OT: Quitting Smoking

[samara's on tv]

Okay is there anyone out there who has successfully quit smoking? I've been smoking for about 6 years now (Ever since I was 15) and I can't seem to quit. I was actually going to try today but the first thing I did when I woke up was light a cigarette. I know that one of my uncles smoked for 30 years and just gave it up cold turkey one day but I don't think I can do that. I read that some of thewithdrawl side effects is nausea and seeing as how I'm an EMET I don't want to go through nausea...it would just freak me out. There are a TON of other side effects,Dizziness, irratability, insomnia, weight gain, and a lot more.I read that thesesymptoms can last up to 6 MONTHS! How the HELL am I supposed to get through that? So if there is anyone out there who has successfully quit I would really appreciate the advice.


~Monica

[bexcelica]

I haven't successfully quit, but I have smoked for just about as long.
I want to quit but I am afriad of the side effects, especially n* and
weight gain. Everyone I know who quit did do it cold turkey, which is
impossible to me. I think the best advice I've heard is to set a date,
get prepared, start exersizing before you quit to minimize the wieght
gain, and just stop on that day you picked. warning though, i was
talking to a guy at work about it, he quit and went immediately to
altoids because it gave him the same effect of breathing in a menthol
cigarette, and he gained a lot of weight. also, if you suck on sugar
free ones, too many can make you sick.



monica, let me know if you get any advice from a quitter, i want to know!!!

[ontariogirl]

Ok, I am going through the same thing right now. I wanted to quit on my birthday didnt happen. I went and saw my NP 2 weeks before I quit date. We talked about what i will do when I need a smoke etc. We discussed zyban (not sure how to spell it) and how that seems to work. I found out that it is expensive, and can't figure out why our government here in Ontario will not cover this medication? meanwhile you cant smoke anywhere, coffee shops, bars, arenas no where. Then thought of the patch. 3 steps, first step you can smoke with it but after that you can't. My father who smoked for 40 + years quit cold turkey 3 years ago. He gained weight and was irritable but it only lasted a month or so. There was no nausea at all. The weight that he gained he lost those pounds and looks great and healthy.
Like you I went to bed and thinking I will wake up in the morning and see how long I can go without a smoke. Well one day it was a half an hour, next day I got up and had one, and been having one every morning, day and night. It is frustrating. I even started to exercise, did that on Sat. morning felt great and the next morning came where I couldn't move and if I did move it hurt.
I go see my NP tomorrow to discuss the phobia and my will to quit smoking.
I believe it all depends on the person. The pills work great on people and some people it doesn't, same as the patch or cold turkey.
What I learned is to have a journal. I wrote down every time I lit up, and you have to answer the question as to why you lit up? Out of boredum, nervous, whatever. I wake up and I havea smoke and a tea, should I eliminate my tea? I dont know.
About gaining weight I am afraid of that, that is why I have my dvd's and my ball to work out. Feeling nausea never heard of that. But I will tell you whenI feel sick I cant smoke at all. For being irritable, hell I am the biggest bitch when I am PMS'ing so to me what is the difference.
I will tell you what my father did. He woke up one morning and had 1 smoke left. He put that smoke in the cupboard. He felt today is the day to quit. Just like that. He drank lots of water and chewed gum. 3 years later that hard smoke is still there. Now I feel that if my father can do it, so can I. It is frustrating but tomorrow is another day. Try not to smoke when you get up and just see how long you can last. Please dont feel like a failure, like I did. I quit drinking cold turkey 6 years ago and quitting smoking is the hardest for me.
After I see my NP I will PM you with any help I can give you.

[ontariogirl]

I forgot,I am 40 and started smoking when I was 15. Think of your taste buds coming back and your sense of smell. People who have quit and smell some one smoking turns them off. Our clothes wont smell anymore!! I even asked my NP if there was a pill to take so if you have a smoke you will be sick, just like the pills they give to drinkers, if they have alcohol they are sick and I mean sick.
We will do it!!!

[danforth]

I smoked for 3 years quite heavily and stopped almost cold turkey. For the first week my system was thrown into chaos. I couldn't eat or sleep properly and I was having terrible stomach cramps, no v* though. The first week is always the hardest but stick with it, it's smooth sailing after that. Chewing gum REALLY helps with the nerves part of it.

