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We're Quitting Together, (Thank you For Not Smoking, PA)
Death of Rats
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So you have something in your life you want to quit. Smoking. You're so sick and tired of it that you want it out of your life completely. It costs too much, it smells bad, it stains your teeth, and it has both immediate and longterm effects on your health. You've decided you're done with it and now you're looking for a way to do just that. Well, this is the right place for support.
Quitting smoking is no cakewalk. It's a difficult process that, just like for every other addictive substance, can be a lifelong struggle. Especially if you don't have support. So we're going to do just that here.
We're here to give support, advice, and tips to help you get smoke out of your lungs, your pocketbook, and your life. Just like with the 100 push-ups thread, this thread is here to help you. This isn't a competition. This isn't a thread to debate the effects of second hand smokes or the newest smoking related laws.
So lets list off some methods that can be used to help the physical addiction to smoking:
Just look at the average day. Most smokers have their first cigarette of the day right after waking up, and their last one right before going to sleep. Before and after eating. Getting into cars or arriving at their designation. Breaks at work. If you eat 3 times a day, drive to and from work, and have one smoke break during work you're looking at a minimum of 13 cigarettes a day. That's 13 times a day where it's very difficult to not light up. Also, the back and forth of caffeinated beverages mixed with cigarettes is an dangerous part of the mental addiction.
So lets look at some ways to help the mental addiction:
Here's how this thread is going to work. Post how long you've been smoking, the day you plan on stopping, the method and whatnot. Then ever few days, post again to say how it's going for you and anything that's helped you so far. That information will be added to this post as well as anything else people would like. Post how many days it's been since your last cigarette. Keep track of it until you feel you no longer need to. We'll all give support and advice to those who need it. Also, it may help to post your reason for quitting. If you start having doubts down the line, read why you started the process of quitting to remind yourself. Lets get this thing done.
Just to clarify, this thread is not about convincing people they need to quit. Demonizing cigarettes and smokers doesn't do any good in the context of this thread. This thread is for helping people who have decided to quit. I've smoked for 8 years of my life, and I always hate when people try to get me to quit. The rate of success of people quiting smoking is always higher when it's their decision. Those times I have tried to quit in the past, well, they have partially failed because of my tendency to go "fuck these people trying to get me to quit, I'll do my own thing".
This thread is also not about convincing people to not quit. If you want to smoke, that's fine, but this is about helping people who no longer want it in their life.
Quitting smoking is no cakewalk. It's a difficult process that, just like for every other addictive substance, can be a lifelong struggle. Especially if you don't have support. So we're going to do just that here.
We're here to give support, advice, and tips to help you get smoke out of your lungs, your pocketbook, and your life. Just like with the 100 push-ups thread, this thread is here to help you. This isn't a competition. This isn't a thread to debate the effects of second hand smokes or the newest smoking related laws.
So lets list off some methods that can be used to help the physical addiction to smoking:
- Patches: Can be obtained from most drug stores. Walgreen brand patches cost around $60 for a month supply. Some people have bad reactions to them
- Nicotine Gum: Can be obtained from most drug stores. While a little more expensive than patches, it might work a little better for those who need the activity in their mouth.
- Perscription drugs: Drugs such as Chantix can be used to block the nicotine receptors in the brain. However, the side effects can sometimes be quite serious.
Just look at the average day. Most smokers have their first cigarette of the day right after waking up, and their last one right before going to sleep. Before and after eating. Getting into cars or arriving at their designation. Breaks at work. If you eat 3 times a day, drive to and from work, and have one smoke break during work you're looking at a minimum of 13 cigarettes a day. That's 13 times a day where it's very difficult to not light up. Also, the back and forth of caffeinated beverages mixed with cigarettes is an dangerous part of the mental addiction.
So lets look at some ways to help the mental addiction:
- Physical Replacement: Every time you usually smoke, have a new stick of gum, squeeze a stress ball, suck on a cough drop. Keep your mouth active during these times, as well as your hands.
- Comfort Replacement: Keep an empty pack of smokes with your physical replacement inside of it on you at all times you'd be tempted to light back up. It may not seem like much, but just the weight of it will help out.
- Avoid problem areas: If you smoke on your breaks, don't go to where you normally would.
