Smoking, quitting, and cravings

[deralte]

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.

 

[blujax01]

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.

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!

 

[shouldazagged]

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.

 

[Point 357]

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.

 

[MSG Glenn]

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...

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.

 

[blujax01]

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.

As Alice Cooper sang:

"You'd offer a diabetic a candy cane..."

 

[mike from st pete]

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.

 

[Wee Hooker]

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.

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.

 

[PA Reb]

A little song about addiction and the price ya pay that sums it all up !

Lynyrd Skynyrd ? That Smell @ Live 720p HD - YouTube

 

[Ranger514]

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.

 

[rwsmith]

Remember....

...that if you die, it won't be from smoking and think of all the money you're saving. I thank the Lord I got a clear signal 13 years ago and want nothing to do with cigarettes, AND I stay away from influences that make me want to smoke and feel much better about myself. The ONLY problem I've had is on this forum where people talk about their scotch and cigars.

 

[Kinman]

In my 62 years I started smoking when I was 18 and quit approximately 3 times in my life for periods of years. Everytime I quit it was cold turkey, wadded up the pack and threw it out the window or in the trash. I would usually end up chewing plug again or dippin snoose which I would much rather do than smoke anyway...eventually end up smoking again before too long. I started smoking good cigars, that was tough to quit, I would chew and dip and smoke a good cigar, no cigarettes. I quit that one too, then after years of non smoking I just started smoking again, started bumming a smoke, then bought a pack...away we go, started rolling quality unmolested shredded tobacco, really enjoyed that, take the time to roll a nice smoke, enjoy it...The last time I quit has been over 10 years now, I still love the smell of a good cigar, cigarettes don't smell good, in fact I am repulsed by the smell of cigarettes and those that smoke them and am glad they have passed all the ordinances that eliminate them from public places, etc. My son has smoked for over 10 years and after a couple of failed attempts has done quite well with an electric cigarette, his little girlfriend is pleased as am I, its alot nicer being around him without that damned cigarette hanging out of his mouth stinking up the place.

 

[Delos]

My fathers bladder, colon, and lung cancer was slow

Put all the money you save to one side and take your wife out to dinner once a week. She will reward you more than the cigarettes ever did.

Do not die over a period of years the way my father did. First he started urinating some blood. Back in the 1960's the treatment was an electrode up the urinary canal to bladder then zap the cancer. A bit like arc welding I guess. It made him real sick for a few days each time. Then colon cancer, then lung cancer.

Apparently the bladder and colon cancer was from swallowing all the tar, and insecticides, and the fungicides use in the drying process. Each brand has chemicals to help give it a distinctive flavor I hear.

The carbon monoxide from the burning cigarette is really a killer also. Dad got lung cancer years after the others. Lungs have tar and carbon monoxide. Each carbon monoxide molecule attaches to a red blood cell at the point an oxygen atom would have attached. I have never read how the body eventually gets rid of it. Not enough oxygen gets to all points in your body. It weakens you and your immune system. You do not want to get old with a weak immune system. The numerous germs your body fights off every day might become a problem. Something your healthy wife or dog is easily fighting off might be an issue to you. Stop kissing your wife and petting your dog.

And next time when the nurse takes your blood pressure with the same unsterilized cuff and stethoscope diaphragm that she puts on everyone else's skin. Then the next nurse swabs a little alcohol on that spot, rips the rubber cover off one finger, and taps your vein before sticking the needle in your vein. And you know that doctors do not use alcohol to sterilize surgical instruments because it would take way too long…….

And you know that drug addicts have scars in their veins from viruses carried on dirty needles. (And or from the needle pushing in germs from dirty skin)

So the further you stay from breathing hospital air when unhealthy. The further you stay from other unhealthy people when weak.

I do not have enough paper to tell you what all my father went through. The various surgeries and radiation treatments. The last time I talked with him he said he had been under the radiation way longer than usual. The doctor came in and said words to the effect "ARE You Still Here". The doctor rushed around turning everything off. He had been much sicker after that. I lived over 100 miles away and could only check on him on weekends. He was not there for my next visit. He had been a medical project for several years.

Years before he would get really depressed when trying to quit. Mom would finally feel sorry for him and suggest he just try smoking less often.

Fight off the enablers you love. Fight your weaknesses. Start photographing butterflies or something. When you feel an urge coming on go jump off the end of a pier and walk home wet. Anything that causes you shock and repulsion or at least distraction. Go to a bar and pinch a bikers lady. Anything is better than submitting to the urges and dying slowly.

(My wife and I quit just after our honeymoon because we had better things to do)

 

[ΣΙΓΜΑ]

I stopped smoking about 2 1/2 years ago and I'm done smoking for sure. The strong physical cravings lasted a few days. I also stopped drinking coffee and alcohol for about a month or two so that I wouldn't associate anything with smoking. And then I discovered peanut butter M & M's...... I would buy them by the pound and eat them all day.... I didn't even remembered ever smoking when I was on the " peanut-butter-M & M-trance ". Then I got over it and started drinking coffee again.
The mental craving, to me, is stronger than the physical one. You have to be mentally ready to stop and somehow little by little you stop thinking about it. Truly, it just happens when you least expect it.
Get involved in activities you never even thought about getting involved in before.... basket weaving, origami, rock climbing, outdoor photography ?????

I started taking Karate, Tai Chi, Chinese, and Water aerobics' classes and I do not hang out with people who smoke. I am actually glad and proud I am not a smoker anymore.

 

[counting cou]

quit in 78 after 15yrs,,,,i chewed on wood tooth pick all the time and drinking straws,had one or other hanging on the lip most all day for about 3 yrs....that took care of physical crave,,for the brain just had totell myself I didn't need to use them and wanted to be here for my kids and gtandkids and ha 3 great grands....If I could only loose the curse word that have been part of my descriptive lingo for as early as 10,,have been using a little Cajun and French,,not so well know as all the Spanish cest la vie

 

[Brian41]

Brought this thread back to top as it's been a help to me reading about other people's struggles and their success.
As I've said before I'm going on three months with my latest quit but have been having some weak moments lately. It's a good thing I'm in the country and the nearest store is a bit of a drive to buy smokes or I might have given in by now. I know when I was working it was too easy to stop and buy smokes and the work pressure was my excuse to start again every time.
Now most of my stress is coming from my wife. She has a lot of pressure on her right now and when she gets overwhelmed with it she takes it out on me. There are times after her rants if I had a smoke I'd be lighting up but so far have managed to stay out of the truck to go buy some.
Anyway still managing although barely at times. I wish all the other quitters here continued success.