Quitting Smoking

[MRD]

Dragonlady, I am so sorry you were so sick. But you don't know how refreshing it is to have someone admit what you did about smoking. I am so tired of this conversation being brought up and I'm made to feel like the devil incarnate because I smoke. As if I'm defective and have no self control. "It's all a matter of mind over matter." No, it's NOT. I'm like you, I love smoking. I like having a smoke break. But if we admit all that, then the non-smoking "Police" have to jump in and tell us how bad it is (like we don't already know), how bad it smells, we're walking ashtrays, blah, blah blah. Well, it's an addiction for me and one I have tried and tried to quit over and over. I want to quit, but I have horrible withdrawal problems, even using the patch, gum, etc. I am thinking of going to the electronic cigarette as several people I know have them and some have quit smoking using them. Can you PM me with the info of where online you get them?

[Lil Bit]

Dragonlady I'm so sorry you and your family had to go through that. I watched my mother die from lung cancer. She was a long time smoker. I smoked for 20 years when I quit and the main reason I quit is that I didn't want my kids to watch me go through what I had just watched happen to my mother. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Like you, I really enjoyed smoking. I didn't have too many bad effects from it. Not like some people who cough and cough in the mornings. (my son ) I got those symptoms after I quit. I would almost literally cough up a lung in the mornings and I felt horrible! I kept saying, "I thought you were supposed to feel better when you quit smoking." I did feel better though, once I got past a certain stage.

I'd like the info on where to get the e-cigarette online too if you wouldn't mind sending me a PM also. My husband already has lung issues because of a pulmonary embolism he had many years ago, and I worry about what will happen to him if he doesn't manage to quit smoking. That sounds like something he would like.

I hope your health improves Dragonlady. Hang in there... the cravings get better with time, but you're right. You will probably always want to smoke. It's been 12 years for me and I still occasionally want one, even though just the smell makes me a little sick now. Go figure!

[PWS]

Crossing my fingers for you, Dragonlady, for your continued improvement, and for all the FORT members trying to quit. We don't want to lose any of you!
On the preventing teens from starting approach (apparently most "hooked" smokers started as teens, those who start later find it easier to quit), I saw on CNN today some of the pictures they are going to attach to the new and enlarged warnings on cigarette packages. One saying, smoking is addictive, has smoke coming out a hole in the smoker's throat, another is a hideous dental shot (reinforcing what ButterflyFaery just said), another is a series of shots of lungs moving from pink to charred, etc. I would think they might give some teens pause.... but who knows.

[Lil Bit]

I read a comment on the CNN story about the new graphic pictures and the person said her 13 year old son thought the pictures were "cool" and wants to collect them.

[ButterflyFaery]

Crossing my fingers for you, Dragonlady, for your continued improvement, and for all the FORT members trying to quit. We don't want to lose any of you!
On the preventing teens from starting approach (apparently most "hooked" smokers started as teens, those who start later find it easier to quit), I saw on CNN today some of the pictures they are going to attach to the new and enlarged warnings on cigarette packages. One saying, smoking is addictive, has smoke coming out a hole in the smoker's throat, another is a hideous dental shot (reinforcing what ButterflyFaery just said), another is a series of shots of lungs moving from pink to charred, etc. I would think they might give some teens pause.... but who knows.

well I am happy to report I am completly on the e cigarette..and now to my influence and my shame I have lead all 3 of my children to this awful habit...my 15 yr old sneaks around and I have been realing telling her how bad it is and get her to give it up now while she has time and is not really hooked problem is..its seems to be the big cool thinkg in middle school and high school even in this day and age where they have heard all the evidence to the contrary..we didn't have that info when I started but it came out a couple of years after I did

[Dragonlady]

Thanks for all the good wishes. I'm determined to beat this and get to 100% again. But I'd still like to have a smoke!
That desire is still strong but it does pass and in the meantime, I take a couple puffs on the E-cig. I've found that it's best to take at least 3 puffs at one time if the desire is strong.
I think it's amazing how the public has been encouraged to vilify the smoker where once is was a very common practice. I often felt like I was worse than a child molester by being a smoker and the horrible rude remarks people felt entitled to say to me. I do not and until I see better proof, believe that second hand smoke is the horrible thing it is claimed to be. There is no way to calculate accurately how it affects others. Also I think my generation would have died off already given how much we were all exposed to it as children. Everyone smoked and they smoked everywhere.
I once had a man approach me outside while I was having a smoke and tell me what awful things I was doing to my body by smoking. All the time, he's carrying a paper bag from McDonald's, and the grease stains are gradually spreading while he talks to me. Is that ironic or what?? It won't be long before strangers approach over weight people to tell them that they're fat! What happened to freedom of choice? politeness?
I could go on and on but there's no point in it.
I shall send each of you that requested it the link to my E-cig. I like it best but I encourage you to check out others because everyone is different and has different needs. I just like not having to change cartridges and re-charge them. 500 puffs go a long way.
If anyone else wants the link, just let me know.

