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Ex-Smokers. How did you quit?

#21
COPD.
That will make you think about life and death.
Ive outlived one doctors estimate but my life is basically over anyway.
I have a beautiful carved double bass. I was starting to make it sing. I cant play it now. The Bach was really sounding good too.
I have some beautiful EUB basses. Cant play them.
Beautiful bass guitars.fretted and fretless. Cant play them either.
Love yourself? Love your family, your friends?
QUIT NOW! PLEASE QUIT NOW!
 
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#23
The last cigarette I smoked made me physically ill. Quit cold turkey and never had the urge to smoke ever again. Cigars excluded.

Context - I was cooped up in a small airless room on a very hot and humid day with a bunch of guys. We were all on break and we were all smoking. I lit one up, took a big haul and then went into dry heaves and then my head started spinning. I stood up, butted out the smoke, handed the rest of my pack to a buddy, walked out of the room and said “that’s it, I’m done”. I was a half pack a day smoker and still fairly young (22). It’s been 30 years. Glad I did it then.
 
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#27
Gorn said:
Cold turkey after smoking from 15 to about 33. It was harder than quitting cocaine ten years earlier. There's no trick to it. You just have to do it or not do it. I still miss them.
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Same here, cold turkey twice. First time it lasted for 10 years, I went to a party and got hooked again. I stopped again few years later and it's been going on now for 9 years. Somehow, this time it's been easier and I have no craving for a smoke. :)
 
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#29
I quit smoking almost 20 years ago.
The one thing that helped me most was wanting to stop. Every time I wanted a cigarette I had to tell myself I didn’t want it. Over and over, every single time I had the urge.
I found a candy I liked at the time and sucked on those to help with the physical addiction.
Wanting to quit and remembering to tell myself I didn’t want a cigarette was key.
 
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#31
DirtDog said:
The last cigarette I smoked made me physically ill. Quit cold turkey and never had the urge to smoke ever again. Cigars excluded.

Context - I was cooped up in a small airless room on a very hot and humid day with a bunch of guys. We were all on break and we were all smoking. I lit one up, took a big haul and then went into dry heaves and then my head started spinning. I stood up, butted out the smoke, handed the rest of my pack to a buddy, walked out of the room and said “that’s it, I’m done”. I was a half pack a day smoker and still fairly young (22). It’s been 30 years. Glad I did it then.
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Now, on the flipside - my mother, in her mid-70s, smokes at least a pack a day and has done so for probably close to 60 years. She's tried quitting many many many times. Always failed despite everyone around her encouraging her to quit. No one in her immediate family smoked aside from her father. No one in our immediate and extended family smoked as an adult - and even then only a few of us were casual smokers as teens/young adults. She doesn't get to spend as much time as she could with her grandkids due to the smoking and my dad died from cardiovascular causes known to be at higher risk due to second hand smoke (he was a non-smoker) - so I don't know what would be a motivator for her to quit. She's on the slippery slope of memory loss, so maybe she'll just forget that she's a smoker one day?
 
#33
DirtDog said:
Now, on the flipside - my mother, in her mid-70s, smokes at least a pack a day and has done so for probably close to 60 years. She's tried quitting many many many times. Always failed despite everyone around her encouraging her to quit. No one in her immediate family smoked aside from her father. No one in our immediate and extended family smoked as an adult - and even then only a few of us were casual smokers as teens/young adults. She doesn't get to spend as much time as she could with her grandkids due to the smoking and my dad died from cardiovascular causes known to be at higher risk due to second hand smoke (he was a non-smoker) - so I don't know what would be a motivator for her to quit. She's on the slippery slope of memory loss, so maybe she'll just forget that she's a smoker one day?
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That actually happened to my dad. He had Alzheimer's disease and used to sit in his favorite chair all day, filling up his ashtray. One day I walked into the living room and saw that his ashtray was empty. "Dad, you aren't smoking today. Do you have a sore throat or something?" He looked at me and said, "I don't smoke! That's a horrible, dirty habit." Never touched another cigarette after that day.
 
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#35
I (fortunately) got the turkey of extreme chilliness young, after unfortunately starting even younger (parents, your smoking enables your kids, 'nuff said, I hope.) Handy little science demo which collected the tar (from about 4 cigarettes) that usually collects in your lungs in a test tube. Between seeing and smelling that <expletive> I went and destroyed all my stash of cigarettes and stopped thinking it was "cool." Getting the parents to quit was a longer process.

Good luck, it's the pinnacle of addictive drugs as far as I recall. Find something else to do with your hands, time, etc...
 
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#36
Stewie26 said:
I have been smoking for many years now. I am normally a strong willed person with good self discipline. But when it comes to nicotine, I have been a wussy and nicotine has owned me for half a life time. I can not use the anti-smoking drug, Chantix, as it is on the FAA's no fly list because they say it may cause suicidal tendencies. :woot:
What worked for you? I would really appreciate any suggestions you may have.
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Let me start with this: CHANTIX IS DA BOMB!!! It causes VIVID and I mean VERY VIVID DREAMS. You won't want to wake up...in a good way.

That aside when I was 21 I quit the first time from smoking 2 packs a day Marlboro reds to finally kicking it. The method I used then and the only thing offered back then was the patch.

Jumping about 16 or more years later I started again...don't ask. Anyway, I believe I was in my late 30's when I quit or early 40's (really not sure). Anyway it was a lot harder. I tried the patch but didn't work. I tried vaping but just go addicted to vaping so went back to cigs. I tried cold turkey and I can't make it through the day. Nope the only thing that worked was Chantix.

Suicidal thoughts? Not even close!
 
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#37
I used Wellbutrin after about 50 attempts at cold turkey. I literally didn't sleep more than about an hour a day for 3 months but after taking it for two weeks I lost all desire to smoke. I was into nearly 2 packs a day at the time and I haven't had one since. That was in 2000. I loved to smoke and still think/dream about it occasionally, especially when I walk by people smoking on a cold, crisp fall day. It was the hardest thing I've ever voluntarily done and if I can quit anyone can.
 
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