This is topic How Did You Ex-Smokers Quit Without Relapse? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 08-04-2003, 10:21 AM:
 
I am sure there are many who tried. Can anyone relate to your experience on trying to ditch the nasty habit? Some things I know:

1. Nicotine gum makes me smoke more.
2. Zyban gives me very nasty nightmares.
3. Relapses are extremely common at a very high percentage rate.
4. Cigarettes are killing me.

How did you do it?
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 08-04-2003, 10:55 AM:
 
I just quit cold turkey. But slowed down for a year before I quit.

I started smoking when I was 13 (Obviously just like a kid on and off with my friends, being as neither of my parents smoked), quit when I was 21. Did most of my smoking between the age of 18-20. I've cheated a couple times and had one now and again but for the most part I'm smoke free.

I didn't find it that hard, possibly because I only averaged about 4-6 cigs a day. Probably had about 10 cigs a day in my worst period. Luckily I had the support of my friends to help me thru it...when I wanted a cig they always fed me V8...it was MY substitute to gum.
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-04-2003, 11:04 AM:
 
Wife also quit cold turkey... and never looked back.

I had good results with the Nicoderm patch set.... but I had also weaned myself down to those "Vantage" sawdust cigs before I got there. Wierd that I couldn't flat get past that point, though.

After 25 years, I haven't had a problem (or relapse)... 7 years now.
 

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Posted by Fred Georges (Member # 505) on 08-04-2003, 11:09 AM:
 
Dear Paul, Cold Turkey worked for Me. 5 "false" starts before I finally had the gumption to dig my heels in and quit for good. 2 packs a day for 20 years. My advice 1) realize that you are giving up a friend(who's trying to KILL you) but a good friend none the less. 2)Find a short term oral substitute (No Wisecracks!) Mine was Miniature Reese peanut butter cups. When that demon nicotine urge would hit I'd pop a couple and it would pass. 3) Pick a smoker you despise and realize that your MUCH stronger then that Jerk cuz you can quit. (pain transference-LoL) 4) Contact the American Cancer Society..They'll give you good "How to" info. 5) If I Can quit...So can YOU! You'll feel like total Dog Shit for 3-4 days while the old body goes through Nicotine withdrawl (This really SUCKS) But, your big battle is ahead with the psycho addiction so you've got to have a substitute. After several months it will pass and your lungs WILL clear the old gunk out & you'll feel 30 years younger but, you have to tell yourself "It's OVER!!" And you can NEVER have a cigarette AGAIN!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-04-2003, 11:16 AM:
 
We lost my wife's Dad to oat cell lung cancer. He started smoking while serving in World War II, kept up a 2-pack a day addiction despite numerous attempts to stop, and died in 1976 at the young age of 56 after months of radiation and chemo treatments, and finally, weeks of heavy sedation with codeine and morphine to control the agonizing pain from the metasticized cancer. If you smoke, STOP now. If you don't, NEVER start.

Once they see that spot on your lung x-ray, it is likely too late. He lived only about 8 months after the day he went to the doctor with that first bad cough.
 

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Posted by Don Bruechert (Member # 1538) on 08-04-2003, 11:39 AM:
 
My Mother had metastatized lung cancer as well, and she was an RN that got a chest X-ray every year. They found it in Novemember of 1986 and by July 1987 she was dead. They tried chemo and stuff but there wasn't anything they could do - she ended up dying of pneumonia as a complication. I think she was around 2 packs a day - a combination of pall-mall straights and filtered stuff. She still couldn't quit and still smoked a little right up close to when she died.