[Rattus]

I do not and until I see better proof, believe that second hand smoke is the horrible thing it is claimed to be. There is no way to calculate accurately how it affects others. Also I think my generation would have died off already given how much we were all exposed to it as children. Everyone smoked and they smoked everywhere.

Secondhand Smoke

There is no doubt whatsoever that secondhand smoke causes cancer. That is the sole reason I quit. Not for my benefit, but for the benefit of those I love, human and animal. And no, secondhand smoke wouldn't have killed off a generation, any more than firsthand smoke kills off everyone who indulges. There are plenty of smokers who live to a ripe old age, but that doesn't mean that smoking is benign.

[PWS]

Was just listening to a right wing radio show (there was a ballgame on my regular news channel ) and the commentator... I think Rush, but I could be wrong...said that there is nothing physically damaging about smoking because it doesn't kill everyone who smokes. And if it was really as unhealthy as people say it would be banned. And if it isn't banned and really is bad for you it is only because the lefties want to keep collecting the tobacco taxes AND because they have a deep psychological need to tell people how to run their lives. This was in response to the new pictures on the cartons. Yikes. The lack of logical connection.
There really is very good evidence that 2nd hand smoke is bad for you...that is, it increases the rate of varous kinds of disease in those exposed...which of course doesn't mean everyone exposed will get sick...after all, some smokers live to be 100+. Just not often.
But that said I don't believe there's a soul in this country over 30 who doesn't know smoking is bad for you. I admit I've been tempted at times to snatch the cigs from the mouths of my college students, but over 30 you know what risk is, whether it's from fast driving, risky sex, or smoking, and in most cases I'd guess that no matter the pleasure you'd rather not be smoking given those risks. If it weren't pleasurable and addicting adults wouldn't do it, just as if food didn't taste good and set off all those brain pleasure centers fat people wouldn't eat fattening food. Nobody needs to be telling adults that either cigarettes or sugared and salted grease is not good for them---they already know. My heart goes out to all of us dealing with addictions, whether legal or illegal.

[Ellen]

Re: secondhand smoke and smoke residue:
I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for me. Secondhand smoke (actual smoke) and smoke residue (the stuff remaining on skin, hair, clothes, etc.) triggers BAD asthma reactions in me. Not dramatic choking and gasping for breath, but pretty severe pain in the lung area, and, if I don't use my rescue inhaler (which I hate because of the horrid side effects) in a timely manner, I pass out. Fact. It's happened more than once.
So, at least in my world, and in that of others I know, secondhand smoke/smoke residue isn't "nothing" -- it's a big, risky "something."
THANK YOU to everyone who has quit, and to those at least trying to quit. It IS a big deal, and I appreciate your efforts. I hate that I react so strongly to smoke and its byproducts (as well as fur-bearing animal dander), but such is life. I appreciate those of you who've quit or are trying to quit for not only your benefit, but for mine and those like me.

[MRD]

Thanks for all the good wishes. I'm determined to beat this and get to 100% again. But I'd still like to have a smoke!
That desire is still strong but it does pass and in the meantime, I take a couple puffs on the E-cig. I've found that it's best to take at least 3 puffs at one time if the desire is strong.
I think it's amazing how the public has been encouraged to vilify the smoker where once is was a very common practice. I often felt like I was worse than a child molester by being a smoker and the horrible rude remarks people felt entitled to say to me. I do not and until I see better proof, believe that second hand smoke is the horrible thing it is claimed to be. There is no way to calculate accurately how it affects others. Also I think my generation would have died off already given how much we were all exposed to it as children. Everyone smoked and they smoked everywhere.
I once had a man approach me outside while I was having a smoke and tell me what awful things I was doing to my body by smoking. All the time, he's carrying a paper bag from McDonald's, and the grease stains are gradually spreading while he talks to me. Is that ironic or what?? It won't be long before strangers approach over weight people to tell them that they're fat! What happened to freedom of choice? politeness?
I could go on and on but there's no point in it.
I shall send each of you that requested it the link to my E-cig. I like it best but I encourage you to check out others because everyone is different and has different needs. I just like not having to change cartridges and re-charge them. 500 puffs go a long way.
If anyone else wants the link, just let me know.

Hear! Hear!!!! It's MY choice. I go outside, I go away from doorways and other people and I don't butt on the ground. But strangers feel the need to get in MY business. I flat out will say now: "And this is your business how?" I really want to say: "Oh THANK YOU, I did not know it was awful for me. You have saved my life, how can I ever repay your kindness for being smart enough to tell poor dumb me that this is so harmful." Geez. Yeah, I probably know better than others how bad it is. But I am not going to say anything. It's bad enough I have to hear people's private phone conversations because of cell phones, I don't want to hear their comments directed at me about my smoking. It is NONE OF THEIR business. And you know what? I enjoy it. I enjoy the heck out of it. I like everything about it. I am going to miss it when I quit.