How did you kick the habit?

Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:32 am

im not a smoker but i love the smell of pipe smoke. there was a guy who used to smoke some really good stuff in a complex i lived in years ago. i could tell when he had been down the hallway recently and i always took a bit longer to get to the elevator.

i dont know if its technically something that would make you kick the habit but it kept me from ever trying a cigarette to begin with. my grandfather was diagnosed with emphazime after decades of chainsmoking.....literally one right after another.

the only reason he didnt get it till his mid 60s was probably because of our family genes which make us resilient to everything. the doctors didnt give him more than a few years but he made it to 84. the downside was watching him slowly basically suffocate to death. it got to the point of not being able to get out of a chair without having to take a breath and he started losing his marble because lack of oxygen.

i would suggest visiting a nursing home and talking to the people with the oxygen tanks..........its not a guarantee that they were ex-smokers but its a pretty good bet. learn from other peoples mistakes.......thats what i do.
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Red Sauce
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:48 am

I'm noticing like. 3% of the posts are from people who've actually smoked lol.

All the non-smoker idea's seem to revolve around me quitting based on how I see other people. If that would help me quit, I'd never of taken up smoking to begin with lol.
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CHANONE
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:56 pm

I'm noticing like. 3% of the posts are from people who've actually smoked lol.

All the non-smoker idea's seem to revolve around me quitting based on how I see other people. If that would help me quit, I'd never of taken up smoking to begin with lol.



not to make your day worse but frankly i can count the number of smokers i know that successfully quit on one hand. the odds are just against you. :(

i know a couple of people that are using the e-cigarettes and so far they say they are working. your still paying alot of money like with cigarettes but you not getting all the other crap with them.
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neen
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:53 am

So. I'v been smoking the majority of my teenage//young advlt life. I'm going on about 10 years now, and I'v always been good at job dropping the habit. Sometimes i'd date a girl who didn't like me smoking, so without any issue i'd drop it. When the relationship ended, not out of stress or sadness, i'd go back to smoking because. Well I enjoy smoking, plain and simple. However, lately with loads, and loads and LOADS of stressful stuff piling up, i'v been smoking more and more, and I can now feel i'v come dependant on it. I start feeling slightly sick and get anxiety when I go without a smoke for to long, and this is new to me. I'v been smoking over 9 years, and i'v never been addicted to it, it's always been something I could drop and pick up whenever I wanted, but now Im having troubles ditching the habit, knowing i'm now at the point of addiction.

You always was addicted to smoking.
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Charity Hughes
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:20 am

not to make your day worse but frankly i can count the number of smokers i know that successfully quit on one hand. the odds are just against you. :(

i know a couple of people that are using the e-cigarettes and so far they say they are working. your still paying alot of money like with cigarettes but you not getting all the other crap with them.


I'v got a really nonaddictive personality. So I'm willing to bet this won't be as hard as people say. Granted, i'm sure its hard but. I can pick stuff up and drop it just as easy. I'm just wondering what people did to quit.... which no one actually has it seems. lol.
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Solène We
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:34 pm

Just thought I'd share my similiar experience, though I've only smoked one cigarette in my life (wasn't a fan).

Obviously - fans just blow the smoke away.
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naana
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:14 pm

I never picked up smoking. But I'm hooked on snus. Right now I don't really try to get out of it though. :shrug:
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patricia kris
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:57 pm

I quit smoking by not thinking about smoking. I chewed gum for the first few weeks but then dropped that because it made me want to smoke. Going on 3 months and I still dream about it and have cravings.

You just need to realize that everyone who quit smoking enjoyed smoking - that excuse for continuing to smoke just aggravates me. I'm not going to try to convince you to quit, because when you are willing and able, you will.

Edit: Or you won't, and you'll probably get lung cancer and suffocate in a hospital bed. :)
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KIng James
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:44 am

Obviously - fans just blow the smoke away.

Hahaha.
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oliver klosoff
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:34 pm

You started smoking when you were 12?? Jeez.

