quote:

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Smoking:

The thing is, I smoke more when I'm alone and I spend a lot of time alone.

I spend most of my time on the road alone. I don't have a "core" group of people to depend on every day. The people I DO see on a regular basis don't know me outside of the context in which I work.

I generally WANT to quit smoking but you really gotta' admit that as much as quitting is a "willpower" issue, it takes a lot of support from other people to keep you going. This I don't have and it makes it harder to keep off the ciggs.

Now, this sounds like a cop-out: The reason why I started smoking cigarettes was to replace the things I USED to smoke. At the time it was a lesser of two evils. After a while the habit stuck.

I really have been interested in quitting. I have a question about this:

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How can I calculate a mathematical progression to withdraw from smoking?

I have tried to figure this out several times and have never been able to find the information I want.

I smoke Winston (regular)-- How much nicotine does one cigarette give you, on average?

I smoke between 10 to 15 cigs per day on average. Some days I can suck down a pack. RARELY do I smoke more than a pack, unless I'm out at the bar having a few beers.

I weigh about 230 pounds -- What is the first "Half-Life" of nicotine in my system?

Is the first half-life of nicotine the same as the second and third, etc?

How long does the physical addiction to nicotine last in your average person of my stature?

What I'm trying to do is to limit my smoking so down to the first half-life for the period it takes to break the addiction. At this point I'll move down to the second half life and keep that pace until I'm at the third half life. Hopefully I'll be down to the point where I can quit.

For instance, I get 2 mg. of nicotine per smoke. Nicotine's 1/2 life is 1 hour. It takes 7-10 days to break the addiction. Therefore, I can smoke 1 cig per hour for the first week. Then I can smoke one cig every 2 hours for the next week.... One cig in 4 hours for the next week... etc. etc. etc.

I suppose I could just make up my own schedule but I'm a geek and I just want to know the information in the first place. Figuring out the necessary "schedule" is part of the process of quitting. It's an involvement device On top of that there's a sound biolocical basis for the schedule which ought to reduce the urge to smoke when I'm not supposed to.

Making a (quasi)scientific schedule fulfills the physical AND psycological aspects of withdrawl.

I now open the floor for discussion....
 

Try switching to Winston Ultra-Lights. Try not to double how many smokes you go through when you do. This should help (in theory) you when you do decide for good you want to smoke.

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Kyle Abel
General Manager
Plano Movies 10
 

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--Sean McKinnon
Asst. Manager/Projectionist
Gloucester Cinema 1-2-3
 

At twenty five I know that smoking will kill me turns off eighty percent of the ladies and I couldnt walk down a street in L.A... lol. But I love smoking, I will blindly and dumbassedly continue - until my fall and summertime twenty mile biking trips leave me breathless. But then again, give me a non-cancerous ciggy and I will be the first to stand in line. And also again, if I was smart, I would of taken my b.a. and "done" something in life (ala me wonderful parents observation)and not manage that "theater place" ahh if only we all followed what we love - well through certain directions.

I tried many times to quit. Hypnosis, Acupuncture, Smoke enders, the patch and I tried several times to quit. At one time , I had quit for five months. I wasn't easy to live with and my family called a meeting. They gave me a choice of either I went back to smoking or I could pack a bag and go live somewhere else. I actually did not even like myself, I was miserable. I went out to walk my dog, went to the store bought a pack of Marlboro's went out and lit one up. I felt better but not great. I went back in the store and bought a pack of Camels lit one up and felt instantly better. I had smoked Camels for over 45 years..two packs a day.

Last August, I had gone for an Ultra-sound of the gall bladder as I was experiencing a lot of pain, in that area of the abdomen. While they were checking the abdomen they found a problem I did not know I had. They found an Aortic Anyurism that need to be treated as fast as possible.

I went into surgery a few days later after undergoing many tests. I smoked up to within an hour of being wheeled into the Operating Room. After a six hour operation , I awoke in the recovery room where I stayed for the next three days. I could not leave the recovery room because the oxygen level in my blood was to low. That was just the begining. I had what was called a "Zipper" cut down the front from my breastbone to just above the groin. I had been closed up with metal staples.

