Any EX Smokers here?

[just1paul]

I am 47, I started smoking when I was 21, smoked between 1-2 packs per day over that course of time. (Mostly a pack per day) In 1998 I stopped for about 9 months, cold turkey, gained about 40 pounds because I was eating more only to give myself something to do. Started smoking again. Last September (2004) I stopped again cold turkey, haven't gained any added weight, have maybe one cigarette every other month (yes ONE lone cigarette). Maybe I'll make it all the way this time. Of course it does not help that my sinuses really act up sometimes and smoking nor drinking beer which I do not do often does not help. I really dislike sitting up in a chair at night sleeping. So thats my story. I always say if you quit and go back, try again, but whatever a person does, DO NOT beat yourself up about smoking or any other "bad" habits you may have. Life is too short.

[JamiLee]

Jami, I haven't quit yet (but this is the year; I promised myself I'd quit when I was 30 and/or pregnant, and I'm not pregnant, but I AM 29) but I chew Nicorette when I'm with my mother (because I'm an adult, but still won't smoke in front of/anywhere near her). I think when I quit, that's what I'll use -- it addresses the oral fixation, AND provides some nicotine. On vacation last year I chewed Nicorette for 12 days, no cigs, and I found I even craved the nicotine less by the end. (sadly, I still craved the cigarettes themselves. That's the hard part of smoking to me: I LIKE it). But anyway, you might try Nicorette.

Well Lucy, you're on the right track!! I hope you can do it . I tried the gum and it didn't work. I wrote about gum but, meant regular gum. The patch is what I'm using and used before and it helped immensely.

Take care and good luck!

Jami

[JamiLee]

I am 47, I started smoking when I was 21, smoked between 1-2 packs per day over that course of time. (Mostly a pack per day) In 1998 I stopped for about 9 months, cold turkey, gained about 40 pounds because I was eating more only to give myself something to do. Started smoking again. Last September (2004) I stopped again cold turkey, haven't gained any added weight, have maybe one cigarette every other month (yes ONE lone cigarette). Maybe I'll make it all the way this time. Of course it does not help that my sinuses really act up sometimes and smoking nor drinking beer which I do not do often does not help. I really dislike sitting up in a chair at night sleeping. So thats my story. I always say if you quit and go back, try again, but whatever a person does, DO NOT beat yourself up about smoking or any other "bad" habits you may have. Life is too short.

Gabriel, thanks. I hope you can do it. No good beating ourselves up! I think (I pray) I'm done. My poor lungs will be cooked after this night. The ppl I'm going out with like to party all night. eeks. I'm not even looking forward to going out at this point (it's almost 10:30 and I gotta get up an long day)
stoooopid!

Good luck to you though . And thanks.

[Lotuslander]

I tried everything including, nicorette, the patch, acupucture and hypnosis, but it was Zyban that worked for me. The drug did somehow kill my cravings for nicotine, but made me temporarily insane and also increased my sex drive tenfold. Works if you don't mind being a manic slut for a few months. It's been 5 years now.

[JamiLee]

I tried everything including, nicorette, the patch, acupucture and hypnosis, but it was Zyban that worked for me. The drug did somehow kill my cravings for nicotine, but made me temporarily insane and also increased my sex drive tenfold. Works if you don't mind being a manic slut for a few months. It's been 5 years now.

Lotuslander I got a man up in my bed and he is worn out I tell ya! So, this is just the start? Gawd help the men around me
aw I'm kidding.

That really had me laughing though. I took the pill thing before and it didn't do anything to help me. Thanks for the advice though (still laughing at the manic slut comment) LOL

Anyway, i went out last night and sure enough smoked my brains out. Spent more time outside than in and decided not to sleep. You know when your sitting and maybe you gently have your fingers above your lip? Well, I think I mauled myself already and I've been smoke free for a whopping 2 hours.
No coffee isn't helping (or maybe it is but, I'm not drinking it) WOW
I'm gonna be crazy (more crazy) for a little bit. I have this STOOOPID cigarette in front of me with a lighter to test my strength. I was saving it to smoke alone and talk to myself about all the bad crap cigs do to me and thought, no! It'll be the symbolic cigarette I never smoked. Then I went on to write this really amazing poem about the stoopid thing. I thought it was so good I'd send it to my daughter.........went to find it and I erased it by accident. Thought, Oh yeah that will be the day and the next so many weeks. Just gonna lose it over every stupid thing, Then I thought
SMOKE THE STOOPID SYMBOLIC yummy cig......
Well, it's still sitting here. My dumb patch is here. my gum and my ammuniton.
My boss actually asked me to put off quitting until next month (he's afraid of me not smoking) LOL
(my hours go in half for this summer)
<--OH of course! I pick that smilie out of a ton right?

