Satan,
Good luck brother. I need to quit as well, for some reason I keep expecting some motivation to come along and bite me in the ass.
Question : that meter you downloaded that shows the money and life you have saved, where can I find one ? It sounds very neat.
Yeah Satan, I want that timer as well. I’m going to try to quit when I get back to the States (1 month). It’s darn near impossible to quit smoking in Europe (don’t know how you did it, Coldfire).
When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you’ll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion
Satan, you can do this. My husband and I both smoked for more than eighteen years each. I quit cold turkey. It took him two years of cutting back to quit (before patches or Zyban). Chew gum for the dry mouth or oral fixation. A positive attitude that you CAN quit is more than half the battle.
The biggest thing is your state of mind. If you are determined to quit and are ready to quit then you will. No drugs, patches, or anything else will work unless you have the right frame of mind.
** Eve** Thank you for that saying. I remember someone posted it to OpalCat when she was talking about losing weight but I never got a chance to go back and see who. That saying has stuck in my mind since that day, and it’s so true. Thanks for sharing it.
** Sigh. So many men, so few who can afford me ** Original by Wally
I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
I quit on the Great American Smokeout last year, and somehow started going thru the motions a few months later of smoking, but not inhaling (seriously). Recently, though, stress hit hard and I started up again (about a month ago). I have deemed April 11 my new day of freedom from tobacco. (I told co-workers last week that Monday was my last day of smoking)
Last time I used the patch, and I quit for about two years. A couple of months ago I relapsed, and now I’m back on the wagon again. I’m not using anything this time – it really wasn’t that hard since I’d only smoked for a couple of months.
I don’t get to post as often as I’d like, but I would like to keep this thread alive. I’ll check back in a day or two.
I’m still waiting for motivational cheerleader pictures. Eve? 
Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
Delta-9 Home Page
Here is where you can download the Meter that I am using: http://www.silkquit.org/silkquit250.exe . You can go to the main page for the meters if you have another platform besides Windows or just want to see other options.
I am doing okay today. I love Zyban!
And while I can use the patch on it, as mentioned earlier, really, I don’t miss the nicotine. I miss the hands/mouth stuff. The bad news is that I’m up to two packs of toothpicks a day… The splinters are a bitch!!
How is everyone else doing?
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Two days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 9 seconds.
107 cigarettes not smoked, saving $13.47.
Life saved: 8 hours, 55 minutes.
Yer pal,
Satan
Butt-Out Benefits Checklist.
This is from the Canadian Council on Smoking and Health & the University of California.
After 20 minutes without a cigarette: pulse rate drops to normal.
After 8 hours without a cigarette: carbon monoxide blood levels returns to normal.
After one day: risk of heart attack decreases.
After two days: sense of taste and smell improves. Nerve endings start to adjust to the absence of nicotine.
After three days: bronchial tubes relax. Breathing is easier. Lung capacity increases.
From after a month to nine months: exercise becomes easier, smokers cough decreases, energy is up and sleep quality improves.
After a year: risk of heart disease is cut in half.
After five years: significant reduction in risk of lung cancer. Death rate from heart disease drops to that of non-smokers.
After ten years: risk of mouth as esophagus cancer decreases. Risk of lung cancer is almost the same as if you’d never smoked. Precancerous cells are replaced.
This was printed about 12 years ago.
Hope that helps the will power. Good luck.smug:
You rock! I was just asking Drainey about that exact list, but neither of us had a chance to look for it! Thanks!
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Two days, 18 hours, 8 minutes and 45 seconds.
110 cigarettes not smoked, saving $13.78.
Life saved: 9 hours, 10 minutes.
Yer pal,
Satan
Glad to help out.
I have to say…
I feel inspired to start my Zyban program again. I have smoked for 21 years starting when I was 13. It was time to quit 20 years ago. I guess I have no will power.
Again, good luck.
Take care.
Man, this is one of the most inspirational threads I have read in a very long time.
I will be joining you as a non-smoker shortly. I haven’t picked a date yet. I need to pick a date. I have to psyche myself for it. It will be soon, though, I guaran-damn-tee it.
Can’t use Zyban, since I have epilepsy. I’ll use the patch. I quite for two months on the patch. Can’t remember why I backslid, but I’ve been feeling pretty guilty about it ever since.
I no longer smoke in my house, so the amount I smoke has been cut way back, especially since it’s been cold outside.
I’ll let you know when I quit. Shayna, and anyone else out there who wants to, want to quit with me? We’ll all set a date, do it, and start the most monumental bitch thread in the history of the SDMB?
Keep up the good work, Brian!
Cristi, Slayer of Peeps
I made my husband join a bridge club. He jumps next Tuesday.
(title & sig courtesy of UncleBeer and WallyM7!)
Congrats Satan!
I’ve been smoke free since October 14th 1999, the day my daughter was born.
I use Nicorrette. I still use it. I chew 3 of the 4mg pieces at a time. I go through a $50.00 box of the stuff a week. I’ve broken the oral fixation, but am as hooked on the nicotine as ever.
Do you Zyban would help with that?
It’s funny. The Zyban commercials all say that one of the side effects is sleeplessness, but when I picked up my first 'script there was a warning sticker on the phial reading: ‘may cause drowsiness’(!), and another saying not to use alcohol when taking this drug.
