BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 16 Dec 00 - 08:43 PM

That doctor should be dis .. whatever they do to doctors!Today is my 4th anniversary for quitting. I never thought I could do it, but, I found the secret and it worked. The patch only prolongs the agony, because you are still getting the nicotine. It is an expensive crutch. Hang in there, and remember...keep you mind off smoking! this is absolutly vital!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 16 Dec 00 - 11:26 PM

Please remember, It's just like recovery from any other drug. The first one does all the damage. Also, start a gratitude list.

I can make it all the way up the steps.

It's 3 days till payday and I'm not counting my remaining $$$ in terms of how many packs I can buy between now and then.

Food's starting to taste better.



You get the idea. God willing, New Years will make 6 years for me, a day at a time. I hope you make it. I hope next yearr you're offering support to someone else who's quitting.

Good luch and God bless.
Rich

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: sophocleese
Date: 16 Dec 00 - 11:38 PM

Great to hear Nutty. Keep going. Another one to add to the gratitude list; your sex life improves.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Terry K
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 03:56 AM

If I ever considered starting smoking again, the thought of smelling as bad as smokers do would be thing to stop me doing it. Just think, nutty, you're becoming a smell-free zone!!!

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 09:08 AM

I quit smoking when I was 13. I took two puffs and I quit! :-D

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 09:31 AM

Stop smoking immediately! before you burst into flames..lol Dave (quit 14 years ago)

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 03:06 PM

Along about now, nutty, your enthusiasm for quitting may be lagging. The adrenalin has slacked off, meaning your motivation drops. Just remember, THIS TOO SHALL PASS. Soon steady, pleased satisfaction will take the place of the adrenalin.

Keep in mind that your body doesn't NEED any of the things it learned to adapt to in the years of smoking.

Good luck.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: nutty
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 03:24 PM

Day 4 has been a bad day but I'm told that's normal as there is no nicotine left in my body now

The advisers say things should improve from now on - just hope I can get a good nights sleep. I was awake at about 4am last night.

Thanks to you though I'm positive and quietly optomistic

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Gypsy
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 05:55 PM

Check out the American CAncer Website...had clipped on my fridge years ago, the blow by blow healing that your body goes thru when you quit. It is actually as soon as 8 hours for some body parts. In 5 years, you have half the risk for heart disease. In ten years, it will be the same as if you had never smoked. Can't remember some of the more short term healings. Smoking is an amazing thing. You think of your lungs, but it screws up things you've never considered. Like the discs in your spine. Can cause back pain, degeneration of the jawbone, tooth decay, bad skin, impotence, loss of vision, ear infections. And that is just what i can think of off the top of my head. Now you are on the easy side...physical addiction is over. Remind yourself that smoking is merely a habit, that you intend to replace with the habit of NON smoking. Lots of substitutes available, play music, walk, work out, and of course the best one....sex!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: sophocleese
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 09:17 PM

That's it Gyspy! Substitute sex for smoking, go transatlantic, and you can still have a "Quick fag round the corner."

Keep at it Nutty! 4 days and still going at it.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 17 Dec 00 - 09:28 PM

A couple of my Beagle mates managed to do it......they died....! Spot. (who was and now isn't a smoker trying to mix reality with humour).

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 01:18 AM

Hi Nutty,
How is it going?
I smoked for 20 years or so, & quit about 3 years ago (with patches).
One thing that helped me was immediate reward.
On the day I quit, I went to a music shop & made a list of 5 CDs that I really wanted. When my not-smoking had saved the price of a CD, I went & got it that very day. This got me to about 20 days. At that point I started saving for a holiday!
The step-by-step list of changes to the body, mentioned above is also good as it make you feel that you don't want to turn back having got that far.
It really does get easier with time. Nowadays I very rarely get an urge to smoke, & when I do it is quite mild, and easy to ignore.
However, my determination never to smoke again is stronger than ever.
KEEP GOING! You may feel miserable at times, but there will also be times when you feel really good. There is a real sense of achievement when you can look back & think "I haven't smoked for a whole week" "Whole month" etc. Keep us informed of how it is going. Luck, Eddie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 04:58 AM

There have been a few instances where people have said your sex life imporves if you quit smoking. Maybe I should take it up just so I could give it up and get a better sex life... Hell anything would be an improvement and that would make me happy.

Hang in there, Nutty. They made a good point about smelling better. I can tell when someone talks to me how long it has been since they smoked. I can tell, on walking into a house, whether they are a smoker or not. Many years ago I had a girlfriend who smoked. I can still remember the taste of her kisses. Ugh!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Crowhugger
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 05:37 AM

Congratulations, Nutty, you're doing great!