[samara's on tv]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm going to see my therapist today and I'm going to see what she says about it. Tomorrow I'm going to TRY not to smoke first thing when I get up and see how long I can go without it. Thanks OntarioGirl for the advice. I wish I could be like your father and just be done with it. My dad smokes too, like 4 cigarettes a day and that's about it. Once he quit for 9 months to train for a marathon but you know what he did the second the marathon was finished? He lit up a cigarette. I usually smoke when I'm waiting for the bus or train to take me somewhere. Tomorrow I won't even bring my cigarettes with me and I'll stop at the store and buy some gum...I really hope that helps.


~Monica

[skon]

I quit 2 months ago.



It's not hard. The only thing that sucked was that during the first 3
days I felt a bit dizzy because your body adjusts to the increased
oxygen.



I didn't use any of these silly things like zyban or nicotine
replacement. That just delays the inevitable. It's so easy even without
crap like that.



There are very little physical symptoms. That's all just nonsense. It
doesn't do anything at all. Quitting smoking doesn't cause weight
gain...eating more than you use up causes weight gain.



you just have to do it no matter what...every time you say you're going
to , normally it's like "oh, well right now is not a good time, I'm
quite stressed" but that's just junkie talk....it's NEVER a good time
to quit...so just quit right as soon as you decide you want to. It's so
easy.

[ontariogirl]

I really feel the quitting smoking is hard, and for most people it is. I don't feel that using a patch or using zyban is silly. I know people who have tried these and have quit successfully for years and who did not go back to smoking. Everyone is different and have various symptoms of stopping.
Like I stated beforeI will PM you and bexcelica for information.
Good choice about not taking the smokes with you!

[shiva]

First of all, I think by anticipating the side effects you are setting yourself up for failure. Since you are addicted, I think your mind will possibly create nausea or whatever to talk you into having a cigarette when you are trying to quit. When I quit I had no idea that nausea was a side effect and I didn't have any. Know what I mean?? Not to say it's always psychosomatic, but I would say for emet's it probably will be.


I started smoking 13 years ago. I quit while I was pregnant, of course and while I breastfed. Like an ass I started again and smoked another 3 years.. This may not sound very helpfull,but I think it actually can be if taken the right way. I quit for 2 reasons, #1 because my daughter has athsma. Any of you mothers out there who have kids with athsma know how scary it can be. I felt REALLY selfish and disgusting for this habit. Although I didn't EVER smoke around my daughter, the fact that she COULDN'T breath and I totally took breathing for granted. It killed me.. I hated myself. The second thing was my grandpa dying of pancreatic cancer. I realize it wasn't lung cancer, but it was cancer nonetheless. My grandpa NEVER drank or smoked in his life and he was dying this horrible, painfull death. WE KNOW that cigarettes cause cancer, how could I take life for granted and smoke while I watched my grandpa die??? How can anyone do that? To me it was like a sin.. I should have been dying because I was being careless with my body. I should have had asthma, I should have had cancer. So that was it.. One day I just stopped and that was it. I decided right then and there that smoking one more cigarette would make me a disgusting human being and I stopped it. Never looked back. Never cared. That was my core belief system. Recently I met a friend of a frienwho also NEVER smoked a cigarette or anything else in his life. He is dying from lung cancer and he is in his 30's. His mother smoked. He IS DYING. There is no more they can do for him. He's been fighting for 10 years. Then there was a friend who I grew up with whose body was totally eaten with cancer by the age of 26.. She died and left behind 2 small children. Why her? She was also not being careless with her life.


This is my point... I think everyone can take a story from themselves or someone they know and realize that smoking just f***ing isn't worth it. PERIOD. You can listen to your addicted head and make excuses in order to get your fix and stay addicted or you can decide to take control of your life and not take for granted the life god gave you. It is actually very easy. If that doesn't help you just imagine the puking that people do when dying of cancer or going through chemo.. that in itself should make you quit..


I hope I've helped ANYONE who read this. There is just no point to it. Smoking kills... period. Don't take life for granted.