My Father died in 2000 from a variety of things but emphysema was the primary reason for his death. They had fixed most of the circulatory problems and the prostate cancer. He smoked a couple packs of pall-mall straights a day for as long as I can remember (more than 35 years I would say). He actually quit for quite a while when they first diagnosed him, but did cheat on occasion. It was after my 3 year old neice died in a freak accident in 1999 that he just gave up and used them as a means to an end... Funny how he survived them taking a benign tumor out of his head the doctors claim was the size of a baseball in like 1983 or 1984, but he ended up dying from the cigs 15 or so years later.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-04-2003, 01:35 PM:
 
I got a cold and my smoker's cough aggravated it so much that it made me mad. Never looked back.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 08-04-2003, 01:57 PM:
 
I tried my first cigarette aged about 8; it tasted absolutely foul. I thought it could only get better, so I tried another one, it didn't, I gave up, and have never smoked since.

Maybe 8 is getting a bit too old; if we were to give cigarettes to five year olds to try it would put them off for life!

My parents both smoked very heavily, 40-50 per day each. Both managed to stop towards the end of their lives, and both come to rather unpleasant ends, but through diseases which were not smoking related.

Not starting in the first place is much easer than giving up.

A colleague at work who is trying to stop has a post card pinned up over his desk with a picture of two lungs, one healthy, and the other from a heavy smoker. I once went to the post-mortum of someone who had been a heavy smoker. If I had been a smoker myself I think what I saw would have made me stop. Not pleasant, but effective.
 

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Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 08-04-2003, 02:53 PM:
 
Paul,This was brought up by Randy Stankey back in March 20, 2001 you can find some answers on Page 81 where we posted then.I started smoking at age 6 steady at age 10 and stopped when I was 61 three years ago.Have no desire at this time.It was the hardest thing to give up. I still think of myself as a smoker and have three cartons of camels in my trophy case. The one's that will never be lit by me.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-04-2003, 02:57 PM:
 
Thread from the archives
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-04-2003, 03:15 PM:
 
My stepfather (really just the doofus my mom got remarried to after I had already left the house) has emphysema and asthma. He's on oxygen now 100% of the time. He can't walk from one end of the house to the other end without running out of breath. His feet are swollen up like melons. He's about 100 pounds overweight.

And he chain smokes, probably over 2 packs a day. Even though he's hooked up to oxygen. "I don't care if I blow the house up, I'm not going to quit smoking."

When I go there to visit, I have to stay in a motel because their house reeks so bad of tobacco I can't stand to be there for more than short periods. Last time I was there, I noticed their TV picture looked kind of yellow. Upon close inspection, I found that the face of the picture tube was heavily coated in what I assume to be nicotine or at least smoking-related residue. It took lots of Windex and scrubbing to get that crap off.

I feel sorry for anyone who can't quit smoking. As far as anybody *starting* smoking now, all I can say is "Loser.".
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-04-2003, 03:52 PM:
 
To say nothing of what it's doing to your mother!

 

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Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 08-04-2003, 04:06 PM:
 
I smoke, started when I went to collage. So I guess I started older than most. I smoke maybe 5-7 a day, but when I drink i'll kill a pack. I guess I'm addictied but I feel like I can quit cold turkey but a beer a cigarette go together hand in hand.

I do want to stop but that day is still over the horizon. I always say, when I have a kid i'll stop.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-04-2003, 06:08 PM:
 
Years ago I started smoking cuz when I went out clubbin' "everyone" smoked and it was "supposed to be" cool.

Well, I did that for about 5 years and then one night many years ago at 3 AM, I ran out of those cancer sticks and ***had*** to have one. So, I got dressed and went out to a 7-11 to get a carton.

While driving back home and lighting up, I thought to myself... "Gosh, I really am addicted and a slave to this crap."

I threw the cig, the pack, and the carton out the car window and never looked back!

I know it's hard to quit...especially cold turkey, but ya GOTTA do it.... PAUL!!!!!!

To this day, after certain meals and at certain times, I still get a twitch for a cig. BUT I will never go back! It's a dirty, filthy, unhealthy habit!

I got sooo sick and tired of going to bed or leaving the house trying to remember if I put that cig out. NO MORE.. NEVER AGAIN!!

