EX Smokers, I need help.

I need to quit smoking, soon. What worked for you? Im gonna be orderring Final Smoke tomorow, and schedualling a full physicle next week.

I now have cancer on both sides of my family. My dads side is relativily cancer free but it just showed upo in my dads brother. My moms side isnt very extensive but my grandmom died from a smoking related illness and my grandpa to a tobaco related illness, he chewwed, neither where cancerous. A cousin on my moms side has a thyroid type of cancer, it was in recesion but now its back and they cant risk opperating because its cropped up in her head so its a chemo only option for her. From the family emails neither my uncle or cousin sounded bad utill I talked to my brother today. My brother allways sees health issues in the worst possible light so I dont think either of them are terminal, but it isnt good either.

What helped you quit?

My now husband gave me the ultimatum before I even started dating him telling me that he refused to date a smoker.

I generally never smoked more than 5 cigarettes a day (except for in social situations) so they way I quite was thus:
5 weeks with the 5 cigarettes a day (no exceptions)
4 week with 4
3 with 3
2 with 2
1 with 1

I did have a few relapses (like having a cig while drunk at a party) but cutting back this way worked pretty well for me. (but I don't know if it would have been the same had I been a pack a day gal or anything)

Best of luck to you. I tried to quit many times prior to this but I think it takes you really wanting it to happen and believing you can do it to make it work.

Your family history should be enough, should it not?

Both of my parents quit after seeing my grandfather go through his second open heart surgery. They were thankful to be awakened but sad at the costs. I will NEVER ever touch a cigarette. NEVER. It is a disgusting habit and it kills- both those that do smoke and people that are merely bystanders.

You have to want to change in order for it to be effective. You can't be half-assed about it and think, I'm going to quit, really. You have to be forceful with yourself and just drop it in the bucket and forgettabout it. Do it for you and your health. Do you want to have 3 open heart surgeries and spend the last years of your life miserable because of something that you once thought made you feel 'good'? I certainly wouldn't.

What she said. ^

You can do it, blue. You just have to be strong and think of the better in life.

I have never smoked a cigarette a day in my life, so I can't offer advice. But, I really do wish you the best in reaching your goal. I think the main thing you really need to accomplish any goal is the courage to see it through...

Cancer is a scary thing. My husband's Uncle just passed away on Thursday at the tender age of 65, he had cancer everywhere. He was going to retire this year and he never got to. He spent his whole life smoking and he paid in the end. Truly heart breaking to see the void now left with his family...

my mum tried qutting SO many times since i was born.

she hasn't smoked a cigarette in nearly a year. she cant even stand the smell anymore.

she quit cold turkey when my sister came up to her and said "please quit smoking, because if you die i have no-one" i'd say try to think of what you would leave behind

Blue I am sorry to hear about your Uncle & Cousin........I hope your brother is painting a worse picture, and everything goes good for them. So many survive cancer now when it is caught & treated. My mother fought her round with colon cancer and won, I have had my "lady parts" removed for it, and so far nothing else has cropped up.

P.S. The gum doesn't work, the patch is crap...........(at least for me) so if you do find something that works, PM me.......I will try it too.

I was told by multiple people in my life if I didn't stop smoking they wouldn't be around anymore so after I finally believed them I quit.

I had never been a pack a day smoker,more like a pack every two to three days. I eventually dropped down to one in the morning and one at night for probably a year and then just stopped.

the only way I could do it though was to also stop drinking. Every time I'd go to a party with my friends I'd be miserable cuz all I wanted was a cigarette. I quit a couple years ago and just started being able to drink and not have to have a cigarette(although I can't lie and say one wouldn't have been nice-it jsut wasn't an overwhelming urge).

I have heard from a couple patients that the meds helped them a lot. But I think the people who have the most success go cold turkey-not what all the studies say but its what I've seen in my years of having to ask people if they smoke or not.

I've never smoked, Blue, but I've borne the brunt of a couple of heavy smokers who did quit - at least for a long while.

It seemed that the effects of withdrawal were the least when they kept grapefruit juice around and drank some whenever the craving started to hit them. It seemed to be a combination of the vitamin C and the taste. Just the plain old unsweetened white grapefruit juice, not the fancy pink stuff that is sweeter.

It's tough - really tough, but you are stronger, Blue

I can assure you that this self-righteous & thoughtless type of "shame/encouragement" never ever helps anyone with an addiction of any type, and I believe most people have an 'addiction' to something.

Alcohol does as much or more damage to its users & bystanders - why isn't there this witchhunt on drinkers??

Blue, there's a new medication out that's supposed to be very effective. My uncle who's smoked for over 50 years just quit smoking using it and he said it was the best stuff he'd ever used. It's called Chantix and you can read about it here - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stop-smoking/HA00020

Best of luck to you!!

For the smokers and ex smokers and Renee thank you for the encuragement, and advise.

I'm not a smoker, but I wanted to encourage you. I think it's great you're making a healthy decision for yourself.

My grandpa quit when he was 60 or so, but it took him his first open heart surgery to do it. He then quit cold turkey with no problems whatsoever. My other grandfather always tried to quit because everyone was telling him to. It never worked. I think in order to quit you have to want it yourself. No one can make you quit unless it's something you really want.

From what I've heard the patch/gum don't work very well, but I can't attest to that personally. I have really bad allergies to cigarette smoke (and everything else practically) so smoking was never really an option lol.

I can't offer you any advice, but I wanted to throw in some support. It's really tough but it's a good decision on your part, Dan. You can do it.