Okay .

I think I'll keep a journal so I can look back on how wacked out I am.

Anyway, I read through the posts and wanted to say thanks to so many people writing about their experiences and wishing me and other people good luck. It's really nice.

I sure want to smoke though.

Day one is the worst. Stupid freaking things. I wish I never started.

[ADKLove]

JamieLee - good luck on your quest. You'll find tons of support right here on FORT - I know I did

In the words of a former boss - quitting smoking is easy - you just have to quit ONE cigarette - the first one of the day. :rolleyes

Seriously - I've tried and tried and finally did it - in additional to all the great ideas above ('cept SmokeAway - that didn't work for me, oh and the pregnancy thing - that worked for me the first time, but a little more than I wanted to deal with this time ) I chewed on coffee stirrers til my teeth ached, and literally sat on my hands. If I wanted a cigarette, I got up and walked around - outside if I could, until the feeling passed (it DOES pass - after a few minutes) Don't have smokes around - if you think "just one won't hurt" you're WRONG - because then that will become 2 then another and so on. Cold turkey is the only way, I'm convinced. Save your money in a glass jar, so you can see it add up, but don't be afraid to spend it on a little treat for yourself (in my case it was Dunkin Donuts iced coffees - cuz it comes with a straw to chew on ) at the end of the week, so you get a nice little "reward" early on.
Change your routine a bit: you know what your "favorite" smokes are - mine was the first one, with coffee, in the morning - so I switched to orange juice. Stay away from your triggers (I stopped drinking when I quit, because I loved to smoke when I drank - haven't started back up drinking for that matter, either) I mentally banned smoking in my car, my office, etc so I wouldn't be tempted. The smoke I would have after dinner, on the porch, was replaced with a popsicle, and so forth.
Keep repeating to yourself "I am a non-smoker". SO SO SO much of quitting is mental. You need to keep positive about it.
And keep posting about it - I find if you need to be accountable to people (even here on the FORT) it helps.



You can PM me if you need a little encouragement or if you're having a nicotine fit - maybe I can walk you through it. At least if you're typing you can't be smoking

[pinkieparrot]

Good luck to everyone who is quitting. And congrats to those who have already accomplished that.

I don't smoke and don't plan to, but my older brother, who turns 21 in November, has been smoking cigars for a year or so. Smoking affects everyone, not just you. I was completely devastated the first time my brother came home and he smelled terrible. I thought my brother was smarter than that. I thought he respected his body. I thought he cared about his future. I've told him multiple times that it hurts me when he comes home all smelly because I know it's hurting his body, but he just brushes me off. It tears me apart because I want to think "It's his life, his body. He can do whatever he wants with it," but then if he died of lung cancer or something, I would be devastated because I should have helped him quit.

[roseskid]

ADK! Congratulations! Woo Hoo! When I saw you had stopped counting the days on your av, I was afraid you had been drawn back to the dark side. I'm so happy to hear you've done so well, and I'm sure Em must be so proud of her mommy.

I chewed on coffee stirrers til my teeth ached, and literally sat on my hands. Save your money in a glass jar, so you can see it add up, but don't be afraid to spend it on a little treat for yourself (in my case it was Dunkin Donuts iced coffees - cuz it comes with a straw to chew on ) at the end of the week, so you get a nice little "reward" early on.

These worked very well for me too.

