question for past smokers...

[MomOf4]

How did you quit?

I have been wanting to quit, but it's so hard. I bought the gum last week, but the kids drove me up a wall being stuck inside with 2 snow days and 2 delays in one week.

I have quit before, but twice was pregnant (don't wanna do that again just to quit), and the third time I had pneumonia (don't wanna do that again either).

I have had so much going on in my life the past 2 years, and any one thing that happened, would drive you to smoke. Combine them all, and it's a recipe for disaster.

I need to make it the first month with minimal stress. For some reason, this time is so much harder to take the first step. I can't seem to make that final decision, and I need some advice and moral support. I want to do this for my kids. I am still young and healthy, and I want to keep it that way.

[tinknal]

I took to chewin'...........

[mtmama]

I quit smoking cold turkey 2 1/2 years ago. I chewed gum and sucked on life savers. The hardest part was the times when I used to relax with a cigarette, like after the dishes, driving, when I got up in the morning, etc.
I quit smoking and my DH quit drinking, so there was also that added incentive
not to relapse. My DS has asthma and I'm pretty sure its from my smoking when he was little. as soon as I found out that he had asthma, I would no longer allow smoking in our house, but damage was done. Do it for you, but also for your kids! The first two weeks are the hardest, then it gets better. Just keep telling yourself that you are not going to let cigarettes run your life.
Good Luck!!! It's worth it!!

[kentuckyhippie]

I went to a hypnotist 9 years ago and haven';t wanted a cig since then. best $100 I ever spent. he said that you had to really want to quit or the hypnotism would't work. it couldnt be that you just wanted to save money or you just thought you should or someone was pressuring you to quit, you had to honestly know in your mind that you were ready to give them up. then it works and you don't have withdrawal or anything. it didn't even bother me to be around other people who smoked. I was smoking 3 packs a day when I quit. he also made a hypnotic suggestion that I wouldn't gain weight and I didn't for years until I had some medical problems that caused me to gain quite a bit

[grannygardner]

After 30 years of two to three packs a day I quit smoking cold turkey in 1990. It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done but the best. For months I'd reach for a cigarette when I sat down to have my first cup of coffee for the day. I'd always kept my cigarette pack laying on the kitchen table.

When you reach for a cigarette stop and think that when you're smoking your children are also inhaling that smoke. I wish I'd thought of it that way when my kids were young and I was smoking.

[Ann-NWIowa]

I've never been a smoker but I can tell you how dh quit. First he set a date two to three months down the road for his quit date. Then he started cutting back week by week so that by the time he got to his quit date he was down to may 3 or 4 cigarettes a day. He then used the patches.

He always says its more mental than anything else. That you just have to make up your mind that you're quitting and then follow thru.

Then he signed a U.S. Cellular contract for 2 years for a cell phone for my Christmas gift costing about half the amount he'd been spending on cigarettes. He had been wanting me to have a cell phone for several years due to my commute but we couldn't afford it. I don't know if committing to this contract was part of his mental quitting or not because he's always been rather testy about any comments from me about his smoking!!!!!

I think mental preparation for quitting is very important. And not allowing any excuses when the time comes such as the kids are driving me up the walls. Believe me when I say the kids will manage to do that cigarettes or not!!! Good luck with quitting.

[Tracy Rimmer]

Like any addiction, I believe you have to hit rock bottom to truly have the motivation to quit. You have to be at the point where you are incapable of anything but TOTAL honesty with yourself. "This is the last..." or "I can quit anytime I want...." or "I don't need..." are all lies. Being able to honestly say to yourself "this habit will kill me if I don't stop, and I love myself and my family enough to save my own life" is the only way you can really do it -- at least that was my experience. I quit cold turkey fourteen years ago.

I was also honest enough with myself to know that I *WOULD* have cravings and to have coping mechanisms in place to deal with them. The best thing I did was to distract myself when a craving came along. Having a tupperware full of cut veg in the fridge to nibble on, buying a new book to read, taking out a magazine subscription to a mag that you REALLY enjoy and is ONLY for those "craving" times... I also admit that my DH was pretty good -- all I had to do was say "I'm craving..." and he was right there with a back rub or other distraction :blush: -- hey, whatever it takes, right?

Making a promise to yourself, too, I've found, can be less motivating than making a promise to someone you love -- someone who WANTS you to quit. If your DH is after you to quit, make the promise to HIM. If your kids are after you to quit, make it to THEM. It's harder to break a promise to someone you love than break one you've made to yourself.

