Week 2 and not a puff!

I got involved in a clinical trial for nicotine chewing gum way, way back. I still remember the odd ciggie with affection but I'll never have one.

Trust me! Do not have another cigarette, cigar or pipe - ever. Bake it in cookies...

Go for it!

Neil :D

any real tests yet. There is an old adage that some one once said, "Giving up smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times." I haven't tried it that often but I have given it up before, once for eight months but something will happen that will get you restarted. In my case I was engrossed in a conversation when somebody nudged me offering me a cigarette. I guess it was a built in conditioned reflex but I took it, without thought and even though the first two drags tasted terrible I was rehooked. You'll have to watch out for that. Surprisingly being around other smokers didn't bother me too much except for the first few weeks.

I've calculated that out of a package of 25, I really only enjoy 6 or 7, the rest are just pure habit. The ones that I enjoy most are the ones I take with my coffee after meals and the ones I'll take with a drink when I'm relaxing.

Quebec has declared that all smoking indoors is to be banned come May 1st. That means we won't be allowed to light up in bars. I've decided I like drinking more than smoking so I guess May 1st is my target date for quitting.

Anyway good luck with staying off the weeds. BTW smoking dope will hook you again as well. Sorry to tell you that but it's true. That means if you are really serious about quitting the only joints you can blow will now have to have a pair of balls on the other end. LOL but that image should keep you away from cigarettes.

Neil's idea of cookies is a good one but I prefer brownies myself.

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)

disease to give me that raise in willpower required to stop.

Say you aren't going to start preaching at me are you, new non-smokers tend to go at that with an almost religious frenzy.

I'm down to about ten a day now. Can't on the train to work, can't at work, can't on the train from work, that's sixteen hour's of my day gone, so now I'm too tired to be bothered.
Trying to get down to four, one before and after each train journey. Need one before because I know I'm going to get stressed out and one after because I was right.

Best of luck with a lifetimes pause in what was once our nasty habit.

Appreciating the things you become able to do once again and the things you don't have to interrupt as often, including work, helped me quit. Getting too sick to leave my home was the main thing, but keeping in mind the improved quality of life helps in the long term.

Best of luck, Oz!

At thirty two I collapsed a lung and quit the
habit after 19 years in just 4 days cold turkey.
Then went to the gym and did a moderate workout,
and found the real reason to quit. Stamina.

We had all noticed your... lack of presence...

Glad you're OK, and good luck.

Your endurince! I have been smoking for 30 years and I have tried quiting four or five times. The last time was ten years ago. Things at home and other places started me up again, that time I had not smoked for almost a month.
The bad thing about this is that I can still run a mile or play football with out getting out of breath.
If you really stop, great! and never go back.

Words of support from those you consider friends and peers is the most valuable form of support one could hope for.

I'm quite flattered,
Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement.

I was a smoker for well like 4 years, pack a day...and after multiple tries, I finally quit and have been smoke free for a couple of years now.

As Mr. Dawg stated the morning after cigerette, after dinner cigerette, after uh sex cigerettes are hard to get over but ya gotta do it. Its a commitment thing actually...like marriage I suppose.

I realized that if I was to quit I can't go about it half assed and it must be 100% cold turkey. So good luck and be vigilant and if temptation occurs do like 2o situp or pushups right away and it goes away.

I've fought that battle myself and it is ineed one of the toughest things I've ever done in my life.

I would rather have chest tubes removed daily than try and stop smoking again...

Oz, I have been thinking of you.. Been missing you around here and hoping your weather has been better than Alaskas.

I just want to tell you that you have accomplished a pretty difficult task. I'm proud of you; you deserver more than a hug, but this is public. :P

Your body will gradually dump all those toxins out; and slowly recover. Watch your food habits; my mom gained about 40# after she dropped her cigs.

Hugs Ozzers....from Alaska

CuteElf

Good luck with this.

I went in to the docs two years ago for a "little cough" and they strapped me down for a week and then two more at home after that for double pneumonia. really knocks the socks off you, huh?

The ex-wife was an avid smoking addict, and I personally found it painful to even be in the HOUSE when she would light up. After a few days of me going out and sitting on the front porch in freezing weather to get away from it, she finally decided to take her smokes out to the back room.

