Smoking, quitting, and cravings

Come on people, quit and keep a pack of cigs at arms reach..
See who is the strongest or has more willpower...
No placebo's or meds needed..If you want to quit, I mean really want to quit..Do it on your own..
Maybe it is the Construction field and the Marine Corps backround attitidude..Get the job done regardless, no excusses..
 
litenlarry said:
Come on people, quit and keep a pack of cigs at arms reach..
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In some circles--with severely nicotine-addicted people like me (I quit cold turkey 22 years ago)--that is known as "tap-dancing in the minefield."

I also quit drinking, 32 years ago. Severely addicted to alcohol, too. I assure you I wasn't crazy enough to keep a bottle of bourbon "at arm's reach" when I was newly sober. Every person I've known who tried it that way got drunk again. The ones who kept a pack of cigarettes smoked again.

Some of them were ex-Marines. Some died.

Just saying.
 
i smoked a pipe for 37 years...nearly three years ago i quit...haven't cheated once...your craving will go away...lots of good information on this thread
 
Back in the early '80's I introduced my Dad, a smoker of about 50 years, to bass fishing. He loved it. He quickly realized that he would have much more available funds for tackle, lures, fishing gadgets if he freed up the $$ he spent on cigarettes. So he quit - just like that. No whining, no meds. Just did it.
Miss him.
 
I quit chewing tobacco, a little over a year ago. I was forced to stop by a really bad sinus infection, the infection made it difficult to chew/breathe/taste/swollow. So I quit until I was better, but when I felt better I just didnt start back again.

I Honestly just told my self NO! everytime I had a craving and would find something to take my mind off of the craving and it would go away. Sometimes it was food others video games, this forum helped alot too. Kept my mind of the cravings. The cravings lasted about 6 weeks with the occasional stray craving when I was mowing grass or fishing. But I stuck to my guns and my teeth are whiter, my breathe is better, food tastes better, and I have saved some cash. I use my dip money for ammo now so I guess I didnt save any.

My point is I dont know how long its going to take but stick to your guns, find something to do when you have a craving. You can beat it.
It worked for me it can work for you.
 
I may be young, but I have had a few friends start and stop in my life. The key they told me to blocking cravings is snacking, hearty foods like nuts and fruits, no veggies though. Also if the craving gets REALLY bad grab a grapefruit or grapefruit juice. As a last resort cinnamon listerine!
 
blujax01 said:
Just between us girls, weening myself off coke was much easier.

Seriously. :cool:
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I have a good friend here I shoot pool with every other week or so, and he still smokes quite a bit. I keep telling him to quit, he'll feel better. He has told me that he's tried the gum, the patches, the electric cigarettes, and he keeps going back to the cigarettes.

"Well, your hearts not in it then," I replied. "You've got to want to quit."

"Man," he told me, "when I was younger and dumber, I was hooked on heroin for a time. Quitting that was a lot easier that quitting smoking has turned out to be."

I say just do whatever works for you if you really want to quit.
 
I smoked two packs a day for about 20 years. I quit cold turkey in 2002.
I started doing research online and read an article that said using a nicotine based aid to stop smoking just delayed the inevitable which is beating the addiction to nicotine. The chemical dependency last for 72 hours then it is the habit that haunts you.
When I quit about 11 years ago it was the third time I quit. The first two times were for approximately 6 months each and both times I quit because someone wanted me to and I started back because I wanted to. The mistake was that I quit for other reasons. The last time I quit it was because I did not want to smoke anymore.
Plus cigarettes were getting outrageously priced! They were almost five dollars a pack!! :o
Then I saw a report on a EPA monitored smokestack and some of the chemicals monitored were some of the same chemicals that were in cigarettes. That can't be good!
I stayed busy as well, coaching baseball at the time so I had access to unlimited sunflower seeds!
After awhile my gums were getting chewed up by the hulls and I am sure my salt intake was through the roof so I ditched the seeds.
I started drinking water when I had a craving! The amount of people who are actually dehydrated all the time anyway is unbelievably high so the extra water can't hurt!
So I still have water with me all the time and for the first few years I would find myself looking for something gathering my every day carry stuff and then I realize I am looking for my cigarettes and lighter.
It is very difficult but it is possible.
The repair of the damage done to your body from smoking starts immediately. I am Not sure we will ever be 100 % again but you will feel much better.
Do it for you and tell yourself that is why you don't light another one each time the craving hits.
Stay with it brother!
 
