Quitting Smoking

It will be 4 weeks since I had a smoke Saturday. This after 20 years of almost non stop smoking. I am not trying to imply this should be easy but I thought after 3 weeks the cravings would be smaller. I don't think the gum is helping much either. Mainly because I think it is prolonging the addiction (At maybe 5 pieces a week). At any rate maybe at 6 weeks this will start to get easier. I gotta lay off the gum!!!

Chris_Dog said:

I don't think the gum is helping much either. Mainly because I think it is prolonging the addiction (At maybe 5 pieces a week). At any rate maybe at 6 weeks this will start to get easier. I gotta lay off the gum!!!

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My boss quit smoking 15 years ago, using the gum. Problem is, he STILL chews the gum, several pieces a day! Basically, he just traded addictions. Or rather, he kept the same chemical addiction but changed the means of delivery. Oh well, at least his lungs aren't suffering.
Anyhow, good for you! It'll get easier, just hang in there.

Yea I am not really interested in replacing 1 addiction for another. However for the moment the gum is keeping me from considering smoking.

I quit with the patches, back in like 1998. But because the sheer volume of Nicotine shooting through you with them I supplemented with Benadryl. Which nornally puts me to sleep but balanced out the Nicotine perfectly.

I take that back... I am really committed to not smoking and having a smoke is not even a consideration.

I smoked for 18 years. I quit smoking over 17 years ago (Mar 08 will be 18).

I quit after 5 days of no smoking. Never had the urge again even with many a smoky Gasthaus. In fact, it reinforced the fact that I did n't need it anymore.

I would quit the gum also since you are keeping the flame alive that way and making the company even richer.....just my thoughts.

Also, want to do yourself another GREAT favor? I put the numbers to gether for my granddaughter and her husband once. I can't remember them verbatim, but if you saved what you smoked at 1 pack per day (say $4.00), you'd save $1460 per year. At the end of 20 years you'd have $29,200. Now we all know that's not going to happen. The price of cigs are going to raise even higher almost every year, plus there's compounded interest. I'd put a conservative number on it at over $40,000 in 20 years.

My point is you have been putting that in your budget while you smoked. Don't steal from Peter to pay Paul (spend it elsewhere), pay yourself first. Put that same amount of $$$ away in the bank as a reward for the future.
And if you smoke 2 packs a day you can double that...

In the case of my gd I said $80k since they both smoke.

Good luck and hang in there. It's all worth it.

And we owe it all to a guy who was just looking for a faster way to dry tobacco!

Hang in there. My mother smoked for decades & spent the last 7 years of her life dragging an oxygen tank around.

Yeah, I forgot that...my dad died several years ago of emphazema (sp?) and my mom this past April. My mom only weighed 65 lbs when she died.

I tried to get them to stop after I did, but I wasn't successful.

david_42 said:

And we owe it all to a guy who was just looking for a faster way to dry tobacco!

Hang in there. My mother smoked for decades & spent the last 7 years of her life dragging an oxygen tank around.

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Certainly motivation howerever my problem is more blood preesure related. More that likely I would die of a massive heart attack or stroke before I got old enough to pull an O2 tank around.



EDIT... man I am the king of run on's.

I quit after 26 years, just this last July 22.
One word: Chantix™

Hang in there man!!!! It'll be the best thing you ever did! I quit 5 years ago after developing asthma. When you can't breath, nothing else matters. Take back your life! I'm pulling for you brother!:rockin:

Thank you guys!!! I posted in a moment of weakness and you guys pointed out ten reasons not to smoke... thanks again!!!


Run on sentence again.

I smoked for 10 years, about 8 years 1.5 - 2 packs a day. You can do it man, the cravings go away. You just have to enjoy other things or be pissed off. It's ok to be pissed, just DON'T SMOKE!

You need to sto with the gum or the cravings will never go away.

Chris_Dog said:

Thank you guys!!! I posted in a moment of weakness and you guys pointed out ten reasons not to smoke... thanks again!!!


Run on sentence again.

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Keep hanging in there!

All I can tell you is that is does get easier and at some point, you realize you are no longer a "smoker" and you have finally joined the ranks for "former smoker!"

Good luck!!!

It's a tough habit to kick, but you'll (and we'll) be proud of yourself when you finally do.

A guy at work was trying to quit, so I offered to follow him around and punch him in the nuts whenever he lit up.

It might work. I'm just sayin' ......

DaveyBoy said:

A guy at work was trying to quit, so I offered to follow him around and punch him in the nuts whenever he lit up.

It might work. I'm just sayin' ......

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I am OK with that sort or arrangement.

1. I quit.

2. you guys don't know who I am .

Check out this website (if you haven't already):
http://www.whyquit.com

There is a lot of good information on there about quitting cold turkey. After you read some of the articles, you'll see that's probably the best way to go.

Chris_Dog said:

It will be 4 weeks since I had a smoke Saturday. This after 20 years of almost non stop smoking. I am not trying to imply this should be easy but I thought after 3 weeks the cravings would be smaller. I don't think the gum is helping much either. Mainly because I think it is prolonging the addiction (At maybe 5 pieces a week). At any rate maybe at 6 weeks this will start to get easier. I gotta lay off the gum!!!

