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Quitting Smoking


woodsman

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Ok, I'll fess up. I quit 5 months ago cold turkey after almost 20 years. Haven't missed it one bit...it's quite liberating.

Bottom line...no one can convince you to quit except yourself. Everyone knows that horror stories. My motivation? Check my avatar [:)]

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I have a neighbour who has on occasion complained of my smoking on my deck, and that she finds it offensive. The last time she commented i told her i would quit smoking {on the deck) when she stopped polluting my atmosphere with her Gas Guzzling SUV. Now seriously do i have a point? or am i making the wrong analogy?

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My hats off to those that have stopped and stayed stopped. I have maintained continious sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous for over 19 years. In AA there is stopping and there is staying stopped. The differance between a heavy drinker and an Alcoholic is a heavy drinker given a good enough reason can stop, stay stopped, and be happy about it. The alcoholic always drinks again because he is restless, irratable, and discontent without alcohol. He can't accept life on lifes terms and it drives him back to that elussive effect of alcohol. Ok, back to smoking. To date, I have never had an honest desire to stay stopped. I have had a desire to not spend money on smoking. I have had a desire to be able to breath again. I was obsessed with smoking from age 10 to age 12. At age 12 I started smoking. In 1976 I was in a motorcycle induced coma for a week. when I came to I was a non cigerette smoker. I kept up the non smoking until 1982. My lungs never really got a break because I was smoking pot every day for those 6 years. During those 6 years I went from 190lbs to 250lbs. I got sick of being fat and went back to 2.5 packs of marlboro red's and the 60 lbs. fell off in 2 months. In 1990 I had the same kind of pneumonia that killed Jim Henson of the Muppets. a very rare type that has a 65% fatility rate. With a 106.7 degree temp I went into a coma. They read me my last rights. After 9 days of being in a freon suit the fever broke and I opened my eyes. It was a miracle. The doctors had never seen anyone survive that high a fever before. When I came to I was a non smoker again. I had quit smoking pot 2 years earlier and I stayed off cigerettes for the next year. The pneumonia really took a toll on me. Took me 5 months to have enough strength to walk to the bathroom. It left me with a damaged valve in my heart from blood backing up from my lungs. Before the pneumonia I was strong as a bull. I could work 18 hours a day every day and never felt tired or weak. They told me that if I got back half my strength I would be lucky. I think working in a toxic chemical plant for 20 years took its toll to. I may have gotten back 1/2 my strength but no more. The first cigerette I smoked I got so light headed I almost feel down. I liked the light headed feeling, It was a one time deal though, After the first cigerette it was right back to 2 packs a day. The last time I quit I did it without being in a coma. It was just after my wife was diagnosed with Hepitus C and advanced cirrois. The good doctors told her that if she quit smoking the interfron treatment would have a better chance at beating back the hep C virus. She decided to try quitting and I decided to quit with her. She used the patch to quit. I knew I would only get addicted to the patch so I quit cold turkey. the interferon treatment was a 48 week ordeal. She responded to the treatment in the beginning but in the 6th week the virus escaped and came raging back. My wife finished the 48 week treatment but couldnt beat the virus. All you can do is knock it back for awile. It comes back 100% of the time. To date there is no cure for Hep C or cirrois. I stayed off cigerettes for 11 months and 26 days. I am not really sure why I went back to cigerettes but I think it was a combination of factors. Deep down I think that it doesnt make a differance whether I smoke or not. With toxic chemical and asbestos exposure my lungs are beyond repair. I am never going to feel good again whether I smoke or not. It is not a matter of lack of will power, I got plenty of that. lack of self esteem may figure into the mix. I was happy with not smoking for the first 3 months. When I found out that my wifes interfron treatment had failed and that her only hope was a liver transplant I was in a very low place. I put a good face on it as to not have her feel any worse than she did already. Up until that time I wasnt fighting cigerettes. Most days I never gave it a thought. With my wifes illness, Lung cancer taking my AA sponsor, then my dad dying. I got very angry at GOD. The mental obsession for cigerettes came back. Every day I was fighting whether to smoke or not to smoke. I thought if I went to more AA meetings and accepted life on lifes terms it would pass but it didn't. I let go of my resentment at GOD and accepted that it was all part of the master plan and nothing happens by mistake.I got down on my knees and asked for forgiveness. the obssession was lifted. The next week went smoothly. My wife and I paid off our mortgage and went out to dinner to celebrate. After dinner I smoked the first cigerette. My only regret is that my wife started smoking again shortly there after. It's a baffling riddle. By the grace of GOD I continue to have a desire not to drink. I look forward to celebrating my 20th year of sobriety. I hope my wife is able to celebrate her 16th year of sobriety. Some of you may think Ive got my excuses lined up to continue smoking. Its not a matter of excuses. I think its that I don't have the required desire. Like I said, my hat is off to all those that have stayed stopped. As for me, maybe tomorrow.