I've never actually been addicted to smoking. It just never stuck with me, the stuff's pretty disgusting. My brother smokes almost non-stop though, and I hate it because I know it's going to kill him. He starts drinking the second he wakes up, and he smokes a hell of a lot. I always get the feeling I'm going to watch him die, and it both scares the [censored] out of me and upsets me to no end. He's tried quitting, maybe twice, and it never lasted more than a week. He smokes almost constantly when he's in the car with me, he's one of those smokers that has no consideration for people who hate it. If I'm taking him into town, in my car, we have to have my music down, and he can smoke all he wants. It's infuriating.
My dad managed to quit cold turkey. For the second time, this time it's actually lasted. And he quit in the most stressful times of his life.
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Tarka
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:44 pm

Well I'm a smoker, and haven't quit yet, so take my advice with a pinch of salt :) I find that for me, it's about keeping my hands busy - if I'm not smoking, I'm picking my nails, or fiddling with my sleeves, that sort of thing. When I want to cut down I get little toys I can play around with. Rubix cubes, wooden puzzle boxes, stressballs, a Gameboy or DS or any game on your mobile phone, that sort of thing (although I find the things that you can just fiddle about with without paying too much attention to it work best with me - it's purely just the action of keeping my hands busy). As I only do it to cut down, not quit, I can't offer any advice for those cigs that you really crave sometimes, but this technique works well for me if I'm just smoking out of boredom or just for something to do. Something like a puzzle might be good for you, as it could take your mind off of whatever was stressing you out in the first place and give you a bit of a distraction from it.
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noa zarfati
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:35 pm

You started smoking when you were 12?? Jeez.

Most people I know who smoke started that young.
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David John Hunter
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:44 pm

You always was addicted to smoking.

I'm going to have to agree with this. Even if it was mostly psychological vs. nicotine, it's still an addiction. But now you've finally been smoking long enough/enough per day to notice actual nicotine withdrawal.
You just need to realize that everyone who quit smoking enjoyed smoking - that excuse for continuing to smoke just aggravates me.

It's an excuse perhaps, but it's also true. I also like red meat too much and I don't plan on quitting eating it any time soon, colon cancer be damned. We all choose our risks - if you're aware of the risks and make the conscious decision that you're ok with that, then ... well, whatever. If you're not ok with that, for whatever reason, then you try to find a way to quit, like the OP is doing.

Me, I'm ok with it. I started smoking 25yrs ago and went through the usual long period of thinking I "should" quit. I tried and failed, tried and failed. Then one day I woke up and just went "meh, don't care." It's like Robin Williams said in a movie once - there's no try in smoking...you're either a smoker or a non-smoker, pick one and be that. I chose smoker and no longer castigate myself for not caring about quitting...I'm happy with my moderate level of the habit. Which oddly means I probably smoke a little less because of less mental stress. haha.

That all said ... I would never encourage or recommend anyone ever pick up the habit. I may like smoking, but even beyond the health issues it does limit your life in strange little ways to be addicted to anything. If you can stay away from it, do. If you truly want to quit, then do. I'd say the same for drinking or any other drug/addictive habit, as well. So to the OP...if the notion that you're "finally really addicted" to smoking is really bothering you, you should quit. Even if you still enjoy it. Be a complete non-smoker again for 5-10 years and see how that feels. If you still truly miss it, you can always go back. And that's what's so insidious about addiction.
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Kirsty Collins
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:31 pm

Most people I know who smoke started that young.


ditto. just the other day, I was coming into a small strip mall type thing, and a kid who looked maybe 10 came walking real fast out of a goodwill and saw me putting my smokes away, came up and tried to trade me random crap he had stolen from there for smokes. I was just like "are you for real? aren't you supposed to be in school?" and he starts to tell me how he fought some kid, got suspended and his parents told him to get out of the house...so he went and shoplifted from a goodwill.

sorry OP, kind of off topic, but I guess it shows how young people start!
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FITTAS
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:34 pm

