O.T. Reformed or secret smokers help!!!!

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kga26
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O.T. Reformed or secret smokers help!!!!

Post by kga26 »

Forget the diet club, what about us poor sad always giving up smokers and their breath requirements? I have given up for 4 periods of 3 months in the last 2 years, and am trying so hard again. I hate smoking, and chew the gum, stick on the patches, drink water, tootle away on my whistle, dust the house, ANYTHING not to smoke. Still end up giving in occasionally. Has anyone else tried and failed as many times as me? Does it affect your whistle playing? Advice please. :sniffle:
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It's easy - done it dozens of times

Post by Random notes »

I have quit a number of times, for varying lengths of time. I had pretty much gotten off cigs when I started smoking a pipe a 3-4 years ago and quit again a few weeks ago when I had minor throat surgery (unrelated to smoking issues). It's odd that I don't miss it more. However, I have always had trouble quitting cigarettes in the past because I would return to social situations in which I and others smoked regularly. I have very few friends who smoke anymore; perhaps giving up the pipe was easier because there is no social setting in which I always smoked. Breaking the habits surrounding the smoking habit was probably the strongest factor in every time I've quit before. And re-socializing in a smoking environment was probably the most important factor in my backsliding.

I hesitate to say that I have quit - I just haven't had a smoke for a few weeks. But even over this short a time it does make a difference in my wind. I mean whistling.

Hang tough - maybe thinking of how many packs you have to give up to finince a whistle would help. At $2 per day, in a couple of months or so you can start cruising Ebay for Copelands.

Good luck

Roger
Non omnes qui habemt citharam sunt citharoedi
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Post by Guest »

It depends on whether you really want to quit and if you are willing to work on some program.


You can forget about patches and gum etc - since your addiction has very little to do with Nicotine - in fact your body is telling you over and over that it does NOT LIKE Nicotine.

One way that works well is the cold turkey method; though you'd best remove yourself from society for a couple of weeks while the anger subsides as surely it will.

The idea is to breathe when ever you feel like lighting a cigarette and let your nervous system take over for a change. Just breathe slowly and deep then out slowly. After a few of those you wont desire the cigarette anymore.

Funny but true after a few hours of that you will begin to wonder how on earth you ever began consuming the vomit cancer crap that is called tobbacco!

Other benefits - air is free and your body loves the effect of peace and a return of your mental faculties ..eg attention span, reckoning.

I read on one site that we start either because we grew up in a smokers' home or through peer pressure, NOT because we want to get high off of Nicotine. In my case it was the secondhand smoke that got into my body poisoning me at an early age.

The other thing you MUST do is not restart smoking after you detoxify your body -about 5 years.

A really good reason to quit!

It would be kinder to yourself to take a dose of something final instead of slowly poisoning yourself to death over a number of years as well as those you love and share your life with.
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Post by Redwolf »

I finally quit last year, after trying many times. The only thing that made it possible for me to quit (and still the only thing that keeps me off cigarettes) is I got so sick. I had acute bronchitis that came on very suddenly when we were on vacation last summer and landed me in the emergency room far from home, desperately trying to breathe.

Quitting is very, very hard, even with all the motivation in the world. Use whatever you need to use. I took Wellbutrin, because one of the more dramatic effects of nicotine withdrawal on me is profound (as in suicidal) depression (And don't let anyone tell you it isn't the nicotine either...that's a load of crap. That stuff is as addictive as heroine). I also used Commit losenges, because I found they helped a bit with the oral fixation issue (and the "something to do when you're not smoking" issue). AND I DID NOT cut myself off from other smokers...quite the contrary. I've found anti-smokers to be one of the biggest impediments to quitting, frankly (and, in fact, there are still people I haven't told I don't smoke anymore, just because I don't want to give them the satisfaction).

I loved smoking. I loved every single cigarette I ever smoked. If there were a safe way to do it, I'd take it up again in a minute. But I never forget how terrifying it was to not be able to breathe...that's the one thing that keeps me from going back.

Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
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Post by Joseph E. Smith »

".....quiting smoking is the easiest thing in the world to do....why, I've done it hundreds of times."

--Mark Twain.
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Post by Guest »

Redwolf wrote:I finally quit last year, after trying many times. The only thing that made it possible for me to quit (and still the only thing that keeps me off cigarettes) is I got so sick. I had acute bronchitis that came on very suddenly when we were on vacation last summer and landed me in the emergency room far from home, desperately trying to breathe.

Quitting is very, very hard, even with all the motivation in the world. Use whatever you need to use. I took Wellbutrin, because one of the more dramatic effects of nicotine withdrawal on me is profound (as in suicidal) depression (And don't let anyone tell you it isn't the nicotine either...that's a load of crap. That stuff is as addictive as heroine). I also used Commit losenges, because I found they helped a bit with the oral fixation issue (and the "something to do when you're not smoking" issue). AND I DID NOT cut myself off from other smokers...quite the contrary. I've found anti-smokers to be one of the biggest impediments to quitting, frankly (and, in fact, there are still people I haven't told I don't smoke anymore, just because I don't want to give them the satisfaction).

I loved smoking. I loved every single cigarette I ever smoked. If there were a safe way to do it, I'd take it up again in a minute. But I never forget how terrifying it was to not be able to breathe...that's the one thing that keeps me from going back.

Redwolf
Everybody invents a different story.

I smoked a pack a day for decades AND I was addicted to the habit as a child, but I quit cold turkey because I read how it could be done, and I decided what the hell give it a try. It works, and I am yet another living example of that. Go figure.

Now free of the poison for 3 years, TG and I never felt better in my entire life.

So

It AIN'T the Nicotine STUPID its YOU inhaling the g#### ang smoke. Like I said try breathing air instead!
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Post by Redwolf »

toasty wrote:
It AIN'T the Nicotine STUPID its YOU inhaling the g#### ang smoke. Like I said try breathing air instead!
Tell yourself whatever makes you happy. And help keep another person from quitting...because that's exactly what that holier-than-thou cac does.

Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
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Post by Wanderer »

I quit using the patch, in feb 1999

I have a different opinion than toasty. Without the the patch, the nic cravings were strong. With it, they were manageable. Quitting takes a lot of willpower, but stuff like the patch and the gum is supposed to take the edge off, and it did for me.

here's an excerpt from my diary:
Quitting Smoking, Day 1
feb 14 1999
I had my last cigarette and went to bed late, 5am or so. Woke up at 1pm, and had big "morning cigarette" cravings. Went to the store around 2pm, and got the Nicoderm CQ 21 mg patch. I didn't see the nasal spray, so I'm figuring it's only available by perscription. Put the patch on around 2:45pm...
It itched like a beast for like 20 minutes, but the instructions say that's normal. Was impressed with how quickly my cravings eased... I keep having the "fiddle" urge to light up, but that's mostly a hand-habit issue, and not a nicotine craving issue.

ps: I killed three people today, but they'll never find the bodies! Muahahah! :)

Feb 16 1999 Day 3
Had my first real test today. Was picking up clothes to do laundry, and I found a lighter and pack of smokes in one pair of shorts. The pack had ONE cigarette left in it. I told myself, "i'm smokin this MF", and took it back to the computer room. Sat down, and decided I'd smoke it later when I had a real heavy craving. Put it in my computer desk. 5 minutes later, realized how stupid that was, and crumpled the cig up and threw it away.

Three cheers for me!
Here's the thing. Everything I read always said "avoid situations where you normally smoke". I never bought into it, but this last time, I did, and it helped a lot. I'm still cig free.

I used to go to a club every friday and hang with my friends, drink, and smoke. I took 3 months off. I also had just started a new job where I had not yet established a smoke-break habit, so i simply didn't start one. The hardest times while I was quitting was after meals, and well, sex.
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Post by mvhplank »

Redwolf wrote:
toasty wrote:
It AIN'T the Nicotine STUPID its YOU inhaling the g#### ang smoke. Like I said try breathing air instead!
Tell yourself whatever makes you happy. And help keep another person from quitting...because that's exactly what that holier-than-thou cac does.