My friend is using Chantix and I think I will too . She claims to have no bad effects and is going into 1 month free. Fact is unless you picked up this bad habit you have no idea how hard it is to stop. Preaching about death, smell or anything else only angers those who smoke. It is a bad thing to start and hats off to you if you never sis. I did and that is that. Do I want to stop yes. But being forced to do it by non smokers only makes me mad and more determined to smoke. Have a little compassion for those of us who screwed up and got hooked. Smoking sucks no doubt about that but it really is a habit that is very hard to kick. My son has been smoke free for two years and still craves a cig. He says it has not stopped for him and has to fight it. Blue Fruit bat and I are right beside you we are going to put them down this week too. Hopefully we will all have success.
The bad thing I see is that I smoke while at the computer. If I am busy I do not so it will mean a lot less of me here.

Kudos to you there for pointing it out. There is a strong thing going in this country aimed at smokers to make us believe that we are killing everyone. Sheesh you can not even smoke in public in many places now and I might point out that fewer people smoke now then ever before and yet the cancer deaths are on the rise. Heart ailments are on the rise as well. It is easy for someone to tell another that they ought to think about the risk to their health and the costs to the tax payers and the costs to others health. Fact is this society has more obese people in it then ever before and the numbers are growing daily. I would think that is a much larger health problem then smoking . As I say I too am quiting but not for any reason that others want me too. I am just tired of being controlled by something.

Oh Blue good for you! And best of luck. I've never smoked but I know it's one of the hardest addictions to quit. On top of what LhasaLover said I think it's funny that people assume you will just be able to quit because 'you know better' when there is so much more help available for other addictions.

Anyway, ultimately you have to figure out what works for you and what kind of person you are.

Do you think you would be able to handle it better going cold turkey? If that's the case than I've heard it's best to make sure you smoke your last cigarrette before bed and get a good nights sleep. Then keep yourself VERY busy the next day.

I knew one guy that quit smoking by doing 10 push ups every time he had a craving. Didn't matter where he was. He ended up quitting and get some major man muscles lol.

Another guy I knew quit because his new wife who was a hotty told him he had to. He said he didn't really want to give it up but he went and got hypnotized. The first time it didn't work. The second time it did. That was at least five years ago and last time I talked to him he still hadn't smoked.

Like Renee said you also might want to really look at your diet. Vitamin C is supposed to be great for helping kick addictions and so are B vitamins. You might want to go to a store like GNC and see if they can recommend anything for you.

I know you can do it! I hope you find a way that works

I thought of another friend and how she quit. She knew she couldn't go cold turkey so she slowly started elimated places where she smoked. First her car, then at work, then restaurants and finally her house. Bundling up to go smoke outside when it's -40C was a good deterant and she was able to wean herself off from there.

batten down the hatches, grow a backbone of pure stubborness, appeal to your intelligence, and stay away from people for 3 days. buy tictacs. eat sunflower seeds (something in the shell) something in the seeds helped curb cravings. mostly decide, make up your mind and do it. i smoked soda straws. Then i chewed them up.

I have been a smoker for almost 30 years, I watched my dad die a couple years ago from cancer, most likely from smoking.

It is VERY easy for non smokers to say "oh you can quit", and VERY hard if you've smoked for a long time. It IS an addiction.

My husband also was a long time smoker, he quit cold turkey 2 years ago,

I knew I couldn't go cold turkey, So I have been taking Chantrix and am almost done with my 2nd month..Tho it says you "quit" in 8 days, my doctor said, with most long time smokers it usually doesn't happen.

At the end of the first month I was down to less than 1/2 of what I had been smoking. Now I am down to about 8-10 a day, with a "promise" to myself that I will NOT smoke over 10 a day.

Each day is a struggle, (I have a VERY stressful life which doesn't help much)
but I am proud of the fact I smoke as little now as I had been. So with that in mind, I keep taking my pills, and each day will try to set a new goal of lowered amounts until I get to ZERO..

The pills can be used up to six months. You start with 1 a day for the first week then go to two a day thereafter..Some days I take only a 1/2 a pill when I'm not feeling the urge to light up and it does work.

The only thing, definately take them on a FULL stomache! It's hard to describe the feeling you get from the pills, and I haven't gone on any food binges *vbg*..I honestly don't want one, and if I do light up, I take a few puffs and butt it, it just doesn't taste good.

Good luck to you , it is a hard thing to conquer.
Diane

I smoke.. There I said it!

I did manage to give up once, but became heavily addicted to chewing gum.. Was up to 3 packets a day and had constant jaw ache.. One thing I did find helpful was sugar free lollies.. It's a similar action, sucking a lolly and taking it out of your mouth again to smoking. It keeps your hands busy, I found the worst thing was when you have 5 mins spare that you would normally have a ciggie in, to find something to occupy yourself with.

Meh.. I have plenty of "Won't" power and not enough willpower to completely quit forever.

The herbal ciggies were FOUL, and made me want to vomit all the time.. The patches gave me an allergic reaction.. And the gum is AWFUL! So cold Turkey was the only way forward for me..

I can either smoke my 10 ciggies a day, and be happy or I can quit and be miserable for the rest of my life.. It may make me live longer, and I will really feel it too! lol

Smoking really isn't such a big issue in France, practically everyone smokes.. It's normal behaviour.. And Monkey see.. Monkey do! lol

You go for it and don't look back my friend.. And let me know how you do it!

Oh gosh, I'm very addicted to chewing gum. At least I tell myself I could be addicted to something worse.

Keep it up Blue and keep us updated!