- Exercise: Instead of having a cigarette take a walk, a bike ride, do some push ups or sit ups. A good idea might be to do the 100 pushups thread while quitting.
Here's how this thread is going to work. Post how long you've been smoking, the day you plan on stopping, the method and whatnot. Then ever few days, post again to say how it's going for you and anything that's helped you so far. That information will be added to this post as well as anything else people would like. Post how many days it's been since your last cigarette. Keep track of it until you feel you no longer need to. We'll all give support and advice to those who need it. Also, it may help to post your reason for quitting. If you start having doubts down the line, read why you started the process of quitting to remind yourself. Lets get this thing done.
Just to clarify, this thread is not about convincing people they need to quit. Demonizing cigarettes and smokers doesn't do any good in the context of this thread. This thread is for helping people who have decided to quit. I've smoked for 8 years of my life, and I always hate when people try to get me to quit. The rate of success of people quiting smoking is always higher when it's their decision. Those times I have tried to quit in the past, well, they have partially failed because of my tendency to go "fuck these people trying to get me to quit, I'll do my own thing".
This thread is also not about convincing people to not quit. If you want to smoke, that's fine, but this is about helping people who no longer want it in their life.
No I don't.
Death of Rats on
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I have patches I bought at walgreens. They should last me 4 weeks before I need to get some more.
Seeing how I go through a carton in a week, I spend around $160 every 4 weeks on cigarettes. The patches cost me $58 for a 4 weeks supply. So overall through this method I'm saving around $25 per week.
I'm quitting because I no longer enjoy it, it's just money down the drain now. Also, I've noticed that I'm getting sick a lot more often, which is probably due to malnourishment combined with the smoking.
If you're not particularly active, you should almost certainly plan to become so when you quit. Not only is keeping active a good way to deal with withdrawal, cravings, etc., but 2 things are likely to happen: you'll eat more (especially junk food) to satisfy that whole oral fixation thing (plus the fact that smoking is an appetite suppressant), and your metabolism might crash.
Seriously, I gained 40 pounds when I quit smoking (granted, I was underweight at the time), and have yet to lose any of it. Quitting smoking is pretty much the best thing you can do for your health, but rapid weight gain isn't a good thing, so make sure to get some execise.
So..yeah. It's safe to say I am just a tad against it. I support this thread 100% and wish you all luck in this quest.
It's a person's personal choice if they want to smoke or not, and most of the smokers I know do.
But if you want to quit I wish you luck
Quit before it's too late people. Please.
Well good for them.
And also fuck them.
And quit.
Mmm ... victory.
I'll sometimes smoke when drunk if friends are willing to gift me one or two. Pretty much never when sober. I can say no to cigarettes. I sort of find other peoples smoke fucking revolting.
So... am I an addict?
I go through about 2 packs a week now, while bad it's not a truly "bad" habbit currently. I find the two main keys are work and drinking. The two direct people in charge of my work smoke and while around them I tend to do the same. Likewise when I go out for happy hour or the weekend drinking makes the booze hit you a lot stronger and feel better.
Started at age 17, quit in boot camp, started back up 2 years later in the fleet, quit while contracting in an area that I couldn't in, and started back up here.
I know it sounds lame to defend the practice, however... it's not the end of the world. I plan on quitting around November, don't know how long it will last. My guess is probably 2 years again. But vices can be theraputic, and I'm not one to swear bad habits off completely.
I started about 3 years ago. I actually only started smoking cigars. Not the gas station kind, but the fancy/expensive ones you'd get at a nice tobacco shop. I would only smoke them on certain occasions, like if a good friend and I were having some drinks we'd go out on the back porch and have a cigar. These occasions became more frequent, and then I moved on to smoking the cheaper cigars as my frequency increased, and eventually moved to cigarettes to get that quick nicotine fix when I didn't have the time for a whole cigar.
I would honestly at first only smoke about two cigarettes a day, as a sort of relaxation thing. Then I started hanging around a different group of friends, who were constantly chain smoking, and my frequency shot up due to that environment.
Now I smoke almost a pack a day, and that's a shitload of money wasted. I justify it to myself because of anxiety/stress. I tell myself it's okay because there are worse things that one could be addicted to, and having lost friends due to more serious addictions, I figured by comparison smoking isn't that bad.
