NF - Quitting Smoking

[Rich]

Its come to the point that i no lobger enjoy cigarettes.. i can feel them wreaking havoc on my guts every morning, and i dont wanna be chained to them anymore. Ive tried cold turkey twice and it just dont work for me. What worked for you, if you quit? If cold turkey, how'd you counter the cravings?

 

Thanks

 

Rich

[muddler]

Its come to the point that i no lobger enjoy cigarettes.. i can feel them wreaking havoc on my guts every morning, and i dont wanna be chained to them anymore. Ive tried cold turkey twice and it just dont work for me. What worked for you, if you quit? If cold turkey, how'd you counter the cravings?

 

Thanks

 

Rich

[Skipper D]

I just shove another one in my mouth and go fishing ........ lol

[woodenboater]

Other than seeing my dad quit cold years ago, I'm not a smoker so can't offer advice other than I wish you the best and hope it's an easy journey. Your pocketbook and body will thank you in spades.

[ecmilley]

7 years january for me, if your serious , dealing with cravings is all part of it they will pass, i used the gum at it's worst and it worked to a degree cold water helps keeping yourself occupied is best

[fishinmortician]

I quit cold turkey after 15 years. Seeing hundreds of people over the years pass of cancer and lay on my table finally made me clue in. I'll never get those years back, but hope it helps me in the long run. Picturing myself on the steel table was a good realization! Find something that takes your mind off it like taking your rod and tackle box for a good bushwack. Best of

Luck and don't give up!

[ch312]

something i've observed over the years as a non smoker is that nothing will work unless YOU want to quit. the last two times you tried, did you have the same "i can feel them wreaking havoc on my guts every morning, and i dont wanna be chained to them anymore." feeling about the smokes? if not, it sounds like you're serious about it this time and you're ready to toss them. IMO, your mind is more powerful than any patch, gum, or pill.

 

here's to hoping you can drop the habit. your family, kids, and taxpayers will appreciate it

 

good luck :thumbsup_anim:

[ch312]

Seeing hundreds of people over the years pass of cancer and lay on my table finally made me clue in. I'll never get those years back, but hope it helps me in the long run. Picturing myself on the steel table was a good realization!

 

i still can't wrap my head around the idea of people working in hospitals on terminally ill lung cancer patients and then going out for a smoke break...

[bigugli]

i still can't wrap my head around the idea of people working in hospitals on terminally ill lung cancer patients and then going out for a smoke break...

I used to watch cancer inpatients huddling outside the hospital doors to have another smoke. Addiction is a powerful thing. It took a mass coronary for me to quit.

[ehg]

Seemed to me it wasn't really an addiction to nicotine that had to be conquered but breaking a habit of movements.

Used to be wake up step outside for smoke, go to car smoke, drive smoke, come back from store smoke, etc...

So instead of smoking would always grab water/pop/candy and eased away.

After 25 yrs of smoking haven't bought cigarettes for 5 yrs or so now.

 

It is not so much the nicotine but habit of movement.

Good Luck.

[muddler]

Its come to the point that i no lobger enjoy cigarettes.. i can feel them wreaking havoc on my guts every morning, and i dont wanna be chained to them anymore. Ive tried cold turkey twice and it just dont work for me. What worked for you, if you quit? If cold turkey, how'd you counter the cravings?

 

Thanks

 

Rich

Opps!

 

Congratulations. You taken the first difficult step. I used Xyban(it's like Champex) when it first came out for about 3 months. Eventually I found that I was down to 3 or 4 cigarettes a day. I then added the lowest dosage nicotine patch and the two weeks later I quit. That was Oct 6, 1998. I haven't had one since. As an added bonus I paid myself $5 each day. That was what a pack of smokes went for back then. One year later I walked into Angling Specialties with $1825 and bought an ANSPEC float reel ($650) a float rod and a pile of tackle. The only time in my life that I played the big spender. That fall I fished rainbows and I'd chuckle that I used smoke all this away.

 

This worked for me. I set a goal and stuck with it. There were many times in that first year that I wanted to light up, but with a little help from my fiends I hung in there. If I really wanted a smoke I used licorice as a substitute. I took up fly tying so that I had a hobby in the winter time. Been tying ever since. I wish that I could say that quitting smoking was easy, it wasn't. It was all worth it eventually. I still have the float reel and I just have a tough time parting with it. I tie flies pretty well now and I feel great.

 

Good luck. You've made the best decision ever in your life.

 

muddler

[grt1]

my dad once told me that quitting smoking was easy, he'd done it hundreds of times.

 

I'm in the same boat as you I should quit as the drs have told me i got copd. but it is going to take a lot of will power and perserverance.

 

i quit many years ago and all i did was put away the cost of 1 pack of smokes a day, that was abot 5 bucks, at today's rate, i would be putting away 10 bucks a day and watch my money grow.

 

 

I think this is the route i'll be taking, at least this way i can put money away for next season's minnows and boat gas.

[dhickey]

Its one of the hadrdest things to do.

Years ago I quit using a method desinged to break habbits along with ruducing nicotine intacke over the course of a couple monthes.

It involves counting how many you have each day now devide that buy 17(hours of the day most people are awake)

This gives you an average time(ex 17 smokes per day = 1 per hour)

Now only have 1 smoke evey 1.5 hours over a 17 hour day. for week one.

Week 2 go 2 hours between smokes.

Continue this untill your down to 3 or 4 per day. By that time the taste of a smoke will probably be undesirable.

quit all together.

 

ps. dont smoke first thing in the morning you have to wiat whether its 1 hour or 5 hours for the first smoke. Thats the key to breaking the habbits of smoking and reducing cravings.

 

Good luck

 

Saltydawg.