Change your routine a bit: you know what your "favorite" smokes are - mine was the first one, with coffee, in the morning - so I switched to orange juice. Stay away from your triggers (I stopped drinking when I quit, because I loved to smoke when I drank - haven't started back up drinking for that matter, either)

These are good ideas, too. I quit drinking, also, because that went hand and hand with smoking for me. This sounds so cliche, but it did help me to just concentrate on one day at a time. "I will not smoke today," was much easier for me to handle than, "I will never smoke again."

Pinkie, unfortunately there's not much you can do to make your brother stop smoking cigars, so don't think for a minute that it's your responsibility, okay?

[JamiLee]

JamieLee - good luck on your quest. You'll find tons of support right here on FORT - I know I did

In the words of a former boss - quitting smoking is easy - you just have to quit ONE cigarette - the first one of the day. :rolleyes

Seriously - I've tried and tried and finally did it - in additional to all the great ideas above ('cept SmokeAway - that didn't work for me, oh and the pregnancy thing - that worked for me the first time, but a little more than I wanted to deal with this time ) I chewed on coffee stirrers til my teeth ached, and literally sat on my hands. If I wanted a cigarette, I got up and walked around - outside if I could, until the feeling passed (it DOES pass - after a few minutes) Don't have smokes around - if you think "just one won't hurt" you're WRONG - because then that will become 2 then another and so on. Cold turkey is the only way, I'm convinced. Save your money in a glass jar, so you can see it add up, but don't be afraid to spend it on a little treat for yourself (in my case it was Dunkin Donuts iced coffees - cuz it comes with a straw to chew on ) at the end of the week, so you get a nice little "reward" early on.
Change your routine a bit: you know what your "favorite" smokes are - mine was the first one, with coffee, in the morning - so I switched to orange juice. Stay away from your triggers (I stopped drinking when I quit, because I loved to smoke when I drank - haven't started back up drinking for that matter, either) I mentally banned smoking in my car, my office, etc so I wouldn't be tempted. The smoke I would have after dinner, on the porch, was replaced with a popsicle, and so forth.
Keep repeating to yourself "I am a non-smoker". SO SO SO much of quitting is mental. You need to keep positive about it.
And keep posting about it - I find if you need to be accountable to people (even here on the FORT) it helps.



You can PM me if you need a little encouragement or if you're having a nicotine fit - maybe I can walk you through it. At least if you're typing you can't be smoking

Hi ADKlove,
Wow! This was awesome to read. Thank-you so much! I can look at this and it makes me not want to smoke (I'm really serious) I have been a non-smoker a few times and my mentality changed a lot and I see that in your post. I think after quitting (very beginning so, so difficult for me anyway) then something happens and it's like being really proud of yourself and you change. I miss that feeling and I see it in your post. I hope that makes sense. I love the dunky idea! (I only drink hot coffee but, I could try a switch) I haven't smoked in 2 day! (heheh) it is a big deal for me. Yesterday was a long, trying awful difficult day. It was a long one too. I didn't get home from work until after 1 and drove 2 hours home. The car is the place I like to smoke the most because I don't have to answer to anyone. It's my car and there is no guilt. After work today I'm going to clean it.
Someone gave me an address on the internet for a support site but, I don't feel comfortable anywhere on-line chat stuff except here. Thanks for the pm offer, I'll take you up on that. I already changed my morning routine. Instead of getting some coffee and lighting up immediately, I got breakfast with coffee and I also actually prayed.
I also was stressing bad about the weekend because I always go out either Friday or Saturday and drink and smoke. I'm going to have to make new plans. My cousin invited me up to her pool (it's gorgeous with an outdoor bar and all this whatever) I told her I quit and she was saying oh not me I need to smoke - especially with a beer. I thought right away how good that sounded. It's Wednesday and I'm stressing and the most important thing (one of them) is to stay in the day! Thanks for the reminder! (I loved your bosses quote there and got a laugh out of the eye-roll
Well, I won't go on and on. (too late I already did) Just wanted to say thanks! And for anyone else with well wishes thanks! I'm going to finish reading this thread quick- just realized I've gotta get out of here!!
Jami

[Texicana]

OtvS, I'm just like you when it comes to cigarettes. Used to be a light smoker in my late teens, stopped at 22, and now only smoke under stress, or bum a few off friends at the bar. I could go years without one.