My hardest assignment ever

[ourplace_Tn]

It's much easier when Doctor has to remove a kidney. I quit smoking and drinking. Now after six sessions of chemotherapy I am now cancer free. Hang in there it's not easy but it is worth the effort.

 

[BB_TX]

As others mentioned, I think you have to be serious in your own mind or it just will not happen. Half hearted attempts are going to fail.
I quit 30 yrs ago. The dangers of smoking were just beginning to be widely publicized. Decided I did not want to die young if I could help it. So I just quit, cold turkey. I bought bags of lemon drops and everytime I wanted a smoke, I popped a lemon drop. That gave me something to have in my mouth to substitute for the cigarette. By the time the lemon drop was gone, I had forgotten about the smoke (for a while).
Have a good friend who was a 2-3 pack a day smoker for 25 years. He quit several times for various lengths of time trying different methods, usually not very long. Then one day he finally decided it was for real. Threw them away and never touched another.
I think I would have had a hard time just tapering off. Seems you are just prolonging the agony. Stop and get it over with. Don't drag it out. You don't have to worry about counting daily smokes, putting on patches, etc. The first few days are the hardest. But it quickly begins to get easier. And soon cigarette smoke will begin to smell awful and you wonder why you ever did that.
And yes, you will soon begin to feel better, breathe easier, have more energy, food taste better, and you will smell a heck of a lot better.

 

[Egon]

It ain't easy. You have to "Want" very badly.

If you want to stop just quit. No if, and or butts. Just quit.

There was a time I went through two to four packs a day. Cold turkey on May 6. 1986 @ 01:30 PM.

 

[David_G]

Two things you need to succeed
1. You have to want to quit.
2. You must want to not start again.

To do this my wife offered to buy me my dream wood turning lathe ($4500) IF I stopped smoking and stayed clean for 3 months.
Also if I ever light up again she will sell the lathe.

This gave me both a very strong force to make me quit and a reason to stay off.
I still (after 4 years) have times when I would like a smoke but there is a strong reason not to.

Good luck. Find a strong reason and go cold turkey.
My worst was over in 6 days but the habit takes years.
It took me 40 years to get into the habit, it will take quite a few to get out of the habit.

 

[Nasty135]

Bones , My Father lives in St. Marys and he just quit after 60+ yrs. I was floored ... All these years and now he quit Praise the Lord!! he's 72 now

He is or was using the patch... You can DO IT!!! If My Dad can , You surely can...Keep yourself BUSY!!! Get your wifes Honey Doo list and take your time with it...Wax your tractor etc... It takes 21 days to break a habit(pyschological) But the desire may take longer , Just keep positive about it ...You will Love the change it makes not too mention the $$$ you will save (part of Dads motivation on his fixed income)

Best Wishes!! Git-er-done

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Bones,
Well, the only thing I ever smoked was an occasional cigar, which I still do. But my youngest son started when he was a kid and had a heck of a job to quit. He has been smoke free for the past year and a half.
Like Bob Skurka stated earlier, you have to want to quit yourself !!! That is the big one IMHO ! Dont do it because someone else is telling you to do it !
If you want it bad enough you can do it!!!

I wish you the best of luck

I also hope you post back here in a few months that you were succesful !!!

 

[Richard]

Seems you've gotten a ton of good advice.

I've never been a smoker, my wife (then girlfriend) had smoked for probably 25 years and that included watching her mother die from lung cancer AND her aunt acquire emphazima.

Long story made longer , she (wife) was in bed one night and evidently awoke with some kind of chest pain. It REALLY spooked her and she quit "that day", however, she had to use the nicotine gum as a crutch as she replaced her habits (cig when get up, cig when get in car, cig after eating...)

she munched on the gum for I'd guess a year? and then weaned herself off the gum.

To the best of my knowledge, she has never backslid from day 1 of this chest pain. She had tried before but as others have said, until YOU are really ready to make the change, it ain't gonna happen.

I've always told a restauraunt I'll sit in first available, smoking or non smoking.

Now that my wife is a non smoker, she like some others here, has a real distaste for sitting in a smoking section. She also now thinks that the clothes of smokers stink...(funny how she never "got that" when I tried to tell her).

Point being, she is FAR more intolerant about second hand smoke than I ever was (and I was fairly intolerant).

Good luck to you in your challange... don't give up, you don't want to fail yourself or just as importantly, your loved ones.

