Ex-smokers, please pop in for a second

In My Humble Opinion
41

Tomorrow will make 34 days. I just used willpower, I’ve tried slowing down, the gum, and skoal (yuk) before. You just need to make a mental decision that you are over it and then it becomes much easier to get over the physical part.

I stopped after getting bronchitis for the 4th time in 14 months. First week was easy as hell to quit because I couldn’t breathe anyway.

The next week was pretty bad, maybe a 7 or 8 on a 10-toughness scale. But I think breaking the habit was much harder than overcoming the physical addiction.

The past two weeks have been pretty good, the only tempting time comes when I drink (like tonight). But, it’s getting to the point where it has become more of a thought (“Hey, that looks kinda good”) instead of a serious craving (“I NEED a cig, NOW!”).

Good luck if you’re going to make an attempt at it. You’ll be happy once you do it.

42

Yes, apparently all the posters above who said another method worked for them are lying.

43

Actually, quitting is so easy I do it about 15 times a day.

Mark Twain was asked why he, a Southerner, voted Republican: “Well, I figure a Democrat would steal a lit stove. A Republican would, too, but he’d have the sense to wear gloves.”

44

1) How did you stop ? e.g. willpower, just decided not to, patches, etc…

Plain old willpower. My new SO at that time didn’t smoke. We were together 2 years before I got the urge to quit. To this day I don’t know how he could have kissed me!

2) How difficult was quitting ? with 10 being the most impossibly hard thing you’ve ever done, and 1 being as easy as blinking (I’m not discriminating all the non-blinkers out there… let it go)

Oh, probably a 5. Not too tough.

3) Do you honestly still want one occasionally, or do you have absolutely no desire ?

You bet. The facts are simply, smoking stinks. It’s expensive. And it’s hell on your lungs. I still desire one when I’m drinking, though. My dad just died with emphysema and I’m glad I quit. Life for him was hell.

45

  1. I was a 2 pack (50 cigs) a day smoker. Quit cold turkey.

  2. I’d say a 5

  3. When I’m really, really pissed (drunk), I have a bit of a craving… but if I’m not around others that smoke its no big deal.

46

January 26 will be 4 years for me. I had smoked for 14 years and tried to quit a number of times, once for about 4 months. My wife also quit a month prior to my quitting. She had the flu and was in no shape to smoke for a few days so she just decided to tough it out.

1) How did you stop ? e.g. willpower, just decided not to, patches, etc…

Tapered off starting in December till I was smoking 1 cigarette a day. For me, after I had 1 smoke, I wanted another. So I just pushed back the time I had my first cigarette to later and later. When I was down to 1 butt a day, I was smoking at 9pm or later.

2) How difficult was quitting ? with 10 being the most impossibly hard thing you’ve ever done, and 1 being as easy as blinking (I’m not discriminating all the non-blinkers out there… let it go)

It would vary from 3 to 8 for the first 4 or 5 months. After 6 or 8 months, the desire was as gone as it was going to get (1). All our friends were still smoking, so hanging out with them was tough it strengthened our resolve to not smoke and just deal with the fact that we would always be tempted.

3) Do you honestly still want one occasionally, or do you have absolutely no desire ?

Every now and then, somebody will walk by smoking and I’ll catch a passing whiff of just enough to go “hmmmmmmm,…cigarette” but usually at that same instance I get enough of that smell to remind me how bad it makes me and my clothes smell and how thankful I am to have quit. I don’t mind the smell in small doses but hate it in large doses.

Some advice that worked for me: (YMMV)

Taper off. You didn’t start out smoking a pack a day. Reduce the levels in your body and get used to the feeling of deprivation so it’s easier to deal with when there are none coming later in the day. Break rituals now (while you’re still smoking) like smoking after meals, while drinking, with morning coffee etc. It’ll be one less bridge to cross when it gets tough.

Develop a quitters attitude. Dislike the feeling, cost, smell, social implications, whatever. Just dislike the habit because it’s about to be You vs. Butts so it helps to psych yourself up for it.

Once you quit for 1 day, you’ver got it beat. Tomorrow is the same amount of time as today and if you did it today you can do it tomorrow. Never take another drag once you’ve quit. It’s all to easy to say “it’s just one drag” and find yourself smoking again.