I started for the first time about 9 months ago because of stress and working with a bunch of smokestacks over the summer. Got to a pack a day pretty quickly. I quit for a few weeks in August, then I was doing about a pack a week until my trip to Europe. Then it was instantly a pack a day and 3 packs a day for the last week I was there.
Then cold turkey.
I had my last stog almost 2 days ago (time change prevents me from finding a more accurate measure).
I have an appt with my doctor on Friday (the earliest I could get). I’m still smoking, but I’m more conscious of when, where, and how much. I think I might start keeping a journal to get a better idea. The hardest situation to handle not smoking is going to be when I’m sitting at my desk at home reading the Dope. 
Is it just me or does anyone else who wants to quit have a very difficult time with the idea of throwing away perfectly good cigarettes? I just don’t think I could do it.
Way to go everyone!
My smoking story isn’t long. In the fall of 1981 as I entered my 8th grade year of school, my friends and I would ride dirt bikes on the weekend. They were all smokers. I thought it would be kind of cool to light up with them. This happened two weekends in a row. I would go through a couple of packs each weekend. I was even inhaling by the end of the second weekend. They were “lights” of some type though, so I guess I still wasn’t very cool.
Around Wednesday after the second weekend of this, I was sitting in a classroom. I forget if the teacher was being a bitch (to my 13 year old self) or what the problem was, but I do remember that I was feeling stressed. I thought to myself, “man, I really need a cigarette.”
In what was probably the single most profound and clear rationalization that I have ever had, it immediately occurred to me that I didn’t want to need anything in that way. In the following 24 years, I think I have partially smoked two cigarettes just to shock friends who were smokers.
I’m not in any way trying to be condescending with this post. Looking back, I was extremely lucky to have that epiphany. I never had the physical or mental addiction that most of you are talking about. I really can’t relate to that, other than my one afternoon in the classroom. What I can do is encourage all of you to keep up the great accomplishments that you have started. Congratulations and good luck to all of you!
8 days! Go me! I started smoking when I was 10 (man, 22 years…how did I get this old?) and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to quit. I’m thinking I ought to pick up this Carr book everyone keeps talking about; I’m pretty sure I’m going to make it this time but every little bit helps, you know? I keep thinking about a 911 call I took a few weeks ago; a COPD patient who is so addicted to his smokes that even though he’s on oxygen, he’s still gotta light up. The reason for the 911 call was that this time, he forgot to turn off his oxygen tank first. Severe burns to the face and hands ensued. I don’t want to be 60-some-odd years old gasping for breath through a mask and so hopelessly addicted that I end up setting my face on fire.
To all the other quitters, even the ones who quit years ago: Let’s throw a We Quit BBQ and Cotillion. We can all get together and make a huge statue of our patron saint Nosmo King out of our chewed-up sugarless gum, play Hard-Candy Bingo, and have an exhibition of all the art and needlework we’ve been doing to keep our hands busy. By that time I should have a 50 foot scarf ready for show.
Yay, Marlitharn!
Himself’s quit-meter reading:
1w 2d 1:09 smoke-free, 90 cigs not smoked, $14.63 saved, 7:30 life saved
1w 2d 1:10 smoke-free, 362 cigs not smoked, $58.83 saved, 1d 6:10 life saved
1w 1d 04:18 smoke-free, 165 cigs not smoked, £41.25 saved, 13:45 life saved
Convert the £ to $ and you get $78.35. Smokes are friken’ expensive over here…
You know, I think I’ve hit upon something rather odd.
This has been far and away the easiest time I’ve ever had with quitting. Every time I’ve tried in the past, it’s been a real battle to fight back the constant cravings. This time, I’m getting maybe one minor craving per day. And I think I’ve figured out one of the things that really helped me this time…
I went blonde.
Obviously, it’s purely a psychological thing, but whenever the urge for a smoke strikes, all it takes is a quick glance in the mirror for my brain to go “Oh, that’s right…the dark-haired guy smoked, not the blone one. Never mind”. <shrug>
Time Smoke-Free: 9 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 240
Lifetime Saved: 1 day, 20 hours
Money Saved: $61.88
I quit late July - almost six months ago. Haven’t had a smoke since.
My previous attempts were all “I’ll cut down gradually, that way it won’t be so bad”. Wrong. That method never works.
I went cold turkey - no gum, no patch. I just stopped. That seems to work best for me. A few days of hell, where I’d feel like gnawing my own leg off for a smoke - and then, just the “damn, a smoke will be fun about now” which is easier to deal with.
My “trick” is that whenever I get to thinking about how nice and peaceful sitting on the porch with a buddy having a smoke and watching the sun go down is - I think about how wretched the feeling of bronchitis is, the labour to breathe, the feeling of dull relentless pain like wooden knives in my chest, the mouth full of phlem, not smelling the stink because my nose is shot (but knowing others can), huddling outside in the cold to satisfy my wretched addiction … and that does it; cravings are gone. 
Just for this moment I regret quitting.
Because my sense of taste has come back, and jeebus, Kraft string cheese is disgusting. :smack:
1 WK, 3 D, 22 H, 22 min
Amount saved: $29.16
Cigarettes not smoked: 109
Heh…my sense of smell came back the other day.
