# Any former smokers out there? HELP!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804 "2000-09-20T00:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malarky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Malarky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malarky)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/1 "2000-09-20T00:14:07Z")
I absolutely, positively MUST quit smoking…I acutally DID it for 4 months, but recently started again ☹ I **want** to quit…but I need some help! I hear some things work ---
**Author:** ![el\_mono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea666f/32.png) [@el\_mono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_mono)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/2 "2000-09-20T00:38:09Z")
Christ, I don’t think that there is a magic cure for the habit. For me it was sunflower seeds. WHen I finally decided to give up the coffin nails (it took three attempts) it was sunflower seeds that did the trick. Prior to that I’d tried filters, cold turkey and nicotine gum. None of them curbed the desire. For that matter neither did sunflower seeds, but… After sucking on cheekfull after cheekful of salty seeds the inside of my mouth was so damn sore that cigarette smoke caused a great deal of pain. It took about two weeks. Goo luck, Chicky-poo, it ain’t an easy thing to do, but if you are determined you will eventually win! Don’t stop trying!!! ``` El Mono, former nicotine addict (Pack and a half a day) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Malarky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Malarky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malarky)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/3 "2000-09-20T00:44:12Z")
Wow, pack and a half a day…well, at my high point (or should I say low point?) I was doing 2 packs a day…and I’ve only smoked for a year and a half! Thanx for the support…I heard candy canes work too, but only if you smoke menthol…Marlboro Reds for me…mmmmmmmmmm…Marb Reds… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/4 "2000-09-20T01:08:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by el\_mono \* > \*\*Christ, I don’t think that there is a magic cure for the habit. For me it was sunflower seeds. WHen I finally decided to give up the coffin nails (it took three attempts) > it was sunflower seeds that did the trick. Prior to that I’d tried filters, cold turkey and nicotine gum. None of them curbed the desire. For that matter neither did sunflower seeds, but… After sucking on cheekfull after cheekful of salty seeds the inside of my mouth was so damn sore that cigarette smoke caused a great deal of pain. It took about two weeks. Goo luck, Chicky-poo, it ain’t an easy thing to do, but if you are determined you will eventually win! Don’t stop trying!!! > > ``` > El Mono, former nicotine addict (Pack and a half a day) ** > > ``` A man after my own heart. I quit smoking one year and seven months ago tomorrow. I used sunflower seeds, but only cuz they were available. Unfortunately, I also gained 60 lbs and required diuretics all summer last year for the water I retained from the salt. Something to think about. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Pembridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@Pembridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pembridge)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/5 "2000-09-20T01:11:08Z")
I tried quitting about 5 or 6 times, which lasted anywhere from 1 day to 3 months. But I _always_ went back. Until now…I woke up one day, about 2 months ago, and simply decided I would not smoke again. I can’t explain it, but something inside of me finally took hold, and that was it… Now, in a half-assed attempt to be helpful, if you _really_ want to quit, look into the prescription medicine Zyban…Everyone (ok, 4 people) I know who tried had it work… ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/6 "2000-09-20T01:12:39Z")
\>…I heard candy canes work too, but only if you smoke menthol…\< But that and peppermints will cause tooth decay. Just stop smoking. Chew the gum and use all your resolve. Find a substitute ( especially after eating) reward yourself with a huge glass of cold orange juice instead of that morning cigarette. Find something you like as much or almost as much as nicotine then reward yourself with it when you don’t smoke. If you can whip that after dinner or breakfast smoke you are truly on your way to winning the battle… Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/7 "2000-09-20T01:19:17Z")
Cold Bloody Turkey. I smoked a pack and a half of Gauloises a day, for seven years. Last January 2nd, I quit cold turkey. It is physically hard for three days, and mentally hard for a month or so. Remember one thing: 90% of the addiction is psychology. Your body doesn’t need nicotine after three or four days of abstinence. Everytime you feel the need for a smoke, ask yourself these two things: 1. WHY do I want to smoke now? 2. How old do I want to be when I become an ex-parrot? Did the trick for me. In essence, it’s chosing to live a couple of years more in good health. Simple enough, right? ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/8 "2000-09-20T05:20:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > > **Your body doesn’t need nicotine after three or four days of abstinence.** Actually, your body doesn’t EVER need nicotine. Semantics aside, what actually happens in that time is the nicotine levels in your body - which are kept up with tobacco in a smoker - go away totally. But you still crave it at this juncture. The figure where your body is no longer _addicted_ to nicotine is about a month, give or take depending on a slew of factors. Also, I must take issue with your cold turkey advice. More people have failed in this manner, and sadly, many people refuse to use aids thinking them “weak.” I quit using Zyban. It is prescribed by a doctor and your health insurance _might_ cover it. It tells the part of your brain that gets addicted that it’s not addicted. It doesn’t work for everyone, but one look at my sig file will show you one (as of now) success story… Good luck! * * * Yer pal, Satan - Commissioner, [The Teeming Minions](http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/full/show?lid=39428&page=leaguehome) \*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING: Five months, one week, four days, 3 hours, 20 minutes and 29 seconds. 6565 cigarettes not smoked, saving $820.69. Extra time with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 1 day, 19 hours, 5 minutes. \***“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. \*(Amen, brother!)**[/i ---
