Quiting smoking?!?!?

[Junejer]

My dad started smoking at 13. When he was 58, he went in for a check up and discovered that his lungs were almost totally black. Doc said, if you don't quit, you're going to die. He lived for another 14 years, the last nine or so on oxygen full time. He died of emphysema.

Edit: Oh, he did quit for good the day that the doc told him quit or die.

---

MattH wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I've noticed that smoking is addictive in almost everyone who does it for a while, but the LEVELS of addiction vary widely.

I'm one of those hard-core 3-pack a day smokers, and have been for many years - my emphysema attests to that.

This kid is extremely intelligent.  Also a hard-core realist.  Yet NOTHING I've tried has helped.  Leaving them in another room, so I have to get up and go fetch them to have one.  Marking each cig with a line, below which I will STOP, snub it out and maybe finish it later - like making one cig stand in for two.  Cold turkey I've done twice, with people who were literally my "wardens."  They had possession of my keys, money, etc., and I would only be allowed to use them for "righteous" purposes.  This way, I've been off more than a month.  But the first time I smelled someone's cigarette, I was instantly hooked again, then went out and bought a pack.  You can't buy just one cig, and you can guess where it went from there.  Like an alcoholic, just one gets you right back to square one.

This habit OWNS me.  I don't even know who I AM if I can't smoke.  Nor do I know what to do with my hands, and I've got a very active mind that means I have to be doing something all the time.

I'm scared to death, because I can FEEL it killing me now.  Yet I can't quit.  And it isn't for lack of desperately trying, either. 

So how do the hard-core cases like me manage to quit?  If any. 

---

You are not alone, a close relative recently died of emphysema because she could not quit smoking.  As you say it can be extremely addictive.  I have no qualifications to advise you so all I can say is keep trying, maybe talk to people you know who have been able to kick the habit.  You do have my best wishes!

---

Message Edited by ByrdMan on 03-31-2009 06:14 PM

[Anonymous]

---

@Junejer wrote:

My dad started smoking at 13. When he was 58, he went in for a check up and discovered that his lungs were almost totally black. Doc said, if you don't quit, you're going to die. He lived for another 14 years, the last nine or so on oxygen full time. He died of emphysema.

Edit: Oh, he did quit for good the day that the doc told him quit or die.

---

I am sorry to hear that my friend, you never want to have it come to that but you demonstrated a very good point. Thank you for sharing that. My father as I stated earlier in the thread started very young as well and was a multipack smoker until my younger sister was born in 1980 and my mom said, "its bad enough you didn't quit when the boy was born, you need to stop now because I am sick of washing the drapes every other week and I don't want my kids growing up as smokers" (translated) and he quit, just like that, gotta give the man credit for it and packed up all his cartons of smokes and took them to my uncle and said to him "here, christmas came early for you, smoke em or throw them away, your call but I am done" (translated again) and my uncle was in the Navy and when he was promoted to admiral, he quit but told me "I may not smoke myself to death but I'll be dam*ed if I give up my scotch, don't mean you can go drinking, you hear?", loved that man for his practicality and glad he saw me in the Marine Corp before he died in 98 from an old injury to his heart.

All that being said, my father is still among us, good or bad thing depending on who you ask , he still tells me that he enjoys the smell of it when he passes by but he never felt the need to smoke again and I truly believe that had my uncle not quit smoking, his heart condition would have taken him much sooner and I am grateful for the extra years I had with him growing up. So many ask me, why the heck did you smoke if you knew all this, well I have no excuse for it, I was in the service and it just came with the territory it seemed (stress triggered for me, helped me think, I know its weird) and when I got out, I kept smoking but I was never a "heavy" smoker, about 1 pack per 2-3 days on average, sometimes more and sometimes less and it wasn't until I got pneumonia and felt like crap and couldn't breathe for days that my cousin (a neurologist) told me, coz I think the smoking is aggrevating your childhood asthma and that's what's kicking your butt now and that was it, I stopped smoking, when I got better, I didn't go back and I am still clear of it.

Do I miss it? of course, sometimes I do and when my friends who smoke come around I am tempted to say, hey give me a hit, but for the most part they are good at knowing to say no or give me some crap about it to make me change my mind and now I just don't even bother, I am good with being around it and in fact many of them have adopted the attitude and are working to quit. One of them just became a dad with his wife 6 months along and his goal is to stop by the time his kid is born. I am helping him, he has tried many times with the patch, the gum, cold turkey, alternative smokes, this and that and always went back in like 2 days but this time I can see he is more determined and focused about it and I think he will succeed. Geez this post got long, sorry everyone.