CH, who isn't ready yet to do the same.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Morticia
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 07:36 AM

Still rooting for you Nutty, I'm so proud of you!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Dikrob
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 08:40 AM

I read of a Doctor who smoked and also had lung cancer. A fellow doctor was amazed when he found his colleague smoking while awaiting chemotherapy. I knew that I, as a smoker, would have been doing exactly as the smoking doctor was doing. When I realized that this was making sense to me, I decided to quit and did quit.

Thinking of all the completely irrational things that I had done as a smoker and knowing that I would be free to not make those decisions again was what gave me strength to quit a three pack a d habit of 36 years.

Hang in there. Dikrob

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Terry K
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 08:52 AM

Nutty, I reckon you've cracked it - you'll still need lots of effort though and you can still feel justly proud of yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back from me.

I like the thought of substituting sex for smoking but I don't reckon I could manage twenty a day.

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,Frank
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 10:08 AM

I commend you for giving up smoking. You are not only doing a service to yourself but creating a smoke-free environment for others. Smoking is one of those addictions that enables the smoker to share his affliction with those who don't have or need it.

Hang in there, you are doing good.

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 03:47 PM

okthen, if you are trying to commit suicide with cigarettes, there is an excellent chance you will be successful.

It's pretty much a sure bet that smoking caused the heart attack that killed my mother on Thanksgiving (she was 70 years old). She was very careful about her fat and cholesterol intake, and she was very active. But she was a lifelong smoker. If the heart attack hadn't killed her, she probably would have had a long, painful death from emphysema (which she was already showing signs of), or lung cancer.

Good luck nutty. I hope you succeed.

Best wishes,

Carol

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 03:56 PM

Dikrob, I can relate to that! In the beginning of being hooked I would check to see if I had a pretty full pack when I left home. Later, I would put in an extra pack 'just in case'. By the time I quit, I had as many as 3 extra packs in my purse 'just in case'.

When I was 20 years old and waiting for my last two checks to come from the job I had quit I ran out of money for groceries and lived for a little more than a week on Ritz crackers and a bag of marshmallows. But I had plenty of cigarettes...

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: nutty
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 05:16 PM

I hear you all out there and I am aware of all the problems

I've tried so hard to give up before via hypnosis, acupuncture , gum , patches ,inhaler etc. and none of it worked

I now have no nicotine left in my body - I find that hard to believe - what I'm fighting now are the psychological effects of the addiction but today ( Day 5 ) has been much better. no bad side-effects or cravings.
I hope it's all 'up' from here.

I love the sex substitution theory, Terry, and once would have considered it a challenge but nowadays I know my limits.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: mousethief
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 05:21 PM

Sex substitution is a great idea. I hope to work up to a pack a day.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Gypsy
Date: 18 Dec 00 - 10:47 PM

Tis the season to be jolly! And a pack of sex a day, keeps the addiction away! Way to go Nutty! You're doing great!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,DAVE G.
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 01:03 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,DAVE G
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 01:06 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 01:06 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,Rationalist
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 05:03 PM

Hey, Nutty, this may not be too distant from the traditional songs after all. I know of at least two people who noticed within days how much better they could sing.

Has anybody noticed how many people on TV hospital-dramas, supposedly with medical knowledge, are being portrayed slipping out for a smoke. Nutty, you're part of the resistance to a vile conspiracy. Keep up the good work!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Clifton53
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 05:23 PM

Move over Nutty, I'm joining you. Been a smoker for years and am now trying to kick, as all 3 of my brothers have done before me. Hang in there.

Clifton53

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: BigDaddy
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 06:08 PM

nutty, you might want to check my response to the "Bronchitis" thread. As I said there, maybe if we all started calling it "nicotine addiction" instead of smoking, it might increase our consciousness of what it's all about. It's too easy to shrug and act embarrassed and say things like, 'yeah, I'm I smoker," and do nothing to change. I've known a number of heroin and cocaine addicts who were in recovery from those substances who still "couldn't" quit nicotine. Most of them would tell you it's as tough an addiction as they'd ver encountered. Best of luck. You're not alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: nutty
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 06:21 PM

I feel so fortunate to have so many people rooting for me

I've reached the end of Day 6 and am feeling much more positive now . I'm also starving , I 've wanted to eat all day today but have resisted the temptation

I agree whole heartedly with Rationalists comments and have always hated the way the Government have encouraged society to outlaw smokers while fleecing us for tax

I say us as I am not yet viewing myself as a non-smoker but I'm getting there

If anyone out there , like Clifton , is trying to give up as well and feel they need a buddy - send me a PM I'll be only too pleased to help

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Oversoul
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 09:14 PM

I quit two weeks ago yesterday. Booze seems to help, buying new CDs, and playing new stuff on my instruments. Just breaking the sequence, see? Walking around town I can smell the houses of smokers, a sweet and sickening stench! Wanna fight? I am more obnoxious than ever, but I know this is the right path. The thought of dragging around an oxygen tank on my stalks through town finally got to me. I play better, and with a new intensity-you will to! Believe it! I am a string player, but just to celibrate I bought an ocarina, a good investment.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 09:56 PM

Clifton, all 4 of my brothers quit before I did! I'm a hardheaded woman, I've been told. Later I said, See how softheaded I'm getting?

