Quitters! (smoking question)

[jomahu]

...and yes, i mean cigarettes!

what was the absolute final thing that made you realize you had/wanted to quit? your lightbulb moment, as it were...

[csala]

I can tell you what made a friend quit. She watched her dad slowly die from lung cancer. He claimed it was like spending his remaining existence trying to breathe underwater. That worked for her.

I went to an exhibit earlier this week called Body World. I saw a smoker's lung next to a healthy one up close. It was frightening.

There's a book called The Easy Way To Stop Smoking by Allen Carr and I'm reading it now. It doesn't contain scare tactics but it does make you question why exactly you keep lighting up. The consensus is that it's a good book. I haven't quit yet but that's the plan. Good luck to you.

[hey]

Originally Posted by csala

I can tell you what made a friend quit. She watched her dad slowly die from lung cancer. He claimed it was like spending his remaining existence trying to breathe underwater. That worked for her.

I went to an exhibit earlier this week called Body World. I saw a smoker's lung next to a healthy one up close. It was frightening.

There's a book called The Easy Way To Stop Smoking by Allen Carr and I'm reading it now. It doesn't contain scare tactics but it does make you question why exactly you keep lighting up. The consensus is that it's a good book. I haven't quit yet but that's the plan. Good luck to you.

Kinda off topic, but I went to Body World too earlier in February, very interesting stuff indeed.

I really don't have any input on the current topic however, so I can't really contribute anything.

[MAJOR METAL]

Chronic Bronchitis and the constant weezing , between growing up in a smoke stack and my own addiction my lungs had a good amount of mileage at a young age.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

My story as I've told it before:

Let me tell you why I quit smoking. I started at 17 and I was a big smoker. I watched myself and I concluded that I was smoking a cigarette every 40 minutes. I quit at 25. That was 16 years ago. It seemed an impossible task to me, but I remember that day when I went to my cardiologist' office for a control because I was diagnosed with a MITRAL VALVE TELESYSTOLIC PROLAPSE when I was 12. He asked me if I was still smoking and I said yes. He didn't reply anything and proceeded to the exams. When done, he told me: "Look: If every person who comes here had your health, I would be broken. I need sick people. Not people like you". After leaving my doctor's office, the first thing I did was (guess) light a cigarette. Later that day, at nighttime, I was smoking and looked at the cigarette and thought: "The doctor says that I'm so fine and I'm poisoning myself just by pure pleasure. That's absurd. This is my last." and squashed the butt against the ashtray.

I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. Usually, every time I ate something, I had to smoke. The best dessert for lunch was a cigarette. My mood was having a bad turn (so irritable!). I felt as if the cigarette was a very close friend that I didn't want to leave me. BUT I DID IT! That was my last cigarette. After 16 years, I still consider that as one of my biggest personal victories. The only drawback was the I gained like 40 pounds, but I could recover my normal weight (without smoking) in late 2003. Another victory! You don't need gums, patches or whatever "gadget" available to quit smoking. The only thing is JUST DO IT if you want. I can tell you about that.

[James Hart]

I knew they kill people... repeatedly doing something that is known to hurt you is a sign of retardation. I was tired of being retarded.

Besides, my wife lost 2 Grandfathers to throat cancer / heavy smoking in the years before meeting me... it was killing her to know I was smoking.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

The guitarist in my band stopped for a while because it was costing so much. While he stopped he said it was great, he forgot how good tasted etc the only drawback being how much people could smell. It didnt last long til he was back on (but of course, he doesnt need them and can quit when he wants )

[JimB52]

Look at life insurance premium tables for smokers vs nonsmokers once they reach 40 or so. The actuary tables don't care what you do, unless it kills you prematurely.
When you are ready to quit, it's not that difficult. If you're not ready to quit, it is nearly impossible.

[Barfly]

Woke up one morning after band practice where everyone (barr 1) smoked like a fiend. I couldn't breath, felt like a tonne of bricks was on my chest and decided "Screw this...".

Quit cold turkey, that was 3+ yrs ago.

[ryco]

My story as I've told it before:

I wasn't trying to quit. I just wanted to cut down.
About 10 years ago I was thinking 'Dude, you smoke two packs a day. That's roughly a cig every 20 min."
Thought I'd try cutting down to 1 cig an hour which would equal about a pack a day. Which I did.
Then I thought if I could get it down to about 10 a day that's be cool. So I did that.
So I thought "let's see how far you can take it."

Eventually it got to the point where I was smoking three cigs a day. This went on for about two years.

And all day long I'd be thinking of these three smokes
Then it struck me how ridiculous it was to spend so much time thinking of these thee smokes.