I had had a smokers cough from many years. Sometimes the cough's were heavy and deep.
Lying in recovery I warned the Dr's about my cough. I was cough lightly and everytime pain
reverberated throughout my body and I felt that the staples would not hold. On the fourth day I went out of recovery into a room for a day and I was sent home on the fifth day. Once home, I coughed and the top for stitches went flying out. I was rushed back to the hospital and was put back in a room. I kept warning everyone about my cough but they did not listen. The following morning at about 10:15 I coughed and every remaining stitch flew out. I jumped out of bed and I caught all of my innerds falling out. You want to talk about pain...whoa. Needless to say, I underwent two more operations and three months on my back before I could walk around. My primery doctor put me on a pill called "Welbutrin" to gether with the patch. Welbutrin was developed as an anti depressent. They discovered that 98% of the smokers who took this drug, stopped smoking. It woked for me..it took all of my desire to smoke away. I stayed with the pill for four months. I have now not smoked for eight months. I have no desire any longer to smoke. I do not mind other people smoking, I can sit and chat with them and I say, "I use to smoke."

If you need someone to talk to, call me you have my number.
 

I'll see if I can dig up some numbers on the amount of nicotine present in a system after cessation of smoking. It's the addiction to the nicotine that causes the most problems. My father tried to quite chewing tobacco several years ago and couldn't. It's just as hard to quit doing that as it is to quit smoking.

In the case of any tobacco use, the best solution is to never start. Those of you that are non-smokers: I beg you, Please don't ever even think about smoking. Those of you that do, if you are able to quit, I can appreciate the accomplishment becuase I've known very few people that have been able to break that habit. Those that do typically go through a very rough time in the beginning due to the withdrawal symptoms.

Since I'm not used to being around it, cigarette smoke will give me a headache quicker than anything, and I can tell if the slightest trace of it has gotten in my hair or clothes. The tobacco "particles" are quite interesting themselves, since they have their way of adhering to things. Back around 1991, I "inherited" a nice laser printer when a higher-up got a new one in his office. I spent at least an hour repeatedly spraying cleaner on industrial-strength Kleenex type wipes and kept removing yellow gunk from the case time after time after time. The person I got it from smoked a pipe in his office.

One way to quit smoking is just stop and make up your mind you're going to tough it out for a week or so. It's easier said than done.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

I loved smoking!! I loved that first "rush" in the morning on the way to the office, the calming effect it would have before I DJ'd a wedding reception, and beer just doesn't taste the same without one. Ever tried going to a strip joint and not smoke... it can't be done!!

Although I loved to smoke, I hated the smell it left behind on my clothes and my hands. Especially after quitting, the smell "sometimes" bothers me. More than anything though, the smell conjours up old memories.
If somebody asked me what "Summer" smells and sounds like... I'd have to answer with "A combination of Hawaiian Tropic, Marlboro Lights, Jack Daniels - with a little Van Halen or Motley Crue in the background"

I read on a web-site somewhere about the effects of smoking on your body and the time it takes your body to start recovering. I was really surprised to see how fast your body starts recovering. The nicotine will susposedly work it's way out of your system within 2-3 days (which were the hardest!!) I remember the first several days of quitting, my eyes would start watering, my throat would get dry, and I was really restless.

If they could make a cigarette that didn't kill you, didn't stink, but still has that same calming effect... I'd still be smoking today.

Just my thoughts

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Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

Ah ha! Money to be made here, so Glaxo Wellcome repackaged it under the name Zyban. It apparently works for many people. More information on it can be found at: http://my.webmd.com/content/asset/uspdi.202098

If you ask me, once it becomes more widely or popularly known that it doesn't have the side effects of most ADs and can help with kicking the habit, it will become the Prozac of this decade, meaning that the stock price for Glaxo Wellcome could only go up
 

M' Kay! That was low, I know.

Seriously, I have tried a couple of times. Basicly I found out that smoking is a learned behavior. You have to UNlearn how to smoke. To that end, what I do now is to try to recognize when I want to smoke and try make a time delay between the time I want a smoke and the time I light up. For instance, when I first wake up... I try to wait until I get out of the bathroom in the morning and get dressed before I have that first one. Sometimes I'll wait till I get to work before I have the first one. Another time is right after I eat. Instead of having one at the table I wait till I get outside the restaurant, etc. These tactics help a little.

My main problem is two-fold:

1) When I'm alone I want to smoke more. It kinda' keeps me company.

2) When I was a kid, my parents owned a saloon. Being a kid in a world of adults, all drinking and smoking sorta' teaches you that it's a "normal" thing to do. It's easier to start (and keep on) smoking when you don't see it as a bad thing. It sounds "warped" but I feel like I'm "left out" when I don't smoke.

I've heard about Wellbutrin. I'm kinda' interested in that. I just got on the company health plan. I know they pay for some kinds of no-smoking programs. I think I'll check into it.
 