[kate1966]

Ok good...i am not the only one with a smoking problem...i have tried several times and failed...the longest i did it was 2 days......i am so ashamed and I stink. The smell is horrible. I don't want to smoke anymore...but i can't seem to let go. My dad has had a heart attack...stroke...emphysema....and now lung cancer. He has had surgery to remove the cancer last year...not it's back again...He struggles every single second for breath. It's horrible...he coughs day in and day out...is on numerous meds....he's not healthy. He smoked since he was 12....he's 71 now. He will probably die of lung cancer. I need to quit b/c it will happen to me too. I already have trouble breathing sometimes......i hate the way my clothes..hands..hair...mouth smells from cigarettes. I love the feeling of smoking after a meal. I reach for one as soon as I wake up. It's bad and i risk my kids life by smoking in the house for all these years...it's not fair to them. Why can't i just quit this nasty habit. I want to so bad....i have bought the patches.....they still sit in the cabinet unopened. I have zyban pills.....out of date now...none taken. I just couldn't do it...fear of being sick from it. I need help to quit[img]smileys/smilies_06.gif[/img]....but don't know how. If anyone does it successfully.....i applaud you. Good luck to all of you trying to quit. Maybe one day we all can.

[tayda]

I smoked for 3 years before I was able to quit. I smoked a little when I was a teenager, and quit, and then on again off again. However, after I had my son (I know I shouldn't have) I started smoking again, and wasn't able to quit until he was 2.5! I tried so hard and would fail. Sometimes you fail a few times before you succeed. I just kept telling myself of all the things I wanted to experience and didn't want my habbit to prevent me from doing them. (My grandmother died of lung cancer, so that was really scarey) and I didn't want to develope emphasima or cancerl. I want to be around for my son to grow up.


I just had enough one day. Everyone else in my family (one who had smoked for 38 years) all quit smoking. So it stunk during the holidays to go outside and smoke by yourself. I figured if they could do it, I could too. I went for 17 years of my life w/o a cigarrette and it wouldn't kill me not to have one.


I think one day I was just really fed up. Anthony said "Mommy, you smell yuck", and Mike has always despised smoking. So one day I just decided to finish the pack at the end of the night and not go and buy another pack.


It was really hard the first week! I was cranky and had cravings, BUT I could smell better, and taste things better. And I had like $35 extra a week of spending money. (Cigarrettes are really expensive here, they're over $5 now.) In Boston they were almost $8 sometimes.


I quit cold turkey, I think it's really the only way that you can do it. If you "do it slowly" you're just kidding yourself really. I took it one day at a time. It was really hard for the first month not to go into a gas station and buy a pack, but I got over it.


I physically wanted a cigarette for the first 6 months. Or at least I missed them. But over time it deminished.


I couldn't imagine smoking now, I am very sensitive to the smell, and I can smell it if someone in the car in front of me or around me lights one up. I went to Boston Billiards last month (and they allow smoking), and I had to leave b/c I was having trouble breathing.


I can't tell you how happy I am that I quit. And for anyone else who quits, they should be proud of themselves b/c quitting can be as hard to do for a smoker, as it is for an alcoholic to give up alcohol. IT IS NOT EASY, and before you quit, you MUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU REALLY WANT TO QUIT... (and not subconsciously not want to... I think that is why i failed at earlier attempts)


I haven't smoked in 2 years now, and I have no desire to do so anymore.


My senses of smell and taste are far better. I'm not out of breath as quickly. I don't smell funny anymore. And I'm not a slave to the addiction and cravings anymore (work or school... I don't need to go out for a cigarrette anymore), and I've saved a lot of money.


I hope that those of you who are thinking about quitting are able to do so. You will extend you life and the quality of it. It's much better not smoking, but I'm not going to lie and say that it was easy.


I took it one day at a time. If I made it the day, I would spend $5 on something that I would have usually spend on butts. (Make-up, or go to the movies at the end of the week).


I did gain some weight, but lets face it. A little fat is easier to correct than screwed up lungs. And I was a little irritable for the first week. But after that all I had to do was resist the urge.


Millions of people have done it, and you can too....


Best of luck to you all





SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG.... if you read it, I hope it wasn't a waste of you time, and that you found it useful

[ontariogirl]

Thankyou. It is hard. Here in Ontario it costs over 9$ for a pack of smokes. Like you said you can save money, you don't stink, you feel better and your quality of life is better.
Thanks