 

[Haoleguy]

Bones1 - Right off the bat I will tell you that I'm not a smoker but I have been surrounded by smokers most of my life and I do work for a pharmaceutical company. I'm not an MD but in my scientific role I worked directly on finding new therapies for nicotine addiction. It is clear that no one strategy is the end all for all folks but what is clear that a life style/ behavioral change and commitment are foundations to success. For those who have the foundation to start on the path to quiting smoking addiction nicotine gum importantly works for some but it has limited success as it is nicotine replacement therapy. Getting back to my professional life we have this year successfully launched a completely new oral therapy called "Chantix" that does not act by nicotine replacement. The clinical results are impressive but it too is not a magic bullet without the right commitment and foundation. As always when considering therapies first and foremost talk to your personal physician. Their knowledge of you and the commitment to followup is key. I wish you the best.

 

[dullpain]

Yeah - It's TUFF. I'm 57 - smoked since 16 years old - 1 1/2 pack per day.
Decided in early April 06 to quit after scare with chest pains, trip to doctor, stress tests, other tests , etc. All OK , no blockages or problems found.

I used the patch, all 3 steps, for about 8weeks. Last month just on my own will power. Have not cheated once. Could easily smoke a cig. as big as a telephone pole right now, but still resisting. My father had been quit 35 years and said he would not smoke a cig. for anything, but that he did still get the urge... Hope that goes away for me , soon.

As others have said here , I think you have to be ready to quit for YOU, not someone else, and be committed.

So - 3 months and counting, really tuff some days, not so bad others??? Don't really fell much better overall, smell is little better, taste is about same. Think it will take 8 months to a year for benefits as health,smell,taste to kick in??? Don't miss the mess, smell in the house, Cost$$, inconvenience, etc.

 

[turnkey4099]

At age 21 I went from a non-smoker to chain smoking in 6 months (military at a very remote location. Quite cold turkey from a 3-4 pack a day habit about 10 years ago at age about 62 (how memory fades).

I was on the way to the base to buy cigarettes, mind this was back when I could get them about $12 carton, I was half way there when I told myself that I had a lot better use for the $200 I would be spending. Made a U-turn there and came back with the resolve to smoke up what I had and quit. I didn't try to taper off.

Helping with the quiting was my job as dispatcher, they had gone to non-smoking and smoke breaks were few and far between. I figured if I could go for an hour or two without, I could quit.

A few warnings. Do NOT give in to the "just one cig". One sig will put you right back on the things. I had quit several times in the past and every time it was the "just one" that did it.

The -habits- thing is also hard. Even after all this time I still get the urge...well, not an urge, just find my fingers wandering into my shirt pocket after finishing a task, or sometimes while reading or watching TV my fingers get fidgety. Nothing major but it does call it to my attention.

As others have said: WANT TO QUIT, Reward yourself with something - you will be saving major money, put it to something you have always wanted but only after you have been clean for about 6 months.

Harry K

 

[rox]

bones,

Good luck to you. I quit June of 2003. I loved smoking, I really enjoyed it but when they jacked up the price of the cigs and we were going to buy the olive farm I jsut sat in the parking lot at Walgreens and thought about not buying the carton of cigs I was planning on buying and instead bought the patch. I moved form the patch to the gum. Of which I still do chew, but I don't beat myself up over it. I figure I smoked for 35 years, if I chew the gum for a few years it is still better than smoking.

Only 2 things helped me besides the gum/patch.
One was prayer, I would simply pray for help when the urge to run out and buy a pack or bum a cig was very strong.

The second was running. Especially early on. When the cravings were strong I would run until I was exhaused. I had to actually leave some meetings at work and go run behind a building in the parking lot. I would run the craving right out of my system, at least for a while. Now smoking for 35 years I didn't have much lung power to run, but I did it anyway. The exhaustion of running even for 5 or 7 minutes really removed the craving. The good news is I only had to run a couple of weeks, perhaps 2 or 3.
in summary
-running
-prayer
Just don't ever take another puff- ever.

 

[Chuck52]

I spend a lot of time sitting in my car outside the hospital where my wife is a nurse, waiting for her to get off work. If you want a real boost to your determination to quit smoking, that can be a great place to get it. Watching all those obviously ill people drag themselves outside to smoke, no matter the weather, really brings home the addictive nature of the habit. They'll come out in wheelchairs, pulling their IV poles along, with their catheter bags hanging off the chair, and as soon as they get out the door, they light up. I've seen them with oxygen tanks on the chairs and nasal canulas. I bet many of them have COPD (cronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and they keep sucking on those things. They often meet family members who also pull out the cancer sticks as soon as they get out the door of the hospital. I try to park as far from the smoking shelter as I can, because the clouds can get thick.

