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Author Topic: How Did You Ex-Smokers Quit Without Relapse? Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-04-2003 06:45 PM                        quote: Bobby wrote: There's no sensation quite like having a glowing tobacco ember fly up under your eyelid and burn your eyeball. I had that happen to me once on a speedboat ride with my dad and one of his friends. I had the priveledge of sitting directly behind my dad's way cool friend who smoked. Of course he just had to light up while racing around in the speedboat, and my eye got hit. Nice. I have never smoked. Never even been curious. I have never tried weed or any other drugs, either. I just don't care. Why people are attracted to these substances is beyond me. Maybe low self-esteem and the need to feel "cool"? I dunno. Both of my parents smoked. My dad quit 25 years ago or so. My mom quit 5 months ago when she came down with lung cancer. She's still in chemo. She's strong and she'll make it through. But unfortunately it took finding out that she had lung cancer to get her to quit. She said that she never thought it could happen to her.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-04-2003 09:17 PM                     You guys are wonderful. I have received email from some of you, and I must say I am overwhelmed. I have misty eyes as I type this. As I go through life, sometimes I get the feeling that nobody cares. Friends like you make all the difference in the world.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-04-2003 10:47 PM                     In late high school and early in college I smoked the occasional cig at a party, etc. I never someked regularly. Later on, in college I started to smoke a lot of dope. I did a lot of other drugs too. I had a severe overdose and ended up in the hospital. Later on, I found out that the toxicology report said, in effect, that I had taken enough pure MDMA to equal the LD-50 dose for a person my size. (I had a 50-50 chance of dying.) The day I got out of the hospital I started having flashbacks and nightmares. I decided I had enough of that shit and I went right out and found a shrink to help me get off drugs. It's been almost 15 years since I have even LOOKED at a joint. However, one of the "deals" I made with myself was that it was "OK" to smoke cigarettes. Now I'm trying to quit the cigs. I've had a decent track record so far. I've gotten down to a few cigs a day and then I went "turkey" last January. Since then I have had some "flare ups", though. There are days when I just HAVE to have ONE friggin' smoke! Sometimes there are people to bum them from. If I can bum one, I smoke it and that will be it. If there ISN'T anybody around I have go buy a pack. I smoke my one cig and then put the rest of the pack out in the garage some place. This process repeats itself every few weeks. Right now, I'd say that I'm 75% quit. The thing that peeves me off is that you can't go out and buy just ONE cigarette! You have to buy a whole pack! That means I'm going to smoke the whole damn thing! You'd think that with all the bad publicity and lost revenue, tobacco companies would come up with new and different marketing strategies. I'd say that selling 5-paks or 10-paks would be a good marketing gimmick for people who want to go out, socialize and have just one or two cigarettes but who don't want to smoke all of the time.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-04-2003 10:49 PM                        Joe: Best of luck to your Mom. Hopefully, they found it in time to treat it effectively. I hear treatment has improved dramatically since 1976. Betsy's Dad was part of an early study on chemo that helped improve today's treatments.  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-05-2003 02:02 AM                        Other than the stuff I wrote in the earlier thread: When I quit cold turkey, it wasn't easy; for a month or so it felt like the skin all over my body was covered with crawling spiders. I really found myself at times wanting to chew through wooden door frames. It's not pretty. One of the things I think helped the most was that I didn't stop taking smoke breaks. The nice thing about smoking is when you finish a job, you go, "Whew! It's time for a smoke now!" Or on tough jobs where progress was minimal & you say "F*ck this, I'm going to go have a cigarette!" Or just that cigarette you'd have every hour or so, I would still go on the smoke break. Go out to designated smoking area you can find, & have a virtual cigarette. Keep your mouth closed, get that slow, deep inhale through you nose that you do after the first puff, look up & into the distance like you do after you light up & get that relaxation going. Do the relaxed walk & look around. Basically, smoke each pretend cigarette. Join other smokers you see on breaks, tell them you're quitting & just want to enjoy their second hand smoke, suck it in, enjoy that wonderful smoker group company & conversation. There's still enough cigarette smoke & crap in your mouth & lungs to taste in "diet form" while you have your pretend cigarette. But don't stop taking those smoke breaks. They are YOURS & they're the gold of cigarette smoking! I have a friend who's gone the nicotine patch route. He's going into his second year on the patch. He got prescriptions & sources to keep it up while he took his trip to Australia & Japan this spring. He may not be tapering down, but just trading from cigarettes to patches is working fine for him. Might as well buy one as the other. I'm pretty sure he'll be off of them at some point. Cold Turkey is the break the bolt & drill it out technique, the patch is the spend a long, leisurely time with penetrating oil, heat, & a wrench route. Also, I think it's important not to get stressed over relapses. Just cuss & start back in on the job when you can. Bob Maar wrote: quote: I started smoking at age 6 steady at age 10 and stopped when I was 61 three years ago. Iron Man Bob! When I quit, I turned into the freaking Werewolf of London. I was self-concious about people's response to me at first, but I just decided the people I met had to deal with it. It's kind of cool to be the Werewolf of London for a while.