Smoking: Quitters' Support Thread

[Stormwt]

For all those quitting smoking. Remember that it's not meant to be easy and there's no magic cure. Here's some reasons why I am NOT going to smoke any more:

1 - I smell. My clothes smell, my hair smells, my house smells if I've been smoking in there I bet even my dog smells. It's so embarrassing to walk past someone right after smoking knowing that I STINK.

2 - I look bad Smoking ages and dehydrates my skin and makes my hair lank and greasy. I look older than I am and drawn.

3 - Money! When I calculated how much I spend on smoking I was horrified. In my head I spent that money as I would have if not for the smoking - look what I'm missing out on!

Whenever I feel weak I think I'll come in here and add to this list.

What methods are you using to quit? I find nicotine replacement products make it more difficult so I'm going cold turkey. I'm using the disentanglement methods.

I started by identifying my "triggers" (like after a meal or when driving or when stressed) and disassociating my cigarettes from those triggers. No more smoking in the car. Get up straight after dinner and go wash up, I wouldn't let myself smoke for at least twenty minutes after a meal.

Places and people can be triggers too so when at a certain friends house for example I would tell myself that I wasn't allowed to smoke until I leave and if I was staying the night I had to go downstairs to their garden to smoke.

Now I'm quitting and the hardest part is now beating the actual cravings rather than the habit. But I only have to stay strong for an hour max after a craving starts and then it lets me go for hours and hours.

This isn't going to be easy but it's not impossible. If people can quit hard drugs I can sure as hell beat a cigeratte!

[Stormwt]

I got through the morning without really giving cigarettes a thought. I just ate lunch and I do have a bit of a craving but it's really mild so I'm just gonna work through it.

Facebook will distract me for ten minutes!

[badmojo1971]

Congrats on leaving cigarettes behind! I know you can do it!

I quit smoking 3.5 years ago. Best thing I ever did.

I used phone counseling along with patches. The patches didn't stick for crap so I probably only got half the use out of those.

The main thing that got me through the hard cravings was remembering that a craving only lasts 60 seconds or less. If you can deep breathe your way through 60 seconds then you are good to go until the next craving then just do it again and again until it finally gets better.

It was absolute hell for me at first, but it does start to get easier after a while. And just think about how your body will heal after some time away from cigs.

And don't ever think for a minute that you can ever have just one smoke every now and then socially. It just doesn't work like that. Be ready to never light up again.

Good luck!!

[Stormwt]

I'm just having my first real craving of the day (at half two in the afternoon I don't think that's too bad) I know in an hour's time I'll have forgotten all about it but it's still no fun.

I need a reason to get out of the office but I don't want to be tempted by the shop over the road. My resolve can become very weak at times for these first few days.

I quit for three months last year - the one or two social cigs over xmas got me so I won't make the same mistake again this time.

[Stormwt]

Can I just have one if I don't have any more later? :(

[Pagan_Soldier]

No thats cheating if you just have one you end up telling yourself, its ok to have the odd one and you'll smoke more.

A trick a friend of mine used was to carry a medican bottle around with him full of dog ends and water every time he wanted to smoke he'd sniff the bottle and the smell would put him off.

Other tricks are having a glass of water or another one was every time you want to smoke dab so tabasco sauce on your touge seams to have worked for people i know.

[Stormwt]

Yeah I drink water and chew gum to replace the habit which worked last time so I'm sticking to that method.

We failed at quitting last night. A trucker squished my little car with the OH in it (he's ok) and then just drove off after checking his truck was ok. It was all a little too much pressure for the first day of quitting.

I'm not worried though - it was one evening, today's a new day and I'm gonna carry on being a quitter :smile:

[OneGreyOwl]

Yeah I drink water and chew gum to replace the habit which worked last time so I'm sticking to that method.

We failed at quitting last night. A trucker squished my little car with the OH in it (he's ok) and then just drove off after checking his truck was ok. It was all a little too much pressure for the first day of quitting.

I'm not worried though - it was one evening, today's a new day and I'm gonna carry on being a quitter :smile:The one thing I've always said is when you quit, you need three stress free days to get started, so yeah, getting your car smashed qualifies as stress :hairred:

Something to add to your arsenal, this has helped me when I got hit with a sneaky craving that came up out of the blue for no reason other than the monkey on my back fighting to the very end:

20 minutes after your last cigarette- your blood pressure and pulse rate return to what they were just before your last cigarette, and your hands and feet warm up to the temperature they were before smoking.


