To Smoke or not to Smoke

[Stormy]

I have been a smoker since the age of 20. I tried unsuccessfully to quit in the past. I make it to 2 months as a non smoker and then BAM - the urge to Smoke comes back. I've tried hypnosis, patches, that God awful pill and cold turkey. When I quit I tend to eat a lot more food and gain weight. What a viscuous cycle.

 

Any success stories from forum members in stopping smoking?

[suckersnj]

I smoked for 44 years and tried to quit numerous times with no success. Then my family doctor suggested that I try Chantix. Chantix is covered by health plans and it works. I'm going on 11 years now as an ex smoker.

[Gvtire]

Smokes for 20 years and quit cold turkey 18 years ago. Wasn’t a heavy smoker no more than a pack a day. Still miss it and crave it, especially after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.

[+ bashful]

My mother was a smoker (father didn't), and some of their friends did too, so I grew up around smokers. Even when I was a kid, around 10 years old, I remember I liked the smell when my mom lit a cigarette, especially in the car. That was about the time I snuck one of my mom's Pall Malls. I don't remember feeling bad when taking a drag.

 

I didn't start buying cigarettes until I was around 18, and kept smoking from then on. When I was around 40, I got bladder cancer. Doc said smoking was the leading cause. It was caught early, so nothing more than taking out the tumor from the bladder, and watching me. Four years later, still sneaking and occasionally smoking, another tumor in the bladder. He took it out, and again said, just need to watch. (blood in my urine was my symptom)

 

Quit after the second occurrence of cancer, but later, once again started to sneak one every so often, and then was sneaking more often. Would never smoke in front of those that knew me. I was lying to everyone. It go to the point, I was so frustrated trying to figure out where, and when I could have a cigarette, I told my doc I started smoking again, and asked him for Zyban. He prescribed generic Wellbrutrin, the same ingredient in Zyban. He said to take it for 10 days before I stop smoking. Did so, and was back to smoking two days later.

 

Good news, continued to take the Wellbrutrin and about two weeks later quit again. It took. That was in 2007. Have not touched a cigarette since then.

 

Had my yearly cystoscopy last month, no cancer.

Edited October 29, 2018 by bashful

[+ deej]

I smoked pretty heavily for 30 years. Tried quitting for various reasons which all failed because they were the wrong reasons.

 

Finally got tired of coughing myself awake in the morning and landed on the right reason: time to do it for me.

 

My Dr. suggested starting with nicotine lozenges, and some battle plans. First I took all ashtrays out of my home, leaving one on the patio. (Probably more effective in SoCal than in places that have winter.) I stopped smoking in the car. One by one I eliminated smoking in places where I normally did smoke. It’s been almost 15 years since the last one.

 

I routinely get the urge but still keep those lozenges in the drawer.

 

The best part about quitting was losing the cough. It went away after FOUR DAYS.

[JayCeeKy]

I smoked for 20 years and was smoking three (yes, three) packs a day when I quit 33 years ago. I was Rx Nicorette gum to help me stop and was told to only chew one every few hours - I could have chewed the whole box and it would not have helped me with the cravings. What did help? Just chewing gum (EXTRA). I quit "cold T" and only had one cig in the last 33 years (I got drunk and had a cig at a gay bar near Rittenhouse Square - the "342 Club?" in 1996). I gained 17 lbs. when I quit but lost the weight over a year or so - food tasted so much better and I had more money to spend on food, and, I assume, my metabolism slowed down after stopping.

 

Not to depress you, but, if cigarettes weren't so expensive or so bad for your health, I'd go out right now, after 33 years, and get me cartoon right now. That's how powerful the addiction is.

Edited October 29, 2018 by JayCeeKy

[liubit]

I smoked about a pack a day for around 15 years. I then quit cold turkey 31 years ago and have never missed it one bit. That was the best decision in my life.

[+ José Soplanucas]

I smoked for 30+ years until quitting about 4/5 years ago.

During those 3 decades I had tried many times, once I did not smoke for a whole year.

What would bring me back were the bars. I think the difference with the last and so far successful quitting was that you cannot smoke anymore in bars and I do not get tempted when I am drunk and weak.

When I quitted I was smoking a full pack every day. I stopped suddenly, just did not buy anymore cigarettes after I smoked my last one.

