Quitting smoking

6 years this summer! Considering how heavy of a smoker I was, it's really weird how fast I'm creeping up on being a nonsmoker for longer than I was a smoker. 2015, here I come.

quitting for the second time in a year ):

actually yesterday i was really stressed out and i was like MAN I AM NIC FITTING LIKE A MOTHERFUCK I NEED A CIGARETTE NOW so i bummed a fag off a coworker and realised it did not help at all and was like OKAY I GUESS I WASN'T NIC FITTING I AM ACTUALLY JUST REALLY STRESSED OUT ABOUT STUFF

I was gonna quit but then I discovered rolling tobacco. :>

I read some article years ago about how nic withdrawal feels like stress (duh), so that's always going to be a trigger, but you just have to realize it's bullshit and get past it. There are other ways to get rid of that feeling: step outside (where smokers don't congregate) and take some deep breathes and ground yourself. or do a few push-ups.

Haven't smoked a single one in five and a half days now. Was on 20+ a day. NiQuitin mints really work. And I've only had about two a day of those because they have, err, a really strong laxative effect, to say the least. Don't think I'd have done it cold turkey.

Good job, quitters! It is not easy but it is so so so so worth it, so hang in there.

If the two year old that was up to 40 cigarettes a day can quit, so can you!

I was talking to someone who quit (with meds). When I told her I quit without help, she replied "but you didn't smoke much and not for long." About seven years and half a pack to a pack per day? I guess not. lol

i've been kind of lame about quitting. I've tried to cut down or not at all, but it's so easy to slip back into it. I knwo someone who used one of those inhaler things to quit which is a bit o_O

I am craving a smoke rrrreally badly :-(

fight it nat!

^^

Just noticed that the sale price on a pack of Marlboro's an my local convenience store was $5.75.

At a pack a day, $5.75 for a month = $172.50. For a year it's over $2,000!

Oh the golden years when smokes were $1.30. Always said, if they ever go over two bucks, I'm quitting!

I remember seeing a cigarette machine at First Avenue with packs for $3.00 and thinking what a rip-off.

The problem is that I don't really consider a smoker: I never smoked THAT much (she says, lol, knowing that's rub) and not for that long (hah, seven years). But I think I'll stick to not smoking. I hope.

Smoking makes a person feel like dried-up shit, don't do it, nath!

Grr...haven't had a cigarette since Friday night, & right now the universe is REALLY testing me, 'cause it's my lunch hour, and it's raining outside; and I luuuv to smoke in the rain! And it rained yesterday too, and when was the last time we had two consecutive days of rain around here? Stupid elements...Grr...

Bottom line: Lousy time to quit; but GREAT time for a thread revival, thanks!

When Halloween comes around, are you tempted to sit around and eat a pillowcase full of candy?

That comes out meaner than I intend it to be, but all these little situations that tempt you to smoke aren't permanent. I can remember smoking in Denny's, smoking on road trips and even smoking in my apartment. Now, I can't even imagine doing any of those things.

You're always going to have those moments. I felt my serious nicotine pangs in a long time on Saturday while watching a close football game. But just like the game, it passes. You ride it out and once you're not nicking out so hard, you can say Okay. Rode that wave and I'm still clean.

All this much easier said than done, I am more than aware.

x-p
cravings will always come back for a long time, nath. but they will go away as well. i haven't smoked (almost wrote stopped!) for more than two years (after 20 years of about 20 grams tobacco, ie 20-25 fags, per day, i smoked roll-ups) and i have entered another period where i crave cigarettes on a daily base, usually after meals and when drinking alcohol. not sure if it is ever going to stop, my throat is still sore, but maybe it is better this way as it reminds me of what kind of a motherfucker nicotine is. and the most dangerous thing about it is, that you smoke because you think you are not hooked. that is an illusion, my dear.

Giving up right now. Second quit in 12 months. In the easy bit, first couple of days when I feel in a permamuddle. Sort of fun if I'm not in company, and in this early bit I know what I'm fighting. It'll be dangerous in a month - that's when I think I can have just one. NO.

last cig was friday am. the longest i've gone since i started. feeling pretty good so far! had the most amazing run ever this morning. still get testy / annoyed and it's still hard even though it's easier now. i have some gum just in case. my partner smokes but it hasn't made it harder, mainly because i decided not to let it!

really helps that i want to take my runs to another level and today it happened :)

Yeah, like some days I'll pass some wretched old hag standing under an awning smoking a cigarette and I'll be like "damn, that smells good!" but most days it makes me nauseous and irritated.

Day two of quitting again.

Hardest part for me is always the communal aspect - going out to smoke with friends or on class breaks, not chain smoking while drinking.