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kamloops67 said:
seriously man , i can help ...but you gotta help yourself first.
try copenhagen or something like it but strong! only take a pinch when the cravings become unbearable .
for my self i always thought snoose was gross and i knew most ladies think snoose is gross so... . yeah just take a pinch of that gross sh-t and the nic need is gone and you can go back to the face to face fight with the habit . i havent smoked in 19 years...but i miss a GOOD cigar badly
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No offense, but this is the worst advice I have ever heard. I chewed for many years and switched to cigs and switched back to Copenhagen (a can a day habit). Trust me, quitting cigs is child's play compared to quitting dip. The amount of nicotine delivered with dip is many times higher than cigs. Don't touch the dip - you'll regret it!!!!!!
 
Do some research sometime on the incidence of mouth and throat cancer in those using "smokeless tobacco". You'll find some really ugly pictures for your edification.
 
During one of my nonsmoking periods,after about a year,and really craving a smoke,I bought a can of Skoal.After a year of that,I had a nasty sore on my gum and went back to smoking...Im pretty sure tobacco is bad news.How I can still climb and ski at 13,000 ft is some sort of miracle.. So far..
 
I smoked from age 14 until I was 44. I quit several times from a year or so; but I went back to smoking when I would get into a stressful situation. When I did quit I used the patch. It worked I got me past the cravings and I worked on stress management. It's been 15 years since I quit, I will have a craving everyone in a while; I tell myself I will wait 15 minutes and it I still want a cigarette I will go get a pack. So far it's worked. Craving can be pretty strong and you will have to find a way to work through them. Smoking is an addiction.
 
Frankly, I can't get on board with the whole quit smoking thing. My wife quit cold turkey 25 years ago. Whenever she got an urge, she just waited it out. I never did quit. She died of lung cancer last year. She was diagnosed 23 years after she quit smoking. I still smoke and have no intention of quitting much to the chagrin of my doctor, who can no longer offer a valid argument. I do realize that I will never be able to outrun anybody because of the diminished lung capacity smoking causes, so I just learned to shoot really, really well.

Pretty sure this didn't help at all (except for maybe the part about when you get an urge, just wait it out) but I do wish you luck in your endeavor.
 
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I was a smoker for 40 years. Then, they took away my cigarette as I was getting in the ambulance and then cracked my chest open and did the heart valve replacement and bypass stuff when we got to the hospital. I stayed in the hospital for about 8 days. All I wanted was a cigarette as soon as I got out. I dreamed about smoking. When I did get out, I got my son to stop at the first 7-11 and get me a pack of cigarettes. Just as I started to open them I thought, Hmmmm, I haven't had a smoke in over a week. Wonder if I can go one more day?. The next day I wondered the same thing. I noticed my cravings were strong, but only lasted about 10 to 15 seconds. I learned for those few seconds I needed to find something to do. Something like cleaning a gun, cleaning out a drawer, anything to take my mind off of the craving and keep my hands busy. I learned drinking a glass of ice water helped a lot. Taking a 30 minute walk was amazingly helpful. As the days went by, the cravings came less frequently. Then after a month or so, I only had a momentary craving if I thought about smoking. I soon stopped thinking about it. I truly wanted to quit. I think that was the key. If you truly want to quit you will. If you don't, you won't. Its that simple. There is no crutch needed, your heart is either in it or not. I never did open that pack of cigarettes. That was 6 years ago. I wish you every success in your effort. You just gotta make up your mind to do it.
 
