Quitting Smoking

[Chris_Dog]

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!!!

 

[BlindLemonLars]

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!!!

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.

 

[Chris_Dog]

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

 

[Tenchiro]

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.

 

[Chris_Dog]

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

 

[homebrewer_99]

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.

 

[david_42]

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.

 

[homebrewer_99]

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.

 

[Chris_Dog]

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.

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.

 

[DUCCCC]

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

 

[drummer3]

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:

 

[Chris_Dog]

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.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

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.

 

[brewt00l]

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.

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!"

 

[JustDave]

Good luck!!!

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

 

[JustDave]

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' ......

 

[Chris_Dog]

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' ......

I am OK with that sort or arrangement.

1. I quit.

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

 

[pahiker6]

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.

 

[Ridge Runner]

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!!!

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

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

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.

 

[Cheesefood]

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?)

 

[Desert_Sky]

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

 

[Ridge Runner]

"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.

 

[Cheesefood]

"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.

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.

 

[CodeRage]

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

 

[Hyoscine]

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. : )

 

[olllllo]

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

 

[sudsmonkey]

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.

 

[rohanski]

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.

 

[boo boo]

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.