I still don't think smoking is that bad in the larger scheme of life, but anymore I have reached the point where it's not generally enjoyable. Nicotine actually gives a pleasurable buzz when you first start smoking, but after a while it's more of a need. It's not that I feel really good when smoking, it's just that I feel irritable if I haven't had a smoke in a while, and then when I do smoke it's more that I feel normal.
And like many others, I hate the smell, and hate having a smoker's cough/phlegm. I actually think smoking is bad enough from a hygiene standpoint that I won't smoke before/during a date, because I can't blame someone for being disgusted by it.
I am a huge fan of the very occasional and responsible use of psychedelics. When I started with psychedelics I realized that drugs themselves are not bad, and when used responsibly can actually have a positive influence on a person. I won't go more into my personal examples, but I still hold that philosophy to be true. When I figured this out I told myself that smoking cigarettes was stupid, and something I would never do. Not only is it dangerous, but it actually provides nothing positive in the way psychedlics can when used properly. So basically smoking has a giant net negative, with very little positive when compared to almost every other drug in existence (excluding the obvious extremes of heroin and whatnot).
So I will be part of this experiment. I'm not going to try cold turkey, but starting tomorrow I will only smoke two cigarettes a day. I don't necessarily have a timetable, but let's say after a week I will cut it down to one, and then after that week zero.
I still won't be against having the occasional smoke on a special occasion, in the form of cigars/pipe tobacco, and only once in a great while. But cigarettes themselves, are nothing but an addiction and waste of money to me anymore.
Also I've been hitting the gym a lot lately, and smoking a shitload and going to the gym really puts into perspective how fucked up your lungs really are.
(I know this was a long, unstructured rant. I don't really care if anyone reads it. Like the OP said, this is also for me to look back on when I have that urge, and read my own words, and remind myself that I'm better than this.)
Right, that's got the witticism out of the way.
I started smoking at 17 and I quit about 5 weeks ago aged 37. I didn't actually *want* to quit as such, but as I have moved in with my girlfriend, who doesn't smoke, it has eventually led to me knocking it on the head as well.
Over the years I had slowly reduced the amount I had smoked anyway, from 20 per day as a student (rolling my own at that stage) to about 5 or 6 per day (usual marlboro lights crap) for the past few years.
For me, the thing that helped most in quitting smoking was to start running/training. I gave it a week or so of not smoking then I started gradually working my way back into regular exercise. Now I am at the gym 3 times a week, running during the occasional lunch break and cycling in and out of work.
I still view smoking as a personal choice though, and if I knew it wouldn't start me off again I would not object to smoking the odd cigarette if I was out drinking with friends. For all those people that point to family/loved ones that have died from cancers et al, yes I am sorry you had to go through that, it's a shitty thing to see, it really is, but you know what - everyone dies, and as medicine and quality of life extend our 'natural' life expectancy upwards then I would imagine that we will see more people dying from things like cancer. Just to put that in perspective for you, in 2005 I watched my mother die after she lost a 5 year battle with cancer. She was a non-smoker.
That's how I feel. I chop a good cigar about 2x a year, and it's always fun. I can stop the cigs, but I still want the right to enjoy a good cigar paired with a top end single malt scotch for those special occasiaons.
I agree with this, and would also point out that heart diseases and being fucking obese kills more people then smoking does. We could also take a look at asian cultures that smoke far more then we do yet don't suffer the same problems at the same rate due to diet.
I'm not trying to defend it, but there are a lot of factors to being healthy, smoking is just one of them. It's a personal choice, and you WILL deal with the consequences of it. But it's not the devil.
Fact: most smoker's who are actually addicted don't enjoy smoking. It's just something you gotta do to feel right.
You take a bunch of chemicals that if consumed would kill you, an addictive chemical and add it to a plant product wrapped in paper.
You then set it on fire. You then take the slowly burning roll, and place it in your mouth.
You then breathe in smoke.
Think about it. What in the hell made people think that was a good idea in the first place? There is not a thing in the world where if you set it on fire, its good to breath in the fumes. It is a dumb thing to do even if it wasn't the #2 killer in the world (10x worse than *Godwin censor*)
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
I recommend the switching to chewing gum as it really helped me, though I guess I just transfered a dependency (I still get through about two packs a day, just of different things :P), though 70p and overly fresh breath is probably better than several pounds and more death.