Hang in there. The cravings really don't last for long if you distract yourself, and it is SO worth it in the end. If for no other reason than you no longer sound like Marge Simpson's sister Selma when you get up in the morning, and you no longer smell like an ashtray -- and trust me, no matter how much you believe you don't smell like an ashtray, you smell like an ashtray

(((Hugs))) ( you're going to need them )

[MomOf4]

Ann - I know what you mean about the kids driving you nuts with our without cigarettes - but that first week, the kids almost have to "be seen and not heard" or I might blow up...quitting smoking is more difficult than kicking a heroin addiction.

Since I posted this, I have read quitassist.com ...wealth of information there. I am printing the questionnaire's now. I already stopped buying cigarettes (DH smokes so I bum from him - or as my neighbor who quit says, I am smoking OPC brand - other people's cigarettes)

My date will be February 23rd...I have a busy day scheduled that day, so it should make day 1 easier.

Thanks for the advice so far - I need a good swift kick in the rear end. I guess I can justify the YMCA membership more if I am not spending that money on cigarettes.

Thanks!

[Snowdancer]

On March 6, 2007 I will be smoke-free for 1 yr!!

I did buy a box of the patches but after applying the first one-I got dizzy as all get out and gave the rest to a friend.

I signed up for the free help at www.quitnet.com but otherwise I was another one of those 'cold turkey' quiters.

I went from 3 packs a day for close to 28 yrs to 0 and although there were some really, really stressful events during this last year; I held firm to my decision to quit.

My belief is you really have to want to quit in order for it to be successful. I was more than ready which didn't stop the cravings after I quit but I could see a future smoke free and didn't give in to the many temptations.

Now, I can't stand to smell smoke on others clothes or their breath. It's funny how bad it smells and for years I never even knew I smelled like that.

Good Luck; if you're ready you can do this!!

[suzfromWi]

It will be 2 years and 3 months for me. I quit cold turkey after the Doctor told me I had the beginnings of emphasema. I had wanted to quit for a long time and was angry about it. For me the anger helped me quit. I no longer was going to let the tobacco companys get rich off of my not being able to breathe. I was angry at the government for subsidizing the tobacco barons and yet making us pay more and more. I broke those chains after 40 some odd years and I am free. I no longer have to plan my life around that next cig. They are not our friend, they do not relax us. They are murderers and smelly hateful pieces of garbage. get mad and get free.......I love being free....

[BobK]

I smoked, chewed, and smoked cigars....lots...for a long time (18 years) and also quit a bunch of times...at the end I just stopped but after about a year or so of stopping I would have an occassional cigarette or cigar......then it dwindled off to nothing.....essentially smoke free for 22 years but absolute no smoking would only be 12 years....and I still have cravings......I really liked nicotine!

[omnicat]

three weeks tomorrow. About the 9th time I've quit.

One thing I can add....frequently, I (and other quitters I've talked to), get through the first week, week and a half fine, and then the get bad cravings - often they associate it with an "event", like the kids driving you nuts, or whatever. The "whatever MAY be a factor - but here's something you need to know:

About a week and a half, two weeks into quitting, one thing that can happen is (I'll put this in layman's terms) you liver wakes up one day, looks around, and says "gee, I haven't had to process any nicotine for a long time. Guess I can finally dump this backlog." And it proceeds to do just that. It's been storing nicotine, and you will get a fresh influx of nic into your body WITHOUT having smoked. That can lead to increased cravings.

So many people I've talked to have despaired about how they do fine to a point, and then they become "weak", they get frustrated with themselves for having no backbone, and they relapse.

But knowing this is coming can be empowering. It is NOT you being "weak" - it's a real, physological response to an actual bodily process.

For what it's worth - if this helps anyone through that crucial time period.

(and crossing my fingers that practice makes perfect, and this quit "takes")

[T.K.]

I quit cold turkey 27 years ago. There were no patches or gum back then. I had been buying cigarettes for twenty years and when I started smoking they were 25c a pack. They progressively got more expensive. I remember telling my mother (who later died of lung cancer) the week we went to get our cigarettes and they had gone up to 60c a pack, "If they go up again, I'm going to quit". The next week they went up to 65c a pack and I said, thats it, I'm done. I bought one pack of Tareytons, put them on top of the refrigerator and never opened them. As long as I knew they were there and I could have one any time I was okay. They were there for a couple months. The first three days were the worst. After a couple of months I took the pack and threw it in the burn barrel and never smoked again. My husband quit the first of January of this year. He never had another one after he made up his mind. Its a real mind thing more than a physical addiction, although I do think the cigarettes they are making today are even more addictive than they were when I quit.