I soon discovered the reason guests don’t stick around for long when they visit – four cats and a dog can be mighty odorsome. <phew!> :eek:
Two years, one week, one day, 4 hours, 11 minutes and 0 seconds. 18479 cigarettes not smoked, saving €5,405.21. Life saved: 9 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours, 55 minutes.
The Allan Carr book didn’t work for me, except to remind me that cigarettes cause stress, they don’t *relieve * it. For me quitting successfully was all about coming to the realisation that I can’t control my smoking; I can’t limit it to evenings or nights out or whatever; if I even have one puff again I will be right back to square one. The sort of thing that all smokers know deep down, but still try to deny. It’s learning not to deny it that has kept me from backsliding.
Good luck everyone. Honestly, if I can do it anyone can.
So, I’m doing okay on the no smoking, but I really physically feel like crap. I’ve decided to do a 12-day herbal cleansing diet and detox program to try to clean out some of the toxins from my body. The pamphlet says that you will feel like you have the flu for a few days at first, so we’ll see how it goes. You’re supposed to feel great and energetic at the end, so here’s hoping!
Feeling terrible physically can come as a surprise for quitters. You’re told over and over how much healthier you’ll be and feel when you quit, but the initial cigarette-free time didn’t feel like that at all. Yes, to the flu-like symptoms, along with general fogged-up brain, lethargy and even some intestinal discomfort. You can get “quit-zits” and farts, too.
I pimp http://www.quitnet.org for support and information, including the surprise physical symptoms you may not have been expecting.
And of course, if at first you don’t succeed–don’t go back to smoking indoors. It will help break the association between smoking and other activities. And if first you don’t succeed, take what you’ve learned from the first try, and try again.
Hear, hear.
It really is a frightening insight into addiction. I have a lot more sympathy for junkies and alcoholics - this must be what it is like for them with their drugs, and it isn’t easy, not one bit.
Well, I was feeling some self-loathing this weekend and let myself by a pack of cigarettes.
BUT I DIDN’T SMOKE ANY.
Interesting how I really really wanted to punish myself for my current station in life by smoking, but then after I walked the two blocks home after buying the cigs, I didn’t want them anymore.
I’ve been battling a couple of strong cravings over the last two days, but if I acknowledge what the craving is all about (ie - I’m in a blues bar drinking whiskey! I must smoke! or I hate that I’m broke and my friends aren’t! I guess I’ll smoke! or I feel great! I’d love to smoke!) and that it’s just a craving, nothing more, then I can get past it. That, and the fact that I may want to smoke, but I want to avoid the shame I know I’ll feel more. And I want to be able to breathe more. And I don’t want to have to start all over more.
I’m into my third week cold turkey. In the past, the third week is when I’ve flown into nic fit induced rages. So, I’m wondering if that will happen this time.
I’m looking forward to the time when it’s been several days since I’ve thought about smoking at all.
So, how is everybody doing? Things are going fairly well for me. I haven’t experienced any strong physical cravings, really, or at least if I have, I’ve attributed them to my cleansing diet. I’ve been packing the Allen Carr book around like a bible, with pages marked to re-read. He makes so much sense, but I still feel weak at times.
This is the beginning of week #3 for me and still the economic reality is what’s really making me toe the line. Mr. Jones broke down and smoked one on Sunday and I had an interesting reaction to that. I wasn’t disappointed in him but I was furious that I didn’t “get” to have one. It was a very juvenile reaction like a 5 year old stomping her feet and whining: “Mom, how come he gets to have one and not me” it was at that moment that I realized that though we are quitting together I’m giving him way too much responsibility over my smoking or not and I’d readily use his smoking as an excuse to do it myself. I recommitted myself after that realization.
I didn’t smoke on Sunday even though I wanted to. So, this is day #16 for me. I quit for 2 months last year and started again so I won’t really feel like I’ve done it until I’ve passed that mark but I have to say that the daily cravings are just about nil and I only really want one when I drink consequently I’m drinking less which can only be a good thing.
Now, if I could only translate that $6+ per day we were spending on smokes into actual money in my savings account that would be a good thing.
Hope everyone else is doing OK.
July 22nd was the last time I had a cigarette. It was the day the doctor officially told me I was pregnant. I had tested positive five days before, but just couldn’t quit. My husband hid the cigs and rationed me 4 a day until I ran out. I never bothered picking up another pack. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but I had a great motivator. Now the trick is going to be staying quit after my son is born.
2 weeks, 1 day. It was really tough this weekend, hanging out in a bar with my friends, doubly so because I am not drinking in January either, but other than a really bad chest infection I haven’t had any nasty side effects. The whole idea of being a non-smoker is just too damn attractive to me.
I did just about bite the head off a British Airways ticket clerk today. I’d like to think that was due to them cancelling a flight and mucking about with finding me another and treating me like cattle when trying to return from Edinburgh on a business trip, but it might have been delayed withdrawals…
Now this is damn fine reinforcement – looking out my office window at one of the designated smoking areas, as a heavy snow falls on everyone outside getting their fix. Brrrrr…looks cold out there.
Time Smoke-Free: 16 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes and 23 seconds
Cigarettes NOT smoked: 419
Lifetime Saved: 3 days, 4 hours
Money Saved: $110.00