wouldn't have one while I was sick, anyway). I haven't even contemplated having one since then. And summer's always been a deterrant for me -- I don't like inhaling hot air. (I'm full enough as it is).

I consider myself lucky in that regard -- no withdrawal symptoms, never a need to smoke, or mood changes when I do/don't have one... just the taste and ritual involved.

[ct]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I use probably know I'm a former smoker of 13 years and worked as a Respiratory Therapist for 10 years. I use to teach classes on quiting smoking.

The most important thing is the "want to". Every individual is different. If you are quitting smoking because you cough up phlem and "need to" you will fail. It's just too damn hard. What works for one person doesn't work for another.

For me it was seeing myself as an addict. It altered my moods. Made me happy when I got my fix, made me irritable when I needed my fix etc etc. Just because society says its legal didn't mean it was okay with me. I don't like to be told what to do. The nictione was telling me what to do. Quit cold turkey first time. Had a craving for a cigarette 8 years later. Go figure.

The first 48 hours are the worst. Get by that and your odds increase 38% in being successful in the long term.

You can use the gum but try not to use it too much. Its a crutch that if you need it to walk okay but if not don't use it.

Quiting smooking is about changing your life habits more than weining yourself off of a drug. Try to drink a diet coke or something after meals. Drink water with meals. Do something and more importantly plan something for when you would normally smoke. After sex take a shower. Eat some peanuts when you are drinking a beer. Have a beer where theres no smoking. Instead of a smoke break take an internet break. Buy your new pony or the wife something instead of smoking.

But the bottom line is the "want to". You are either ready to quit or you are not.
PM me if you like.

Damn good advice!

I've not read thru this whole thread yet, hopefully I won't continue reading and discover you caved in fraz. Stick with it, bro!

I've been a pack a day smoker for 17 years, 1/2 my lifespan. The last year or so have been a constant battle to not buy another pack. Used to always buy cartons, much cheaper, but I tried to quit again about a year ago, and it's been single packs or 2-3 pack specials ever since. Some kind of mental hedge that if the nerve strikes strong to quit, I won't throw away as much $, yet I haven't in a year, hence have spent a helluva lot more $ on smokes the last year.

The last couple weeks especially have been hard, been so close to throwing them out so many times. I just had orthodontic work, and had them removed 3 weeks ago, picked up the retainer 2 weeks ago. Smoking with that thing in there causes some nasty dry mouth, and I've really been struggling back and forth.

Quitting is a bitch to pull off, no doubt about it...

[ct]

Originally Posted by DanT

We don't have any second-hand smoke out here in California. If you want to smoke, you have to go to Nevada or Mexico.

Now that's funny!

[go bo]

Originally Posted by Soupnazi

I think I'm going to have to try hypnosis. I've tried quitting several times, but the bottom line is that I just like smoking. I'm only about a 1/3 pack/day guy and it hasn't really affected my health since I'm still a big runner and workout guy. I would imagine if I felt like crap or coughed a lot, it might be easier, but that's not the case.

Anyone try hypnosis and been successful with it?

yeah, it worked for me until i stopped goint to the shrink to get hypnotized...

within weeks i was back up to more than 2 packs a day...

some people swear by it, though...

[go bo]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

My wife keeps saying she's going to quit... blames her habit on an oral fixation. I've offered to give her something to suck on ANY TIME she wants.

In all seriousness, I'm done arguing with her about her smoking... I know she won't quit until she's ready to quit. Hopefully that sooner than later. I used to smoke quite a bit, but I've always been strange in my "quitting." I, too, like to smoke -- it's not about addiction, and the reason I can say that is used to I would smoke a pack a day for a few months, then quit outright for a few months, no problems whatsoever. None. Zip. Then, six months or a year later, I'd decide to start again. This last time around, I got bronchitis in January and decided that was a good time to quit again (since I wouldn't have one while I was sick, anyway). I haven't even contemplated having one since then. And summer's always been a deterrant for me -- I don't like inhaling hot air. (I'm full enough as it is).

I consider myself lucky in that regard -- no withdrawal symptoms, never a need to smoke, or mood changes when I do/don't have one... just the taste and ritual involved.

yeah, yeah, yeah...

so you're one of the lucky ones...

but one day the tobacco bug will take over and you'll be hooked...

did you know that tobacco is a gateway drug to heroin??

[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by chagrin

Thank you Stuart Smalley

that is WAY too dramatic. Frazod, don't let the daisy picker over blow the whole thing. That's what those folks do. Stretch out every single minute to make it seem like it's impossible and you need help to make it.
Rewarding himself with Ice Cream? WTF, is your 'husband' a girl? Or a 8 year old?

No, he's not a girl or 8...

but lucky for me, he's rather orally fixated. And he smoked for 25 some years so it was very difficult to quit as he'd tried gum, toothpicks, the patch, cold turkey, etc.

He's been smoke free now for four years.