If I Can Quit Smoking, You Can

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Turned out to be group hipnosis seminar.
I went and believe it or not, haven't had one since.Hipnosis really worked for me.
But now your neighbors wish you would stop barking at the full moon!:D

Better living through chemistry for me. Chantix worked for me in breaking a nearly 20 year habit.
 

Papa

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Maybe I'll quit one week before opening day of hunting season, that way, I can legally go kill something.
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Congrats and best of luck on staying smoke free.


For others trying to quit, you could do what my wife did - she got pregnant. :crackup She quit 20 yrs ago when she was preg with our first son and hasnt smoked since - well, not cigs anyway. :D
 

jduff8505

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

It was 5 months the 1st of June for me and the wife. Today was one of the worst yet for wanting one. But we didn't have one.

Jeff
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Congratulations on quitting! I quit 21 years ago. I was a 2-3 pack a day guy. My wife asked me to quit for a new years resolution. It was so tough on me I vowed never to touch them again. I can't say I have cravings (I think they stink now) but I have dreams where I have had a cigarette and know I am hooked after less than a pack! It is a relief to wake up.

I gained about 30 pounds after quitting, but the doctor said it is far better to have the 30 pounds than the cigarette habit. :04biker:
 

PopJack

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I don't really want to be seen as a wimp, but it may help someone else to know that although I repeatedly tried to go cold turkey, I could never quit that way. Over the years, I tried patches, gum, and every imaginable trick (even a hypnotist). I failed several times, quit for a few months and started back- the whole thing.

I knew several people who said they just put them down, and although I respected their willpower, it wasn't going to work for me.

I finally was prescribed Zyban about nine years ago and it did the trick. I was able to quit with out killing anyone.

The major struggles that I still have are:
1) Cigarettes smell good to me. I love second hand smoke.
2) I have to remind myself that one it all it takes to get going again.

Like others, I like being quit. Being a non-smoker has some real advantages, including no fear of flying, no nervousness at public events and several new wardrobes (in bigger and bigger sizes!).

Also, I can still walk outside and "pretend to smoke" sometimes- just to get away from the phone and the demands of the office. Believe it or not this was one of the things I really missed. Then I figured "why?"

I have dreams where I have had a cigarette and know I am hooked after less than a pack! It is a relief to wake up.
Me too! I thought I was the only one! Dang they tasted good in the dreams, but it scared me to death to realize that I had failed after all the struggle---- until I woke up.

So, good luck, be strong and ride safe.
 

Bug Dr.

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I used smokless tobacco for twenty years and quit nine years ago. What did it for me was I got sick of the tobacco controlling my life. After every meal I had to have a fix. It controlled my life to the point I got pissed which made it much easier. And, yes I still have cravings when doing certain activities (hunting, fishing etc..) but I will not let myself slip....can't afford to in more ways than one.
Mike
 

dduelin

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I quit many, many, many times. Quitting was not a problem but staying quit was. Each time I started back a little voice inside me said I was always going to be addicted. But I had friends that said picking up again wasn't really a failure - look at it like I was one more attempt closer to kicking the habit.

Something changed when I learned that I didn't have to quit for the rest of my life - just quit for today and go to bed tonight without using _____ (fill in your blank). That was more doable for me. Build a road to the future but break it down to a brick at a time. Or a pebble or a grain if I have to.

Hours become days, weeks, months, years. I still want to use from time to time but I know that is good for me. The occasional desire reminds me that addiction is a powerful sneaky foe just waiting in the weeds and to work the program that worked for me so far.
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I have great respect for any long time smoker who has quit. I never started, simply because my dad was a three pack a day man. He tried to quit, but never really did. Growing up with that, and the sight of him constantly puffing, coughing and hacking was enough to tell me, that did not look like a good habit.