[BobK]

FYI: nicotine is not stored in the body in any organ....some is metabolised in the liver but both nicotine and its metabolites are rapidly eliminated through the kidneys.....1/2 life is 2 hours.

Nicotine stimulates so many different receptors (as well as triggering the release of catacholamines) that people come to crave this stimulus.

[oldgaredneck]

1. You have to have the mental mindset to quit
2. You have to have the mental mindset to quit
3. If you don't WANT TO QUIT -You have to really want to be on oxygen 24/7 because thanks to smoking,you now have COPD with only 40% lung function.
I smoked an average of 3 packs a day for 28 years, quit ten years ago cold turkey
found out two years ago I have emphysema, went on home oxygen 6 months ago.
Try doing your chores, etc while pulling around an oxygen cart. It is NOT fun!
But those cigarettes were ohhhhhhh so good at the time........

[omnicat]

Hmmm. I could have sworn I was told the "liver" thing by a reputable source (though I can't remember now where).

Why the two-week experience for so many quitters? Wouldn't the worst cravings be immeidate rather than a delayed reaction?

[Junkmanme]

I've quit a couple of dozen times for minimum of 2 weeks each. After 2 weeks, it doesn't bother you very much (at least phisiologically [sp.?]. Went 2 months one time.

I finally decided that I REALLY ENJOY SMOKING !!!

So, I don't worry about it anymore, except don't like the cost.

I never expected to live this long anyway.......With my luck, I'll live long enuf to get enphysema [sp.?]

Geez...who wants to be the "healthiest corpse in the graveyard"?

I like living on my own terms, as much as is reasonable and possible, without infringing on others EQUAL RIGHTS to CHOOSE their LIFESTYLE. (As long as THEIR LIFESTYLE doesn't negatively affect MINE!).

LORD, Save me from "do-gooders"!

there it is,
Bruce

[Marilyn]

It will be 6 years this coming August 6. After a friend had success with a book "You Can Quit Smoking" by Jacqueline Rogers, I tried it, also. It appears that a smoking addiction is a physical as well as a mental thing - and this woman works with BOTH! I feel more fortunate than most ex-smokers that I listen to. My cravings were extremely mild and short-lived. I have never wanted to start smoking again.

The last time that I tried to purchase the book, I learned that it was out of print - again. If it is not in a subsequent printing, you may be able to find it second-hand. If you decide to try it. Be absolutely certain to work each and every exercise as they come up. She works on the mental first, then the mental with physical.

I will never go back.

[3sunz]

I quit Halloween weekend, so about 3 1/2 months ago. It seems like it has been longer than that! I, like you, seem to always have stress going on in my life, but if I didn't start back this time, I don't think I ever will. In December, my dad (a logger) got hit by a tree and broke his leg, on January 5, my brother in law got killed in a car accident and on the same day, his mother passed away with cancer, on January 13 (the day after my bil funeral) my oldest son was in an ATV crash and was not expected to make it! Thank God for miracles, he is still here!

So, now that I have hijacked your thread (sorry) I will try to answer your question. The first step was to set a date that was atleast 2 weeks away. I started taking a prescription that is also used for depression and anxiety (maybe that has helped with everything else) and then when the 2 week date was here, I stopped, completely. I used the nicotine patch for 2 weeks and after that, I didn't need those, either. I am so proud of myself. It has been very hard, especially going through the things I have been through over the last few months, but I have not smoked!! I also started putting the $ that I would've spent on cigarettes in a glass jar (so I could "see" it) and I spend that $ on something that I want and normally wouldn't have been able to get!!!! The reward every few weeks is VERY nice. Don't get discouraged, a small amount of people actually quit on the first try. If you don't make it, just try again. You can do this. I have faith in you. PM me if you'd like.
3sunz&I

[southrngardngal]

When I was in nursing school my first clinicals patient was a 40 year old man with lung cancer. RT would do breathing treatments and he would cough crud and blood and still get that cigarette and go to smoking. I walked out of his room and threw my cigarettes away. I have tried to smoke two times since then and I cough and choke until I can't breathe. I haven't smoked in 20 years but there are still times (though far between now) that I crave a cigarette. But I hate to smell the smoke.

Jan