Going on 3 months since I quit this time and yesterday was pretty tempting to get some cigars and start again. I quit cigarettes some 20 years ago but smoked little cigars instead. Not as expensive or as hard on you but still bad.
I'm hoping this is the time I stay quit as I did it this time as I wanted to save money, feel better and not have breathing problems when I have back surgery again in a couple weeks.
Threads like this are helpful as they encourage each other and make you accountable to someone. Thanks for starting it as I've found it helps.
 
Brian41 said:
I quit cigarettes some 20 years ago but smoked little cigars instead. Not as expensive or as hard on you but still bad.
Click to expand...

Cigars and a pipe didn't help me at all. I inhaled them just like cigarettes--way, way down. All forms of tobacco had to go, for me. Even though a lot of damage was already done, quitting is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. And again, for me the cravings went away quite early. It happens.
 
Point 357 said:
I ask only to seek the experience of all of the collective knowledge assembled here.
I am 51 years old and have had quite the adventurous life so far. The single worst habit I have picked up has been smoking cigarettes. Recently I was given about the most clear medical signal to quit that there can possibly be. Right now. .
It's been two weeks since my five day stay in ICU after surgery and I have not had a smoke. After 25+ years of a pack and a half a day habit not a single puff.
It's the cravings that haunt me. Badly.
From everyone's experience, how long can these cravings last? Life is otherwise great for me, but these cravings are giving me a tougher time than I had expected.
Click to expand...

Try Chantex it does help stop the cravings..
 
I never really smoked very much. Like most kids in the 60s I played around with it, and I smoked some in the Army, but I never really enjoyed it.

Then I discovered what my life had been missing-Chewing Tobacco. Chewed for years, loved it.

I could be in a trial and have a small bit of Levi Garret in my mouth and no one was the wiser. I could lecture on Search and Seizure to cops with the chew in, and, again, no one knew. Never spit, no bulge.

Then I quit in the early nineties. Fairly easy since I wanted to. Can't remember why, but I wanted to.

Then I started on dip about eight years ago. Don't recall why I started, I just wanted to. I loved it. Grizzly Wintergreen in the pouch. No bulge, very little spit, if any, and a very quick hit of "energy."

Then last Friday, I went to the Dentist to get my teeth cleaned and for the annual oral cancer screening and check up by the doc.

They had no idea I dipped as their paperwork had asked me, when I first went there, "Do you smoke?" In complete honesty, I said "No!"

But when she looked in my mouth, she knew immediately I was dipping. She said the area where I kept the dip was changing colors and, though I was fine now, I really ought to quit. I might note that I had the same exam about 10 months earlier and she had not seen anything to show I was dipping-so the change was fairly fast and recent.

So, I did. Last Thursday night, about 10 PM was my last dip. I had a brand new can in the car that I was gonna open after the dental visit, but I dropped it in the trash.

Not as easy this time, but not real bad either. I want a dip a few times a day, especially after a meal. But, I don't have one.

I quit.

Bob
 
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I wish I could offer you a way to quit and never think about it but I can't. I have smoked for the past 63 years except for one time that I quit for 6 months. Had to restart or punch an irritating co-worker. Ended up with atrial fibrillation and had a pace maker, defibrillator installed. Asked the doctor if my smoking had caught up with me and she replied that smoking had nothing to do with it - so I lit up as soon as they released me. Turned 80 this April and still going strong. Wish you luck.
 
calmex said:
I have a good friend here I shoot pool with every other week or so, and he still smokes quite a bit. I keep telling him to quit, he'll feel better. He has told me that he's tried the gum, the patches, the electric cigarettes, and he keeps going back to the cigarettes.

"Well, your hearts not in it then," I replied. "You've got to want to quit."

"Man," he told me, "when I was younger and dumber, I was hooked on heroin for a time. Quitting that was a lot easier that quitting smoking has turned out to be."