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-05-2003 11:52 AM                     One thing I discovered is that I have too much time on my hands. Seems like when I find something to do I can keep my mind off the problem for the most part. I was just reading something from the surgeon general website, and it mentions talking to someone, go for a walk, drink water (I feel like a tanker right now) or get busy with a task. I also know much of the smoking problem is stress related, and I have discussed that issue with physicians in the past. The last time Josh and I went to Texas, Josh would not allow me to smoke. I really appreciated that. He took his ground and held it. He is a very strong minded person. After the first day or so on that trip, I did have some problems, but the remaining part of the trip the problem was much easier to handle. I actually thought I had it made. But what I didn't know is that stress was building slowly, and when we got back to North Dakota, that's when I lost it and stuffed a cigarette in my mouth and lit it when Josh was not looking. It made me feel like shit because I tried so hard and still lost the battle. That adds to the stress level. I still feel badly about it. Josh mentioned drinking tea instead of coffee. I just verified that in the surgeon general's website. That's something I never really considered much, but it does have merit. I am a heavy coffee drinker, although I don't drink nearly as much coffee as I used to. I have enrolled in the smoking cessation program with the US Navy. Trouble is, the first meeting is 12 August. As far as I am concerned, I wish it were today.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 08-05-2003 12:24 PM                        I had toothpicks and coffee stirrers in my mouth pretty much all day for awhile. Maybe that helped while all those dangerous time-release chemicals were doing their magic! Gotta thank radio for much of the habit, though. Open mic, say something. Play some spots Start up a record. Cue up the next one. Check the log... load up the spots. Wait for record to end (pick up a smoke) go back to top. Then, there was the booth... Make a changeover rewind/reload machine trim lamp wait for reel to end (pick up a smoke) go back to top You were doomed if you did both jobs!  |  IP: Logged Alan Plester Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: great yarmouth england Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-05-2003 12:30 PM                     I got out of bed one day and thought, you have not had a ciggie for 8 hours you CAN go another 8 hours, and that was 20 years ago  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 08-05-2003 01:17 PM                        As part of the US "Tobacco Settlement", the cigarette manufacturers are mandated to provide information on how to quit smoking, and helping young people never start: Phillip Morris Help to Quit Smoking Other "quit smoking" links: US Center for Disease Control Smokefree American Cancer Society American Lung Association Nicotine Anonymous Quitnet US Surgeon General  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-05-2003 04:02 PM                        re: smoke breaks. If smokers get special breaks just because they are smokers, then non-smokers should get special breaks as well. Smokers should not have special rights. If I were an employer, a smoker employee would not be allowed to take smoke breaks of any kind. He/she could smoke when on their regular break. That's it. And no, they can't divide their regular break up into smaller breaks. And obviously they couldn't smoke when they are not on their breaks. They were the ones who chose to start smoking, I didn't choose it for them. So they can deal with it. If they whine, then they can burn in hell 'cause I don't care.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-05-2003 04:43 PM                     I worked with a guy that used to take 20 minutes smoke breaks every hour. I hated that guy.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 08-05-2003 07:06 PM                     I smoked from the time I entered the Air Force in '51 until 1970. I was a projectionist at the Lynn Twin theatre in Lynnwood north of Seattle and had just married my present wife, one of the cashiers. One night I decide I would stop as we were going to have children. About six months later I thought I'd light one up. I did. Got nauseous and dizzy. Haven't touched one since. My example didn't impress the children however. All of them smoke to one degree or another.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 08-05-2003 07:09 PM                        I've heard it said that smoker parents generally tend to have children who also smoke. How true is this? Both of my parents smoked and I nor my sister smoke. On the flip side of that coin I have met smokers whose parents did not smoke. How much of an influence is it really?  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 08-05-2003 07:19 PM                     Paul, I quit 20 years ago. At that time I was nearly up to three packs a day. I quit cold turkey. Needless to say it was tough. The first three weeks were the worst, cigarettes were on my mind ALL the time! Gradually the cravings went away. It's kind of a minute-by-minute thing ... Kept saying to myself: "no, I don't smoke anymore, no I am not going to have a cigarette, no there is no cigarette pack in my shirt pocket". It was probably the toughest thing I've ever done, but I'm sure glad I did it. I figure, if I hadn't quit I wouldn't be here having fun tinkering with these vintage movie machines, and enjoying the great company of all of you film-tech'ers.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 08-05-2003 07:52 PM                     John, I found your links most helpful. Thank you. I was aware nicotine was as addictive as heroin, but I was not aware the addiction is in the same class as cocaine. For the rest of the forum people who read this...please....IF YOU HAVE NOT SMOKED, DON'T EVEN TRY!!!!! You will find yourself on the short end of the stick...just like I did as well as others who got "hooked" on cigarettes.  |  IP: Logged

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