EX Smokers, I need help.

[Aussie Red]

cold Turkey did not work for me Blue Good luck. I was just down right nasty doing it that way. I want you to succeed for sure. Go Blue.

[blue]

I made it 3 months when I was younger twice, I forgot going cold turkey going into Boot. I need to stock up on vitimen rich juices.

[dr2little]

Good Luck Blue!! I smoked years ago, I quit before I got pregnant the first time...almost 23 years ago now. I had a really hard time quitting even though I saw my dad was dying of emphysema. Watching him having to sleep sitting up clinched it for me. He died over 20 years ago but knew that I had quit before we said goodbye and that meant something to him.

I used the gum...it tasted WAY worse back then than it does now. I had a piece recently and it was actually quite yummy....I had to spit it out because it gave me arrhythmia..hehe.

Anyway, I wouldn't discount the gum or the mints for the simple reason that what may not work for some might just be what it takes to free others from the clutches. Addiction's a bitch, WE'RE ALL HERE FOR YOU BLUE!!!!!

[Barb04]

Blue, my brother & his wife have tried everything and anything including fermenting cigarettes in a jar and then having to spell the awful odor when they have a craving. The only thing that actually worked was quitting cold turkey. It's hard, but it was the only way both of them were able to quit. They actually didn't even do it at the same time.

[ToscasMom]

Blue to be honest, I quit smoking a dozen times before I quit for good. Honestly and truly the only thing that worked for me was fear. I had this horrendous cough complete with blood--and made what I could only call a rare trip to the doctor's office. Hearing the potential of what it could be scared the bejesus out of me. It turned out not to be any of those things, but it scared me straight. I had quit smoking completely within a week after that, while my nightmares were still fresh. That was five years ago.

[ToscasMom]

I say let's use this thread to help cheer Blue on. He can write how he feels and how he's doing. And the rest of us can give him encouragement.

[smkie]

YAY!!! i did it and i smoked half my life, "tried" to quit about a zillion times. Didn't even tell anybody the last time that i was going to do it. Wish i could say it was because i wised up, but it was really because i was so sick i was out of money. Dog food or cigs. Guess which i brought home. If your "trying" you won't make it..if you decide, make up your mind and follow through, you will..just keep telling yourself
1 you are in control of your mind and body
2 you are not a pawn of the cigarette companies
3 The thought of cancer (something i watched first hand and lost my best friend) is scary to you and you don't want it to be you
You will do it!
Physical cravings will be over in three days. After that it is all mind over matter. Then they will begin to smell really bad to you..if you get stressed? use something else, walk or tic tacs or whatever.THere are always excuses for everything. THe cigarette companies count on that. Start to back down? Think about the shunt they put in your chest for chemo when all your veins cant take it anymore. Or the fact is that we all have cancer in our bodies around something like 3 or 4 times a year. Usually our immune systems are quick to gobble up the bad cells and set things to the right. That is until we weaken it so that it can't do that and the cancer cells that multiply geometrically (i think that is the right term, one becomes two, becomes four, becomes 16) get a foot hold. THen it spreads like crazy. I bet if they put a picture of that shunt..or better yet the drawing i don't have anymore of Jim sitting in his office chair, with his business jacket and hat, all bones in an ashtray,so once big and in control,and now so dead, on the packs it would make people do a double take. Aaron said it was the strangest thing i ever drew but he respected it and understood completely. I wish i still had it but it made me cry so i got rid of it. Watch a video on how the cigarette companies made billions off of making people sick. THe only product out there that if used correctly will kill you. You are WAY smarter then that Blue. Go Blue GO Blue GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in the bleachers cheering you on hour by hour.

oh i forgot the good things

smelling wonderful smells again..and food tasting devine..
being able to swim across the swimming pool underwater
the fact that you are still young enough that in 7 years you will have pink healthy lungs again..
less colds
i haven't coughed hardly at all since (i had chronic bronchitis)
women that don't like smokers will want to meet you
some of them are worth meeting
You will be proud of yourself!
and if you feel yourself weakening..read stuff like this http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/toba...retteSmoke.htm
this is pretty good too http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/crav...ges/a/halt.htm

if you would have asked Jim or me which of us would have lasted the longest i am sure we both would have answered Jim. He was so big so strong so healthy, so happy with his retirement to look forward to. His rv set and ready for the road, his new harley in the garage. Turqoise chrome and white. He got to ride it i think 3 or 4 times. He was too tired, and then he was too dead. DO it for him. Dont be another statistic. He was a good man and i miss him terribly, he was only 63. HIs doc called him at 9 pm and said Jim you have cancer. I will never ever understand the reasoning behind that. Freaking cigarettes i hate them they take my favorite people away from me and makes them suffer so. Put your money that you would spend on them in a can and buy yourself something you have wanted for a long long time.

[bubbatd]

Good luck , Blue !!!!!

[ToscasMom]

One of the posts reminded me of what helped me most to succeed. Downright physical labor. Particularly outdoors. I dug gardens, I landscaped. I did the hardest work I could to keep me and my adrenalin busy. When you do that kind of stuff, you just can't think about cigarettes. Hours can go by before you stop and think about lighting up. That's hours you went without a smoke. I also went places where I couldn't smoke and made sure i stayed there as long as I could. Like malls (can get very expensive, lol), restaurants, etc. I even took a long train ride instead of driving where I was going. I did anything that would take me away from tobacco for as many hours as possible.

[blue]

If I can make it the next half hour till I go to work Ill at least make it through the morning. But so far so good.