I've more or less stopped smoking now, but only because our socialist [censored]tard government has increased taxes on tobacco once already this year, and are going to do it again later this year. I'm going to move somewhere where the government doesn't decide what you should or shouldn't buy, and smoke myself to death, just because.Anyway, I've actually only smoked for half a year though and only like 1 or 2 a day, sometimes none, so I'm not really that addicted to them yet. I'll keep using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus though, since I do like my nicotine. That, btw, is one way you can kick the habit, substituting cigarettes for snus, though you'll most likely end up addicted to that in stead. Pros regarding snus are, you can use it anywhere, it doesn't make you smell like [censored], and it doesn't damage your lungs. Cons are that it can cause pancreas cancer, and it doesn't look all that attractive tbh.
Snus might not be that common where you live, so maybe you'll look weird, I dunno. It's very common in Scandinavia though, so I'm used to it. I can recommend you some types if you'd like to try that in stead of smoking. If you want to give up tobacco altogether, well, I'll get back to you once I've actually tried that. Don't hold your breath.


Sounds like a really good idea :rolleyes: , maybe I should move somehwere where it's legal jump off buildings and jump to my death just because I can. And if you were someone trying to quit you would think you wouldnt whine about cigarette taxes, but everyone needs something to [censored] about these days....
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Adam Baumgartner
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:14 am

I'm noticing like. 3% of the posts are from people who've actually smoked lol.

All the non-smoker idea's seem to revolve around me quitting based on how I see other people. If that would help me quit, I'd never of taken up smoking to begin with lol.


Well I smoked on and off for 12 years and seeing the effects of it on other people scared me into quitting. Reading the long term effects made me quit, but the thing that made me start looking at quitting in the first place was the effects starting to show on me. I was never a heavy smoker, smoked at maximum 15 a day, minimum was 5 a day. Then I started noticing the effects.....lots of colds that turned into bronchitus, receeding gums, frequent upset stomachs, no energy, daily cough, dry mouth, lesions on my tongue, numb toes.....

You logic it all away,....can't be smoking, I don't smoke enough and I am way to young. It WAS smoking and the reason I know it was is because I quit and ALL of these things went away. I started smoking again a year later and they all came back...I quit and they went away....you get the picture.

The only time I have every smoked inside my home was in my early twenties, other then that I have always smoked outside, right outside not in a garage or anything. I quit cold turkey and every previous time I quit it was cold turkey. After three days you are through it, you are then only fighting your psychological cravings because the nicotine is cleared from your body after 72 hours. It is not too much time and it is sooo worth it. BUT you cannot quit unless you actually want to. If you really want to quit you will.

Do some research, there is actually lots of good information on smoking and how to quit all over the web. IF you don't make it forever, at the very least you gave your body a rest. Your body starts to repair itself 20 mins after your last smoke. Just keep trying, people CAN quit for good and many,. many people have. Once you have quit it is natural and a 'habit' to not smoke. You don't even think about it anymore at all and the idea of putting smoke in your mouth becomes abhorrent.
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Jimmie Allen
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:46 pm

*Looks at full discussing-Skyrim-update ashtray* Errrrrr... Good luck ? :hehe:

Seriously though, last blood anolysis came back with for the first time, a shown of bad cholesterol. Since I'm living on fruits and rice mostly these days, and I'm rather thinner than I used to be, kinda think the smokes starting to affect my ability to process stuff.

Dunno if that's right. But looking at ugly medical pics and starting to wonder what's really happening, that's different. I'm starting to consider the thought that I might start to have thinking about stopping. First time ever.
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dell
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:11 pm

Most people I know who smoke started that young.