**Author:** ![Malarky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Malarky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malarky)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/9 "2000-09-20T23:55:29Z")
See, with the candy cane thing, I think I’d MUCH rather get a cavity then lung cancer! I tried quitting cold turkey, but then realized that wasn’t goin so well when I smelled my (smoker) friend’s breath after they smoked…ew:) I hope I can kick this habit soon, I’m only 18 and I can barely walk up a flight of stairs:( ---
**Author:** ![Stella\_Fantasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@Stella\_Fantasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stella_Fantasia)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/10 "2000-09-21T18:33:24Z")
I quit smoking at the same time as I changed jobs…I got an office job & stopped waiting tables. I’m not sure how relevant the specifics are to you, but you might want to think about what your environmental cues to smoke are, & figuring out how to avoid them. (I never smoked more than 2 packs a week, though, so I was more habituated to the action of smoking than addicted to the nicotine…) ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/11 "2000-09-21T18:48:37Z")
One bit of advice- DON’T GO TO CLUBS! It was way too difficult for me to watch all those people smoking and it was in the air everywhere…I took to eating paper when I was at a club and trying to quit. Sunflower seeds, paper…anything that works for you. Paper was good because it’s a challenge to eat the entire flyer and it tastes like crap, just like cigarettes do. The best is if you can find a way to dislike cigarettes immensely. Imagine they taste like dog shit, think of nothing but dogshit while you are smoking them dogshit dogshit dogshit… After a week or so of cold turkey, the smell of cigarettes made me nauseous and I couldn’t even imagine trying to smoke one. Good Luck. ---
**Author:** ![Sea\_Sloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Sea\_Sloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sea_Sloth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/12 "2000-09-21T20:11:54Z")
After 10 yrs of smoking 3 factors made it possible for me to quit: 1. I got pneumonia. After years of chronic bronchitis and throat problems I finally landed myself in the hospital with pneumonia. My doctor said, “Elke, this is no way to live.” He was right. 2. I stopped identifying myself as a smoker. As long as I was a smoker who was trying to quit, the temptation to resume my habit was too strong. When I decided that I was a NONsmoker making a hard journey, it became much easier. 3. I kept my short-term goals in mind. I knew I was quitting because I didn’t want to die young, of emphysema or lung cancer or throat cancer. But the goal I kept in my concious mind was that I wanted to smell good. I’m serious. I went out and bought a bottle of incredibly expensive perfume and to this day I get complemented all the time on my fragrance. That was a year and nine months ago. I quit cold turkey because I found I was able to. If you are not, don’t hesitate to get extra help. Why not? It won’t kill you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/13 "2000-09-21T20:27:55Z")
**Malarky** - The Dopers are ready to help you quit. There’s been three threads devoted to helping Dopers stop smoking. I’m posting a link to the latest thread, but there’s links to the first to threads in the OP. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=38072](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=38072) I have to quit because of chronic bronchitis and the fact that I throw away almost **$100 a month** on my little smokey treat friends. If I put the money I spend on cigarettes into my savings account, I could go on a decent little vacation every year. ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/14 "2000-09-21T20:44:52Z")
Feel for you. I tried to start smoking on New Years Eve two years ago and failed miserably. Now all I can manage is 1 maybe 2 in an evening, and that’s only if I go out drinking - which I thankfully did get a handle on. Some people have addictive tendancies and some don’t. I don’t, and so have to suffer the embarrasment of walking around, smokeless, whilst everyone else looks cool 🆒. It’s a cruel world, but somebody’s got to do it. I can think of some cures maybe, not wanting to be completely useless, because I would think the hardest thing about giving up is that you’ve never really experienced the agony of what it could be like if you didn’t - the cancer, the hole in the neck (10 if you’re names Denis Leary). Go sit in a hospital or hang around outside. Have a heavy man sit on your chest so that you can’t breath. Check out the girls/guys that go out with people with holes in their necks. And good luck, you ARE going to need it. * * * Silence is the hum of a hard drive ---
