Quitting Smoking

[woodsman]

After reading about a few who plan on quitting and starting a new thread on it. Well I will get one started. I have battled nicotine long enough. I started at around 17 and smoked until I was around 30. Quit for around 10yrs and then a series of events led me back into being a smoker again. In the past 4 yrs I have started and stopped a good dozen times. trying most all the methods out there. Lasted 7 months at one point, then one day just wanted to have a smoke. Well I can only speak for myself, but I am a nicoholic. No different than an alcoholic. One puff and I would start again.

I have been a non smoker now for 4 months and doing well this time. What worked this time was doing the Laser treatment. Folks this was the miracle foe me and my wife. We both did it the same day. No grouchyness or replacing it with food or anything else. Yes there are days that i would like to have a smoke. Not out of stress, just out of habit really. On any given day you can talk yourself into staying quit or going to buy a pack. But this time for whatever reason, it has been easier to talk ourselves into staying quit.

So starting a club sounds like a great idea. We all can support each other into stopping this crutch. I probably will have some bad times myself that I can use some encouragement.

Jeff

[mungkiman]

Best of luck. What's the "laser" treatment?

[tommyboy]

Its tough. I quit for about a year, then started up again about 3 months ago. I've been smoking for about 9 years now. I also started when I was 17. Good luck. Maybe I need to try to quit again!

[stormin]

15 months smoke free after 24 years of smoking. I'm really not sure how folks go back after quitting for so long. The smell of smoke makes me want to puke. I can't be in the same room with it. I guess it affects us all a little differently.

Now wheres my bag of candy and chips[:|]

[oldbuckster]

Started smoking at 12 years old, by age 45 up to 2 packs of Winstons a day, Heart Attack in 1994, quit smoking, Cold Turkey, haven't used tobacco since then...............Will never smoke cigarettes again,.................NEVER........................

[flannj]

Congratulations woodsman. I know several people that have tried the laser treatment and all have been successful with it. Some have had to go back for another round but all have had good results in the end. It is somewhat controversial but the results are there. There is lots of info on the web about it. I have never been a smoker myself but I do understand the difficulty in quitting. I don't mean to preach but to all you smokers out there do yourself and your loved ones a favor and try this method if you haven't found a way to quit. I have just spent the past 4 days visiting my father who is in the hospital battling circulation problems in his legs. He may lose one or possibly both feet. Much, if not all of his problem is due to a lifetime of smoking.

- Jim

[gaspr]

I would like to highly recommend Allen Carr's book titled "The Easy
Way To Quit Smoking". Yeah, I know...another book...but I really
like this guy's approach. Not at all preachy...just a good common
sense way of looking at the addiction, and some really good advice on
how to beat it. And get this, he recommends that you continue to
smoke untill you finish reading the book.

I quit five months ago...feels great. Good luck to all.

Garth

[Tarheel]

As a rather assertive non smoker who has seen the long term consequences of using tobacco I applaud the efforts you are all making. I sincerely wish you luck in your attempts. I could talk for days on this subject but you all have heard it before...so I will just say.....The best time to stop was the day you started...the next best time is today. Best of luck....let me know if I can help.

Chuck

[merkin]

There is a new drug therapy on the market which a lot of people have had luck with. It's called Chantix. I don't remember who makes it. It is by prescription only. (I'm a pharmacist) I have seen several long time smokers have luck using it to stop. It is a 12 week therapy, it by no means has worked for everyone but I have seen some long time smokers that have used it and quit. How long will they stay off, who knows, its only been out for about a year. Ask your Doc. Most are happy to write or call in a RX for it. The only side effect that I've heard from patients is nausea. I've also heard of people not finishing the therapy since it was working and they didn't want to quit.

I have a little incentive to help since my brother-in-law,a pack a day smoker for the last 40 years, was just diagnosed with lung CA. I'll be taking him to his second course of chemo next week. If radiation and chemo do their stuff he may have 6 to 12 months 3 to 4 with any quality of life.

[jheis]

I know everyone is different, but for me it came down to REALLY deciding that I just was NOT going to do it anymore.

Once you make that decision it's over. Had my last cigarette in 1972.

James

[stormin]

I know everyone is different, but for me it came down to REALLY deciding that I just was NOT going to do it anymore.

Once you make that decision it's over. Had my last cigarette in 1972.