Seeing him die of it was enough to convince anyone not to smoke. He was big like me, 6'3" 200lbs. When he died he was like a shrunken stick and weighed about 100lbs. Two days before he died, he tried to get out of bed one last time reaching for, you guessed it, a cigarette. That's addicted!!! Congrats to all ex-smokers.
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I started smoking full time at 15, at least 2 packs/day until i was 19, at which point I switched to Copenhagan. Chewed like a monster until I was 24, then went back to cigs. In my early 30's it was so bad, I'd smoke an entire pack of Marlboro menthal lights before noon, then switch to Marlboro lights the rest of the day/night, at least 3 packs/day.
I decided when I was 36 (I'm now 43) I wasn't going to be a slave any more, and quit - using the Cigarest plan. i haven't had so much as a puff or chew since then, and I haven't even thought about tobacco in years. AMAZING.
My dad was twice as bad as me, this man smoked 6 packs a day for 3 freakin decades! how do you smoke 6 packs a day you ask? he always had a cig lit. He couldn't sit through a movie without 2 breaks. He quit, unbelievably, using the Cigarest plan - that's where I got the idea from. Worth a try, if he did it anyone (and I mean anyone) can.
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

TODAY IS 2 MONTHS OF BEING CIG. CLEAN.
Congrats! I quit using the cold-turkey method 30 years ago after several failed attempts. It ranks right up there as being one of the hardest things I've ever done. I was quite physically addicted to the nicotine and as a result, experienced heart palpatations, and other unpleasant side effects during the process. Remembering how difficult it was to quit has been an incentive all these years to never start again. It is no exaggeration when they say that for some people, nicotine is as addictive as heroin.
 

Papa

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Me, too. I've smoked since I was 16. I have stopped for periods of time ranging from several months to several years, but for some reason would alway end up falling of the wagon. When I would stop, it was after psyching myself up by picking a date to quit, being out of smokes, and then going cold turkey. The twitchiness is usually over in a day or two. Just got to get my head right.

Congrats to all that have kicked the habit.
Have you quit yet?

I haven't.
 

Tailgunner

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I'm quitting Monday 6/22 at 0830. Having surgery. Doing cold turkey but have patches just in case.

I quit for 10 years and then like an idiot smoked again. It's been 5 years of smoking again now.

What I learned was to change habits. Take a different route to work if possible. Hang out with non smokers. All my riding buddies no longer smoke.

If you relapse, try again.
 
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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

I'm glad I came across this thread. I've quit many times. Sometimes for years, sometimes for a few months. 3 days and 3 months seems to be tough milestones. I've got Chantix ready to resume taking. They are brutal on the stomach. But they worked for me the last time, 2 years ago. Back then I decided I would just smoke during Laconia Bike Week. 2 years later.
I'm going to take my first half, Chantix now and give them a week.
 

Shadowfax-ST

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

This must be the first thread where I agree with 99% of contributors' comments. I am the most anti-smoking anti-smoker this planet has ever enjoyed and it is with only the deepest delight that so many steadfast individuals have realised how stupid smoking is; and I'm overjoyed to read of more serious adictions being successfully abeited.

It only saddens me how many of God's most intelligent creatures still believe they HAVE to smoke, or are stupid enough to feel they want to. And I'm not on about retired Beagals.

Congratulations to you whenever you quit and strength to those thinking of quitting.

24-years clean with a 6-month relapse 1990-91, after which you offer me a smoke and I'll take it and crush in front of you laughing at your reaction to my 'wasting' something you hoped I'd set light to and develop poor health from in the first place. Smokers are so capital 'S' for dumb...;)

.
 

Papa

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

This must be the first thread where I agree with 99% of contributors' comments. I am the most anti-smoking anti-smoker this planet has ever enjoyed and it is with only the deepest delight that so many steadfast individuals have realised how stupid smoking is; and I'm overjoyed to read of more serious adictions being successfully abeited.

It only saddens me how many of God's most intelligent creatures still believe they HAVE to smoke, or are stupid enough to feel they want to. And I'm not on about retired Beagals.

Congratulations to you whenever you quit and strength to those thinking of quitting.

24-years clean with a 6-month relapse 1990-91, after which you offer me a smoke and I'll take it and crush in front of you laughing at your reaction to my 'wasting' something you hoped I'd set light to and develop poor health from in the first place. Smokers are so capital 'S' for dumb...;)

.
What makes you think addicts striving for abstinence, or anyone else for that matter "enjoy" ignorant people?
 

Shadowfax-ST

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

What makes you think addicts striving for abstinence, or anyone else for that matter "enjoy" ignorant people?
My id, Papa. That and my belief everyone enjoys the opportunity to learn. Try it sometime.
 

Papa

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Re: If I Can Quite Smoking, You Can

Mildly amusing at times, but not enjoyable. To become addicted to a substance does not make an individual stupid, but I guess everyone has an opinion. I'm glad you got over your stupidness.:D
 
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