Another thing that helped was making sure there was no 'reserve' of cigarettes about the house and buying one pack at a time: thus whenever I finished one pack I had to wander all the way to the shops, which a) harnessed my 'screw that and watch TV instead' impulse, b) put the amount of money in perspective when making each purchase individually, and c) gave me a nice healthy walk several times a day.
No one knew anything until she fell down the stairs and cracked open her head. I think my girlfriend was the first one to see her. I didn't end up hearing much about what had happened until the next day. She came to see me and I tried to comfort her. I don't think that devastated is a strong enough word to describe the state she was in. She had been crying almost continuously since the accident. Her mother had cancer in her lungs that had moved into her brain and caused hemorrhaging. The fall down the stairs caused her to enter a permanent coma, there was an expensive operation that could've been done, but it would've lead to, at most, 6 more months of her living but unconscious. They are not a well to do family, there was no way they could've afforded the operation, and they had to make the decision to take her off of life support and let her die that night.
I will never forget my girlfriend's face as she cried into my shoulder and told me all of this. There is nothing in my life that could ever compare. She told me about how they had gathered all the things that her mom had liked and brought them to the hospital bed while she was dying. She told me how they played her old jazz CDs for her, and how she talked to her, and how badly she wished that her mother could hear it. She told me, in struggling breaths, how her mother would never get to meet her grandchildren, or how she wouldn't be able to enjoy flowers again, and how she never got to say goodbye. She showed me that she still had her mother's blood under her fingernails from when she had tried to help her at the bottom of the stairs.
And the only thing I could think was how stupid it all was. How absolutely ridiculous. This wasn't some major accident, this wasn't the result of inevitable forces, or an act of "God", this was absolutely, completely preventable. This had all happened, and why? Because she'd wanted to suck the smoke out of rolled up tobacco? I can't imagine, in any manner, in any possible situation, where allowing the remote chance of this happening could ever, ever be worth it. It would almost be laughable if it wasn't the most tragic thing I've ever experienced. I watched the person I love most in the world completely destroyed over this, and the only up side is that somewhere along the road there's a slight nicotine buzz and it makes you look cool? Fuck that.
The hardest part when trying to cut back, was trying to ration them out. From smoking before work, on all 3 breaks and lunches, and after work, and later at night again.
Cutting out each special cigarette, one at a time, one week or month at a time really helped. Also, knowing that if I just dont light up now, I can light up at my next scheduled smoke would help with the cravings.
MWO: Adamski
I'm doing this bitches.
Though I honestly can't decide if I want to quit entirely, or get back to how I was for the longest time where I would only smoke maybe 1 cigarette a day. It is a very meditative, relaxing thing to do at nighttime to reflect on the day. Though I could go with pipe tobacco for that.
Either way I need to cut way back. Day 1: so far, so good.
Edit: Since we're also throwing in our own personal motivations or reasons not to smoke, there is one reason why I have always known I wasn't going to smoke for longer than a few years. I honestly don't think that I'm the coolest person in the world, nor would I care if I died at 40 from cancer. I actually think we have too much of an immortality complex as a society and I don't really want to live forever.
However, I know some day that I will have a wife and kids. I personally don't care when I die, or even if I die due to smoking. But I couldn't stand explaining to my children "Sorry I have to leave you guys like this because I decided to smoke."
Read the fucking OP, that's not what this thread is about. We've had debate threads on that topic already.
I was not responding to the OP, I was responding to posts like this.
Are you suggesting that its a smart thing to do? Or a judgement neutral act?
Just because you do dumb things doesnt mean your a bad person, it just means you did a dumb thing. I do lots of dumb things all the time. We have an entire thread of strange and embarrising dumb things.
MWO: Adamski
Which would be right around the same time I get out of the Navy. Unfortunately while the military claims to be pro-quitting, in reality they tolerate smoking and punish any possible alternate activity which can be used to pass the un-Godly amount of "standing around waiting and not doing anything time".
Not to mention this is a "Trying to quit" thread, so posting reasons that one should quit smoking is pretty much on topic.
Posting that some nonsmokers piss you off, and that we should be able to smoke more places, is not what this thread is about.
(And in the ultimate clash of irony, I am saying this with a Bill Hicks avatar.)