8 hours after your last cigarette- the carbon monoxide level in you blood falls, and the oxygen level increases, so that both become normal.


24 hours after your last cigarette- the chance of your having a heart attack is lessened


48 hours after your last cigarette- your nerve endings start regrowing, so your senses of both smell and taste improve. Walking becomes easier.


By 3 months after your last cigarette- your circulation has improved, and your lung function has increased by up to 30%.


By 9 months after your last cigarette- the cells lining your airways have fully recovered, so that they remove mucus better, you cough less, have less sinus congestion, and your shortness of breath has gone.


1 year after your last cigarette- your risk of coronary heart disease is now half that of a smoker's.


5 years after your last cigarette- your risk of having a stroke is now greatly reduced, approaching that of someone who has never smoked.


10 years after your last cigarette- your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of someone still smoking. Your chances of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, gullet, pancreas, kidney and bladder are greatly reduced, compared with a smoker's.


15 years after your last cigarette- your risk of having coronary heart disease is no greater then that of someone who has never smoked.

[werfrat]

Hey storm remain strong...quiting ciggs is the one and only most important things you are doing for yourself.......be selfish and go for what you want. be a bitch if you have to, don't worry about being harsh to other people, they'll live. it seemed to me to be an excuse to have a ciggarette if i thought i was being short and snappy with folks around me. this is for you and only you. it took me 10 years of on and off tryin and discouragement. But it's been 2 years this December that i have had not one Cig. After all that i have been through i will not smoke another one in my lifetime. You to can do it. Good Strength to you!
Peace & Love
Werf

[ShadowcatX]

As someone who has seen three family members I loved die of lung cancer caused by smoking I want to give mad props to everyone in this thread. Smoking doesn't just harm you, it hurts everyone around you and I'm proud of every one of you that has quit.

[[V]]

I successfully quit smoking this August. Been clean since the 16th.
Pharmacies in California give free Nicotine patches out to anyone.

I managed to quit after one batch, after smoking for two years.

The fun thing about nicotine patches are, if you sleep with them on - you will have vivid nightmares. Call me morbid, but I do enjoy my nightmares :p

[zombi]

ONE WEEK WITHOUT!! :boing:

I am going cold turkey -- no gum, no patch, no pills, no nothing.

[triplemoonmother]

:fpraise:mad love to everyone who has quit or is trying!!!!!! i quit this past april with the help of Chantix. they were like little magic pills that made it soo easy to quit!!!!! but, i wanted to quit. everytime i smoked (yes you smoke the first week on the pills) i thought of something gross, like licking an ashtray. then when i weened myself down to 1 smoke a day i just knew that there was no going back. :boing:

[EntwinedScylla]

The main reason I want to quit is diminished lung capacity. I can't do the things I'm used to doing without ending up coughing my guts up.

The fact that clove cigarettes aren't around anymore is helping.

[AlorelithRose]

The main reason I want to quit is diminished lung capacity. I can't do the things I'm used to doing without ending up coughing my guts up.

The fact that clove cigarettes aren't around anymore is helping.

Unfortunatly we still have clove cigarettes up here! I'm so proud of everyone for their success. I failed miserably on day #2 due to a kitty emergency but I am planning to try again soon. I still like smoking, so its hard to make myself want to quit :(

[MidnightKisses]

Good luck to everyone!

[Ravens_Tears]

As someone who's been there, I wish you all well! It is hard to quit but it CAN be done :hahugh:. I'm rooting for y'all!

[Stormwt]

I failed miserably over the festive period. Horrific epic fail!

But I have been ill since New Years Eve which has a been horrible fluey blessing because it means I have been unable to smoke for the past six days :)

How are all you other quitters doing?


Thought for the day: I love that my perfume doesn't go to waste when I'm not smoking. The stench of smoke doesn't obliterate my perfume half an hour after I've used it :hahugh:

[Stormwt]

OK I had one yesterday. But it actually seems to be a good thing. I didn't really want it, I didn't enjoy it and I didn't get one craving all night. Yay for flu!

[Stormwt]

I have added a ticker to my sig to motivate and shame me! lol

[Falling Star]

intention is powerful Storm wtch, you will get there, much respect for how far you've come.:boing:

[Stormwt]

lol I don't seem to have come too far - I keep on failing!

Drugs were easier to quit, you change your lifestyle and cut certain people out of your life. Cigarettes are everywhere! I'm doing it this time though.