>>> Phil
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-04-2003, 06:26 PM:
 
I'm in complete agreement with David's judgment on smoking.

I have a lot of sympathy for those who have been smoking for decades and started during a time when popular culture heavily promoted it. In the 1940's, 50's and 60's you were pretty much a pansy if you didn't smoke. The health concerns about it only started getting a lot of serious attention in the 1970's.

During that age many people did not fully know the addictive nature of nicotine. They didn't know the full extent of health problems that go with cigarette smoking. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin and just as difficult to quit (relapse rates among cigarette smokers and heroin users are roughly the same --only drugs like crystal methamphetamine are more acutely addictive). The tobacco industry sure as hell wasn't telling anyone the truth during this time --even though they knew how dangerous their product really was. So I cannot fault anyone who started smoking during this time.

Both of my parents smoked when they were younger. And I mean they smoked a lot. Growing up, I hardly ever saw my mother or father without a lit cigarette. If we went driving somewhere, they'd both have cigarettes lit up, flicking ashes out the window --and having molten hot "cherries" fly back and hit my brother and I in the face. There's no sensation quite like having a glowing tobacco ember fly up under your eyelid and burn your eyeball.

But then my mother's father was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1976. I remember my grandfather rolling his own cigarettes as he taught my brother and I how to ride a dirtbike. He was really cool, but didn't look so cool a month before his death. His left lung had been removed. He had this bandage on his ribcage covering a hole in his chest. There was mucus or some kind of fluid dripping out from underneath it. I was 10 years old when I saw that, and that's the image I think of when it comes to cigarette smoke.

When my grandfather was buried both of my parents quit cold turkey and never smoked again. My brother and I swore never to start.

These days everyone knows cigarette smoking is the #1 preventable cause of death. Everyone knows the damned things are addictive, expensive, filthy and lots of other bad stuff. So whenever I see some 15 year old junior high schooler lighting up, I freely judge that kid to be a stupid f**king idiot. And I don't think my tax dollars or insurance premiums should help out his dumb ass when he develops health problems over it decades from now.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-04-2003, 06:45 PM:
 

quote:

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Bobby wrote:
There's no sensation quite like having a glowing tobacco ember fly up under your eyelid and burn your eyeball.

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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.
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 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.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 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.
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 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.
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 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:

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I started smoking at age 6 steady at age 10 and stopped when I was 61 three years ago.

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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.
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 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.
 

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Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 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!
 

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Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 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
 

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 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
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 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.
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 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.
 

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Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 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.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 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?
 

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Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 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.
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 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.
 

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 08-05-2003, 09:11 PM:
 
Paul, for a birthday present for me...quit smoking! It's August 14th so you chose a good time!
 

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Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-06-2003, 01:24 AM:
 

quote:

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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.

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quote:

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I also know much of the smoking problem is stress related, and I have discussed that issue with physicians in the past.

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Stress is really sort of a vague, broad term. Usually what people feel in withdrawal emotionally is irritability & anger, & physically they usually get the shakes & severe muscular tension. I think it's important to see what always happens: when you go through withdrawal, you have HUGE neurochemical changes, to the extent that it actually effects your personality. Someone else admitted to me that when they were quitting, there were times that they felt like they were going to cry, for no reason - I had the same thing happen a couple of times, it was weird, unmotivated, just like a sweat or something. Jack Ondracek made a reference about when his wife quit cold turkey. That's typical, it's a cliche that people turn into someone REALLY different & hard to deal with while quitting.

My personal feeling is that the personality change is what drives you through it. If you're turning into a hard-ass, you should appreciate that it takes a hard-ass to drag you through this. If you're feeling irritable & a little angry, you KNOW what you're irritable about, & it's nothing to turn that irritability & anger into belligerence & f*ing REFUSE out loud to have a cigarette, dammit.

