OK, so I have smoked my last cigarette. I am officially quitting. The hardest part is going to be the psychological part - it’s only been about 20 minutes, and I’m already starting to wonder if I can do this, and arguing with myself about just running down to the store and picking up “one last pack.”
This is gonna be rough…
TellMeI’mNotCrazy, best of luck! The thing that surprised me most was how sorry for myself I felt in those first few minutes. It was : “Wail! I’ll never be able to smoke again! Poor, poor pitiful me!” A couple of hours later I pulled myself together and had to laugh at that first reaction. The self-pity would sneak up on me occasionally but not often now.
By the way, you’re not crazy, just so you know.
I’ve been 100% smoke-free coming up on three years this May. I quit cold turkey on 5-6-2003 after over 20 years of a pack to a pack-and-a-half a day habit, and after several false starts over the preceding years. If I can do it, then anyone can! The most important advice I can give you is when you DO quit, never–and I do mean NEVER–smoke another one. Not one. If you do, you’ll be right back to your old habit in no time, I guarantee.
Just remember, going without a cigarette won’t kill you. But, every time you have one, it kills you just a little bit more.
I’ve been wanting to quit for a long time. I’ve been thinking about how expensive they are too. Well, last night I was finishing off a packet and thinking about how little I enjoy smoking, and I thought to myself that I may as well try to quit now. I woke up this morning wanting a cigarette with my coffee and tea. (No, not coffee and tea mixed together! First one, then the other!) Still want one.
‘One day at a time’, Ice Wolf? One hour at a time, more like!
My husband smoked from the time he was a pre-teen until he was 36 years old. It’ll be 9 years since he stopped this coming February. You can do it, too.
(He tried unsuccessfully a couple of times to quit and then one day just said, “Oh, I’m quitting,” and he did.)
I quit seven+ months ago. No gum, no patch, nada. I recommend a book called “Allan Carr’s EasyWay To StopSmoking”. People here on this very board recommended it in a quit smoking thread. I bought it, read it and quit cold turkey. I won’t say quitting was easy, but it was much easier than I had ever thought it cold be, and much easier than any of my other quitting attempts had been. Once I changed my way of thinking about smoking and why I felt like I had to have a cigarette, beating the physical symptoms wasn’t really that hard. Honest.
I was a heavy smoker too; I smoked for 25 years and about 2 packs per day the last 7-8 years of that.
I paid $14.95 for that book, and owe my life to it.
Hang in there, Case Sensitive, you can do it! Have faith in yourself and you will succeed.
Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts, and especially to Sgt. Pepper and TMINC for your brotherhood in suffering: we can do this thing. Day 5 now, and still hanging in there - cravings and grumpiness come and go: I never really realised what a habitual habit smoking is - I’ll be fine for a while, no cravings, then after a mealtime and it just feels like cigarette time. It’s then that the urge really hits. I’m just conditioned to smoke at certain times. Damn you, smoking, I will not be your lab animal.
No patches, as I don’t know which end to light. No alcohol either, as from past experience that’s when my resolve is at its weakest - besides, a beer in one hand and a fag in the other feels so right. Lots of origami helps at times when my hands feel like they should have something in them - I make little paper frogs. Then I smoke them.
I read Allen Carr’s book too, Boscibo - a while back, but it stuck with me. The thing I remember most is that I’m only 3 weeks from being nic free. 21 days less 5. 16 more days of Purgatory. Then I am never going back - longest I quit before was 3 months, then my girlfriend left me and I started again. So yeah, Q.E.D, I’m not relapsing after this.
I’m starting to gibber. Sentences getting shorter. Time to go. Thanks again to everyone for your support and advice - it means more than you know. And it’s nice to know I’m not suffering alone. Mad propz again to Sgt. Pepper and TMINC.
God, I want a cigarette…
It seems odd, but I’ve found that during my spells of not smoking, I have a lot more time. Instead of having a cigarette before I go into the store, a cigarette before I go into the library, TWO cigarettes before I go into work - I just go. All that saved time adds up.
Frank, I noticed that too, when I didn’t smoke – having more time, getting things done. That’s my motivation now, even more than the health and expense aspects.
I also quit after reading Allen Carr’s book – it was remarkably easy, and I stayed smoke-free for three years.