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Guest Anonymous

I smoked two packs a day for 15 years. Quit cold turkey in 89 soon after my daughter was born. My wife said if I was gonna smoke I had to go outside, got real cold in the wintertime,best thing I ever done. I can't stand the smell of smoke now. My dad is 71 and has smoked camel regulars all his life. I remember back in 1971 there was a blizzard and we got snowed in on our farm which was 13 miles from town our closest neighbor was a mile away. Dad finally ran out of smokes so he saddled up the horse and tried to make it to our neighbors they happen to smoke the same brand. The snow in our driveway going up the hill was five foot deep so the horse could not even make it. I remember my brother and sister looking out the window watching him. We were snowed in for a week and I bet my dad was going crazy, locked up with three kids and no smokes.



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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

How is it possible to be an assertive non-smoker in North Carolina?

Travis

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I smoked for about 20 years, quit a little over 2 years ago, haven't had so much as a puff since.

Don't take that first puff, and you will be okay. Take a puff, and chances are you'll be a full time smoker within a month's time. If you get the urge to smoke, just remember, it will pass.

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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

How is it possible to be an assertive non-smoker in North Carolina?

Tobacco road or not.....when you have a good friend who did two tours of duty in Viet Nam and came home without a scratch and was later cut down by a noxious weed called tobacco....its not that hard. Prior to that my father a smoker of 60 years died of lung cancer. He smoked two packs of Chesterfield non filtered cigarettes each day.

If you're worried about quitting....let me share this with you....when the oncologist tells you you have six months to live.....and he was right almost to the day....suddenly cigarettes aren't that important. Remarkably you will not crave nicotine while you're dying those last few months.

Sorry if this is too blunt or personal...but I've seen this.... and for the life of me I do not understand you smokers who are so deep in denial that you will justify your addiction at all cost.

I wish you the best but I don't understand you. Do you think this is a dress rehearsal for a second try next time. How can you put such a value on music and such a low value on your own health.

Chuck

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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

How is it possible to be an assertive non-smoker in North Carolina?

Tobacco road or not.....when you have a good friend who did two tours of duty in Viet Nam and came home without a scratch and was later cut down by a noxious weed called tobacco....its not that hard. Prior to that my father a smoker of 60 years died of lung cancer. He smoked two packs of Chesterfield non filtered cigarettes each day.

If you're worried about quitting....let me share this with you....when the oncologist tells you you have six months to live.....and he was right almost to the day....suddenly cigarettes aren't that important. Remarkably you will not crave nicotine while you're dying those last few months.

Sorry if this is too blunt or personal...but I've seen this.... and for the life of me I do not understand you smokers who are so deep in denial that you will justify your addiction at all cost.

I wish you the best but I don't understand you. Do you think this is a dress rehearsal for a second try next time. How can you put such a value on music and such a low value on your own health.