James

Exactly. Did the same approach and had my last cigarette 1 year 3 months ago.

Good luck all.

But Jheis, you must not of smoked very long? What did you do stop smokin at age 15? I actually smoked 2 packs a day for 24 years. But glad you were able to put it behind ya.

[just_like_dtel]

Alrite, this audio(Klipsch) "club" convinced dad to buy speakers...perhaps this NO SMOKING CLUB will get him to not smoke. He's been smoking since before I was born so I sure hope something makes him quit!

[tommyboy]

Alright DTEL, what's going on here? We have you, your wife, and now you children are on here. Talk about a Klipsch family!

[Champagne taste beer budget]

On Monday, August 8th, 2005, the State of Minnesota inacted a "user fee" on cigarettes of something like 60 cents a pack. (The governor had promised no new taxes to get elected, so instead of a cigarette tax, it was a user fee.) I'd just bought a carton on Sunday and usually smoked 2 packs of Camel Light Wides a day or more. I'd been smoking since 1976. My daughter had been getting older, (7 now) and commented on occasion that she didn't want me to get "smoke sick". My wife had quit when she got pregnant, though she only smoked a pack every two weeks when she did smoke. On Thursday morning, driving to work, at 7:40 AM, while driving over the bridge of the Pine River, I took my last puff of my last smoke and threw the butt out the window into the river, hoping to send my addiction with it on into the Mississippi and down to the Gulf Of Mexico, never to be seen again. I was damned if I was going to pay the extra 60 cents per pack, besides, my wife said if I quit I could buy a new boat with the savings.

Today, I haven't had a smoke since, have no cravings for one, don't see how people could go back to it after quitting, and still don't have a new boat. She neglected to tell me that the money I wasn't spending on smokes I was supposed to be putting into a savings account till I had a decent down payment for a new boat. I did handle cigs now and then if I were out having a beer with the boys or something, but never lit one. That's passed too now.

I wish all of you the best in whatever means you use to quit. Cold Turkey was best for me. I think what made mine easier was that I took the mindset that I wasn't going to buy cigarettes. Once you buy em, you'll smoke em. If you can get past the habit of buying em whenever you're getting gas, if you don't have em, it's a lot easier to not smoke em. Good Luck.

[dtel]

Alright DTEL, what's going on here? We have you, your wife, and now you children are on here. Talk about a Klipsch family!

Yes, it started with my wife posting a couple of times under my name, then she got her own name, (her choice on the name ).

People always ask so, Dtel=" Down To Earth Landscapes" , for 13 or 14 years what we do to for work.

I never encouraged any of the kids, or even said anything to them about it, I was a little nervous about them doing it actually.

It kind of started when we were in Hope last year at the pilgrimage, I was very surprised they did it, 2 of the 3 don't live with us. I have no idea why they did it ? Maby because I don't talk or even answer the phone ? Not my department, there not calling for me anyway ?

It's strange that the signed up, they probably wouldn't let there husbands buy speakers anyway ! Maby they are just waiting for me to die, to save the money, cheap suckers ! [O] They all think there mother and I are nuts anyway, with all this speaker stuff !

Almost forgot I do smoke, and I know I need to quit. []

[jheis]

I know everyone is different, but for me it came down to REALLY deciding that I just was NOT going to do it anymore.

Once you make that decision it's over. Had my last cigarette in 1972.

James

Exactly. Did the same approach and had my last cigarette 1 year 3 months ago.

Good luck all.

But Jheis, you must not of smoked very long? What did you do stop smokin at age 15? I actually smoked 2 packs a day for 24 years. But glad you were able to put it behind ya.

Stornim:

I congratulate you for being able to quit after 24 years. No, I wasn't hooked for that long.

In college I was smoking 2 packs of Lucky Strike regulars a day. I'd quit, but when I was in Air Force boot camp, the only privilege we were allowed was smoking - "smoke-em if you've got-em." If you didn't smoke, you had to stand in formation (in February) while the others finished their cigarettes - so I started again. Cig's were 25 cents a pack for the GI's. Another reason to resent the military industrial complex. I got out in '72 and DECIDED I was not going to smoke any more.

Again, not to minimize anyone else's struggle - the decision was what worked for me. You've got to DECIDE that you are not going to smoke any more. Unless you make the commitment to yourself - you're just spinning your wheels.

