Anyone here a smoker or an ex-smoker. please help?

Thecure

he still stands wrote:

you will feel such a big difference just by working up a sweat 3 or 4 times a week, lay off the smoking, and cut WAYYY back on the coffee. Oh, and get some more sleep dude! Even when I'm super busy I make sure to get at least 6 or 7 hours... On the weekends I sleep for 9 or 10 hours! After a few weeks you seriously will feel like a new person... I know cause I basically did the same thing about 5 years ago.

i have never really slept much ever. even as a kid i sleeped around teh same amount. but so far today, i hav enot had a smoke yet. usually by thi stime i am abotu 10-15 smoke by now. i have only 3 cups of coffee so far.

riffrandall

I smoked for a long time- 10 years, probably 1 pack a day. Quit once for a year and a half & went back.
Last October I bought myself the book "Skinny Bitch" and the first thing they say is "Cigarettes are for losers." I think I just read it at the right time, because the more I said it in my head, the easier it was to just walk away. And that's what I did- I just walked away from it.

Aside from having to get your mind around the idea of quitting, it also helps if you give up your big triggers at the same time. Like- smoking while drinking, or smoking with your morning coffee- whatever it is, those triggers need to go at least for a little while.
It was all mental for me. Patches, gums, whatever- they didn't work.

Mukluk4

I've gone smoke free for two years after smoking for 10+. No drugs, no chemicals, no meditation....

It's the realization, that as a human being you are stronger than some mental or physical addiction.

I forced my wife to do the same...she slipped twice along the way, but it's been almost a year and a half since she had her last smoke.

he still stands

Thecure wrote:

i have never really slept much ever. even as a kid i sleeped around teh same amount. but so far today, i hav enot had a smoke yet. usually by thi stime i am abotu 10-15 smoke by now. i have only 3 cups of coffee so far.

keep it up.

think of this... on your deathbed, you are about ready to die... you are minutes away from passing and you KNOW IT... and you think to yourself, "I would have at least a few years of life left if only I hadn't smoked all my life."

It might sound trite or cliche, but that thought helps me refrain from smoking.

elmer

easiest wy is after a bout of the flu, preferably a chest infection(preferably?-haha), or broken ribs. Even then you're gonna want to quit wholeheartedly, but ir's easier. I broke two ribs, forgot about smoking for couple of weeks but started again. Sometime soon I'm going to stop. And no, this isn't something I've said before,well.....

writersu

I quit when I was 25, so a while ago now and hard candy worked for me. also the smell after I quit was enough to get me to stay off of it.

good luck, it is hard but so worth it.

VictoryGin

i started slightly smoking again because of stress, and i want to stop again because i just hate how it makes me feel. anyway i ran across this:

http://www.becomeanex.org/

and they have some good tips on how to separate yourself from your triggers. as soon as i get my bicycle i'm going to try it again.

baraka

Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things for me. It has been almost 8 years (wow, I never really thought how long it has been). I had several unsuccessful attempts at quitting. I tried Zyban, but it didn't agree with me. I tried the patch and it irritated my skin. I tried nicotine gum and that worked. If you decided to go the nicotine replacement route, be careful. I basically replaced my cigarette addiction with a nicotine gum habit. I quit chewing the gum when I found out I was pregnant. But after my daughter was born, I went through a stressful situation and almost started smoking again. Instead of buying a pack of cigarettes, I bought some nicotine gum. I still chew it from time to time. I don't crave cigs anymore, because I hate the smell now, but I do crave the gum every now and then. Caffeine and nicotine were always my vice.

lukin2006

Thecure wrote:

i don't know if teh MT is teh place to ask this but i have been smoking for close to 16 years and over the weekend i was helping a friend build a pool and i felt like shit. i have a half a pack of smoke left and i hav efinally decided to quit smoking. this is teh first time that i have decided this and i was just wondering if anyone here has quit smoking and if so ho wdid you do it. i have told myself that i will quit as soon as i finish my pack is that smart or should i just say fuck it and just quit.

been smoke free for nearly 8 years, just quit, no matter what it takes, you'll feel better, your loved ones will be thank full as well.

The Oracle

Thecure wrote:

i don't know if teh MT is teh place to ask this but i have been smoking for close to 16 years and over the weekend i was helping a friend build a pool and i felt like shit. i have a half a pack of smoke left and i hav efinally decided to quit smoking. this is teh first time that i have decided this and i was just wondering if anyone here has quit smoking and if so ho wdid you do it. i have told myself that i will quit as soon as i finish my pack is that smart or should i just say fuck it and just quit.

