[ACLineman]

Who smokes, Never smoked, Still smokes, or smoked but have quit smoking?????

I am from the last bunch, and it's been 8 months.......... :hurray:


However I did gain 10 pounds..... :angry:

I could light up in a heart beat, boy it's tough... :sad:

 

[BarefootDave]

My 38 yr old sister is currently battling lung cancer and is losing the fight. She was diagnosed in June and they weren't sure she would make it htrough the summer. So far she is hanging in there but it sure doesn't look good. She's been smoking since she was 16 and even through all her cancer treatments is STILL smoking a pack a day. I can't even imaging how addicting it must be and I'm SO glad I never even tried cigarettes! I wish the best to ANYONE that finds the strength to stop!

Barefoot waterskiing and 69 Camaro's are my addiction!

 

[ACLineman]

Great addictions you have Dave. :thumbsup:

Sorry to hear about & Prayers go out to your sister..... :sad:

I smoked for 12-14 years. I am now 40 and started getting chest pains which scared the HELL out of me. Come to find out it was just a pulled muscle and had nothing to do with smoking.
However it doesn't take a rocket scientest to tell cigarettes are not good for you.
I personally had had enough of the waking up in the AM hacking and coughing. Plus I looked long and hard at my 3 children 17, 14, 10, and figured It would be nice to stick around and watch them mature.

They are the main reason I quit, Had I no children I probably would still be smoking today......Plus at over $5.50 a pack made it easier too...

Granted it is HARD. I have even heard that cigarette smoking is even more addictive than Herion????
What was even harder for me is that my wife STILL smokes, and with her here and smoking, was like a recovering alcholic living at a bar.....But I did it. :thumbsup: And If I can anyone can.....

Hope this may help anyone that is thinking about quitting. My Dad always told me, "Son don't be a quitter" But this is one thing I was GLAD I quit....

 

[69ratchvlle]

I smoked for about 8 years and quit when I got married. Had a few flare ups for a week at a time, but I haven't sparked one up for 12 years.

Did the leaf chew for a couple years and quit that too..

 

[elco68]

Quitting now,been about 20 years of about a pack aday.Starting to get to winded at times.And pulse and blood pressure higher than should be.Wish me luck tried a few times before want it definite this time.

 

[proform]

OK, for those of you that have successfully quit, what's the best way? Going cold turkey is really tough. How did you do it?

 

[BillsCamino]

I quit over 10 years ago...cold turkey is the only way, IMO.

 

[onabudget]

I've tried to quit several times, I'd like to soon.. for two reasons health and $$$.

My wife went to a hypmotist(sp) last week, didn't work either so she got her money back.

 

[kevin d]

In January it will be 3 years since I quit. The docs gave me the patch and zyban (I think). I took the patch but not the other stuff. After 2 weeks I lost all cravings and have not slipped once. Drink lots of water and try to exercise to help get it out of your system and occupy your mind.
The habits of smoking took longer to lose than the addiction. Little things like checking my pockets for smokes and a lighter before I left the house or office.

 

[alan margosian]

In the mid-seventies I worked for a firm that microfilmed medical records and other evidence for attorneys to be used in court cases. In the interest in not making everyone sick to their stomachs, I'll just say that I've seen some of the most grotesque photos of medical evidence regarding the effects of tobacco products use that one might never hope to imagine. My memory of those images still haunt me vividly to this day (thirty years later). That TV ad with the woman inhaling cigarettes through a hole in her neck is nothing, NOTHING!, compared to what I've seen...

 

[1BLACKHARLEY]

smoked when i was a kid, stopped at 21 for seventeen years, picked it up for about two years and now have it down to, two cigarettes on saturday. that's it, tow cig's a week. i don't drink during the week, but a couple bourbons and two cig's on a saturday night........

 

[ACLineman]

Quitting now,been about 20 years of about a pack aday.Starting to get to winded at times.And pulse and blood pressure higher than should be.Wish me luck tried a few times before want it definite this time.

Good luck Man,

I too had boarderline high blood pressure and high cholestrol. Blood pressure has came down in the normal range, and I started taking Lipator and my Bad cholestrol is at 150 and my good cholestrol is getting better tha Doc told me. :thumbsup: I should excersice but I work pyshical labor at the job and who feels like it when your off.....? I know,I know it's a no brainer :clonk: But I can't turn this ship around all at once, it took me YEARS to get to where i'm at now, I'm slowly mending my ways...