Long car trips can be a problem. I found though that the constant mental agonizing over having a cigarette/not having a cigarette burned up the trip REAL fast & you got there sooner. Leave the window rolled down, get distracted by the heat, feel the wind blast on your face, smell the chemical plants, cow pastures, & sometimes sudden smells from flowers & stuff.

Another interesting thing was that anger & irritability are REALLY exhausting, & I didn't have much trouble sleeping like some people who quit do. Just conked out at the end of a HARD day of not smoking.

It is HARD & NASTY, like working on plumbing with the water on, while hanging upside down, on a job where it's scratching your knuckles, or just having to mop up when the toilet backs up. It lasts for a couple of months, but it goes by. Just be angry, belligerent about not quitting, & be a hard-ass about what you are NOT going to f*ing do. Embrace your inner asshole! Put that sumbitch to work for you!

quote:

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If smokers get special breaks just because they are smokers, then non-smokers should get special breaks as well.

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Hahaha Joe, they don't get special breaks! They just take their breaks! They just go! Who told you to chain yourself to the oar? Walk out the door, stand up next to the wall, walk around the building!

The special breaks are parents who always take off early to pick up the kids, go to the kids' pageant or concert, take them to the doctor, etc. Every now & then, just knock off early & tell folks you're going to take the children to be spayed or pierced or something.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-06-2003, 03:16 AM:
 
I would do that if I didn't mind getting written up or replaced. They'd ask me my excuse. I wouldn't have one. Of course the employers are to blame as well, letting smokers do this. Of course many employers no longer do (hopefully).

Children should be spayed. That would help our population problem!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-06-2003, 05:25 AM:
 
Hmmmm, Joe you should go out and get a bogus job somewhere. Nothing where you are stationed somewhere specific, but maybe in a video rental store or something. Every 30 minutes, just walk outside and stand around for 5 minutes. When you are asked just tell your boss that you are taking a non-smoker break and see just how far that word "discrimination" will take you.

Be sure and alert the media when you get fired.
 

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Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 08-06-2003, 06:06 AM:
 
being a smoker, one who soon hopes to be an ex smoker (October will be ten years) and also a manager, all employees who work in a customer service/customer related business should have breaks from there respective post just about every 90 minutes... it will relax your employees, give them a little bit of a break, help sell more concessions and keep lines moving. Smoker or not. A good employee will always appreciate four minutes of freedom. For concession and box, once between sets after post show clean/stock/drop verification. And a bad employee well, they shouldn't work for you. Should they?

And Paul, keep it up, I'll be feeling for you! I WILL be there in November... I was a "two and a half" pack a day smoker. I'm now down to about 18 cigs a day... Two things have helped so far, the NYS smoking ban... and going for five mile walks four nights a week instead of the bar (which is now only two nights a week!)

Whatever works for you keep us updated!
 

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Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 08-06-2003, 10:53 AM:
 
i personally have found nicotine patches the best way to stop smoking, especially if cold turkey proves to be too traumatic.

it gives you time to get over the habit/action of smoking, while weening you off the nicotine over a period of two months, after the first couple of days(which are admitedly still hard) it becomes easier every day after. by the time i finished the patches, i actually felt like non-smoker and didn't miss it at all...untill a couple of years later when i relapsed (forgot my reasons for stopping/motivation), so here i am again after 6 months of smoking, i'm going to stop on the 16th of august (moving house), i have my patches and motivation...it's time to stop!!
good luck paul
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-06-2003, 03:12 PM:
 
Here's an idea taken from some of the traditional 12-Step programs: Just because you have a momentary relapse, it doesn't mean you have failed in your attempt to quit. I think a lot of people who want to quit smoking don't think about that.

Being hooked on drugs or alcohol is so much worse for you that people are more willing to say, "It's okay to fall off the wagon if you get right back on." Smokers, on the other hand, seem to say, "I had a relapse so I give up.

I think it's important to be able to smoke zero cigarettes for a good long time. (At least a month or more.) After your appropriate "drying out" period, if you have a smoke you're STILL quitting smoking.