Did it cold turkey with half a packet left 13 years ago, after a pack a day habit for 23 years. Very hard first few days,weeks and months but it gradually got easier. I'd quit half heartedly several times before, but knew it was time as I'd become so unfit and felt like shit too. Even now occasionally have breathing problems in humid weather. Quitting is hard, not quitting is harder in the long run though. The only thing I did to test myself the first few weeks was to go out, party etc., and be around alcohol and other smokers. I figured if I could survive that I'd be OK - it worked. Still don't mind the smell of fresh smoke, stale odours another matter though. Wished I'd done it years earlier. Do it and you won't regret it, I assure you. Good luck!!!

olderman

i woke up on some day in august 2001 and i hacked a luiggi cookie up against the wall that looked lie an oatmeal raisin cookie and i never smoked another cigarette again. ever, never, ever, never ever never again..

i will die from some other some such but it won't be emphysema, not not

Heineken Helen

South of Seattle wrote:

Another suggestion that helped me, especially if you're around smokers, is to drink a glass of water everytime you or your buddies are going to have a smoke.

Yip, that's a good one. I found the habit was the worst... so even for my smoke breaks at work, I'd get a glass of water and stand outside in my little smoking area on my own and drink that glass of water I may have looked silly but I didn't care. I just felt it was what I needed to do. I would quit the cigarettes but not the habits... and eventually they went away by themselves.

(btw. I'm back smoking but I gave up for 5 months). As soon as I decided to quit, I just stopped, I'd simply had enough of them. Next day I bought plenty of fruit and healthy foods... any time I wanted a cigarette, I'd eat some fruit and almost always had a pint of water in my hand.

I found the first day to be the toughest... after that you start feeling really proud of yourself and it gets easier

Heineken Helen

he still stands wrote:

you will feel such a big difference just by working up a sweat 3 or 4 times a week, lay off the smoking, and cut WAYYY back on the coffee.

As a result of all the healthy foods I was eating, I also stopped drinking tea and coffee... AND I gave up alcohol for 3 months (cos I found after one drink, I'd start craving so I thought fuck it, this is something I have to do). I've never been so bloody healthy

jeffwmartin

The only way to quit is to want to quit completely. I smoked for 13 years (1-2 packs a day) and tried to quit for a hundred different reasons. I tried a bunch of ways of quitting and none of them worked. When I finally decided I didn't want to smoke anymore, I just quit cold turkey. It was tough, but you can do it. Using drugs or nicotine gum just prolong the addiction and act as a crutch.

I did relapse about 5 years after quitting, picking it back up while going through a divorce. I smoked for a year and quit. That was 4 years ago.

Fahka

....

Thecure

thansk for all the advice i am now om my 5th day of not smoking. doing good so far. its funny but on teh weekend i was helping my friend build a pool in his backyard and i never felt like having one. yesterday at work, i got so pissed off and so wanted a smoke so badly. anyway thanks for the kind words and advice.

Heineken Helen

Thecure wrote:

thansk for all the advice i am now om my 5th day of not smoking. doing good so far. its funny but on teh weekend i was helping my friend build a pool in his backyard and i never felt like having one. yesterday at work, i got so pissed off and so wanted a smoke so badly. anyway thanks for the kind words and advice.

You're through the worst of the mental cravings now. You'll have days where you're pissed off... but that's just another habit... cos you'd normally have a cigarette when you're pissed off... but you got through it and next time will be easier

angelica

Thecure wrote:

thansk for all the advice i am now om my 5th day of not smoking. doing good so far. its funny but on teh weekend i was helping my friend build a pool in his backyard and i never felt like having one. yesterday at work, i got so pissed off and so wanted a smoke so badly. anyway thanks for the kind words and advice.

Good for you!!! You can do this! I once read that when we quit, it's like a 300 lb weight has been removed from our body!




http://www.lung.ca/protect-protegez/tobacco-tabagisme/quitting-cesser/benefits-bienfaits_e.php

Within 8 hours

carbon monoxide level drops in your body
oxygen level in your blood increases to normal

Within 48 hours

your chances of having a heart attack start to go down
your sense of smell and taste begin to improve

Within 72 hours

your bronchial tubes relax and make breathing easier
your lung capacity increases

Within 2 weeks to 3 months

your blood circulation improves
your lung functioning increases up to 30 percent...

brandon10

You have to see yourself as a non-smoker!!! This is crucial. Eventually you will be disgusted by cigarettes and smokers. I have been smoke free for 5 years now, and i can assure you I will NEVER smoke again. When I see people leave a restaurant with their cig pack to go for a smoke I see them as weak minded fools. And when I'm driving and see someone smoking in the car next to me I am thoroughly disgusted!!

SEE YOURSELF AS A NON-SMOKER!!! Smokers are losers!!

El_Kabong

brandon10 wrote:

You have to see yourself as a non-smoker!!! This is crucial. Eventually you will be disgusted by cigarettes and smokers. I have been smoke free for 5 years now, and i can assure you I will NEVER smoke again. When I see people leave a restaurant with their cig pack to go for a smoke I see them as weak minded fools. And when I'm driving and see someone smoking in the car next to me I am thoroughly disgusted!!

SEE YOURSELF AS A NON-SMOKER!!! Smokers are losers!!

you don't have to be so judgmental about it...