James

[stormin]

You've got to DECIDE that you are not going to smoke any more. Unless you make the commitment to yourself - you're just spinning your wheels.

I couldn't agree more.

[just_like_dtel]

I joined while mom and dad were still in Hope last year after hearing about dad winning the CIIIs. At first just to congratulate him. Then it became my method of making sure he was still alive since, as he said, he is ALLERGIC TO THE TELEPHONE...I know if he's posting, he's still kicking! LOL[8-)]

No dad, we don't think you are crazy...WE USED TO, but we gave up about 15 years ago when we finally realized ITS GENETIC!!!!

I promise to be on my best behavior each time I decide to post. So far, it's worked! And as far as "letting my husband buy speakers", well, I wouldn't mind but at this point, the BUDGET doesn't allow him to buy speakers. (I love him dearly BUT He's not the most intelligent in the world when it comes to equipment...he couldn't even figure out what kind of cable we needed to hook the dvd/vcr combo to the television!) Speakers may have to come a little later on in life!

[oscarsear]

Laser treatment purportedly uses low energy lasers to stimulate the same endorphins released by the nicotine in tobacco.  As such it is a non-nicotine method to replace the nicotine cravings that happen when people quit tobacco.  The treatment is similar to accupuncture only with laser light.  It is non-invasive and is supposed to be pain free.  The lasers are applied to key points around the head, hands, etc...  It is also not a medical procedure so it does not require a medical setting to provide the service.  Whatever works.

I won't get too deep into my tobacco experiences.  I've never smoked but treated those who did.  Tobacco is mankinds modern plague and really should be eliminated ASAP.

[Coytee]

On smoking, I probably don't have much 'right' to post here since I've only taken a smoke once in my life and I was probably 12 years old...decided I didn't like it and never tried it again (of any kind....legal or illegal)

My wife on the other hand, had smoked for years & years having started as a teenager. She had a chest pain one night while in bed and it spooked the dickens out of her. Might be relevant to say that her mother died a torterous episode with cancer that started in her lungs and her aunt died with advanced emphazima.

She (wife) had the pain it spooked her and she stopped COLD turkey however, she did use the gum as a crutch. She chewed the nicotine gum for maybe a year and then weened herself off of it.

Today, as many reformed smokers, she's pretty grossed out by being anywhere NEAR a smoker or their clothes or anything like that. Funny how that works because back when she smoked and her closet, coat, her HAIR smelled of smoke...she always thought I was BS'ing her. Now she gets it. We go to a restauraunt and I'm always willing to sit in smoking section... she will now wait until we can get non smoking!! I'm FAR more tolerant than she is.

A side comment, I recently heard on NPR if memory serves me... they have found that there is a class of stroke survivors who upon waking up from their stroke event, woke up "non smokers". They ended up doing some research and found that this specific group of people had a stroke in the same area of the brain and now they think this area might be the control area for smoking (or perhaps 'addictions' in general??) As I recall the commentary, these people woke up and had either NO memory of being a smoker and NO desire for a smoke, or they might have had the memory, but no more cravings. I don't recall the specific details.

They went on to say that now there is research into this specific part of the brain to see if they can somehow take what they've learned by these stroke survivors and apply that to an every day smoker to help kick the habit.

Was a very interesting report.

For anyone who's trying to quit that horrific habit (horrific as in terribly hard to break), my hat's off to you and wish you the best of luck. I know it's tough to break. My mother has finally quit trying to quit. She's 75 and to put it bluntly, I think she feels a cigarette has been her best friend her whole life. Saddens me but with one double femeral bypass surgery (replaced the artery from heart to legs at the "Y" where it bifurcates (splits) into each leg) they ALSO found a thorasic (sp?) annyurism and fixed it too. I don't recall the details but if you have the artery blow on ONE side of the chest, you have a "chance" of survival if they can get you to surgery quickly enough. If you have the artery blow on the OTHER side of the chest, it's lights out and nothing is going to save you.

Today, they have found another (small) anyurism on the 'bad' side of her chest, so if IT blows, she's gone.

Though they're watching it and I want her to be around & healthy for a LONG time, I'd rather her blow her artery and go quickly than what I saw happen to my wifes mother and aunt.

Point being... with the issues she's had, that is probably what will happen and if so, then who am I to bit** at her for her one vice? so I sadly accept her smoking

yeesh.... what a downer story.

Sorry