Just don't give up!
 

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Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 08-06-2003, 03:41 PM:
 
Randy, that's a great point. I went through the same "oops, I lit up a cigarette, now all is lost" syndrome several times before I finally made it. If I would have just realized that those were one-time relapses, I would have been smokeless for 30 years now instead of 20.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-06-2003, 03:42 PM:
 
Paul,

Now you've done it....with all this support, you HAVE TO quit!
 

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 08-06-2003, 05:04 PM:
 
Yup!
 

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Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 08-23-2006, 02:00 AM:
 

It has been 1112 days since the last post.

 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 08-23-2006, 02:00 AM:
 
Bumping this baby up...

Someone PLEASE tell me the withdrawl headaches go away! I've smoked 10 years: started end of highschool and now this weekend is my 10 year highschool reunion. Thought it's probably a good time to quit. But the headaches...good god! oh the pain!
 

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Posted by John Hegel (Member # 628) on 08-23-2006, 02:33 AM:
 
The first time I quit I had headaches on and off for a week.

I'm going to take another shot at it one of theses days, but when you work in a casino where most of the other employees smoke its hard to do.

On the bright side, the casino has cured my movie theatre addiction.
 

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Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 08-23-2006, 06:30 AM:
 
Allison, it will take about 3 weeks for the major withdrawl symptoms to subside. After that it's just mind over matter thing. You can do it.
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 08-23-2006, 10:16 AM:
 
I find that if I make an extra effort to get all of the flames out the first time, the smoking will stop soon after. A good CO2 extigusher works best since it's non toxic if you hold your breath. Then again, I don't smoke, only smoke when I'm on fire, which I try to limit that due to the risk of nasty 3rd degree burns.
 

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Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 08-23-2006, 01:09 PM:
 
Sunday morning, Jan 2, 2005, awoke to severe chest pains and a heart attack, quick and efficient response by emergency personnel, nice ride in an ambulance, four days in the ICU.

All things considered, it was minor, but still a heart attack.

During my stay the roof of the hospital opened and a big hand reached in and smacked me in the head and asked, "NOW are you listening?!?"

I was. Haven't touched a tobacco product since, going on a year and nine months now.

Withdrawal probably happened while I was feeling terrible anyway and didn't notice it.

Tempted? Sure I am. But I won't do it.
 

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Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 08-23-2006, 05:53 PM:
 
I dont know how I missed this thread the first time around. I enjoyed reading what you all had to say.

I do miss Paul.

As for me, I tried my first and only cig when I was around 9. It made me totally sick, and I heaved. I ran home. My dad, who was a heavy smoker that quit cold turkey after 60 years, told me that I shouldn't start smoking, and I didn't. My mom is a non-smoker. I have two sisters, and they look even better than me, and they dont smoke at all. I'm surprised that we never did start, too. In the day, I liked the smell of a lit cigarette. Now, they just burn my eyes.

I have a 20 year old car, and a 23 year old truck. Nobody is ever allowed to ride in my car or truck and smoke. I have lost friends, that I obviously didnt need, to this rule. My vehicles dont smell like smoke either.

After my near-death phneumonia attack in December 2005, my roommate stopped smoking in my house. I have an electronic air cleaner on my furnace, and by the time I came home in March, 2006, there was zero smoke smell in my house.

My roommate has cut his smoking to 10% of what he did before I got sick. He's about to stop totally.

Another heavy smoker friend was in a car accident in February 2006. Had a lung collapse. Doctors told him to stop NOW or risk all kinds of problems in the future. He didnt smoke at all for about 5 months. Now, he's back to 3 packs a day, and his bad lung is full of mucus. His doctors are giving him the worst possible scenarios, but he is a wuss, and cant stop, and is acting like he is entitled to get money from the government to help him kick the habit. He wouldnt listen to me, or anyone else, when he was whining about wanting cigarettes again.