This really isn't about quitting or anything like that, but instead smoking at work. Personally, if someone chooses to smoke, they should be forced to trek absolutely as far as possible to a remote location designated for them outside, regardless of weather. Also, any time the a smoker takes to smoke should be made up for (including the trek back and forth) by staying that much later before departing for home. So if a smoker takes 20 minutes a day (in addition to his/her regular lunch and provided breaks) to smoke, then he/she should have to stay 20 more minutes after work to make up for it (while not being payed, of course). Either that or the time they take should just be deducted from their check. I've seen people take up smoking just so they have more time to socialize!

Just 'cause you're a smoker doesn't give you special rights.

*Rant mode off*

Don't start smoking! And if you smoke, please try to quit. Smoking is very likely to kill you and harm those you love, and the death it causes is usually slow and agonizing.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Sorry, but it really affected me too.

The key to quitting, in my estimation, is it's gotta make you mad. I, too, smoked for a good many years. One day, I had a cold and the cigarette cough made it worse. I got so aggravated that I never picked up another smoke from that day forward.

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Better Projection Pays!

I remember a little kid asked me this question, and this is how the conversation went:

"Mister, why are you smoking?"

I looked at the kid and said, "Because I am stupid."

The little boy's mother and father gave me a nice friendly smile.
 

30+ years ago I used to know a projectionist who chain-smoked 4-5 packs a day + gallons of black coffee; a habit that began in the military. His wife chain-smoked too. She suddenly caved in with terminal cancer and not too long after died in great agony in his arms in a hospital bed. The shock of this caused him to immediately quit 100%, and two weeks later he was telling how much better food tasted.

He has never smoked again.

Of my doctor/investor friends, the one who is "Certified in the treatment of chemical dependency" is away on a trip to the Greek islands, thus the precise facts I can offer at this instant are limited. However, I can supply the following...

Nicotine is waaaaaaaaaay up on what is called the "addiction scale." It is equally as bad or worse than heroin or alcohol addition [that's right, plain old booze!] This is why people who have one or more of these monkeys riding on their backs have such a difficult time quitting. To say nothing of the illogic in why heroin and marijuana are unlawful prohibited substances, yet alcohol and tobacco are OK. The explanation of this is simple -- the majority of both houses of our US Congress is comprised of bag men who take money under the table [oops, sorry, Political Contributions!] in exchange for passing laws written by Big Bu$$$$iness. There are good people in Congress, but a majority is all it takes for the evil to prevail.

In order to quit, the first step is you must have decided you REALLY WANT TO, and be prepared to suffer a little distress although with luck it could go real smooth.

Most cities of any size have a community health center or outpatient clinic where free programs are offered to help people quit. Seek out one of these and attend a free intro meeting.

One of the most successful devices recently introduced is a little gizmo which looks like a cigarette, available by prescription only. The addict snaps in a a nicotine capsule which come in 3 different strengths. Your doctor will decide what level to start you at. This permits the addict [you] to inhale and obtain the necessary nicotine fix as though you were actually smoking, with the added advantage that you immediately become socially acceptable in all situations as there is no smoke... thus you don't pollute the air which others have to breathe and deposits of the noxious substances don't build up in sensitive equipment such as laser printers or videotape machines of all kinds.

Thus, the cigarette replacement is a nicotine delivery system virtually exactly the same as the original produced by Big Bu$$$iness for the purpose of poisoning Americans and other victims world-wide.

With this device your doctor will also prescribe one of several drugs which have proven very effective to quickly reduce the "craving." The family of medications available includes anti-depressants. Your doctor has the expertise to determine what's best for your specific circumstances. It is the combination of the two things that has worked in countless "hard-core" cases of victims who have tried everything else without success, most particularly the patch.
It's a tapering-off process. Some patients graduate past the cigarette substitute device in a few-10 days, others may take longer. The medication might continue for some weeks as is needed.

That's about it. For more details, trot off to the nearest Quit Smoking clinic. Be sure the clinic is run by a medical professional.

 

...AND... I mean ALL of it, not just the things that they "want" us to know.
 

This seems to me very hypocritical. Either smoking is acceptable and therefore tobacco should not be taxed any more heavily than (for example) alcohol, or it's not and should be outlawed.

Personally, I'd outlaw it. The main reason why is that smoking not only harms the person doing it, it harms others as well and to a far greater extent than any other unhealthy habit. Smoking generates smoke, and for other people to breathe that smoke in has the potential to damage their health. And it's very difficult for a non-smoker to avoid this and still have a life. For example, if I go to the pub with four friends, two of whom smoke and suggest that we sit in the no smoking area, the two won't have it and so either I spend the evening by myself or put up with the smoke. A teetotaller spending an evening with people who drink, on the other hand, is not going to be harmed in any way. That's what makes tobacco a special case.