Eventually all those things start to feel normal, or not 'a thing,' like Pleasant Plains noted. You have to believe!

This thread revive has inspired me.

It's crazy to me to think that I am only about three months away from a full year of not smoking. I never thought I would ever be some kind of smoking cessation success story.

The hardest times for me are the ones like last Friday night: I had a great day, the weather was beautiful, I had just done some intense exercise (yay endorphins), and then my partner and I went to a new restaurant in the neighborhood and had some tasty food and a glass of refreshing wine. And, right after we finished and went outside and were greeted by, like, a 70 degree night (a rarity here), I wanted a smoke so bad I may have blown up a school bus for one.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/3864760873_c07a6d6d60_b_d.jpg

today. i quit in december but stupidly started again a couple of months ago "to cope" with the stress of finishing my thesis. terrible decision and i can seriously feel the negative effects it's had on my health. time to quit again....

Smoking makes a person feel like dried-up shit, don't do it, nath!

srsly

paralysis?

ugh this shit gotta stop

if i could keep it just to the 1 cigarette i actually enjoy every day or two that would be fine, but..

yeah, exactly. started like that again (after i hadn't smoked for about a year, during pregnancy and bf-ing) but after couple of weeks i was smoking half a pack again. urgh i crave it soooo badly. i stupidly think it'll help with the diet. lol

2days in! FUCK

starting smoking

!

started again recently :|

if i could keep it just to the 1 cigarette i actually enjoy every day or two that would be fine, but..

― pies madness (electricsound), Tuesday, 5 October 2010 22:23 (Yesterday) Bookmark

yep.

at the moment i'm on this horrid rising-panic-must-smoke thing, and then when i smoke the panic flows out and is replaced by miserable. suckssssss

my gf can buy a pack and have it last her for a over a month easily. she'll go a week without smoking at all. hate her for that tbh

2days in! FUCK

me too! going ok. quite pissed off at the world. stay strong!

Five weeks, one day and 19 hours since my last.

I will murder people!!!

― village idiot (dog latin), Wednesday, September 1, 2010 11:11 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is difficult

I quit on either January 7 or 8 of this year. For the first month I had to constantly remind myself that I was either a pack a day smoker (which I hated myself for being) or I was going to have to quit completely. I do not have the ability to only smoke a couple cigarettes a day or whatever so i would only be throwing away all the progress I made if I reward myself with an occasional cigarette. They are not to be messed with. At least not for me.

The pangs subsided after a while though I still get the occasional desire it's easy to squelch it. One thing I underestimated is how you have to reorient your entire identity into being that of a non-smoker. For so much of my life, I was a smoker that was part of who I was, and now I wasn't. And it's strangely disorienting at first.

As far as the social isolation goes, I learned to just go outside and hang with the smokers, even though I wasn't smoking myself. If I know I'm not going to smoke, then I know I'm resolute enough to not smoke just because I'm around people who are smoking and the fact that I might have a pang of a craving isn't enough to override the social need I still feel to go outside and hang out with the smokers.

Really, we can go on and on about how hard it is, but it's really just getting over the initial hump of withdrawal. Go 3 days without any nicotine and it only gets easier and easier. Before you do it, it seems really hard, but looking back, it wasn't really that hard at all.

Today was my 5th day and I had a really intense craving. I was at work, left my office and went on a hunt for a cigarette. Luckily I didn't see anyone smoking for a while and when I finally did I managed to dissuade myself from bumming a smoke. I feel like for me the hardest part is reminding myself I'm doing this for myself and not anybody else.

yes! my husband just inhales really deeply. this reminds him how much better it is not to smoke. his lungs are finally getting some oxygen. for me that's not really something i can do, i didn't smoke long enough to feel that disadvantage. but otoh having clients who stink of smoke come in your shop is an eye opener. before i didn't notice.i wonder if i smelled that badly too. don't think so, cause we never smoked inside the house.

if you make a list of the pros and cons, there's not that many advantages to smoking, really. and boy does it save money. i am pretty sure we save about 150 to 180 euro per month on cigs. yikes.

I really have not had much of a problem at home the last few evening, even drank some beers and hung outside for a bit. It’s this damn workplace that kills me. i've been here 15 minutes and i'm already freakin out.

Day 6. Quitting with a friend, we usually end the night chain smoking on her porch and talking. It's helping a lot to reinforce each other, since if I cave she's going to and probably vice versa. We're staying strong for the team.

Am currently applying the full arsenal of anti-smoking products because nothing has worked! I went to Target and grabbed the gum, the lozenges AND the patches, plus lots of sugarless chewing gum. Now that is helping! Don't forget to drink your juice - if your body feels healthier, it is more reluctant to accept pollutants.