Before he re-started, he had about 50% capacity in his weak lung. Now, he has less than 10%. AND HE STILL SMOKES.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-23-2006, 07:22 PM:
 
Yep, that doesn't surprise me. My boss' older brother (our CPA) had a collasped left lung a few years ago. The doctors told him he would eventually contract emphysema, COPD or lung cancer and die if he didn't get his shit together and quit. The guy is still smoking today. He's pissed about it. He wishes he could quit. He even gripes about the fact all tobacco companies spike their cigarettes with the most addictive formulas as possible. In the end, you just have to quit.

Both my parents managed to quit back in 1977 when cigarettes were quite a bit stronger and more socially acceptable.

It's funny this thread was bumped up back into relevance. Our sign company has been undergoing a major office renovation. During that time of transition I don't think I've ever been more angry at filthy scumbag asshole smokers than ever before.


We had some plumbers come out to do work on our new bathrooms. New carpet had already been laid down since that contractor had a very limited window in which to do the work. These plumbers were in this brand new office space smoking away. Not only were they dropping their fucking cherries on the floor, the brain dead son of a bitches were actually doing that fuckhead asshole behavior common to so many smokers: dropping the finished cigarette right where they stand and stepping it out. The cocksuckers were stepping out their cigarettes on OUR BRAND NEW FUCKING CARPET!


It's a good thing for them I don't take my gun to work with me. I would have seriously thought about shooting them in the face for that asshole infraction. I tried my best to think about other less sadistic fantasies, such as throwing a non-lethal pail of water in the face of an offending smoker (preferably as he was just lighting up).

In the end, we billed those fucking plumbers for the carpet they ruined. They paid too. I kinda wish it was 24K gold threaded carpet, that way those filthy fuckers could be poor forever.


In case anyone has any confusion of how I feel regarding smoking: IT IS NOT COOL AT ALL! It is a filthy shit-stained habit. Futher, I (and no one else) should ever feel the need to be impressed by that dirty, stinking, unattractive, filthy-assed habit.

Sincerely, I hope the price of cigarettes gets boosted to $100,000 per pack. Perhaps then maybe some folks will feel the need to quit and ease the strain on the out of control cost increases in America's stupidly insane version of socialized medicine.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-23-2006, 10:15 PM:
 
I've been off cigarettes for almost two years, now.

I don't miss it. I don't care one way or another. I can stand in a room full of people smoking and I won't want to light one up. I could even take a cigarette from your pack, light it up and hand it to you to finish smoking and I wouldn't want to smoke any of it, myeself.

I just don't give a fuck about cigarettes, one way or another. If you want to smoke, go ahead. To be honest, I'd rather you didn't but if you choose not to listen to me it's your life.

I quit using Wellbutrin (AKA: "Zyban") in combination with Nicorette gum. It took three or four months to actually get down to smoking zero cigarettes per day, then about another month with the Nicorette. By the time I was done with the gum I didn't even care to smoke anymore. I only followed my schedule as a formality.

I don't even remember my last smoke. I don't know where I was. I don't care. It is as if I never smoked.
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 08-24-2006, 12:33 AM:
 
And you're better off without. Lower insurance rates, don't have to buy the cigs anymore, better health, etc. I have friends that smoke, and I respect their desicion, its their choice as long as it doesn't affect someone else. However, I agree, there are the ones that want a 10min smoke break every 30min, and us non-smokers, try to get that, translated to ummm a fresh air break, or drink break, denied. And you also have the ones that pull the bone headed moves like Bobby said. Not all do that, but alot do. Smoking may not say much either way about someone's character, but actions like that say that they're inconsiderant and sloppy to say the least.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-24-2006, 01:02 AM:
 
a good start to quit is to drink lots of fluids - like water and juices to flush all of that icky nicotine out of you. That's the big trick.