I'm a country bumpkin, and also grew up with fairly few friends until I hit about 14, and then most of my friends weren't really smokers. I know it happens, it just still surprises me a bit. I'll admit to being a little ignorant in this area :)
However, I do recall once seeing a young girl walk out of her primary school and get handed a smoke by her slightly older sister (assuming, here, could have been a friend but looked like a sister). This girl was no older than 7. I wanted to go punch her sister in the face for that. I mean, I'm all for people making their own choices as long as I don't have to deal with the consequences, but this little kid wouldn't have known anything about what she was doing, surely. Maybe this is ignorant country bumpkin speaking again though :lol:
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Jack Walker
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:25 pm

So. I'v been smoking the majority of my teenage//young advlt life. I'm going on about 10 years now, and I'v always been good at job dropping the habit. Sometimes i'd date a girl who didn't like me smoking, so without any issue i'd drop it. When the relationship ended, not out of stress or sadness, i'd go back to smoking because. Well I enjoy smoking, plain and simple. However, lately with loads, and loads and LOADS of stressful stuff piling up, i'v been smoking more and more, and I can now feel i'v come dependant on it. I start feeling slightly sick and get anxiety when I go without a smoke for to long, and this is new to me. I'v been smoking over 9 years, and i'v never been addicted to it, it's always been something I could drop and pick up whenever I wanted, but now Im having troubles ditching the habit, knowing i'm now at the point of addiction.

So i'm wondering what you guys did to kick the addiction, or if you know anyone who has, and what they did.

I'd always planned to quit when I was living out with a girlfriend or something, and in my first major "Career" job, but Im startin to think.. now is a good time lol.


Wait how old are you, I always thought you where a teenager. But I guess that doesnt really matter, I've been smoking since I was thirteen, but not really to excess I just do it occasionally because I get bored or I want to sit think and have a cig, but a good way to kick an addiction is to find another hobby like guitar or something like that, and another question, are you just smoking cigs or other things on the side?(just wondering)
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Steven Nicholson
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:11 am

I was only smoking about half a pack a day for a year, and I quit for almost a month but now I only do it when I drink. It's a lot better for you just because it'll cut down so much on the amount you smoke, but its not a permanent solution. I'm also going to the bar a few times a week because I'm a student haha, so if you don't go much you may drive yourself crazy.
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Sunny Under
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:05 am

I haven't had a cigarette since the semester ended.

I'll probably start again once I go back to uni... Damn I could use a cigarette right now, mmm flavour country.
The funny thing is, the actual taste of a cigarette is nowhere near as good as you imagine when you're craving one.
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Daramis McGee
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:25 pm

I've smoked off and on since I was 12(29 now), and I'm still not addicted(in the sense that I have any sort of withdrawal symptoms when I go without). I can go months without a cigarette. then I'll be out fishing with a friend or something, they'll light up, and I'll think "Yeah, good idea, nothing better then smoking a cig while waiting on a catfish to bite", or something of the sort. I used to smoke about a pack a day roughly, now a days, when I'm on a smoking stint, I smoke 1-2 a day. Hell right now I only smoke 1 every other day or so, and have gone without for more then 4 days at a time. Current pack has lasted me upwards of a month, I'm surprised they aren't stale yet(I've had that happen before, blech, nasty).
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Lisa Robb
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:33 am

Get married haha my dad smoked for 32 years and after my mom and him had me she told he better stop and what do ya know, he stopped when I was 5, been clean for 11 years this month I think. However he does say that he has urges every now and then to smoke one, he said he tried about 6 years back because it got real bad but threw up after one puff. I suggest trying the gum or getting in a serious relationship with a girl that doesnt like smoking.
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Chris Cross Cabaret Man
 
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Post » Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:04 am

Not me, but... I've stopped giving me love chocolate, until she stopped. Sure, there were those three months during which she was really nervous in one moment, exhausted in the next, but it wore off. After that, she got sweet sugary goodness. Not touched anything more than the celebratory cigar since then.


And that's why they call me Betty.
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dav
 
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Post » Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:40 pm

Sounds like a really good idea :rolleyes: , maybe I should move somehwere where it's legal jump off buildings and jump to my death just because I can. And if you were someone trying to quit you would think you wouldnt whine about cigarette taxes, but everyone needs something to [censored] about these days....


That's not hardly the same thing. No one gains anything from just jumping off a building, but people smoke because they enjoy it. I only said it the way I did because I don't like the government decreasing my freedom or telling me what to do, and I was obviously exaggerating. So take your poor attempt at sarcasm somewhere else please.
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emily grieve
 
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