Posted: 1/14/2010 10:12:38 AM EDT
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If you were once a smoker and quit, how long has it been since you had a smoke? How much did you smoke each day? Did you use something to help you quit?
I quit, cold turkey, when I got sick back in Oct. Was up to ~ 1.5 packs per day. Amazing to think that i've already saved ~$600!!! |
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just passed my 2 year mark smoke free from arounf a pack or two of marlboro mediums - miss em and some days are still tough but not as bad as in the beginning and a great feeling - plus clothes dont smell like shit and more ammo money, not to mention easier to breathe.
xanax helps with withdrawal. |
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Copied and pasted from yesterday's thread. I quit three years ago. I never thought I would be able to do it. I couldn't even imagine myself as a non-smoker, I'd been smoking so long I couldn't remember what is was like to not smoke. I used the patches, but not for the whole twelve weeks or whatever they want you to do. The first day I woke up at about 4:00am and put on a patch and went back to bed. When I woke up, that craving for the first smoke of the day wasn't too bad. I had to do that for the first few days, until it became habit to not smoke with my coffee. At work whenever I had a break, instead of going outside to smoke I would spend the whole time walking around the building. I also kept either Certs or Life Savors on me to keep my mouth busy. The first week or two was hard, but after that I just kept telling myself that if I gave in and smoked a cig. all that work was for nothing and I would have to do it again. I didn't want to go through that again, so I never picked up another cigarette. ETA- One of my biggest motivations was this guy's story. http://whyquit.com/whyquit/BryanLeeCurtis.html I must have read that page and looked at that photo one hundred times. |
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Quit a couple years for good (I can say with confidence). Cold turkey, smoking & dipping, quite successfully many times before but always returned.
What made the difference between quitting & staying quit was learning to change my thinking patterns. If you view it as something you 'enjoy', then you'll always go back, IMO. If you teach yourself to hate it - which you should do considering it's a poison - then staying off of it is quite easy after all. ETA: The 'whyquit' website that Larkin posted above is an INVALUABLE resource to someone quitting or looking to quit. I recommend everyone interested in stopping soak up everything there like a sponge. |
| I quit about a year and half ago. I used the patches and they worked great. I had some very strange, really vivid dreams the 1st 3 nights, but after that, no problems. Since then I have smoked 2 or 3 cigs, but never even finished them because they were so nasty. |
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I'm on day 4 of cold turkey, from a pack a day. I ran out, didn't want one most of the day on Monday and decided not to buy any more.
I quit for 7wks last Spring and managed to get back into it. The first time I held a cigarette in my hands after that it actually felt weird! |
| Smoked for 12 years. Quit many times allways came back. Currently on month 4 without one. Still think about the damm things. Told myself I would quit when I got married then when I turned 30, then when my son was born and finally the day before his 1st birthday I decided I had enough. It was easier to quit for him not me. |
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Quoted:
I quit on March 13, 2009.. Cold Turkey all the way.. Well.... having a heart attack helped....  Nov 2,'98......I had a heart attack.....My cardiologist said very bluntly..."You can live or you can smoke....but you can't do both" I haven't smoked since.I was a 1 1/2 packs/day smoker....... |
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Quit "Cold Turkey" September 16th 2000.
Smoked for 35 years 3 packs a day of Marlboro Reds. Wanted to buy my 10 year old son(at the time) a truck that I would drive for 6 years and then give to him on his 16th birthday.The amount I was spending on Smokes was about what the payment was on the truck after the down stroke. I quit drinking beer and coffee to make it easier to quit the smokes.After about 3 months of "NOTHING" I could drink my beer's and coffee without a smoke in my hand. If I didn't quit when I did I wouldn't be here to write this. 
Savageman |
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It'll be 3 years this coming Easter weekend since I smoked cigarettes. Over a pack a day. Quit cold turkey after 20 some odd years. Well, actually, I got really drunk and smoked a shitload of cigarettes one night just so the next day they wouldn't sound good. I've had one cigarette since then.
I was smoking cigars when I'd drink but I gave that up a couple weeks ago, and no I wasn't drinking everyday just so I could have a cigar. I think I'll miss cigs for a loooong time. I quit because I know they're bad for me, plus they're getting so expensive. But, I'll tell ya, I love to smoke. I was wanting a cig yesterday something fierce while I was at work(shitty day), but I was able to control it and not beg, borrow or steal one. I wouldn't say it's an everyday battle, but, sometimes I just get to wanting one. At least my wife doesn't smoke and I didn't smoke in the house so that helps. It also helps that it's against state law to smoke inside public buildings, so if we go out to eat or have a couple drinks I'm not being tempted by someone who's smoking sitting next to me. Good luck with not smoking and make sure you buy something useful, like another gun, with the money. |
| I was at three packs per day, and quit cold turkey in February, 1981. I ate lots of sunflower seeds and LifeSavers, but didn't use any kind of stop smoking aids. I had done the "I'll try..." bit several times before that, but "I'll try" is just leaving yourself an out for failure. I made my decision and stuck with it. |
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I quit about 15-20yrs ago.