[haulingthescoreup]

---

Uborrow-Upay wrote:

OK, so I'm targeting 9 PM tonight as my smoking quit time.  Armed myself with some 4mg nicotine gum and also 4mg nicotine lozenges, which I bought yesterday.

Last premium cigarette smoked was yesterday morning, I have some cheap, nasty-tasting smokes to get me through today.  Gonna try cold-turkey again, but have the gum and lozenges for back-up, which I will use if necessary, as well as other methods suggested here (drinking juice, etc.)

I'll let you guys know how I do. 

---

DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!!!!!!

Just do what you have to do. Don't worry about whether it's tuff enuff, or what others do, or what you read online, or whatever. It's all about what works for you. Nicotine addiction is a very real, very physical phenomenon, and going cold turkey works for many, but it will create physical symptoms in a lot of people.

This is not a measure of your character, or your toughness, or your strength of character, or anything else. It's a drug, and your body and your brain get used to it, and it's not easy to get it back out again.

And it may take multiple attempts, and that's OK. Not everything is easily accomplished the first time through. There's an awful lot of stuff in the real world that takes repeated attempts to break through.

My aunt died of emphysema. I still remember watching her try to move from the couch to an armchair set at a right angle to the couch. It was possibly 3 feet from one spot to the other, but she had to stop and rest half way through.

Please, please, please, hang in there, and do this for yourself, and in addition, do it for those who love you. I don't give a rat's ass what it takes to get you through it, and I don't even begin to understand why anyone else should care: pull out all the stops, get any gimmicks that it takes --who cares? this is YOUR life. Just get 'er done.

Good luck, and God bless.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely great advice hauling, good to hear from you on this.

[Anonymous]

Guardian wrote "....stress triggered for me, helped me think, I know its weird..."

In total agreement, it's the same here. Exactly. Especially so when I'm working at the computer.

Guardian also wrote: "...(my friend) has tried many times with the patch, the gum, cold

turkey, alternative smokes, this and that and always went back in like 2 days..."

I've made it for about 4 days in the past. Seems to be my limit. The first 72 hours, as

someone here pointed out, is the worst. Especially in the mornings.

Uborrow-Upay (that's me!) wrote yesterday: "OK, so I'm targeting 9 PM tonight as my smoking

quit time".

Looks like I'll have to re-set that. I've already screwed that up. Started the quit-smoking clock last night a bit early, and snuffed out the "last" one at 7:31 P.M.

I hate to admit this, but I've had three already, all this morning. The early morning hours are

extremely tough for me, and normally by now (8 A.M. or so) I would have had about 10-12

smokes, the bulk of my smoking for the day. I've been at just under a pack/day for a while,

down from an all-time high of 3pks/day, Camel non-filters.

I don't know, maybe I should look at that as some kind of small victory, but it doesn't feel like it.

Part of the problem is, I work from my office at home, so no restrictions on smoking at work.

I'm at a keyboard 10-12 hrs. a day, on average. (See Guardian's quote above, about "helps me

think" ).

OK, so far so good, I guess. At least I smoked less today so far.

haulingthescoreup wrote: "And it may take multiple attempts, and that's OK. Not everything is

easily accomplished the first time through..."

Looks like it will take a few tries, HTSU.

Thanks for the encouragement, all. I mean it. And I hope someone else here is giving this a try, too. (Misery loves company? Or great minds think alike? LOL)



Carry on...

Edited for another unexpected smiley-thing..GRRRRRR!

Message Edited by Uborrow-Upay on 04-01-2009 08:12 AM

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Guardian wrote "....stress triggered for me, helped me think, I know its weird..."

In total agreement, it's the same here. Exactly. Especially so when I'm working at the computer.

For me it would trigger with an argument, a problematic letter/email/call, billing/paperwork issues, the usual life stuff and yes even work but ironically the days I was buried in typing code and debugging and would go 10-16 hours without a single smoke because I was so distracted, those were good days for me.

Guardian also wrote: "...(my friend) has tried many times with the patch, the gum, cold

turkey, alternative smokes, this and that and always went back in like 2 days..."

I've made it for about 4 days in the past. Seems to be my limit. The first 72 hours, as

someone here pointed out, is the worst. Especially in the mornings.

Don't let "failure" for lack of a better word define you, keep trying and keep at it and find a way. Ultimately you are a willful and intelligent person and you will beat this, its a matter of finding the Achilles heal.

Uborrow-Upay (that's me!) wrote yesterday: "OK, so I'm targeting 9 PM tonight as my smoking

quit time".