Good luck stopping. Choking to death has to be a lousy way to go.

Chuck

 

[Bird]

I started smoking a pipe shortly before I turned 19, and yes, I inhaled it and kept it lit most of the time for a little over 5 years. Then when I was 24 and joined the police department, I changed to cigarettes (ash trays in the police sedans were too small to put my pipe in them, and we had no air-conditioning so driving with all the windows open was risky with a pipe - the wind would blow sparks out of it ). So for many years now, I've smoked a couple of packs a day, and occasionally even more.

Quite frankly, I don't believe smoking causes all the problems that the "experts" tell us it causes, simply because all my personal experience has been quite the contrary. Both my Dad and his dad lived to be 80 years old; actually Dad lived about 4 months longer than his dad did. Dad smoked all his life and his dad never smoked. My paternal grandmother, who never smoked and was adamantly against smoking, died a very painful death from lung cancer at the age of 73. My mother never smoked, but since her husband did and her dad did, she was exposed to "second hand" smoke all her life and lived to be 85 (no one else on either side of the family has lived that long). I could give you a lot more examples, but know that nearly everyone would disagree with my opinion on this matter.

So I would not quit smoking for health reasons; however . . ., it's expensive and getting more so all the time, and it's a dirty habit . . . so . . . the evening of the 11th (10 days ago) I smoked the last cigarette in the pack I had in my pocket and just have not opened another pack since. As for the nicotine addiction; maybe so, though I'm not so sure. I didn't feel all that great the first day (the 12th), but otherwise I can't tell there's any physical need. Psychological? Certainly. I've caught myself reaching for my pocket only to find there's nothing there.

My wife says she wants to quit, but so far all she's done is quit smoking in the house. She goes out on the patio (which I wouldn't do in this heat) 10 or 15 times a day for a smoke.

Will I stay quit? I don't know, but probably will, just because it gripes me to pay the kind of taxes they put on tobacco now-a-days. I told my youngest daughter that after 47 years, I just decided I might ought to quit before it became a real habit.

My wife's surgeon recently quit smoking, after trying to quit for several years. He finally went for hypnosis and says that worked for him.

 

[Iowachild]

Rox,

I quit several years ago with the gum and quit it too soon. I was back on cigarettes within a month or so. This time I'm using the gum as long as it takes. Couple pieces a day isn't going to kill me. Besides, the affect of the gum last minutes, but I can chew a piece for 2 to 3 hours and don't even think about cigarettes.

bones1,

Do whatever it takes, just don't smoke! And don't worry what others might say about using a "crutch"! More people stay quit using the aids than those who go cold turkery!

 

[vmarc]

Good for you!!!You will never regret not smoking.You may have regrets if you don't quit.All the advice on these pages is good.you will get much support here ,and it's important to know that others care .I used The American Cancer Society's program which was basically a tapering off system.Eventually though it's a matter of cold turkey.Even one butt a day is hard to stop!!!!!!It's a big change in lifestyle,so it's a good time to try something new .Tai Chi ,Yoga.meditation,horse back riding,anything you've always wanted to do.[You'll have extra money to do it]Good luck and keep us all posted on your progress.we'll be watching.

 

[gsganzer]

Sometimes you need a little prodding to get motivated.

Two years ago, on what was a beautiful April day, my brother broke the news to me that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. He had smoked for over 20 years.

Later that same week, I was blessed with the birth of my first child. I sat there marveling at the miracle of life and what it means to be a parent. I prayed that I'd be able to give her the life she deserves, to always be there for her, to help me teach her what she needs to know and to guide her through lifes most important lessons.

While I sat there with tears in my eyes looking at my daughter and planning our life together, my brother a thousand miles away, looked at his own 13 year old daughter with his own tear filled eyes. Only his tears and prayers were different.

I quit dipping Copenhagen that week. A scourge that had invaded my life and threatened my well being for over 20 years had finally come to an end. There was no way I was going to let it rob a single minute from my life with my daughter.

I laid my brother to rest in February after a 2 year battle due to the ravages of smoking. He left a daughter and family in ruins.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I'm hard on smokers.

It's kinds sorta like the evangelist that was a hellion on earth before he got religion. Same principle, I was once an addict. I smoked three to four packs of Chesterfield Kings a day, non-filters.

I've been clean for about twenty one years.

For me quitting was easy. I'd reached a point in my life where I was ready to quit and so I did.

