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Anyone here stopped smoking?


Carrie Mathison
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Katie quit about a year before I met her. She got bronchitis, couldn't smoke for two days, and never picked it up again. The first two weeks were torture, the first two months in general were really hard, but after that the addiction was beat. Still, several years later, and especially when drinking, she'll get a craving. And it's also why she'll never quit drinking coffee.

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I smoked for around 10 years, then quit when I turned 30. I used to wake up first thing in the morning and have a ciggie with my coffee hanging my head out the window. Would smoke rolling tobacco rather than tailors.. American Spirit, or Camel if I had to smoke tailors. Been smoke free for about, 3 years. (I still occasionally have a drag on someones cigarette on a night out if I'm super drunk but never a whole one). Unfortunately there is no secret to quitting, its a case of just really wanting to quit and doing it, rather than thinking you really SHOULD but you kinda don't wanna.

 

I tried e-cigs and vaping the first time I quit but that doesn't divorce you from nicotine or the habit of taking 5 mins for yourself to go smoke a hoon. Which is the hardest thing about quitting. Its all in your head in the end. You just gotta stop cold turkey and not allow yourself any. The first week sucks unbearably. I was an insufferable grump.. but it gets easier.

 

Unfortunately I cant tell you any tricks or knacks or secrets, it just comes down to wanting to stop, and stopping. Allowing yourself to go outside for 5 minutes with a glass of water (when you would be smoking) helps. That thinking time is nice so continue to give yourself that. Toothpicks to chew and hold can fill that habit of holding something..but avoid the Tea Tree oil ones... they can blister your lips from excessive chewing...but really its having willpower and not buckling. When you can go out to the pub/bar and get hammered and still not smoke, you know you've got the upper hand. I mean, I know I'm a hypocrite cause I just said that I still have an occasional drag if I'm drunk.. But I used to go through a pack a day, and If I went out I'd smoke maybe twice that. But now its a rarity for me to even have a drag, and I still go to the pub frequently with my girlfriend or friends and some of them still smoke. It feels great to not NEED a smoke anymore.

 

Good luck to you. The longer you leave quitting the harder the habit will be to break.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Just my 2 cents:

Vaping hasn't really been around long enough to have enough data to definitively say vaping is safer than smoking. It could be you trade one health problem for another, at least if you are vaping nicotine I have a friend who has smoked 40 years, and decided to quit smoking, and started the vape thing, with nicotine. He feels it helped him quit smoking, but he is vaping all the time, now.

 

But really, no matter what the form, nicotine isn't good for you, regardless. So, I suppose the question you should ask is whether you want to quit nicotine intake altogether, or simply have an unconfirmed, (relatively) less harmful way of using nicotine. As someone who once used nicotine, too, I would recommend just stop smoking, and not to mess with vaping, if you are trying to get healthier.

 

Hope that is helpful, CM.

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I smoked for about ten years and quit about ten years ago. I basically got a really bad case of bronchitis and when I was up one night at 3AM decided to google my symptoms and cancer came up (hush Reese, I know.)

 

That freaked me the fuck out to say the least. Then a month later my friends Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and I was like, that's it.

 

I actually used the patch and it worked for me. I also started out with Wellbutrin and that sent my anxiety through the roof.

 

The first two days are complete hell, two weeks after that is torture and then it starts to ease up. The toughest things after that was when I drank but even that died away after awhile. You just have to get it in your head you don't want to go through the withdrawals again and to not give in. I don't even desire to smoke now, not even when I'm drinking.

 

I do have dreams every now and then where I dream I have started again and I'm so pissed at myself because it means I have to go through the withdrawals again.

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I smoked for about ten years and quit about ten years ago. I basically got a really bad case of bronchitis and when I was up one night at 3AM decided to google my symptoms and cancer came up (hush Reese, I know.)

 

That freaked me the **** out to say the least. Then a month later my friends Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and I was like, that's it.

 

I actually used the patch and it worked for me. I also started out with Wellbutrin and that sent my anxiety through the roof.

 

The first two days are complete hell, two weeks after that is torture and then it starts to ease up. The toughest things after that was when I drank but even that died away after awhile. You just have to get it in your head you don't want to go through the withdrawals again and to not give in. I don't even desire to smoke now, not even when I'm drinking.

 

I do have dreams every now and then where I dream I have started again and I'm so pissed at myself because it means I have to go through the withdrawals again.

Holy shit that was 10 years ago??

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I used to smoke Marlboro Lights and wound up quitting because of constant lung issues. I later started smoking Marlboro Ultra Lights because they didn't affect my lungs nearly as much. The last time I tried to smoke a Marlboro Light I pretty much gagged on it.