I say just do whatever works for you if you really want to quit.
Click to expand...

Great Post!


That's the root of the matter. To anyone who wants to quit, realize this:

You gotta have the "Want To."

Can't do it for your wife.

Can't do it for your kids.

Can't do it for your job.

You have to do it for yourself.

If you do it for anyone or anything else, when things go sideways, and they will, you will blame that outside influence for your predicament and resent them for it!
 
And if you believe in your innermost heart that it's not possible, it won't be. You need to talk to people who encourage you by their experience that it can be done. Which is what has been happening here; and if I could quit, as terribly hooked as I was, anyone can.
 
I sincerely thank all of you for your encouragement and honest input.

The cravings do happen on occasion, but all I have to do is realize (again) that I cannot yet eat solid food because I had ignored all the warnings and refused to quit in the past.
Seriously guys, thank you.
 
.45goblue said:
I quit smoking by taking up chewing. Now, I chew Grizzly and I can't quit that!

My advice: do not use another form of tobacco to quit tobacco! Find another way! Just my personal experience.

I enjoy chewing more than I ever enjoyed smoking... :eek:
Click to expand...
Got a dip of Grizzly as I type. My lungs feel much better since I quit smoking 3 years ago. I can even get out of my chair without huffing a puffing. There's nothing like a walk in the woods with the Black Lab at my side, my M&P 40 on the other side & a dip of chaw in my mouth.
 
MSG Glenn said:
Got a dip of Grizzly as I type. My lungs feel much better since I quit smoking 3 years ago. I can even get out of my chair without huffing a puffing. There's nothing like a walk in the woods with the Black Lab at my side, my M&P 40 on the other side & a dip of chaw in my mouth.
Click to expand...

As Alice Cooper sang:

"You'd offer a diabetic a candy cane...":rolleyes:
 
Stick To It

I smoked for a bit more than ten years and quit thirty years ago.
No health issues at the time I just stopped enjoying them, and I smoked "Full Flavor" cigs a more than a pack per day.
I can't say I still have cravings but I do dream about smoking. It took me a while to get over the craving I did quit cold turkey. Back then the chewing gum was the only crutch and that tasted nasty, never used it past the stick.
If I can do it you can too. You will start feeling better in a few months.
 
Point 357 said:
I ask only to seek the experience of all of the collective knowledge assembled here.
I am 51 years old and have had quite the adventurous life so far. The single worst habit I have picked up has been smoking cigarettes. Recently I was given about the most clear medical signal to quit that there can possibly be. Right now. .
It's been two weeks since my five day stay in ICU after surgery and I have not had a smoke. After 25+ years of a pack and a half a day habit not a single puff.
It's the cravings that haunt me. Badly.
From everyone's experience, how long can these cravings last? Life is otherwise great for me, but these cravings are giving me a tougher time than I had expected.
Click to expand...

I quit 30 years ago and still can feel your pain. I can tell you that there hasn't been a year that has gone by in those 30 years where I still don't get the urge to light up now and then.
A couple of things I learned that helped me eventually quit for good. :
a) If you even take one drag on a cigarette, you will be hooked all over again and be to a pack+/day in a week. Smoking IS an addiction and one that will follow you for life! Accept it.
2) When you get BAD cravings/weak, you need to get through it one second at a time. Keep telling yourself that if you light up that butt, you will have suffered all those days/weeks for nothing and will have to start all over again. Think about what you've been through. Dwell on it. This was often enough to just get me through that weak moment.
3) When you think you really ahve it beat...... well see #1) above.
Be strong, it does get easier.
 
I quit ten years ago after smoking a pack and a half a day for nearly 30 years. I had tried to quit several times over the years, but never stuck with it. Finally, I developed bronchitis that my doc said would advance into emphysema if I continued smoking. I used the nicotine patches to quit. I hope you win your battle. Don't give in to the cravings. It took me about a month to realize how much energy and breathing ability I had regained from quitting.
 
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