The evidence that smoking harms both the person doing it and the people around him/her is overwhelming: we've outlawed cannabis on the basis of much lesser evidence, and so I think it would be justified to ban tobacco as well.
 

I stopped about 18 months ago, it looks like it's permanent, & nobody can be more surprised than me. I had been trying to quit for decades.

Probably the big thing which turned the switch for me was when I was smoking a cigarette, & this older guy I knew walked by & said, "You still smoke?"

So I was bracing for the damn anti-smoking lecture, & he said, "Man, I loved those things."

There you go, the first honest ex-smoker I'd met, & it was a revelation. Most people I knew who'd quit were now militantly anti-smoking & said weird things like "Those things are nasty! I'm glad I quit! I hate those things" which just reflected a massive fiction they had to create for themselves to motivate themselves. But I've never had much capacity for self-delusion, & probably most head types don't.

The first 3 months of cold turkey were just skin-crawling, hand shaking, unable to concentrate or even think months, but by 6 months it was all pretty much over. I think that if during that time I had to really be in a situation that required constant type A concentration & head work, I couldn't have done it. Also, I think the age when quitting probably has a lot to do with it: when you're older, you're getting more used to just having to not do things you used to enjoy & the denial of fun stuff is less of a problem. Personality type is a big player too: At a college campus in Florida in the mid-1980's, I walked out of the building with the business & economics classes; & lit up a little self consciously noticing there were almost *no* cigarette butts in the ashcans or on the ground. But over in front of the humanities building, the ground was *carpeted* in butts. So, head-wise, it's like we all know: Every installation is different.

Anybody who *thinks* about smoking should stop & consider the fact that (to statistical significance) *everyone* who smokes winds up desperately trying to quit. Certainly by age 30, that number becomes about 99%. I would never have wanted or been able to quit in my early 20s; I wish I'd never have started.

Falling off the wagon is sort of uniform, though. It seems generally that folks get so pounded by the withdrawal that it becomes impossible to remember why they were so violently compelled to do something as radical as to quit. I wrote down & freakin carried in my watch pocket the list of reasons I had to quit: tired of feeling crappy, the need to have another cigarette one after another, & getting less enjoyment from them, smoking was getting to be nothing more than propping up the addiction. When the craving became close to falling off the wagon, I remembered the list & remembered that the falling-off-the-wagon cigarette really wouldn't give me much, but would leave me with a pack of cigarettes left to smoke one after the other while not enjoying them much, & being back to having to start all over again.

Some people quit for months or years then start again; those people seem to then never be able to stop again. Everybody seems to fail on initial, shorter-term attempts (I'd never made it past a couple of days before), but some people really berate themselves for the failure. I think the best approach is to just look at the numbers & see that it takes many attempts (like threading a needle) & go ahead & do what folks do anyway - try again the next time it feels like you've got a good shot at it. It seems generally that folks get so pounded by the withdrawal that it becomes impossible to remember why they wanted to quit. I wrote down & freakin carried in my watch pocket the list of reasons I had to quit: tired of feeling crappy, the need to have another cigarette one after another, & not getting much out of them anymore except propping up the addiction.

DAMN those things were good. I hang around smokers, because I know & am around a lot of that personality type, but I also sort of pull over now & enjoy a bit of 2nd hand smoke from strangers. I don't think anyone who depends on rationality & accuracy can delude themselves about the fact that they're giving up something that is in many ways very enjoyable, often very wonderful, & itself tends to bring nifty extras like nice work breaks & self-rewards, & enjoyable & constructive moments of introspection.

After I quit, I began to realize that I could remember individual smoke breaks, & they were almost always really nice memories. Like after really tough shows that were long, hard, down-to the-wire painful sweat jobs to set up & run, & continued to be the kind that you had to stay late to get everything straightened out like it should be. Like rough, grinding nights in Mobile that dragged on until morning, & when it finally got to the point on breakdown when I got the chance to put the makeup table on "crawl", walk out on the fire escape, light a cigarette, stop for a second & let the world go deep focus, & notice the sun coming up & the fog starting to roll in and get a little perspective on things.

http://www.geocities.com/rotoflex/misc/urns.htm

I really miss moments like that, & had an incredible moment of envy just yesterday when I saw a guy walk up to a railing downtown, light a cigarette, & look up at the skyline.

But I really, really like having that damn monkey off my back. You can't BELIEVE the feeling of liberation.

Thank you William for putting into words your feelings. I feel as you do and I'm proud to say, "I use to smoke!" of course, now I drink.
 

It has been 1158 days since the last post.