After 7 years of smoking Im calling it quits!

Ive come to this decision because I rant and rave about the things like floride in the water and all that. Then I realized for the last 7 years (I'm 22 now) Ive been posioning myself. (Dont ask why it took me 7 years to realize this ) Its gonna be hard but I know I can do it. Just threw out 6 packs of Newports. So heres to hopefully some better breathing and getting back in shape!

good luck man.


This is a one line but there is nothing else to say so what now?

lmfao IDK why you asking me? lol do you mean what now for me? excerise and healthy eating.

well i wish you the best of luck and have a small amount of advice to give to you (and anybody else wishing to STOP smoking) and it is simply this....

if you do not truely WANT to stop then you most likely won't stop. however, if you truely DO want to stop then remember this -

it is so easy to STOP smoking. the problem is that it is also so easy to START smoking again.

the first 3 days are the worst and my advice is to sleep through as much of those 3 days as you possibly can.

and finally always, always remember this - you are NOT addicted to cigarettes. you have become addicted to the THOUGHTS & ACTIONS of smoking (ie get a coffee - have a cig, eat some food - have a cig, complete X task - have a cig). it is the THOUGHTS you have of cigarettes that you need to stop. as soon as you crave for a cigarette then you must IMMEDIATELY think of something else - a holiday you want to go on, the most irritating song you know that will keep going round your head for days, memorise a short poem and repeat it over and over. think of ANYTHING but that cigarette IMMEDIATELY.

you will be amazed at how soon you forget about cigarettes after only a few short weeks. you dont even need patches or gum if you follow the above rules.

again good luck to you.

Thanks for the good advise man. I'll be sure to use those cause I know the thought will come to my head. You have voted justyc for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

[edit on 17-11-2006 by Everythingyouknowisalie]

Good luck with that!

I am a heavy smoker myself,I have smoked for 20 years now (I'm 39).Its strange too,when I was a kid I hated smokers,I could'nt even be around them,but once out of high school and 'on my own' I started puffing away.

I smoke close to 2 packs a day now!I cough like crazy all the time and hack up the grossest green stuff you could imagine and all of this being said,I have no desire to quit.

Maybe its because my grandparents smoked until they were well into their 80's and had no heath problems due to smoking (both sets of grandparents actually),that maybe Im in denial about smoking being truely bad for you? (if course I do know thats not the case though)

We all die sometime however.

Good luck dont go back now im still trying to kick the habit

Oh here's the best advice i can give you for stoping smoking.



IT KILLS YOU


Just think about that little fact every time you think about smoking..


Smoking is letting smoke go into your lungs... and that kills you over time.




Again, good luck and let us know in a few weeks if you held on.

Thank you all for the Gl. I will let you all know if I hold out.

Heck it took me 18 years to realize that I didn't want to smoke anymore. I tried to quit a dozen times with no success. I thought "one more time I'll try" and I quit "cold turkey" that day. I've been a non smoker for the last two years with no slips. Now the smell of someone smoking makes me sick.

I know you can do it if you want it bad enough. If you slip don't be disappointed, just dust yourself off again and try again.

hey - thanks for my very first wats (shameless thread plug) (i think).

the above advice does work. i smoked for all the years of your whole life and then one day i decided to STOP. i had 'GIVEN UP' a few times before then but there is a difference between the two you see.

i havent smoked for 1.5 years now and neither will i again.

ps - im not a man btw

One thing I did change over in the last 5 or so years is that I started to roll my own cigarettes.For one,they are very expensive in the state I live in (Washington 5.00$ or MORE a pack) and at least the smokes don't have all of the additives that your 'normal' cigarettes have.At least my doctor told me,well if your going to smoke,its better that you do it this way.

My better 1/2 is really getting on my case about smoking though.Its to the point where I wont even smoke around her,and smoking in the house is out of the question!(thank god for Nag Champa and a small fan)

I know that something is going to give eventually,either my health,or her leaving me,of course which I do NOT want either to happen.Maybe someday I can quit as well.

Keep us up to date on how your doing!

Remember, you are not alone. I am on day two of quitting smoking. I smoked for 8 yrs and finally decided for the first time to quit. I went out and bought the patches and I am amazed at how well they work. I absolutely have no cravings and am learning the fine art of not having the psychological desire to have an oral fixation. I even made it through drinking a 12 pack and had a little urge to light up, but it wasnt overpowering. The second night was even easier, and work is a breeze, because I stay so busy.