So I quit on Dec 12, '05. I picked a date with no significance and I didn't want to make a pact or quit with anyone else.
Hell, I didn't even tell anyone. My wife finally noticed after about a month.
By the time I quit I was smoking so little there was no physical withdrawal.

I missed it for awhile. Now I rarely even think about it.
Started at 11, quit at 48. 3+ years clean here.

I don't know that this would work for anyone else. Ya gotta be crazy.

[LongHairFreak]

No light bulb. The people around me ragged on me 'til I went nuts. I'm an addict!

[casualmadness]

I was a pack a day smoker by the time I was 13. I had my first cigarette when I was four or so. Both of my parents were heavey smokers. Both of my siblings picked up the habit at a young age. So naturally, I started smoking. By the time I was around 16 or so, I was up to a pack a day. Throughout high school and college I stayed between 1-2 packs per day. Finally, in late 1999 I started having chest pains. I was 26 at the time. BTW I was born with severe respitory allergies. More complicated than one would think. I spent the first few months of my life in a bubble because I could only breath treated oxygen. Then at the ripe old age of eleven months, my windpipe collapsed and I stopped breathing. By the time my parents got me to the hospital I was clinically dead. The doctors revived me and said that my respitory problem was severe and that I was facing a difficult life. Back to the bubble for a few more months...
ANyway, back to 1999...I was having chest pains. So I made an appointment to see my doctor. She examined me, did multpile tests, drew blood, CT scan, x-rays...etc. She found nothing wrong. IN fact, she said that I was in great shape and her only concern was all the supplements I was taking at the time (I was a weighlifter). I decided that the pain was likely my body telling me that I needed to quit smoking. So I did. I quit for a few months. I felt great. The chest pain went away and I was a new man. So what did I do? I started smoking again. Yeah...I was an idiot. Within three weeks of smoking again, the chest pains came back. So after about a month or so of crippling chest pains, I just got up one morning, saw a half pack of smokes on my bedroom floor from where I had been reading the night before. I picked 'em up, crumpled them in my hand, and dropped them in the trash. I never touched another cigarette. That was in March of 2000.

8 years clean...

[emblymouse]

I wanted to be the one in control instead of being controlled by the habit. It just got to the point that I felt silly for being so weak.

[BlacksHole]

I smoked for more than 30 years and I was smoking more than 2 packs a day when I quit. I was at my Doctor for an appt., and he told me that I was showing the early stages of Emphysema, so even though I had a full pack on me and 2 brand new cartons at home, I quit cold turkey.

My mother, after smoking her entire adult life, decided she had enough at about 78 years old and also stopped cold turkey.

It is difficult to give up the habit, both for the diet change (I took up chewing gum, which I hate now) and the physical aspect of constantly putting something in your mouth. When I first quit, I lost weight. This is because I chewed the gum so forcefully that my jaw was too tired to want to chew food. Now that its been a few years, I don't chew gum and am overweight for the first time in my life.

[pointbass]

After my wife was subjected to a second series of cancer treatments (chemo, radiation) over 10 years that was enough for me. I was doing a minimum 2 packs a day at the time.

I used Nicorette gum, which worked great for me. I went somewhat longer than the suggested program (took me about 5-6 months overall) but it was effective and permanent. It's been just about 4 years now and I have ZERO desire to smoke ....

[Mark Latimour]

Meh, just had enough and decided to quit.....3 or 4 times!

[csala]

Originally Posted by pointbass

After my wife was subjected to a second series of cancer treatments (chemo, radiation) over 10 years that was enough for me. I was doing a minimum 2 packs a day at the time.

I used Nicorette gum, which worked great for me. I went somewhat longer than the suggested program (took me about 5-6 months overall) but it was effective and permanent. It's been just about 4 years now and I have ZERO desire to smoke ....

Hey Pointbass, congrats. I'm trying to stop and it isn't easy but I've cut down drastically.

How are you dealing with the football offseason? Talk about withdrawal!

[pointbass]

Originally Posted by csala

Hey Pointbass, congrats. I'm trying to stop and it isn't easy but I've cut down drastically.

How are you dealing with the football offseason? Talk about withdrawal!

Off-season is rough .... tried to hang on with Sirius NFL Channel 124 but there's too much BS right now. Met Antonio Pierce and Chris Snee at a gig and talked with them for about 10 minutes .... very nice cats Snee is a big dude in person Waiting for the pic taken with them, I'll post up once my drummer's wife gets her *** in gear ....

[JimB52]

Hey Pointbass
I used to live in Point. I'm towards the other end of rt 70 now.
Miss that town, except for the summer traffic. I was peeing next to Michael Strahan last Thursday. (no pics, though.)

[ImaStupidBaby]

when I realized I could just take a pile of money, cover it with gas and set it on fire, and accomplish the same as smoking.