 

A lot of people think Ultras are pointless because you don't get the same kind of nicotine fix you do with stronger smokes , but you also don't get the same withdrawal symptoms. For me it's a taste thing, especially if I'm drinking.

 

While quitting is the best option, of course, I would recommend a lighter cigarette to people who are having a hard time quitting. If your're already smoking Ultras I don't know what to tell you.

 

Odine mentioned toothpicks, and those little things really helped me quit back in 2006. Now they're just another annoying habit I have when I'm not smoking.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

With vaping you're at least getting rid of the carcinogen aspect of it, which is likely more cancer-causing... but yeah, it doesn't help kick the nicotine part.

I'm not a health nut or anything, but I am for not putting harmful stuff in one's body. The thing with vaping is there is no standard dose and it varies from manufacturer, and it hasn't been around long enough to see what the long term effects are, like smoking has. And as for nicotine, studies vary, some still believe its a carcinogen, most now don't think it is, and other studies believe nicotine can stimulate cancer cell growth, even if it isn't the cause of it.

 

 

I used to smoke Marlboro Lights and wound up quitting because of constant lung issues. I later started smoking Marlboro Ultra Lights because they didn't affect my lungs nearly as much. The last time I tried to smoke a Marlboro Light I pretty much gagged on it.

 

A lot of people think Ultras are pointless because you don't get the same kind of nicotine fix you do with stronger smokes , but you also don't get the same withdrawal symptoms. For me it's a taste thing, especially if I'm drinking.

 

While quitting is the best option, of course, I would recommend a lighter cigarette to people who are having a hard time quitting. If your're already smoking Ultras I don't know what to tell you.

 

Odine mentioned toothpicks, and those little things really helped me quit back in 2006. Now they're just another annoying habit I have when I'm not smoking.

I used to smoke only while at the bar, and I also went through a phase where I did cigars on occasion. But I could take or leave that, and smoking was not very often, and I had to be kind of wasted to smoke without coughing my ass off. I did a worse kind of tobacco as well when I was younger: chew, and I did it for like 2 years. Started with the Skoal Bandits, then on to Red Man, then Kodiak. Thought I was being slick by brushing my teeth after every use, but when I started getting sores at the gum line that didn't go away, I freaked out and stopped cold turkey. Disgusting habit, anyway. Only did it because it was some stupid peer pressure/wanna be cool with the in crowd thing when I was in the military, anyway. For me, cold turkey worked, but everyone is different.

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I never got the dipping thing, which is for the best because if I wasn't grossed out by it I probably would've tried it and got hooked. Buddy of mine still dips and has tried several times to quit without success. He always takes one of my empty beer cans to dip in, and one time I mistook his dip can for my beer and the results weren't pretty.

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I smoked for a few months about a decade ago, but not really enough to become super addicted, so one day I decided to quit and haven't smoked since. But I have pretty good willpower when I decide to use it.

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I quit buying cigarettes and stopped smoking them.

 

Seriously. It was that simple for me.

 

Long story short-(it was in the 90s)- I joined an aerobics class and couldn't keep up because I couldn't breathe well enough, not because my muscles couldn't take it. This angered me so I decided to wait until after the next class to have a cigarette and see if it made a difference. It did, so I did this again, a few times and then realized I had quit.

This may not work for everyone. I don't seem to be addicted to the nicotine. I can have a cigarette any time I wish and put them down any time. I bought a couple packs during the time I was still living with my 2nd ex-husband. I may bum one or two from a friend if I'm out drinking and everyone's smoking. AT this time I think it's been over a year, maybe 2, since I've smoked any at all.

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Thanks for all the responses everyone. Admittedly, I was a little drunk when I posted this topic, but that probably just makes it even more valid.

 

I don't smoke a ton; maybe just a couple a day, sometimes I'll go a day or two without them. But I've been in self-denial for a few years about being addicted (at least to some degree), and I suppose I felt it was time to just own up to it and stop lying to myself.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I don't know this to be the case, but maybe the medical industry in Europe is ahead of the US when it comes to quitting smoking or tobacco? I mean think about it: most of the world's tobacco is grown in the US, so there isn't as much of a motivation to quit. CM, since you are in Europe, it might be worth seeing a doctor over there, and maybe they have ideas for you?

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I don't know this to be the case, but maybe the medical industry in Europe is ahead of the US when it comes to quitting smoking or tobacco? I mean think about it: most of the world's tobacco is grown in the US, so there isn't as much of a motivation to quit. CM, since you are in Europe, it might be worth seeing a doctor over there, and maybe they have ideas for you?

Every time I've been to Europe I'm shocked at how pretty much everyone smokes.

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