Never did the cig thing but did lose two grandfathers due to seeing them spit up blood every day due to emphysema from their "cravings." And I ask myself "do I want to live spitting up blood for the rest of my life.?" (I don't think so....)

Can't figure out why people just can't take care of themselves. They only have one life, so why screw around with it and mess up that one and only chance and pay for it at the end - in which they could live longer if they did take care of themselves.

Granted, I've had two bouts with cancer, both are under check to this day with yearly visits, but at least, I can least say that these two bouts weren't cause by my doings - just something that came down the line on their own. (and not meaning to stand on my soapbox here and say that I'm better than anyone else for I'm not. Just doing the best to stay healthy...)

..just a big rant that I have ...

-Monte
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-24-2006, 01:14 AM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

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I don't even remember my last smoke. I don't know where I was. I don't care. It is as if I never smoked.

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That's great you were able to put it behind you like that. Not everyone can though.

My mom smoked for about 40 years before quitting about 10 years ago. She told me last year, "The craving never goes away. I still feel like having a cigarette after dinner."
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 08-24-2006, 01:34 AM:
 
i just thank God I never got into drugs, if quiting smoking sucks this much, I can't even picture what it would be like if I was a heroin addict! ewww
 

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Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 08-24-2006, 06:27 AM:
 
Some interesting links about quitting smoking and addiction :

First (you have to scroll down to get to this part) : from WhyQuit.com

quote:

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* Nicotine is a psychoactive drug whose "high" provides a dopamine "aaahhh" sensation and an adrenaline rush. Would you have been able to tell, within 5 minutes, whether the gum or lozenge you'd been given contained the nicotine equilivent of smoking two cigarettes or was instead a nicotine-free placebo? So could they. A 2004 study found that NRT studies suffered from massive wide-spread blinding failures (May 2004)
* A nicotine smoker's natural odds of quitting for six months, entirely on their own, without any products, procedures, education programs, counseling or formal support is roughly 10% (June 2000)
* Those using the over-the-counter (OTC) nicotine patch or gum as a stand-alone quitting tool have only a 7% chance of quitting smoking for six months (March 2003)
* Up to 7% of OTC nicotine gum quitters are still chronic users of nicotine gum at six months (May 2004). Question: isn't 7 minus 7 still zero? (May 2004)
* 36.6% of all current nicotine gum users are chronic long-term users (May 2004)
* You truly would have to be a superhero to quit while using the nicotine patch if you've already attempted using it once and relapsed. The only two patch user "recycling" studies ever conducted have both shown that nearly 100% of second-time nicotine patch users relapse to smoking nicotine within six months (April 1993 and August 1995, see Table 3)
* 91.2% of all successful long-term ex-smokers quit entirely on their own without resort to any product, procedure or program of any kind including hypnosis, Zyban, Wellbutrin, acupuncture, magic herbs, laser therapy, or the nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, spray, or inhaler (ACS 2003)
* Education, understanding, new skills and serious support can more than triple your natural six-month odds of 10% (April 2003)
* Those who refuse to allow any nicotine back into their bloodstream have 100% odds of remaining nicotine free today! (Today, Tomorrow & Always!)

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Second, click ]here to see how addictive nicotine is (according to one study).

I am a smoker, and have quit a few times, only to un-quit. It gets harder every time. I have the best luck when I quit drinking at the same time. Alcohol makes me want to smoke more.

I have about 4 cigs left right now, and I will smoke those this weekend. I am then going to try and quit drinking and smoking together. Quitting the booze is not all that hard for me, even though I love it. Not smoking is difficult, even though I hate it, but it's easier if I don't go to bars or drink at parties. Hopefully I can do it after thinking about it hard over the last month. This thread cropped back up at a perfect time, as it really gave me motivation after reading all the posts here. Coupled with a rash of smokers I know that have developed cancer over the last six months, I am confident that I can be stronger this time, and overcome my weakness. Hopefully I can post here again in 6 months or a year and report that I am smoke free.