[Beans]

A couple of the best decisions I've made in my lifetime was to quit drinking (40 years ago) and smoking(25 years ago)...

 

Like you, I was smoking more and enjoying it less...

 

My wife's workplace was becoming a smokeless enviroment so I thought I would join them...Maribeth lasted 3 months but I'm still clean...(she later quit for sure a couple of years later after one of our grandsons fell asleep while waiting for her to come back in from the car)...

 

My route was cold turkey but no matter the method...

 

DO IT !!!

 

An old friend, who took a non-smoking class at a hospital told me that a craving only lasts two minutes and they keep getting further apart as time goes by so , I had the mindset that nothing, absolutely nothing was going to make me take a cigarette...I chewed gum or ate a gourmet jelly bean or a cold glass of something (OJ, AJ, Water, etc.)...anything to help me past the craving...

 

It wasn't so much as will power as won't power...

 

I wish you the best and remember to keep it simple...Just stop putting them in your mouth !!!

Edited December 8, 2012 by Beans

[Old Man]

For the wife and I, it was the patch. The patch got us through the chemical craving phase, after that it's breaking old habits, that's the hardest part. It's been 16 years now and we can't even imagine ever having smoked. You'll enjoy the freedom when you succeed. Wishing you success. Life is so much better without that monkey on your back.

[limeyangler]

I was scared to do it for a long time....did not think i could.

 

Used the patches and found it relatively easy (my wife would differ).

 

Try the patches is my advice...there is a definite addiction to nicotine involved here....so this will help with the physical aspect of quitting.

 

There is a mental aspect that is in my opinion the key to staying stopped. Keep it simple...remember a craving is just a feeling that will pass.....do whatever you have to do do distract yourself...even just telling myself this helps me to ride out the cravings.

 

Its been a year and a half for me...i still crave them sometimes...but 99.999% of the time i dont even think about it....ITS AWESOME.

 

GOOD LUCK....ITS WORTH IT.

 

 

Oh...and another good thing...i have cash to spare for the first time in ages....the amount of new stuff i bought this year is amazing.

[DoubleDigits]

Its come to the point that i no lobger enjoy cigarettes.. i can feel them wreaking havoc on my guts every morning, and i dont wanna be chained to them anymore. Ive tried cold turkey twice and it just dont work for me. What worked for you, if you quit? If cold turkey, how'd you counter the cravings?

 

Thanks

 

Rich

 

Read Allan Carr's 'Easy Way to Stop Smoking'

 

Follow the instructions, don't cut down, smoke and read and quit.

[Garnet]

Your routines are the worst.

 

Start the car buckle seat belt and smoke.

 

Eat diner and smoke.

 

Land a fish and smoke.

 

Get a handle on how much food you eat. Ham Cheese Sandwiches on white bread and Cheeseburgers packed the lb's on me.

 

Actively will distract you from cravings just not food.

 

And cut your coffee down.

[Moosebunk]

First time... 2001. Moved to Attawapiskat. Quit booze and smokes for 6 months.

 

Second time... 2003. Second daughter was born.

 

Some will say the best time to quit is at the beginning of a big life change. As well as the physical, one must break the mental cycle that keeps you thinking it's time for a smoke.

[lew]

Before you quit smoking you have to be absolutely committed to quitting and if your not, you'll never be successful. Tell yourself your not gonna smoke again and then don't...COLD TURKEY.

 

I think all the books and patches and whatever else are just crutches, sorta like trying to teach a kid to swim with water wings on his arms.

 

I was addicted to those filthy stinkin things for 30 years but have been free for 22 years now.

 

Back in the early days of my fire fighting career we didn't always use masks to go into burning buildings, but would often just go in holding our breath and stay as long as we could or else smash a window out to get some air then get back to work. After the fire was out we'd come outside gagging, coughing and puking and the 1st thing we'd do was light up a cigarette.

 

Seemed normal back then but it just shows how much of an addiction those things really are.

 

Toss the smokes away Rich and start enjoying life without them, it's not nearly as tough as you may think....as long as you REALLY want to quit.

[Ralph Field]

I quit December 26 th,2010 by using Champix a drug that my doctor recommended and I haven't relapsed. I know that if I tried smoking just one cigar I would be right back smoking full time again.

[Marko]

Rich.....rumor has it the world is ending in 4 days i wouldnt really bother now...instead enjoy one. lol

I am not a smoker but i heard that the patch and the gum work.

Good luck bud

[Pigeontroller]

I smoked cigarettes from about age 14 to 21, quit, never smoked again till about age 33, then started smoking the odd cigar, then it became a pack of Colts a day...On and off them for 5 years...hated it but couldn't stop...Then last year watched my Mother who smoked for 54 yrs have part of her tongue removed...I no longer smoke. She still does...

[Jet]

This might be replacing one habit for another, but have you thought about an electronic cigarette aka vaping?

 

I know many people who have replaced their tabacco cigarettes for e-cigs. As many of you mentioned, it's the physical habit of "smoking" that often is the hardest thing to overcome mentally when you try to quit.

 

This gives you that physical "action" without all the harmful effects of smoke.

 

I used to smoke and quit buying packs a long long time ago. However I still enjoy a smoke here and there, especially when fishing! I also exercise very regularly and can notice the cardiovascular difference when I smoke and don't smoke. However with the e-cig I feel literally no cardio diff at all.

 

I believe at the very least if you can replace tar ridden smoke for water vapor, you'll do your health a monumental favour in addition to not smelling like smoke or having that smoker's morning cough.

 

And winter's a great time to try quitting, as the cold can be a great incentive to stay inside. E-cigs leave absolutely no smell so using them inside is no problem in that regard.

 

 

Here's a good testimony for it.

 

 

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Edited December 8, 2012 by Jet

[John]

Rich, you have mail.........