Hopefully in a month or two I will be able to completely get off the patches too, but for now they are the best money I have spent in a long long time.

My main motivation is the time and money I have been wasting ($1040/yr just for my smokes and another for my fiance). 4 hours a week rolling cigarettes, and the extra premiums on my insurance. My computer desk is filthy from ashes and keyboards are too!

After the first day, I noticed things actually tasted better and I am not woke up in the middle of the night coughing. Also, my upset stomach has subsided. I used to be nauseated after waking up and trying to eat. They say smoking causes ulcerations that can be the cause of these symptoms. I would have to agree that that may be my case.

Anyway, one of the above posters is correct. Don't ever pick up another one or you'll go back.

You got my support!

Do you think my recent case of lots of acid reflux has to do with the smoking? Plus Ive noticed when I eat if I open my jaw to much it will pop then everytime I open my mouth wide I hear a crinkeling sound in my right ear which is the same side the jaw makes a popping sound on. Anyone might know what this is? Its freaking me out.

Originally posted by Everythingyouknowisalie
Do you think my recent case of lots of acid reflux has to do with the smoking?

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on ATS, but I have had reflux lately as well. Maybe it is some sort of adjustment? I am betting it will go away after a while, but that is just my opinion.

Everythingyouknowisalie,

That's a big step toward true freedom. So many Americans speak of being free and independent but are actually some of the most materially enslaved people on Earth...addicted to excess in food and drink and smoking and drugs and creature comforts of every kind. Giving up smoking brings you closer to the true experience of freedom, and self-command.

Learn to take deep breaths periodically throughout the day. This is one of the reasons people think smoking is relaxing...because they take a deep breath when they puff on cigarettes. The slight relaxation that follows a deep breath is mistakenly attributed to the cigarette because it is done when smoking. Take deep breaths regularly and you will sense that same relaxation, and realize that it was never the cigarettes that made you feel better but the deep breathing.

Originally posted by justyc
you are NOT addicted to cigarettes.

That's an incorrect statement. Research has been has shown that nicotine is highly addictive and it is very difficult to quit.

Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present — and the bad feelings when it's absent — make breaking any addiction very difficult. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.

The 1988 Surgeon General's Report, "Nicotine Addiction," concluded that

Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco are addicting.

Nicotine is the drug that causes addiction.

Pharmacologic and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and coc aine.

www.americanheart.org...

Most of the rest of your statements are correct and the social and psychological habituations and rituals are often harder to overcome than the addiction which can be achieved after three days, as you point out.

the first 3 days are the worst and my advice is to sleep through as much of those 3 days as you possibly can.

This statement is true in terms of the physical addiction and it is the withdrawal symptoms that make it so bad.

What are the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal?

irritability

impatience

hostility

anxiety

depressed mood

difficulty concentrating

restlessness

decreased heart rate

increased appetite or weight gain

www.americanheart.org...

Expecting someone to sleep for three days is asking a lot, but if you can pull it off without drugs, I guess it wouldn't hurt.






[edit on 2006/11/17 by GradyPhilpott]

7 years ?? Well then it doesnt matter much anyway.

The damage has been done.

everythingyouknowisalie I want to congratulate you on the decision you have made, it is hard work but it is the best thing you could do, espcially when you are so young (pay no attention to the poster above me).

Nicotine IS addictive though, the information GradyPhilpott posted is true and correct, I have quit a couple of times before unsucessfully and the last time was unsucessful only because when I quit I had just left home, am in a foreign country, on my own alot yadda yadda ... and I became severely depressed. So as for me right now, I'd rather light up every now and then (I am a light smoker but it doesn't make it any better) than think the horrible thoughts I was when I wasn't smoking.

I don't tell you this to deter you in any way or to dampen your spirits or the thread, guess I just wanted to share.

Hypnosis works well if doing it on your own is too much to bear.
I wish you all the best in your endeavour friend

Originally posted by IAF101
7 years ?? Well then it doesnt matter much anyway.

The damage has been done.

No, it hasnt. I have smoked for 5 years and I have also decided to quit, Im not as strong as some of you and Im getting the patch.

My main motivation for quiting smoking is my aunt.... it is so sad. She has smoked for 35 years and now it is really hitting her hard. She is having all sorts of lung problems. She has quit now, but the damage is done.

Her proudest moment was kicking the smoking habbit.

If you have smoked for less than a decade, you can quit with little health effects from smoking.

QUIT! It's never too late, and I am kicking this habbit now. I am not ending up like my aunt, who in the end had to quit anyway.