Chuck

Chuck,

I am sorry about your friend, I sincerely am. I lost a good friend who was only 50 a few years back, and it took right around six months. However, I don't think anyone is kidding themselves about about the health risks of smoking. It is a tough addiction, thus the reason for the post in the first place. I wish it were that easy, to flick a switch in your mind and be done with it, but it is a tough thing to quit. Like any addiction, you can't approach it from you know it is bad for you so you quit because of that. Everyone knows it's bad for you. Everyone's motivaiton is different, the main thing is finding it, and using it to quit. I'm ready to quit so I hope I can find a few other smokers on here to do it and we can all do it together.

Travis

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The last time I saw Phil alive was in the hospital. Two men, friends, in an awkward silence each knowing but not knowing what to say. Finally Phil said "well....I've got cancer". I looked at him and replied "what a relief....I thought you were going to say you have aids". Phil shot back still in good humor " if I could get out of this bed I would kick your ***". Phil was buried one week later.

Yes....I know its hard to quit....but do it anyway.

Chuck

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It is the inherent physiology of our lungs that renders the pathology seen with smoking difficult for many to understand.  Our lungs are a key part of out flight and fight design.  As such they have huge reserves allowing us to get the heck out of Dodge in a heartbeat if need dictates.  The damage done to the lungs by tobacco smoke starts with the very 1st cigarette and insidiously errodes away at this massive reserve.  The 1st cigarette impacts the ciliary escalator in the lungs airways.  It is comprised of little hairs that swish mucous up from the lungs to where it can be eliminated by coughing.  Soon enough this escaltor is damaged bad enough that we see even young smokers with that rise and shine morning hack needed to mechanically clear their lungs from mucous.  That is usually the 1st sign of real lung disease from smoking.  It does take some time for tobacco to errode away enough lung tissue for people recognize any limitation.  People begin to voluntarily limit their physical activites because they get short of breath doing them.  They mistakingly think they're just out of shape.  Then they find themselves needing to exert themselves for some unexpected reason.  They need to change a tire or push start a car.  Then they get exquisitely short of breath, like they just finished wind sprints up bleacher stairs.  They see a doc and learn that they have emphysema.  At this juncture the processes that cause emphysema will not stop even if smoking is stopped...there's too much damage...and it is irriversible.  Eventually emphysema sufferers are desperately short of breath just sitting still.  They don't smile or laugh because that changes their breathing pattern using more energy and sends them into panic fits.  It takes sometime befrore smokers get this sick.  Too many smokers deny they have any problems because they do not feel them...yet.  All the while the tobacco smoke is eating away their lungs.  If a 10 year smoker went and had pulmonary function studies done they would evidence lung disease.  Once emphysema is advanced all the money in the world can't save you.  Johnny Carsen died of emphysema just last year.  There have been new medical interventions that help but none that are life saving.  The one technique that is life saving is to quit smoking before it is too late.  Lungs can recuperate to some degree.  LIke most of the rest of the body they will heal more and faster if you're younger.  Please, please, please understand the need to lose tobacco.  Emphysema is just one way it kills, and none of them are pretty.

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It's simple to quit smoking. I smoked up to two packs a day for 40 years, and quit on Monday,Valentines Day, 2005.

I had a mild "attack" that morning, and my son took me to the doctor that afternoon. They ran a few tests, confirmed a small heart attack, and scheduled me for an angiogram for Thursday. During the angiogram, I had a massive heart attack. They kept me alive until the next morning until they could do triple bypass surgery. Doc said smoking was the main cause.

Scar on my chest, six scars on my leg where they took out the replacement vein, eight wires holding my rib cage together forever, and a week and a half stay in the hospital - $251,449.00

Panty hose (anti-embolism stockings) to keep my leg from swelling, that I now have to wear - $16.00/pr.

Drugs that take alot of fun out of life - $130.00/ month

Seeing the look on my wife and teenage kid's faces as they wheeled me into the operating room.....................PRICELESS

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itldue........    The 8 wires were holding your sternum together at one time but it is healed and once again solid by now.  You still get to keep the wires in place however.  The sternum is cut down the middle (called a median sternotomy) to access the heart and the vessels for coronary bypass graft and other heart surgeries.  They wire it back together post-op and the sternum heals in time.

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