Was around a pack a day smoker. Cold turkey ( was pretty easy as I am too stubborn to fail at things ) Smoked 1 cig ( actually 1 puff ) about 5 yrs later on a drunken trip to Canada w/ some friends. One puff told me I was a non smoker for life. Smoking WILL kill ya' ..... that was enough incentive for me. |
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Quoted:
If you were once a smoker and quit, how long has it been since you had a smoke? How much did you smoke each day? Did you use something to help you quit? I quit, cold turkey, when I got sick back in Oct. Was up to ~ 1.5 packs per day. Amazing to think that i've already saved ~$600!!! +1..... about 1.5 packs, early October, cold turkey. |
| I started when I was 14 and quit 09/11/07 when I was 20. I was up to a pack a day. I quit cold turkey but exercise and drinking lots of water helped. It was amazing how much better I felt and how clear my breathing was after about 6 months. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I still smoked. Whenever I get of whiff of one now I cant believe how horrible it smells and that I use to do it. |
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Quoted:
I started when I was 14 and quit 09/11/07 when I was 20. I was up to a pack a day. I quit cold turkey but exercise and drinking lots of water helped. It was amazing how much better I felt and how clear my breathing was after about 6 months. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I still smoked. Whenever I get of whiff of one now I cant believe how horrible it smells and that I use to do it. It smells like burnt dirt to me It doesnt smell like yummy yummy cigarettes |
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I got up to about 1.5 packs a day at my worst. It tapered off to around .5 packs a day, and then I quit pretty much cold turkey in early 2005. I'll still smoke a cigarette or two if I'm around other smokers in a social atmosphere, but otherwise I have no desire to smoke at all. I didn't use any quit-smoking aids or anything, I was just tired of smoking. It worked out, as I met my wife a few weeks later, and she wouldn't have gone on a second date with me if I had still smoked.
ETA: Started when I was 18, quit when I was 21. Wow, that wasn't that long, now that I write it down. |
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Quit Oct 27 2007. Smoked 1-2 packs a day for 20 years. Wife and I had a baby and did not want him to be around that!
Plus I had sinus surgery and decided since I was going through the pain and expense of surgery I didn't want to F@#$ it up by continuing to smoke. I used the patch (and had some really wild dreams for a couple weeks) but was able to stop short of the full treatment with little to no desire. Hardest part was going out for beers, but after a few times even that wasn't bad. I can truly say that I no longer have the desire and sometimes it's even kind of offensive smelling (but I am not, nor will I ever be, one of those born again, preachy ex-smoker types. Those people really piss(ed) me off!!!) |
| I quit the end of August after about 14 years. I used the patch for a couple of days but really hated the things. They left my arms really sore, gave me some really messed up dreams, and didn't make me not want to smoke. I stopped the patch after 3 or 4 days, I forget. For me the addiction was more mental I guess, seeing as the patch didn't really help. The first week or so sucked and I always "Wanted" a cigarette, thing is, I didn't feel like I "Needed" a cigarette by the second day. Former and current smokers will know WTH I'm talking about. The first couple days I drank lots of beer, ate lots of bananas, drank lots of water, and smoked some of these shitty little cigars. I've never been really big on cigars. Doing all of that helped quite a bit I think. Hell, at least they kept me occupied. After about a week I thought that I could maybe have only 1 cigarette(addiction is a fucked up thing) and got some smokes. I had a couple drags off of 1 cigarette in that pack, and it sucked. I ended up crushing the other cigarettes in that pack and throwing them away. I've done the same thing about 3 more times since then. Bought a pack of smokes because the craving was just really bad, lit one up, it tasted like shit and made me want to puke a little, and ended up throwing out the rest of the pack. It seemed like every time I would do this, I would go longer without smoking. It really is a nasty thing to start doing again. So, since August I've had about a dozen drags off of cigarettes from being around a pack a day smoke of Marlboro reds. I think I'm doing pretty good, and haven't wanted a cigarette since Christmas Eve. |
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The strange thing is, I love the smell of cigarettes. When people go outside to smoke at work, I will join them just so I can smell it. It's strange because there isn't really a urge to smoke one.
I think I like the smell so much because my dad smoked when I was a kid. There is something comforting about the smell of them. |
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The longest I quit for was 6 months. I just woke up one day, hacking up a lung and decided I'm quitting.
Then like an asshole, I lost big in a poker game in A.C. and that started me again. I'm about a pack a day, and I want to quit again I think. I'm currently working on my drinking first though. I started leaning on booze when I first quit, and it became a bit of a problem. Once I can get that under control (it's going pretty well), the smoking is next. Cold turkey really is the only way to do it, for smokes and booze. ETA: During that entire 6 months it was a battle almost every minute of every day not to run to the store to get a pack. |