It all boils down to when not wanting to be an addict is a stronger force than the addiction. Until one reaches that point then one has a heckuva battle to fight. But when one reaches the point where quitting is more attractive for whatever reason then it's a doable deal.

As for the hazards of smoking, I think that's different for every individual. Some people are highly allergic to Poison Ivy. My youngest daughter can break out if she thinks about Poison Ivy. I can have open cuts on my hands and arms and bathe in it with impunity. My brother is almost as bad about an allergic reaction to it as my daughter. My mother was every bit as bad. My father is like me.

Some people can get cancer from second hand smoke. Others can smoke their whole lives without their lung damage from smoke becoming cancer.

What we have to do is decide if we're willing to take that chance with the lives of those around us. Again, my youngest daughter and Poison Ivy, I could very well have a grandson or granddaughter that has a weakness for tobacco smoke induced lung cancer even though I seem to be as healthy as horse even after all the years that I smoked heavily.

The best advice I ever heard about quitting involved the fact that the urge only lasted so many seconds. So when you're quitting all you have to do is outlast that urge for that amount of seconds. Then it's okay until the next urge comes up. Over time the urges come less frequently. And take it from me, after that cigarette smoke will make you ill and quitting is not a problem.

At first I used sugarless gum and then I went to sunflower seeds. But for many years now I've chewed tooth picks. I'll go through periods where I won't chew toothpicks at all and then other times I'll seem to have always one in my mouth.

If someone comments about the toothpicks I usually tell them they beat the heck out of the taste of Metamusil and a man my age does need his fiber.

 

[dancer]

I smoked cigarettes, pipes, cigars from sometime in the late '50's until 1999 although I "quit" twice for about a year each before restarting after "bumming one" at a party. When I finally quit I did it for my fiancee and her daughter who are both mild asthmatics, and thereby indirectly for me (since I got them as a reward when I wouldn't otherwise). I've read all the posts in this thread and everything that was pertinent to me has already been mentioned by someone else, EXCEPT:

I got a doctor's help. Zyban was a fairly new prescription drug then and I'd heard Wellbutrin, the anti-depressant, was a lower-cost, and sometimes more effective, alternative. I asked my PCP for a prescription for Wellbutrin which he gave me along with instructions to use it like his nurse said. And here's what she said: First, she asked me when I wanted to quit after indicating that my answer could be in the range of a week to a month or so. When I said a date which was by chance 22 days away, she wrote the RX quantity for 29 pills of Wellbutrin. I was to take two pills a day for the first seven days and then one pill a day until my target date when the pill supply was exhausted. During the period I was to smoke as usual, and my habit was a little less than a pack a day on average. When the last pill was taken was when I was supposed to quit smoking.

And that's the way it went. Sometime in there I quit *wanting* cigarettes, and it made all the difference. I've never lit another cigarette, or bummed a "drag" or anything similar. It worked. I've been a non-smoker for more than seven years. My current doctor tells me that I have "super normal" lung and breathing capacity. I blew into my stepdaughter's flowmeter and broke it by pegging it so hard -- had to get another for her.

Don't rely on good luck. WANT it!

 

[r0GuE]

I have to do it this time. Anyone have any tips, ideas or stories on how to quit smoking.How you did it etc?
Thanks for any ideas.

My addition to others great advice. Here is a little psychological motivation.

1. GET MAD! VERY MAD!!! Put it in your mind that you will not be a friggen SLAVE to huge corporations whose goal it is, to seperate people from their money regardless of whether or not it kills you, your children, other people, their children. They don't care. Not in the slightest. In fact, they spend millions trying to hide it. It seems less so now, because they've decided to focus on lesser educated parts of the world while the smoke clears (pardon the pun) from the lawsuits.

2. Put it in your mind that you will not be a friggen SLAVE to politicians who levy HUGE taxes on cigarettes and redistribute it (to buy votes) in a myriad of social programs that you should not be forced to fund.

3. Open a money market fund (emigrant direct is paying 5%). It is basically a high interest savings account FDIC insured etc. Faithfully deposit the money you would have spent on cigaretts. It will be more fun than counting how many days months or years it has been. Pack a day for 5 years should show $5,000 or so! Fun to watch.

Good luck brother. Don't give up. PM any of us for encouragement. You've found a pretty unique group of folks here at TBN. Refer to number one above. I'm pizzed as he!! just thinking of it!

 

[zeuspaul]

Just stop. Don't finish the last pack. You will be a non smoker from the moment you took your last puff. The first three days are the hardest.