I tell people all the time that it is a nasty habit that I wish I had never picked up. I was against smoking all growing up, and my mom quit after 35 years, cold turkey. She was surprised I started, as I was a big opponent of smoking. Things happen, and I wish I could go back 10 years and kick my own ass for ever lighting up. I can't, so I go forward and try to fix this fatal flaw...
 

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Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 08-24-2006, 06:50 AM:
 
I gave up last November of last year.

The only thing I find Is that when a wake up in the morning, I am so disappointed with myself for starting again.

Then I realize that I have only dreamed of having a cigarette.

It may be why I have been able to give up so easy with no major cravings. Because I am still smoking in my dreams.
 

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Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 08-24-2006, 11:55 AM:
 
When my Old Man was 6 months old (1931) Grandma had Whooping Cough, the infection having spread to him. This Whooping Cough developed into a VERY SEVERE life-long asthma affliction which really hampered his ability to physically function.

Back in the day, many of these illnesses were not very well understood. People with these illness were looked upon as parihas, many people being scared that afflictions like asthma were somehow contagious.

Anyhow, so was the case with my Dad...even treated badly by his immediate family.

So, in the late 1940's-early 1950's, as a means of exhibiting his anger and rebelliousness he started smoking. He had his cigarettes, cigars, pipe, and chew! I think he smoked for close to 30 years. And his smoking did lead to emphazema, along with the asthma!

To give you an example of the severity of his asthema, my Dad and Grandmother (since 1942) would travel back and forth from Cleveland, Ohio to Tucson, AZ where Tucson Medical Center was the lung treatment center in the US (for asthmatics). Throughout his life he had difficulty maintaining employment simply because employeers would never know if he would be at work that day...or in the hospital for several weeks...or even months. Even when whe moved to Tucson after his early-forced retirement from the U.S. Post Office (1975) we knew the emerengcy room staff and regular medical staff at Tucson Medical Center on a first-name basis. For my Mom and I being at the hospital on a regular basis became a routine part of daily living.

Anyhow, when I was 1 year old, his doctors told him to quit smoking or he would not survive another year. He quit cold turkey...everything...on the spot w/o any problems associated with withdrawl! Whenever he would encounter a smoker who "wanted to quit but found it too hard"...he would tell them how full of they were!

My Old Man passed on in January 1990, a few days shy of his 60th birthday. In the 1960's he was one of the first guienna pigs for the then "wonder drug" Prednisone. Yes, it helped him breathe, but the other crap it did to his body I would not wish on my worse enemy....his death was largly related to the unwanted side-effects of this crap!

Kutler
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 08-24-2006, 12:24 PM:
 
Smoking sure didn't seem to affect this guy.


 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-24-2006, 05:35 PM:
 
No, not at all. Who the hell is that leather-skinned codger?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-24-2006, 07:06 PM:
 
He's a DEAD GUY.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-24-2006, 07:07 PM:
 
Looks like Vernon Demarest, famous Trans Global airline pilot from the early 1970s who knocked up a stewardess just before landing an airliner that had almost had its tail blown off by a mid-air explosion set off by a deranged explosives contractor.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-24-2006, 07:25 PM:
 
Vernon Demerest? I think he looks like a leather-faced ex-smoker (and drinker) that died from lung cancer named Jamie Blake or Matt Helm...or was it Dean Martin?
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 08-24-2006, 08:21 PM:
 
Dead yes but he beat the average life span of a male by some years... and heavily smoked and supposedly drank alot as well (though I read that was mostly an act). Hell, George Burns lived to past 100 years and he smoked cigars all the time. Denis Leary had a funny article about the time Dean called him a pussy for quiting smoking, lol.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-24-2006, 09:01 PM:
 
Sorry but Dennis Leary is not funny.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-24-2006, 10:03 PM:
 

quote: Anslem Rayburn

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I am a smoker, and have quit a few times, only to un-quit. It gets harder every time.

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