[Rudynate]

I smoked for about 15 years total. I quit when I was 35. That was more than 30 years ago. When I was in my 20s, I quit once for three years and started again. I've never gone back to it. After the first few months, I've never wanted to. I do, however, smoke an occasional cigar, which doesn't seem to provoke any desire for a cigarette. You just have to keep trying. When I quit for good, it didn't seem that difficult. That was back in the 80s when they started having no-smoking sections in restaurants and generally, a lot of people were quitting then. It was when hosts started asking smokers to go outside and smoke in the garage and that sort of thing. I started doing things like sitting in the no-smoking section of restaurants when I was with non-smokers and not smoking if I was a guest in a non-smoker's house. By doing that, I learned I could go without a cigarette even for a few hours without missing it. And all I was actually trying to do was use situations like that to cut down. The catalyst for actually quitting was a new boyfriend who was very persnickety about smoking. He went out of town for a week and I quit while he was gone and have never looked back.

[Epigonos]

I smoked a pack a day of Pall Malls from the time I was eighteen until I was thirty three. I was on an extended summer trip to India where I developed a cold about the same time I ran out of my American cigarettes. I purchased some Indian cigarettes and I'm convinced they were made of "camel dung". Every time I would inhaled I'd go into a fit a coughing. I decided to wait for two weeks until my home flight and buy a couple of cartoons of Dunhills. Once on the plane I passed on buying the Dunhills thinking I'd wait and start smoking again with my friends. By the time I returned to work I hadn't smoked for four week so I decided what the hell I might as well continue NOT smoking. Quitting really wasn't all that difficult under those circumstances so in retrospect I'm convinced I really wasn't all that addicted. I probably just wanted something to do with my hands. Damn hard to believe that was forty-five years ago.

[+ azdr0710]

luckily, I never took up the habit.....am young enough that I saw all the anti-smoking propaganda as a kid and was well past the famous early-1960s declaration that it could cause lung cancer.....I guess it looked a bit sleazy, too, and I didn't want that appearance......

 

I remember as a young kid grabbing a cigarette out of my Dad's hand which he was about to light and opening the car door at 70 mph to toss it out.......both my parents smoked their entire adult lives, my Dad a bit more than my Mom.....a key indicator of addiction is how soon in the morning one lights up.....Dad would light up before stepping out of bed.....

 

you may've seen the recent court-ordered prime-time commercials explaining what the tobacco companies did over the decades to foster addiction.......

 

Edited October 29, 2018 by azdr0710

[Lookin]

I smoked a pack or so a day, from age 17 to age 27, and quit three times during that period. The third time was the charm since, that time, I realized that even one cigarette would start the addiction all over again.

 

It took six months to stop wanting a cigarette every day, and three years to stop wanting a cigarette at all. To keep myself going, I focused on the benefits of not being a smoker: (1) I didn't have to obsess over making sure I had cigarettes and a lighter everywhere I went, (2) food tasted different and better, (3) the air smelled better, (4) my clothes didn't stink, (5) I didn't have to keep emptying ashtrays, and (6) I had more money for other things. Thinking about these things every day really helped. I'm still grateful not to be a smoker.

 

Chantix wasn't around then, but one trick that really helped was to fill my lungs with air every time I felt like a puff. I'd repeat that a dozen times if I had to, just like I was inhaling cigarette smoke, until the temporary urge abated. It always did.

 

As you've already discovered, when you quit smoking, you'll enjoy food more and you'll probably gain weight. Don't worry about it. Enjoy yourself. It will be your "reward" for giving up something even less healthy. To offset the weight gain, start getting a little more exercise. You and your lungs will be healthier, so an extra half hour of walking every day will be easier for you than when you were smoking. Try to find some form of exercise, however modest, that you can do every day.

 

After a while, your self image will most likely change from someone who worries about his health as a smoker to someone who sees himself as a healthier ex-smoker. Keep focussing on the benefits and freedom that provides.

 

Anyhoo, that's my experience. I do think that there are different levels of nicotine addiction and quitting is much easier for some folks and much harder for others. I believe it has to do with brain receptors and, for better or worse, you've got the ones you've got. If you find you can't quit, at least not today, don't beat yourself up. The idea is to make yourself happier and healthier. If you're going to be a smoker, at least be a happy smoker.

 

[Deadlift1]

Acupuncture and the Patch. Wore the patch during the week and smoked on the weekends. After a couple of weeks i quit and wore the patch 24/7/

[RM]

I never learned how to smoke. I sure hated coming home from bridge club when I was in high school. My hair and clothes reeked of smoke. It was twenty years later that the city banned smoking in public places.

[+ GregM]

I quit in the middle of my chemotherapy. I had no choice. I was too week to walk outside since I didnt smoke inside. That was Aug 2016. I still get urges but knowing the effects of chemo I want to do what I can to lessen the chances of another 6 plus cycles. I gained weight partially to quiting smoking. So as a result I got off my ass got a trainer and am slimming down quite nicely. It's a matter of wanting it bad enough at the end of the day. You either want to really quit or you dont. I did. Finally. My savings is happier, my health is happier and I dont stink.

 

Hugs,

Greg