It’s hard, that’s for sure, but more beneficial than anything else you can do for yourself. Hang in there!
I quit November 22nd. Actually this time it’s been a bit easier than in the past when I tried. I suppose it’s partly because I planned to quit for over a month in advance. I was spending Thanksgiving at my sister’s and she doesn’t allow smoking. Believe it or not, I think the other the thing that really helped was that I broke my leg on the 25th. Anything that changes your patterns helps.
I suggest you slightly alter the things that make you want a cigarette. So if you normally have one when sitting at the computer, get up when you feel the urge, and watch some TV. I used to have one every day after work. I’d come home, sit in the same spot, watch the news, and have a smoke. Now after work, I take the dogs for a walk and check my e-mail. I then start dinner, and the watch the news. It seems to help.
Also, straws; lots and lots of straws. You know that peculiar way one breaths when one is smoking? I did that into straws, and it got me over the first month hump.
All my best.
I’m a non-smoker, but ducked in here to mention that there’s some book, and Boscibo’s already beat me to it. That, and to offer up mad props and much support - come holler when you need help. It’s a good thing, your quitting, even if it sucks.
I remember that feeling of climbing the walls dying for a cigarette, but I refused to give into it.
I quit about 4 months ago using the nicotine patches for the full 6 weeks (a blowtorch works wonderfully!) and Quitnet. I tried quitting a few times, but it was only half heartedly and I’d go back after a week or two. This time I knew I really wanted to quit and I will never have another puff EVER AGAIN.
132 days, 16 hours, 36 minutes and 31 seconds smoke free.
3,981 cigarettes not smoked.
$1,188.00 and 1 month, 9 hours of your life saved.
Your quit date: 9/6/2005
I had a friend who found out he had a tumor in his lung a week after his first grandchild was born. He passed away about a year and a half later.
Just think how you would feel 10 years from now if your doctor told you that you were dying of cancer. Would you think Og, I really should have quit that time I tried in early 2006! Wouldn’t you wish you could go back in time to now and only have to deal with a bad craving for a cigarette?
Trick yourself mentally if you have to. Look up lung cancer, COPD, and emphysema on WebMD. Scare yourself. Just do whatever works.
Best of luck to you Case, Sgt. Pepper, TMINC and anyone else who reads this who’s trying to quit. And if you do slip up, try quitting again until it sticks.
So…now that I’ve done it…How long do I hafta worry about the
“Lung Cancer Fairy” visiting me?
Forever and ever? I have this awful fantasy that I’ll go for 5-10 years, clean, and find out I have it.
Depression ensues…
If it is any consolation, dr. Memory, Dana Reeves ( Superman’s wife) has lung cancer and neither her or her husband never smoked. She’s 44 or 45 I think.
You are a better person for quitting.
Well, an hour away from this being a whole day smoke free. It was tough at times, but the worse was the habit, as others have said. Sitting in bed reading last night I kept wanting to move my right hand over the night table to get that smoke that wasn’t there. Then I’d feel a loss because I couldn’t have a smoke. That was the worse, actually. I played San Andreas on the computer last night, munching on almonds and no really strong cravings during that.
So, so far there’s been the tough parts, but overall it wasn’t too bad. Although as times, it is as though I’m in a bit of a daze. Perhaps it’s shock. I’ve just killed my lover.
Yeah, I’m going cold turkey as well. There was a article in the paper on Friday where a group was giving out free quit smoking aids (patch, gum) for a study. I decided that by the time I called them on Monday, and then waited for the stuff to get here I would be well on my way.
Anyway, doing well. Not liking it, but not yet ready to murder yet. Although I did yesterday afternoon. Oh, and I’m still hacking and coughing this morning.
Thanks for the support, it is appreciated to pop by and read some helpful hints or to read the horror stories.
Dinner would be so much more entertaining if our bodies spoke aloud.
Expect that to continue for a few days. You’ve been paralyzing your cilia with every drag. They’re starting to do their job again.
DrMemory (and all of us), from here:
I’m on hour 34 now, but I can’t get excited about it. I’ve made it for a few days many times. Once I get to about a month, then I’ll start thinking I might make it.
Did anyone else read the title as “I’d Murder For A Bloody Fang”?
Starting the 32nd hour here.