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It'll be 4 weeks for me this Sun. Today was the hardest by far. I've been smoking for about 20+ years and it's high time I stopped. It's truly the only thing I've ever felt a slave to. I've been using the Commit 1-3 times a day. My brother had some left over when he quit about ten mos ago. It's been working pretty good for me. F@#$ cigarettes they're a waste of $. Good luck DOG I'm right there with you . RR

Exercise helps too. I've slowed down now, started eating more and gaining weight. But when I was first quitting, I was running everyday. Really, really helped keep cravings away for most of the day.

Here's great motivation:

I work for a hospital that specializes in treating cancer. So I did a "listen in" with the people who answer the phone and convince people to treat with us:

Lady caller:

"My doctor just told me I have 3 months to live. I'm 34 years old and have three daughters. I don't want to die."

Nuff said. We get a lot of smokers.

Also, we're getting a lot of women with melanoma in their vuh-jina. They get it from tanning beds. One lady had to have everything in there removed because the cancer was aggressive. If your SWMBO uses a tanning bed, talk her out of the all-over tan. vuh-jinal Melanoma isn't pretty. Much uglier than tan lines.

(Why is the V word verboten?)

right on, grats dude!

it gets so much easier I promise! Im on 10 months myself nicotine free. Ok, well I had a cigar at the Tucson beer fest a couple weeks ago, which almost made me puke....but other than that Ive done great.

I had to quit drinking and stay away from bars for a while, but now I have no desire for a cigarette, and I smoked for 15 years straight.

Stick with it, you can do it! I went cold turkey, because like you said, gum just prolongs the addiction. I was a straight ******* for about 3 weeks, but the wife sure was patient and my rock.

cheers to you and the healthiest decision you could of ever made

"You can get it if you really want it." When I drove a cab I took lots of cancer patients to their therapy sessions. When I saw people with traches it kinda freaked me out. Then I met Robert. I said "Robert, did you smoke?" and he said "Never." Cancer is a bit of an enigma to me. I've seen more than 1 person suffer with it. Cancer effects many different people in many different ways. The fight to quit smoking is a valiant fight. Not for the swift, but the mighty.

Ridge Runner said:

"You can get it if you really want it." When I drove a cab I took lots of cancer patients to their therapy sessions. When I saw people with traches it kinda freaked me out. Then I met Robert. I said "Robert, did you smoke?" and he said "Never." Cancer is a bit of an enigma to me. I've seen more than 1 person suffer with it. Cancer effects many different people in many different ways. The fight to quit smoking is a valiant fight. Not for the swift, but the mighty.

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Survivors are the STRONGEST people you will ever meet because they know how precious life is.

Don't be fooled by any propaganda. I know first hand that your chances of dying a slow, painful, agonizing, costly death are greatly increased by smoking. I smoked for 14 years and am just about 2 years on the wagon. But your life will change once you've accepted that you're an non-smoker.

Hey Chris_Dog, hang in there man, it aint easy. I smoked for seven years and was up to 2 packs a day before I quit cold turkey. It SUCKS. You have to keep at it and really want it. It takes alot of will power to do it but any one who can do it will garner my respect.
As for the cravings, I wont lie to you, I had them for years. The first couple of months you think about it every waking instant. Then you kind of think about it a couple times an hour, then once an hour, couple times a day, etc etc. Until one day it kind of dawns on you, 'Man I havent thought about a smoke for months!.' Fight it one craving at a time. I would drop the gum, I know so many people how chew that stuff years after they quit.
The other thing that will help out alot would be to avoid doing anything you associate with smoking. I couldnt play pool for years.
You know you are a non smoker when you get a whiff of smoke and find it repulsive. That or watch a cute girl light up and think 'damn thats a real shame'
Hang in there man, I am rootin for yah

I found once I'd quit for about a year, it started getting difficult again. The novelty had worn off a bit, and you know, smoking feels great sometimes. Hang in there though. It's really excellent you've decided to quit, once you find you can run about like you could five/ten years ago, there's not really any going back. : )

Your beer will taste better (as will everything else). Smoking kills your sense of taste.

I quit 2 years ago after 2-3 packs a day for 22 years. Yesterday I had a chest x-ray. There was definate damage, but no cancer. Doctor says the damage should be gone in another 6 years.
I used to want a cigarette every second of every day. It made me dizzy just to think about it. My system was all f.ed up from the addiction. Now. I think about it a couple of times a month. It's no longer a physical craving for me. I see someone smoke on TV and think that I'd like one. If someone smokes around me in person, I never want one. Smelling the smoke is enough to keep me from having one myself.
I traded cigarettes for chewing tobacco. Just as bad/ worse, I know, but my lungs and my family appreciate it. I'll kick that next.

I only smoked a couple of years about 25 years ago. It was very difficult. Screw those patches though, go cold turkey. The results are far more successful.
My father smoked and dide a couple of years ago of lung cancer and my mother also smokes and has asthema. This year she got a flesh eating bacteria and almost died but was in the hospital and rehab for six weeks without a smoke. When she got out she started again. This stuff has a powerful adiction.

