Smoking

[AvT]

I used this book to quit smoking about 25 years ago and I was clean for 12 years or so.  I just dug the book out 5 days ago and today is my third day off the nasty drug without any crutches, Cold Turkey...  For me, this book is the only way I can quit. 

[sawguy21]

You CAN do it. It worked for you before, you can do it again. All the best. That is a habit I am glad I never got. Tried it as a kid, couldn't see making a career of it.

[easymoney]

 i quit over 30 years ago. i still remember the craving. smoking always made me sick to my stomach. a glass of sweet milk would settle my stomach and the craving would come back with a vengeance. i would not want to die a slow death with emphysema like some i have known. i have made it to 71 and i credit it partly to quitting smoking. i don't smoke drink or do drugs. i even quit chasing women so i don't have much to live for any more except i still like to look at the pretty girls. i wonder if the girls are getting prettier or am i just a dirty old man?

[AvT]

Yeah you are a dirty old man but so am I.  Some of my best friends are women half my age or less.  Don't really build any kind of intimate relationship with them but they make great friends.  Anyway thanks guys.  My cravings are diminishing a bit and I am going to make it.  I admire anyone who has smoked heavy for a long time and quit.  It is one hell of a rough ride.  I love my book because it tells me exactly what to expect which seems to make it easier to bear when it arrives.  The first day was one crazy 16 hour craving.  Now the cravings come once an hour or so and last a matter of seconds.  Day four tomorrow.  Should go ok.  The worst is over already!!!!!!!!

[sandhills]

Good job and keep it up!  I got to quit snuff, just have to get my mind set on doing it and quit making excuses, I know how hard it is.

[clww]

Good job and keep it up!  I got to quit snuff, just have to get my mind set on doing it and quit making excuses, I know how hard it is.

I'm right there with you, sandhills! I'm hoping soon I'll get totally disgusted with myself and stop my 30 year habit.
I quit smoking 5 years ago, AvT. I know it's hard but you already know that you CAN make it. Hour by hour, one day at a time.

[Ernie]

Just before Christmas, I decided that after 55 years , of off and on smoking--mostly on. I was no longer a smoker. In the past, I have quit (negative action) many times and started again within a month or two at the most.  This time I thought of it differently and rather than failing at quitting, i decided to become a non-smoker (positive action).  it's working like a charm even in a room full of smokers, I have no trouble remaining a non-smoker.  It's great knowing what food really tastes like and my cardiologist no longer sneers at me.

[sawguy21]

 :D My aunt quit cold turkey, she said she had to really watch herself as she didn't know food could taste so good.

[AvT]

Quitting cold turkey has to be harder thaan quitting smoking.  Nothing better than a cold turkey sandwich with mayo, stuffing , cranberry. and stuffing all stuffed in there the day after thanksgiving :D

Anyway, my ordeal is getting better every day even though I get what feels like a whack to the side of the head craving every once in a while.  I have to shake it off, and take a deep breath and it usaually goes as fast as it hit.

Its only really bad the first three days guys.  I think maybe the secret is to look at it as an adventure like climbing a mountain or swimming the english channel.  It really will hurt bad but the pride, good health, and personal satisfaction in the end will make it all worth it.

Tomorrow night will be one full week, a major milestone..  I should make an appointment with my Dr. as I always enjoy seeing her.  She is a quite young and delightful person ;) and she saved my life last fall with a timely diagnosis

[WildDog]

Congrats with your progress so far. I gave it up 25yrs ago, it took 5 days, day 1= 5 smokes, day 2=4 smokes and so on with day 5's single smoke at the end of the day. I rode a horse most of my working hours and liked riding along rolling a smoke, to help with this I would plat a new whip crack instead. 

[LeeB]

it's been almost two years for me and I still get the urge. don't ever let your guard down

[thecfarm]

Tobacco is outrageous here in Maine. Don't matter if you roll your own or by the pack. I was behind a person that bought 3 packs and came to $21 or something stupid like that. Cheaper to roll your own,but still high. Glad I quite years ago. I use to go thorough a pack easy in a day. I could spend $250 a month on them nasty things now.

[AvT]

Here in canada they are even more expensive.  I usually rolled my own but i ran out a while ago and bought a pack of 25 for $15.00  It was the last pck I bought. at that price smoking would cost a pack/day smoker $5475.00 / year so I quit and went and bought a decent 60" zero turn lawn mower for $3400.00 on Saturday.  The price of tobacco products here is almost all taxes.  The gov. figures they need it to cover health care costs and they may be right to do so.  I think the tax on tobacco here now is about 60 or 70 dollars per 200 grams which is a can of tobbacco. = about 200 smokes

[bill m]

I tried smoking when I was about 13. One cigarette ( tasted awful ) and the fact I was scared to death my parents would find out worked for me. Senior year in high school dated a girl that smoked. I thought I was making out with an ash tray. 

[davidlarson]

When I first moved to the western NC mountains I decided I would become a real mountain man.  I bought a package of Skoal Bandits - for you Yankees, and younger readers,  this is a product which consists of powdered tobacco in a small paper envelope, like a tiny tea bag.  You're supposed to put it in your mouth between your gum and the inside of your cheek, and let it sit there, so that your saliva gradually moistens the tobacco in the packet, and the juice gradually leaches out into your mouth.  (This sounds pretty disgusting, now that I think about it.)  Anyway, I tried it one day while I was mowing the lawn.  I began to notice as time passed that I was feeling worse and worse, more and more nauseated.  Eventually I figured out that you're supposed to spit out the juice, not swallow it.  That was the end of my mountain man phase.
David L.

[Raider Bill]

Local kids to me in Tenn all chew or dip even a 12 year old with his parents permission. Pretty disgusting parents would allow that but when I asked about it they just shrugged.

[doctorb]

There's a movement to ban chewing tobacco from major league baseball.  Dipping has a long history with the national pastime.  The NCAA and minor league baseball have already banned it.  A little less glamorous exposure to it may keep some kids from going that direction.

[AvT]

I think it is about day 16.  I'm surprized how strong the cravings can still be but I am managing.  I think I have gained about 10 lbs.  My next battle will be with obecity!  Thanks everybody for the stories, and for everyone who wants to quit tobacco,,, I say go for it.  It wasn't that long ago I thought it would be too tough for me to do.  The worst part of quitting is the first three days.  The only upside of the first three days is there is only ONE craving.

[Raider Bill]

Hang in there!

[Gary_C]

You have got it made now. I quit back in the 1970's and it was one of the best things I've ever done. The first few days were the hardest.

And if you need any more incentive, I'll tell you about my wife's uncle. He went into WWII in 1942 and was sent to the South Pacific where he somehow contracted just about every bad disease known including malaria and polio. By the time he was evacuated back to the states, he had lost half of his body weight. But he survived all that and married, got a good job and raised four kids. And then later he also survived Hodgkins Disease and some severe back problems and ulcers.

But in the end, he could not survive the cigarettes. He died of lung cancer. We went to see him just before he passed away and it was something I cannot ever forget. That coughing up all that crap was not something anyone should have to endure.

So stick with the quiting and don't let those tobacco companies kill you for their corporate profits.