I see an advantage for you that many smokers don't have. You don't WANT to smoke anymore. Many "try" to quit because of price or public image because they are "told they should quit". That won't cut it.

Keep a pack of gum in your pocket at all times to replace the habit parts of the smoking.

You can do it! :D

oh yeah, good luck with that whole "lung thing" too.. ;\

you are a quitter!!!!

]:)

I walked away from a pack a day habit, was doing a lot of running, training for marathons.
the day after I tore my tendon in my right knee, I lit up again..after 4 years.

6 months later, tore the tendon in my left knee.
2 years later, needed prosthetics to walk.

been smoking a pack a day for 24 years now, since starting back up.
if I'm not carefull it becomes 2 packs a day.

I'll smoke 'em for ya when you get the urge. ]:)

keep up the good stuff.

Hope the pneumonia will be over quite soon.

Rob

I don't smoke. Never have. Except for the pack of cigarettes my neighbor and I stole from his mom when we were 10-yr old whippersnappers. But I didn't inhale. ;)

Are you recommending that people catch pneumonia as the best way to kick the habit cold turkey? Hmmm, well since a turkey is a bird, maybe the Asian bird flu would be even more effective than pneumonia.

...because of my good parents, I did not take up to smoking in my teen years. Picked up the bad habit in my twenties. And thanks to my wife, who always treated me (and the habit) with disdain :-)) that helped me quit.

I smoked for 10 years or so (about 5-7 cigs a day), and now have not smoked for more than 2.5 years. Left to myself, it would have taken me many more years to quit. Is'nt it a fact smoking is addictive, a bad one at that :-))

I think the spouse (and the family) should exert as much pressure as possible to make someone quit.

You have a thing for bad teeth and pasty skin?

I'm English, but that just means I can stand the rain in Vancouver, but I am not pasty white (ick!).

http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band102/b102-5.html

If that doesn't help maintain your resolve then nothing will.

James

I still haven't been successful at quitting. I can cut down, even stop briefly but I can't seem to let go of that last cigarette even though it stinks and could kill me.

One thing I know that works is if you can't smoke in most public places. Smoking in our state is banned just about everywhere. I don't smoke much at home either because I don't want to create the dreaded second hand smoke.

I found 2 things that have been helpful for me. Nicotine gum and atomic fireball jawbreakers (candy). Now, I know that sounds funny, but the jawbreakers have such a red hot spicy cinnamin kick to them, that it triggers a similar effect to the first puff on a cigarette or first sip on a beer.

Good Luck, Oz. Its the best thing you can do for yourself, yada, yada, yada, and something that all of us smokers have to do one day. I recently read an article that said the best way to quit is on the spur of the moment. It said that people that quit that way instead of planning to quit, were more successful at staying smoke-free.

I'm so happy for you!
I've made it a year, one month and 27 days since my last. About half way through I had a moment of weakness and tried to smoke one and it made me want to puke.
Best of luck to you! I know you can do it! I believe in you!

At least that's what Max keeps insisting.

Good luck and congratulations, hard work does pay off, no matter how often we swear it doesn't.

:^O This one will probably get yanked for sure but here goes.

You blow and I'll owe you one.

[b]Dawg[/b]]:)

And keep up the good work!! Although I have never smoked, I can understand the cravings, especially under stressful situations.

Like in "Airplane!" when Lloyd Bridges said "It looks like I picked the wrong week to quit coffee",
then cigarettes, liquor, amphetamines, and finally ended up with "It looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue." One of the most hilarious moments in a very hilarious film. :-)

similar sitch when I finally quit smoking, had my thyroid removed and couldn't talk for three weeks let alone suck on a cigarette (hubby was oddly happy those three weeks) and at the end of three weeks, was like, "eh, why bother now?" I have slipped occassionally over the last 7 years, usually when alkihol's involved... not sure how to drink a guinness without a cig in hand... good thing for me, I don't drink more than 3x a year.

Enjoy your clean air and extra ready cash!

I'm not talking about second-hand smoke, I'm talking about the folks who will have to be there through the chemotherapy, the radiation and the potential low-level brain radiation treatments.

For the past year, I've watched a dear friend go through all that. You are giving your loved ones a gift if you are able to avoid that.

Good Luck, bro!!!!