[EntwinedScylla]

So far I've gotten myself down from smoking half a pack any time I go out to one cigarette a week. (though, more usually one cigarette every couple of weeks, and making up tbe balance when I'm PMSing).

I'm happy with my progress.

[Stormwt]

So far I've gotten myself down from smoking half a pack any time I go out to one cigarette a week. (though, more usually one cigarette every couple of weeks, and making up tbe balance when I'm PMSing).

I'm happy with my progress.

Well done!:hahugh::thumbsup:

I didn't slip up at all yesterday! :) I'm really proud of myself because of how easy it was yesterday!

[Stormwt]

STill hanging in here - I had a moment of temptation earlier but it lasted about half a second. The hardest one for me is on the walk home from work - which is happening in 20 minutes.

*breathes deep* I'll be fine, where's them menthol chewing gums?

[Stormwt]

I put my OH's cigarette in my mouth last night and it tasted like an ashtray. I gave it straight back to him! That felt like a big achievement :toofless:

[Stormwt]

Craving! Eep!

Smoking makes my skin look older, dehydrated, sickly and lined.

It makes me smell awful. I haven't even got enough money to pay my bills this month let alone smoke.

*Breathes*

[Stormwt]

one little slip up at the weekend but as I'd had a few bottles of wine I'm gonna let myself off that one. It can only get easier.

[Stormwt]

Today has been easier than I expected it to be after my accident. OH is working days so will be home at the same time as me tonight - he is my biggest weakness in the early days of quitting.

[Iris]

I would like to give up too, but I slipped up tonight.

At the moment I am off work with a bout of bronchitis...caused partly, I am sure, by smoking.

I have only smoked for 6 months. I feel like part of the reason I like to smoke is because my parents made such a big deal of NOT smoking. So I sort of feel like a grown up when I smoke. I know how pathetic that is, believe me.

I did not smoke all day yesterday. Then today I met a friend for a few drinks and he's a smoker, so naturally I had a couple :rolleyes:

I have no willpower! GAH! It's the worst at work.

[Iris]

Ok, my OH and I are going to try to give up properly this time.

Work will be a challenge. I just have to remember to replace the 'having a fag' times with something else, like having a cup of tea. And not try and shift the blame to someone else ("Oh but they asked me outside to smoke!") it's my body and me that is running the risk of cancer, heart disease, etc. If they want to inflict that on themselves that's their business, but I shouldn't do it to myself.

My OH and I both have the same thought...we don't want to be still smoking in ten years' time, coughing our lungs up while lighting a cigarette.

We have to give up sooner or later, might as well be sooner. It will only get worse and more difficult as time goes on.

Work is going to be a challenge though. But if I can get through just one week at work without smoking, I figure I can do anything.

Wish me luck.

[Iris]

We are both still smoke-free after two days. W00t!!!

I have even stood outside with the smokers and had a chat, and not even been tempted to ask for a fag.

I will do it this time. I do not WANT to smoke, it is an awful habit. It smells, it's expensive, and it's one of the worst things you can do to your body.

Two days of the working week down, 3 to go. I can do this. WE can do this.

[Pagan_Soldier]

GL every one who is and plans to pack up smoking, i've not had one for well over a week and i've had no cravings mainly i think thats down to me wanting to stop and maybe the tablet i'm taking which is a none nicotine replacement.

Its a neural inhibiter that makes you just not want one and if you smoke while taking them past 2 weeks you actualy feel sick.

I've tried everything befor from gum patches and hypnotisium but these pills are the way forward for me its a 12 week course and so far its going great i've not put any weight on so i'd say for ppl that have tried pretty much anything try these new tablets you can get.

[Pagan_Soldier]

3 weeks gone still had a single craving but i have noticed i am getting angry with ppl more then i used to as i don't have the smoke to calm down routine any more still its all good ^_^

[Childof_theMorrigan]

14 days smoke-free!

week 2 was way worse than week 1... especially with no patch, pill or other help this time. But I've done it!

I've even been in the bars, drank, had morning coffee and socialized with friends without lighting up.

Woo!

[Pagan_Soldier]

Thats awsum i tried cold turkey last time i found week is the worst week once past that i was fine but it was 6 months later and i started again i gave up for the wrong reasons.

I think if you give up you have to do it for yourself and for the right reasons, i'm on week four now and keep forgetting to take my pills but thats fine i find the smell of smoke sickening now and that can only be a good thing lol.

I like the tablet because i resets your brain to make you think like a non smoker you even smell how bad it is after a day or two without smoking.