[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Two years without a cigarette (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/19/2016 11:05:02 PM EDT
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The last cigarette I smoked was on 20 August, 2014. There was nothing magic about how I did it but maybe some information about how it happened will be useful to someone else trying to break the habit.
I started smoking regularly around my 25th year. Early in September I will have managed to stay alive for 69 years. On two different occasions several decades ago I got too sick to smoke for a few days and took advantage of those days by turning them into nine months without smoking. On both occasions it all ended in the presence of friends and some beers and just one cigarette for old times. On both occasions within a few days I had bought a carton and was smoking more than ever before. For many years I was afraid to try to quit again because if I failed and started again I would have a cigarette in my hand most of the time. I am an addict. By August of 2014 I could feel every cigarette take something out of me. If I got up and walked fast across a room after smoking I would get dizzy. There was a pacemaker in my chest for AFib probably because of smoking. Fortunately I came down with some nasty stomach virus or something else that had me nauseous, puking, on my back, and not smoking for three days. As I recovered I decided to again take advantage of the fact that I had those awful first days of not smoking behind me and try to quit again because I knew it needed to happen and I finally really wanted it to happen. Something told me that hiding from cigarettes was not the thing to do because they would always be available. I left half a pack on my desk in plain sight and half a carton in the house at first but I threw the pack away after a couple of weeks and gave the half carton away after about a month. Since August 2014 I have gained back the 20 pounds I had lost because of some dental issues. I really liked weighing around 155 but I can manage how I am now if I can hold this line. I sure would enjoy a cigarette about now. That will never change but I think I have it figured out. |
| Way to go! I haven't had nicotine in a long while... I smoked for a few years, dipped, chewed, snused, vaped, smoked again. All in all I went 10-12 years on nicotine. I know the health consequences - thus my quitting, but I still know that I was happier, calmer, and mentally sharper with nicotine. |
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I quit in 2011, I had to use Chantix, or I never would have made it past the first day. It still sucked, the meds just made it suck a little less than the last time I tried to quit. No headaches, just the cravings.
I do miss the morning smoke with a cup of coffee. God that was wonderful. I told my wife that if I'm ever diagnosed with a terminal illness, my first stop on the way home from the doctor will be for a carton of Marlboro reds, and some shitty convenience store coffee. It won't matter by that time, and I'll enjoy what time I have left. |
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Quoted:
I don't think nicotine is a particularly strong addiction, physiologically. However, the psychological addiction to the act of smoking is extraordinarily strong. Quoted:
Quoted:
nicotine is the meanest bitch of them all I don't think nicotine is a particularly strong addiction, physiologically. However, the psychological addiction to the act of smoking is extraordinarily strong. I have heard and read that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin. To tired and buzzed to go looking for citations, but I believe it. Good Job OP! Hang in there! I am 22 years out from my last cigarette, and 14 years from my last tobacco use. Started in the military and was a hard core, 2 pack a day smoker for ten years. Had to quit smoking when I hired on at the FD, switched to dip, quit that for my son when he was born, didn't want him growing up around it, or worse, without me. You can live without the cancer sticks. I look at it now as idiots paying good money to poison themselves and commit slow, painful suicide. I used to be one of those idiots. 
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Quoted:
I don't think nicotine is a particularly strong addiction, physiologically. However, the psychological addiction to the act of smoking is extraordinarily strong. Quoted:
Quoted:
nicotine is the meanest bitch of them all I don't think nicotine is a particularly strong addiction, physiologically. However, the psychological addiction to the act of smoking is extraordinarily strong. It is fairly strong. I quit smoking about a year and a half ago. Started vaping at a really high nicotine level at first (18mg) and tapered down to 1.5mg. Was hitting the damn thing like a fiend. Settled at 3mg. Smoking sucks, not smoking sucks but cancer sucks worse then both of them. |
| Smoke free for years and keep a pack in the freezer for guests. Stay strong! Under no circumstance could I see myself smoking one. I will even go out to the smoke shack at work to do business and not get tempted. I thought I could deal with the smell in my home a few years back and let a woman I was dating smoke inside... Was coughing the whole next morning from second hand smoke. |
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Welbutrin and nicotine lozenges in 2004. Now I work with a smoker, the damned things kind of smell good sometimes but other than that I rarely think about them. When I quit I was scared shitless that I had cancer. Turned out that I was okay, but took it as a warning to quit. Made a unilateral deal with God I'd stay quit, but if I ever started again I'd deserve to get cancer and I wouldn't come whining to Him about it. That's been a real incentive to not touch a cig. |
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Quoted:
I sure would enjoy a cigarette about now. That will never change but I think I have it figured out. No, no you wouldnt. I went nearly a year before smoking again once in the past. It tasted absolutely horrible. Its right around a year again for me, again. I have zero desire to ever smoke again. I'm better without it Fuck tobacco Quoted:
but I still know that I was happier, calmer, and mentally sharper with nicotine. Jesus christ the brainwashing runs deep with some of you. Check out Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Reframing the way you think about smoking is key. |
| Jan 5 will be two years for me. I once quit for 12 years. Then had a bad day while I was with a smoking buddy. Smoked two of his Marlboros and bought a pack on the way home after a night of darts and beer. That was 18 years ago. Cold turkey is the only way to go. I'm done for good this time. I'm too old and have other issues to add that crap to. Plus, I'm $300 richer each month! I can honestly say that sometimes I wish I had one. But that won't happen again. |
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Quoted:
No, no you wouldnt. I went nearly a year before smoking again once in the past. It tasted absolutely horrible. Its right around a year again for me, again. I have zero desire to ever smoke again. I'm better without it Fuck tobacco Jesus christ the brainwashing runs deep with some of you. Check out Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Reframing the way you think about smoking is key. Quoted:
Quoted:
I sure would enjoy a cigarette about now. That will never change but I think I have it figured out. No, no you wouldnt. I went nearly a year before smoking again once in the past. It tasted absolutely horrible. Its right around a year again for me, again. I have zero desire to ever smoke again. I'm better without it Fuck tobacco Quoted:
but I still know that I was happier, calmer, and mentally sharper with nicotine. Jesus christ the brainwashing runs deep with some of you. Check out Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Reframing the way you think about smoking is key. Sounds like you and Alan Carr have it all worked out. How many times have you "quit" exactly? At least 2, the way I read your post. Which time worked best? Best of luck next time you quit, teener. Eta: smoking was my least favorite delivery system. Swedish snus was the best. |
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It's almost two years for me. I quit November of 2014. I took up vaping as a crutch to quit. I felt so tired that I could wake up after 12 hours of sleep and still feel like death warmed over. I took a break from vaping after only two months and I felt fine. Vaping made me feel worse than smoking. I quit both. |