I'd be happy to be the big evil antismoking nazi if anybody needs a windmill to flog their dead horse against (lol mixed metaphors), as long as we do it in a different thread.
Regarding products:
Zyban works. So does Chantix. Keep in mind that both Chantix and Zyban, the two most common pills for smoking cessation, carry with them a risk of suicidal thoughts. That risk is very small - you are very unlikely to experience it. If you experience it, you are very unlikely to experience to such a degree that it would override your rational decision-making. However, if you already have problems with depression, suicidal thoughts, or impulse control, you may want to avoid those two drugs.
For long term success, the patch is better for you than the gum. Some people find that the gum works better for them - that's understandable, for two reasons. First off, the gum gives you a larger dose of nicotine faster; while the patch suffuses into your bloodstream slowly. Secondly, the gum satisfies the oral habit.
However, if you really want to be successful, you need to break that oral habit. Secondly, drug delivery methods that enter the bloodstream faster and work faster tend to reinforce habitual use a lot more than slower-acting delivery methods. The gum is a crutch. (So is the patch, but less so.) If you start on the gum, make yourself a plan to transition to the patch. The pace at which you do so is up to you, but you will see better results overall by relying on the patch rather than the gum.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Although I get to be more healthy I must admit I still think about smoking daily and I honestly miss it. I'm also aware that even smoking one will fuck it all up for me so I have abstained 100%.
I've also gained about 15 pounds. The first 3 months of quitting I was snacking constantly.
I smoked for most of adult life and started in high school and did a pack a day for years. It was very difficult to stop and I'm not confident I'm entirely out of the woods yet. Relapse is not out of the question.
Good Luck.
Could you respond to the posts from those of us with loved ones who are dying/have died as a direct result of a smoking addiction?
Because I would like to hear what you have to say about that.
That being said, good luck to all of you who decide to quit. I wish you luck. Also, remember that the physical withdrawal effects wear off after two or three days. So, if you decide to quit cold turkey, do it on a weekend (or when you have a few days off that you can devote to not being around people) because you will be cranky and you will be irritable and you will not be pleasant to be around.
The good news is that once you get past that period, the only road block you have to worry about is the mental addiction. A bit of willpower combined with a substitute will get you through it. My personal suggestion is a Bic pen. Keep it in your fingers so you can twirl it around or what have you and just absent-mindedly chew on it. A big part of mental addiction is the habits we develop to feed it; for smoking, this is holding something in your fingers and sticking something in your mouth. A Bic pen can fill both of those roles.
It was heartbreaking to watch.
It's things like that that have made me rule out smoking in my life.
She's 50 and she has been smoking for like 30 years.
For years, me, my sister, and my dad have been doing everything we can to make her stop. Everything we have tried, from verbal protests, to intentionally leaving the room when she lights one up, to positive reinforcement, to outright begging (tears were involved!), to no apparent effect.
The thing that boggles my mind is that she's a doctor. Not just any doctor, but a pathologist. Like, she deals with cancer cells daily. It's her job. She sees what smoking does to people. And she still smokes. It's incredible.
I've suggested that she try things like gums and patches and stuff like Zyban and Chantix. Her response was that they're just as bad (which is a lie, but I can't challenge her medical authority, and even if I do, I know she won't listen). I've pointed to her friends that have quit using gums and patches, and she always pointed to the ones that started again. And I always have this suspicion that she actually takes satisfaction in telling me stories of her friends' failures to quit, like it's a victory for her, because it justifies her not even trying, or some fucked up way of thinking like that.
My grandmother used to smoke like crazy, and she died of lung cancer. I still remember visiting the hospital one time and her not even recognizing me because of chemotherapy. I don't want the same to happen to my mother, but I don't want to be a douche and use that as a way to emotionally strong-arm her into quitting.
Help please.
She's well aware you don't like her smoking and she won't quit until she is ready.
I will offer this much. Does she have friends who smoke? If they don't quit too she doesn't have a chance. Maybe try that angle. Convince them to all stop together. It's a hell of a lot easier if everyone quits together.
Otherwise no amount of pleading is going to get her to stop. In fact she'll find it totally fucking annoying.
People who told me to quit smoking were really fucking annoying. Like, put my cigarette out on their forehead kind of annoying.
This is not relevant and won't make you feel better but smokers are far more likely to die of emphysema or heart disease than lung cancer.