One big problem with quitting is beer switches on the smoke switch.

Good luck to you.

I quit 3 years ago by using the nicotine inhaler. Worked for me for a month then I had to quit the inhaler cold turkey. Quiting smoking isn't easy, but if you really want to then you will. BTW, I smoked for 30 years.

I made it work for me by buying a kegerator. I paid it off with the savings I got from not smoking in less than 5 months.

Good luck kicking the habit.

Congratulations on working to quit! I've had several addictions in my day and quitting smoking was one of the toughest. Hang in there, the cravings will go away. A side-note on the gum, you may have to ween yourself off it once you get a little farther along the path to quitting (my grandmother chewed the gum for 10 years when she quit smoking).

Congratulations and welcome to the club! October marked two years for me. I did Zyban (highly recommended), but my father in law has been on the lozenges for 4 years. His doctor opines that he should quit the lozenges, but is clear that ANYTHING is better than smoking.

ma2brew said:

I quit after 26 years, just this last July 22.
One word: Chantix™

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Yea for you!


As for the cravings, they get milder and farther apart with time. When they come, just commit to yourself that you will not smoke no matter what for just 5 minutes. If after 5 minutes, you simply cannot stand it, then you may smoke.

BTW, cravings usually pass in 3-4 minutes

I went cold turkey.

The best tip I can recommend is to psychologically prepare yourself. Get in tune with how disgusting it is. How bad it smells. Take a look at old smokers and see how damaged their skin is and listen to their voices.

You need to hate smoke. It smells aweful when you're not smoking. It leads to burned clothes, a nasty smelling car. Think about how gross they are - would you ever eat a cigarette? Why would you put something in your body that would make you violently ill if you ate it? Look at overflowing ashtrays. They're disgusting. Smell old, cashed out cigarettes.

You should feel shame when smoking. It's a weakness. It's a personal flaw that you have control over.

Then remember, it takes only 48 hours for the physical addiction to leave. After that point, it's your mind playing tricks on you. Fight back!

Go out to a bar with your friends. A bar that allows smoking. Make it one night out. That's all you need. One night at a bar with your smoking friends where you don't have one. You can make it one night. Be strong. Be brave. Be confident. Smell the disgusting smoke and hate it.

The next day you'll wake up feeling good. You won't have a headache. Your clothes will smell horrible. You'll realize how bad you smell when you smoke. You smell disgusting to non-smokers, no matter how long it's been since your last smoke.

Tell everyone you know that you've quit. You need to make sure they know so they'll think you're a failure if you start up again.

You have to fight, but in the end it'll work. I don't have cravings anymore, and my friends are chimneys.

I agree with cheesfood. Smokers smell horrible. Sometimes when I am driving down the highway I can smell the person in the car in front of me smoking even with the windows rolled up. I don't think I could smell him fart so you know how bad it is.

Been reading this thread and have gotten some real inspiration.

Tired of the smoker's cough and wheezing (ocassionally).

Won't give up cigars (3 per week), but dont (and couldn't even if you tried) inhale them.

I read about the therapist saying "remember how you felt before you smoked".

Going to try that one with the gum and cold turkey.

Good for your Brewer3401! Keep at it and take it 15 minutes at a time

Chris_Dog, how are you doin by the way?

I quit a few months ago after relapsing from a seven year quit. I got into cigars pretty heavy 'till I foud myself smoking 3 Fuentes a day!

I had some pretty bad cravings this afternoon and then I found this thread. Sweet! I feel better now!!!

drummer3 said:

Hang in there man!!!! It'll be the best thing you ever did! I quit 5 years ago after developing asthma. When you can't breath, nothing else matters. Take back your life! I'm pulling for you brother!:rockin:

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Ditto for me. Stay the course. You may be miserable now, but that will pass. Once the cravings pass, you will *never* regret quitting. That anniversary has more significance to me than my birthday...

One thing that helped me tremendously; Don't think about quitting as forever. When you have a craving, just focus on not smoking for the next 5 minutes. Since most cravings are only 2-3 minutes long, they will pass before the time is up. And mentally, facing a craving over days or weeks is impossible. But 5 minutes is easy. You could put up with just about anything for 5 minutes.

Last thought: Zyban/wellbutrin. It seriously helps...

Virtuous said:

Good for your Brewer3401! Keep at it and take it 15 minutes at a time

Chris_Dog, how are you doin by the way?

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Thanks For asking! I haven't had a smoke since I quit! I would be lying to say I haven't been tempted at times. It is hard when my brother and sister in law come over. We drink and they smoke along with my wife (outside of course). I can't wait until my wife quits!!!

I feel better as a whole. The pollen starts getting real bad in FL this time of year. Over the past few years it has been bothering me more and more. Nothing at all (yet) this year!

I can't stress enough that I am SO glad I quit. It is probably the best thing that I have ever done for myself. There are just so many reasons to do it.

Good luck Brewer3401 & EricK the Red!!! It is going to be hard at first but, well worth it!!!