I won't lie it's FRICKING hard !!! But take ie one day at a time. See below answer too.......Good Luck man..

OK, for those of you that have successfully quit, what's the best way? Going cold turkey is really tough. How did you do it?

I quit once before (for all the wrong reasons and started up again only after being weak, when we were all at the bar drinking and smoking and I caved), So any way both times My Doctor prescribed Welbutrin AKA Zyban. It is a pill and you take it and pick a date to quit about 30 days from when you start taking the med's. When the date comes, (and you know it's coming !!!!) you DO NOT smoke that day !!!! The doc wanted me to keep taking the Welbutrin for 6 months after I quit smoking but I" only took it for 2 more weeks (it kept me awake)
The med's DEFINITLEY help curb the craving. They are still there but not as bad. Day two, try not think about it, and DON'T SMOKE.
Over time it WILL get better.

You have to remember, If you really DON'T want to quit it will be hard to stay away. you have to WANT TO STOP !!!!!

The only side effect I felt while taking the Med's was it seemed to keep me awake at night, Guess that's how I got all that work done on the Chevelle.....

 

[Mr Chevelle]

I smoked in high school, college and during a non-war. Quit the day I got off the plane from V N, 34 years ago. Two of best things I ever did.

 

[Beenaway2long]

I quit smoking when I used more lubrication. The wife is MUCH happier...




BEAUX- WHERE ARE YA LAD????

 

[David Bates]

I quit cold turkey on October 3, 1974 at the urging of my grandmother. My grandfather died from emphysema and she didn't want his favorite grandson to meet the same demise. Don't miss it and have never looked back!

 

[MadMarv]

Cold turkey with wellbutrin/zyban (comes in a generic now too). IMO patches, gum, whatever, are a waste of your time and money. The wellbutrin worked really well for me, take it, and after a while you just lose the urge to smoke, and quit. And from there, its mostly up to you to continue quitting. The doc wanted me to keep on it for 4 more months, but two was good for me.

matt

 

[quikss]

Same for me, a combination of Wellburtin and the patch. Has worked perfectly now for 4 yrs this coming thanksgiving.

I had tried so many other times to quit and nothing worked, this did.

I was a 3 1/2 pack a day smoker and I quit straight up, the day I had decided to. My pack wasn't even gone yet, I just gave them to my wife to finish. She quit a year after I did, and has yet to go back either.

I recently hit the 18 month mark for quitting the liquid caffenine habit. That was almost as hard as nicotine. I have drank nothing but water or milk for 18 months now ( with a bit of alcohol mixed in while in Mexico :thumbsup: ). I feel so much better today than I did 5 years ago. I use to survive on cigarettes and mountain dew. 3 1/2 packs a day and about a 12 pack of mountain dew a day. Yeah, I was a bit wired.

The down side to all this, I have added 20 pounds to myself. But losing weight I think is easier than quitting either of the two things I quit.

Good luck to all who want to quit. Once you quit, when an urge comes up, repeatedly remind yourself you are NOT a smoker. It helped me a lot.

Jeff

 

[Professor_SS]

gave it up 20 years ago. Cold turkey...... you can too if you really want to. I did gain weight though. Taking off the weight was worse than quiting the smoking. Now I'm wrestling with keeping that off.

 

[1966_L78]

In the mid-seventies I worked for a firm that microfilmed medical records and other evidence for attorneys to be used in court cases. In the interest in not making everyone sick to their stomachs, I'll just say that I've seen some of the most grotesque photos of medical evidence regarding the effects of tobacco products use that one might never hope to imagine. My memory of those images still haunt me vividly to this day (thirty years later). That TV ad with the woman inhaling cigarettes through a hole in her neck is nothing, NOTHING!, compared to what I've seen...

Back in the 70's, I went to a Boy Scout meeting, and they had a speaker that brought in a real human lung from a smoker... It was all black and shrivled...

It was in a display case, and I think they might have had a "healthy" lung in another case for comparison... Just looked awful... I remember preading with the parents to quit when I got home...


As for me, I have smoked about 5-6 times in my life, always when drinking at a party and hanging with smokers, but only for that one night...

So I voted "never" in the poll...


My mom started smoking in her early 20's, and just quit a few years ago (early 60's)... 40+ years and she quit cold-turkey... She said she still gets the urge, especially when the phone rings (that when she used to automatically light up)... Damn 34-year old sister won't stop though...

 

[webfoot]

I only smoke when I'm having some beers. Other than that I have no desire to smoke whatsoever. Need a category for "casual smoker".