Redwolf
Goodness, I don't remember seeing you with your hackles up, Redwolf!

Congrats to anyone who can quit, however they figure it out. A musician friend said he knew someone who had quit both heroine and cigarettes--and cigarettes was harder.

M
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Post by IDAwHOa »

Never had to quit myself, never smoked long enough to get addicted to the foul tasting and smelly stuff. I don't know how anyone can say they actually enjoy that, but people do lots of things I don't like so whatever floats their boats. (please don't hit me at the party Redwolf)

But I digress before I even get started. This is about my mother. I don't tell this story to tease or ridicule, but to give hope.

My mother quit on Halloween Night many decades ago, in the middle of a party at which there were MANY smokers. She ran out of cigarettes. No one would give her another one and would not let her have me go to the store to buy her some. She never smoked again. QUIT ABSOLUTELY COLD TURKEY!!! in a very tough situation.

Good luck and I hope some of the advice above helps you out.
Steven - IDAwHOa - Wood Rocks

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Post by cowtime »

Redwolf, I did quit a few years ago in a similar situation to yours- Got the flu and just plain was too sick to miss it much. My family talked me into quiting and with the help of the gum I managed to make it almost five months. That's when my younger daughter hit bottom and went to re-hab for drug addiction. ( Sorry, I just don't believe the "harder than heroin") Somehow, quitting so I hang around here longer just didn't cut it after that.

I admire anyone who quits. More power to them. My husband quit over 20 years ago. He did it cold turkey.
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Post by Redwolf »

With me, it isn't the "quitting so you hang around here longer" issue...I'm just not like that (as my husband says "eat well, exercise regularly, die anyway"). It was simply the sheer terror of not being able to breathe. I still have nightmares about that bout with severe bronchitis...it was like drowning. That's about the only thing that keeps me from going back to it.

Redwolf
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Post by Daryl »

I don't know if this will work for anyone else, but when I finally quit and made it stick (about 12 years ago), it was because I wanted to be with my wife more than I wanted cigarettes.

Okay, she was still my girlfriend at the time, but we were very serious about each other and she's deathly allergic to cigarette smoke. So, I had a clear choice: smoking, or her.

Before we lived together, I made rules for myself: I could smoke at my place (I usually saw her at her place instead), but I couldn't smoke in the car or any time I was going to see her. Since we spent a lot of time together, the times I could smoke became fewer and fewer. When we finally moved in together, my whole world had become a "no smoking" zone. Yes, I craved the cigarettes for a while, and many's the time I was ready to climb the walls, maim, or kill for a smoke! But I would have missed her more.

The weirdest part afterward for me was having dreams in which I'd light up a smoke. I'd wake up very confused -- and a little guilty for a moment until I realized it was only a dream.

None of that is probably helpful in any practical way at all, except to say that it can be done. And, for what it's worth, I had a chest x-ray last week and the doctor said it looked great! Another bit of my paranoia I can put back in the closet for a while now.

-- Daryl

Oh, yeah -- I should probably clarify (knowing this crowd) that this does NOT imply that I am offering up my wife as an incentive to anyone else who's trying to quit smoking! :lol:
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Post by Redwolf »

Oh mercy, I still have smoking dreams! I've smoked more in my dreams, I think, than I did the entire year before I quit. It's a bummer, because I keep waking up in a panic, thinking I fell asleep smoking (something I've always been very careful not to do) and wondering what I did with my cigarette!

Redwolf
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom!
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Post by Darwin »

I don't think that I was addicted to nicotine, because I felt no physical reaction to quitting. I grew up immersed in second-hand smoke and then smoked for 10 years (18 to 28) after leaving home.

My way may not work for you, but it worked like a charm for me. You can read about it here: http://www.coastalfog.net/personal/quitsmoking.html

I think that a large component is really wanting to quit as a visceral level. It may not be enough to just think that your really should. What the method I followed does is to modify your feelings about smoking and about the value it has to you.
Mike Wright

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