Looks like I'll have to re-set that. I've already screwed that up. Started the quit-smoking clock last night a bit early, and snuffed out the "last" one at 7:31 P.M.

I hate to admit this, but I've had three already, all this morning. The early morning hours are

extremely tough for me, and normally by now (8 A.M. or so) I would have had about 10-12

smokes, the bulk of my smoking for the day. I've been at just under a pack/day for a while,

down from an all-time high of 3pks/day, Camel non-filters.

I don't know, maybe I should look at that as some kind of small victory, but it doesn't feel like it.

Part of the problem is, I work from my office at home, so no restrictions on smoking at work.

I'm at a keyboard 10-12 hrs. a day, on average. (See Guardian's quote above, about "helps me

think" ).

OK, so far so good, I guess. At least I smoked less today so far.

Just start fresh and go at it again.

haulingthescoreup wrote: "And it may take multiple attempts, and that's OK. Not everything is

easily accomplished the first time through..."

Looks like it will take a few tries, HTSU.

If at first you fail, try and try again. Its not a race, you'll make it on your schedule and when its right for YOU.

Thanks for the encouragement, all. I mean it. And I hope someone else here is giving this a try, too. (Misery loves company? Or great minds think alike? LOL)

You are welcome and it might be that misery likes company or that we are just all human and look out for each other, whichever the case, you have the support so does anyone here who is trying to quit and feel free to lay it on us anytime.

---

[Anonymous]

Guardian, funny you didn't smoke when writing code.  I light 'em up one right after another (but some of them   just burn out in the ashtray).  That's my main smoking trigger, for sure.  

OK, it's almost 24 hrs, and I ended up smoking 8 today.  There aren't going to be any further updates here for a while, I'm going to stay off the computer until Monday and clean out the basement, work in the yard and de-winterize the pool.  I'm going to do anything except work on the computer (that's when I smoke the most) for at least 72 hours, but I think maybe more than that, trying for Monday.  Maybe that'll help, if I can beat 72 hrs or a bit more, we'll see..

Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Guardian, funny you didn't smoke when writing code.  I light 'em up one right after another (but some of them   just burn out in the ashtray).  That's my main smoking trigger, for sure.  

Even funnier is that I USED to when I was single and burning cigs inside the house but with my wife being allergic to it and me not wanted to smoke in front of my kids, I didn't do it in the house anymore. So since I had to leave the house to do it outside, when I was busy, it wouldn't happen. But I remember days when it would burn to ashes without being touched in the ashtray and me drinking Jolts like it was nothing, good times hacking away all night.

OK, it's almost 24 hrs, and I ended up smoking 8 today.  There aren't going to be any further updates here for a while, I'm going to stay off the computer until Monday and clean out the basement, work in the yard and de-winterize the pool.  I'm going to do anything except work on the computer (that's when I smoke the most) for at least 72 hours, but I think maybe more than that, trying for Monday.  Maybe that'll help, if I can beat 72 hrs or a bit more, we'll see..

Thanks. 

Good luck my friend and do what you must, we'll be here whenver you feel like it or need us, take care of yourself in the meantime and do what you must.

---

[Anonymous]

The doc told my father in law to drink a glass of OJ before going to bed with a spoon of cream of tartar in it.

He also told him to work outside and sweat a lot to sweat the nicotine out.

Go to the supermarket and get some of that bulk hard candy.

If you find yourself wanting one or missing something in your hand, roll up a piece of tape and roll it between your fingers to keep your fingers occupied.

[haulingthescoreup]

One huge problem is that your brain has linked two independent activites --working at the computer and smoking --almost inseparably. The association between the two is almost irresistible.

Can you move your home office, at least temporarily, to an area that is not so strongly associated with smoking?

And the other problem, one that no one really wants to deal with, is that nicotine is a highly addictive compound, and almost without a doubt, you are physically addicted, as well as psychologically dependent, on it. This is generally what kills the cold turkey folks --the withdrawal is just too much to deal with.

This is what the patch, etc is all about --it's doing a drug taper to allow your body to adjust. And it's all very nice to try to be heroic and refuse to use tapers, but your physical brain is generally a whole lot tougher and more stubborn than your intellectual brain. My feeling is that it's a sign of intelligence to use every crutch that you can find.

In the end, for the serious tobacco users, I don't think that behavioral therapy or chemical assistance alone is adequate. I think you have to do both. So go grab the pills/ patches/ whatever they've got, and try some behavior modification and a support group, and keep bashing at it. It takes most folks multiple attempts to break through.