Hmmm…
Well, I’ve always had trouble falling asleep, so Zyban didn’t really bother me that way. (I can’t understand the warning labels, though…)
I did find myself a bit wired sometimes, almost as if I was on some kind of mild speed, but hey, it’s an antidepressant, right?
It really does quell the cravings. Really. I smoked for twenty-five years, and after two weeks of taking Zyban while smoking I was amazed at the change in my physical urges.
I’m married almost seven years, never smoked in the house. Call me whipped; smokers’ houses stink. So if I wanted a smoke, I had to go outside. Watching the tube for an hour would find me going outside during at least three commercial breaks.
On Zyban I was going outside once, and not particularly enjoying it, either.
My wife’s insurance plan (Cygna) wouldn’t cover Zyban, so I had to pay for it myself. At Genovese it was $104.00(US). I wound up getting the last two months worth at CostCo for $85.00. That’s about what I’d pay for a month’s worth of cigarets (if I bought a month’s worth at one time.)
Someone at my wife’s company got the insurance plan to cover it by having his doctor prescribe it as Welbutrin(sp?) which is the antidepressant. Same stuff apparently. Something to remember…
Another reason to use Zyban and not the patch or gum: Get the nicotine out of your bloodstream. This way in one year or so, you can reapply for your all-important Life insurance policies as a non-smoker and get a cheaper rate. They’ll want to do a blood test and one year is about how long I’ve heard you have to wait for it all to wash out of your system.
The patch also irritated the hell out of whatever skin I put it on, and I really felt NO effect from it whatsoever.
Anyway, to Satan and everyone else, good luck.
You’d think that Superman would be a good person to invite to a barbecue but trust me, he’s not. I mean, sure he can cook the hot dogs fast with his heat vision, but they all taste of charred eye boogers.
Scylla, how can you say you’ve “broken the oral fixation” but you “…go through a $50.00 box of the stuff a week”
That’s not breaking any oral fixation. Have you tried regular gum? I go through at least 12 Dentyne Ice squares a day.
You’d think that Superman would be a good person to invite to a barbecue but trust me, he’s not. I mean, sure he can cook the hot dogs fast with his heat vision, but they all taste of charred eye boogers.
Nicky:
I see your point. I’m not fixated on cigarettes though. I guess that’s good.
DAY THREE
I love Zyban. My cravings are slim. Don’t get me wrong - they are like intense little jabbing pains, but they are like a pin prick in that they come and go rather quickly (and unexpectedly).
Itt’s funny, but as my body says, “tine for a cigarette,” I am telling it, “Uh… right,” and it seems it’s finally beginning to listen.
An odd thing that I’ve found is that at this time, I start getting the same kind of physiical reactions as if I was still smoking! Like a little cough, throat irritation, watery eyes… I don’t know what causes it, but it’s supposedly natural.
I am getting slight headaches from the Zyban (I think), but nothing that an Ibuprofen can’t cure, and my sleeping sked is a bit odd, but again, nothing I don’t think I can handle, and it’ll only last a couple more weeks at the most.
Thanks for all of the support everyone! I’m glad this threadf is ancouraging some people, and I hoppe you all feel supported as well!
TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Three days, 29 minutes and 29 seconds.
120 cigarettes not smoked, saving $15.10.
Life saved: 10 hours, 0 minutes.
Yer pal,
Satan
You betcha, Cristi!!! I’m going home next week (the 19th) and I’ll ask my brother to write me a scrip for Zyban. I have the feeling that that’s going to be the only way I’ll be able to do it, since I’ve tried pretty much everything else under the sun with no results. I guess that would put my actual quit day around 2-3 weeks from now. (How long do you continue to smoke once you’ve started the Zyban?) Maybe we could make May 1st our target date. How does that sound to you?
And I will DEFINITELY need a psycho-bitch topic to post to. I don’t go to the pit, but with the way I’ll probably be feeling, perhaps that’d be the best place to post it.
Thanks for linking the page with the counter, Satan. That’s very cool and I’ll definitely use it when I quit.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank
“Mom, he’s a neo Nazi! He’s a doctor also? Well…” - WallyM7
You’d think that Superman would be a good person to invite to a barbecue but trust me, he’s not. I mean, sure he can cook the hot dogs fast with his heat vision, but they all taste of charred eye boogers.
Shayna:
May 1st sounds like a good day to me. Particularly because we’ll be closing on our new house on May 15th, and it would be nice to move in to it as a non-smoker. 
Now I’ve just got to see if I can get my husband to quit, too. He’s been making some noise like he wants to, and boy, will it be easier if we do it at the same time.
That counter is pretty cool! I’ll use it too.
Cristi, Slayer of Peeps
I made my husband join a bridge club. He jumps next Tuesday.
(title & sig courtesy of UncleBeer and WallyM7!)
If your insurance won’t pay for the Zyban, then get your doctor to write you a prescription for Wellbutron, it’s the antidepressant that Zyban was derived from. It won’t hurt you, it’s basically the same thing, just the antidepressant agent is missing in the Zyban. That’s what my doc did, and insurance paid for it. Another note folks, the Zyban is only good for three months, after that it’s pretty much done all it can do for you. And most doctors won’t go past three months with it.
** Sigh. So many men, so few who can afford me ** Original by Wally
I’ve learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.