**Author:** ![Malarky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Malarky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malarky)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/15 "2000-09-22T01:10:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Stella_Fantasia \* > \*\*I quit smoking at the same time as I changed jobs…I got an office job & stopped waiting tables. I’m not sure how relevant the specifics are to you, but you might want to think about what your environmental cues to smoke are, & figuring out how to avoid them. (I never smoked more than 2 packs a week, though, so I was more habituated to the action of smoking than addicted to the nicotine…) \*\* Oh yeah, my environment is DEFINATLY part of it…I just started college, and EVERYONE AND THEIR F#@$KING MOTHER is smoking a cigarette. I have a 3-hour break one day, and there is honestly nothing else to do. I don’t drive, so I can’t leave, and it’s just so hard and tempting NOT too…but damn, you guys have **great** advice…everyone else was like “Just do it! It’s easy!” or “Why would you wanna quit anyway?” You know, peccimists…since I can’t really change my surroundings, I’ll try everything else…I hope this works! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![el\_mono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea666f/32.png) [@el\_mono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_mono)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/16 "2000-09-22T01:31:54Z")
Yo, Malarky: How goes the war? I hope that you are having luck in your battle against nicotine addiction! Heads up, chin up, and never give up! You can do it!!! ---
**Author:** ![GKittridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e274bd/32.png) [@GKittridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKittridge)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/17 "2000-09-22T02:27:30Z")
I haven’t checked the rules to see if I’m not allowed to endorse a commercial product, but I don’t care. I’m going to push this book to anyone who wants to quit smoking. **You Can Stop Smoking** by Jacquelyn Rogers. About 8 bucks, I think, add 3 or 4 more if you get it from one of the online bookstores. I’ve been off those cancer sticks for almost a year now (my cut-off date is October 11th, the party is almost fully planned) after smoking about 19 years and more attempts to quit than I can remember. **Coldfire** correctly pointed out that 90% of the addiction is psychological, and that is the part that Ms. Rogers’ method deals with most. You consider the reasons you started smoking, you come up with good reasons to quit, and you use her 4-week step down program that makes quitting much easier than you could imagine. **Sea Sloth** said the reason she quit was because she wanted to smell good. This sounds silly, but it is a much better reason than not wanting to die young. Ms. Rogers points out that the possibility of dying is not a good reason to quit. If we really believed that, we never would have started smoking in the first place. My own experience confirms this. In less than a year, two people I know who smoke had heart attacks (one is my brother) and a good friend of mine died of lung cancer at the tender age of 46. This didn’t get me to stop. What did it for me was my feeling that I was a slave to those cigarettes. So when I get an urge to smoke – and it is rare – I just repeat: **I will quit smoking. I will look better. I will feel better. I will be free.** ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/18 "2000-09-22T10:03:19Z")
It will be two years in January for me (I smoked about two packs a day). I was typical in that I made several attempts to quit, and the last one “stuck” for reasons I can’t quite explain. I used the patch unashamedly–anything that works. I can tell you that it was an enormous help to remind myself that every moment when the craving was most excruciating was temporary–those moments invariably diminished into something more manageable. That’s not always your thought process when you’re in such a moment. Rather, you think “I am in agony right now, and it’s only going to get worse with each minute that passes that I don’t have a cigarette.” Wrong! You will have other moments of crisis, but those moments will go by. The general, low-grade anxiety you feel (the non-crisis edge you’re afflicted with more or less all the time initially) will begin to evaporate as well, and rather quickly. To summarize: always tell yourself you will do nothing rash without waiting ten minutes–just ten lousy minutes. Don’t let the intensity of the craving you feel right this second decide your success. ---
**Author:** ![Malarky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Malarky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malarky)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/19 "2000-09-22T15:29:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by el\_mono \* > \*\*Yo, Malarky: How goes the war? I hope that you are having luck in your battle against nicotine addiction! Heads up, chin up, and never give up! You can do it!!! \*\* Awww, thanx **el\_mono** …it’s Ok, I’m thinking of taking it slow, and switching from Marb Reds to Marb Lights for a week or two…then switching to Marb Ultra Lights for a week or two…then every day subtracting one cigarette that I smoke…I dunno…it’ll take a while and I wanted to quit fast, but I guess it’s worth a shot… ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804/20 "2000-09-22T15:40:16Z")
All I can add is what worked for me - I wanted to marry a woman who refused to marry a smoker. Made it an easy choice, tho quitting was not necessarily easy. At the time I was smoking 2+ packs a day, for 6 years or so. I quit cold turkey. Don’t remember any dramatic last cig or anything. Mrs. D. says I was pretty sick the first week - I don’t remember. What I do remember is everytime I had the urge to light up, I consciously had to tell myself “No.” And I would be fine until the next urge came along. Unfortunately, in the beginning, that will be about 10 seconds later. But day by day, the urges get farther and farther apart, and seem to be less urgent. Now, 15+ years later, I still occasionally think, “Gee, this would be a great time for a smoke.” Fortunately, it is quite easy to say “No” now. One of the big things that bugged me about my smoking was that it was not in my control. Out of 40 some cigs a day, I really “wanted” only a couple. So I was able to give myself a mindfuck that allowed me to get into controlling my urges. Good luck, pal. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-former-smokers-out-there-help/33804.md?page=2)