Davecoje, anger and sorrow were part of my reaction too. I really wanted someone- anyone! to blame. But the enemy was us...

nutty, you should be just about at the giggly stage as you begin to realize that you really have DONE it. :) :) :)

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: bflat
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 10:16 PM

Five years ago tomorrow, I entered the hospital without the ability to breathe and walk twenty-five feet. I had come down with a virulant pneumonia. I had been smoking for less than three years. The smoking contributed to my vulnerability to develop a respirtory illness. Upon my recovery, my pulmonary doctor advised me that I was nearly a goner. Never needed to hear anything further. Haven't smoked since and don't miss it. That feeling of near suffocation will remain with me the balance of my life. Now I enjoy a variety of physical activities without a discernable effect from that illness. Do yourself a HUGE favor and never light up again. You'll breathe freer.

bflat

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: richlmo
Date: 19 Dec 00 - 10:54 PM

Good going, Nutty, I left you a Good Luck on the 13th , after my visit to the ICU where my mother in law was a patient. I said was, she died on the 15th. You have really done well! It gets easier from here.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Dec 00 - 01:17 PM

Ah- the pause that REFRESHes!

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Dec 00 - 01:45 PM

Some of us get addicted to it, some don't. I was lucky, smoked on and off for about 20 years, than packed it in, no problem. Just stopped.

On occasion I'd had a smoke since then, maybe three or four in a year, and never felt the least inclination to get back into doing it as a regular thing.

It's not a question of me having willpower. I just didn't have the addiction. And I think there are people who are probably the same way, but they get a bit overwhelmed by assuming it's going to be a big deal giving up, and they keep smoking. (And I know for a lot of people it really is a big deal and an uphill struggle, and good luck.)

One thing that surprises me is that so few people seem to think of sticking with the nicotine, but dumping the smoking. I don't mean gum and patches and all that modern high tech stuff, but the version of tobacco that used to be far far more popular than smoking - snuff. (I've tried that on the odd occasion - mind, you get some funny looks...)

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 02:36 AM

Ewww McGrath, a man and his little paper cup with its brown, nauseating contents into which he periodically (discreetly, he thinks) expectorates is not someone I'm comfortable sitting next to. Keep the cigarettes!

Or, am I thinking of chewing tobacco? I don't think I've been around a snuff taker, although I've seen it in the movies: a little dip into the nostril followed by the dainty sneeze... Charming.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Naemanson
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 07:29 AM

Still checking on progress, Nutty. How's it going?

Snuff, dip, chew, are all the same things, I think. When I was in the Navy there was a Second Class Petty Officer who chewed tobacco. He used to spit into the bilges until we rebelled aginst going down there to clean and work. Then he started with that disgusting little paper cup of nauseating brown sludge. Otherwise he was an all right guy.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 11:39 AM

Nutty: I wish you the best of luck in quitting. I stopped almost eight years ago. I ran out and kept driving instead of stopping at the store to buy more. If you're past the nicotine stage the hardest part is finding something to occupy your hands. Take it a day at a time. After almost eight years, there are still days when I have to tell myself that I will not have a cigarette. Thankfully these are few and far between. But it is a very pervasive addiction. I know you'll beat this monster. Kindest reguards, Neil

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: sophocleese
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 01:26 PM

Knitting is a useful thing to do with your hands, so is flipping worry beads around and around. Congratulations for doing what you've done Nutty. You won't regret it.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 04:50 PM

So- how's it going? nutty? Are you beginning to feel proud of yourself? Not everyone can do it, you know.

Nightwing? How's the tapering off going? Tapering off didn't work for me- it just made each one taste extra good!

okthen? Are you still waiting for January 1st? How about getting the system nicotine free before then- because after that is when the real work begins.

Clifton? How is it going? Tell yourself- and your brothers- that you're going to cope with it better than they did!

Davecoje? Are you feeling a little less belligerent by now? My friends let me get away with it for awhile but before long I had to pull in my horns- reminding myself that not a one of them had anything to do with my starting the silly habit in the first place.

Good luck to you all. I feel for you.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: okthen
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 05:45 PM

Ebbie

I can't deal with "the stress before Christmas"and give up completely, but I think I've cut down. My daughter has bought me a pack of patches as my present.I'm actually looking forward to Jan. 1st.

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Clifton53
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 06:21 PM

I have cut down severely Ebbie, because of the coughing fits. I'm pretty determined though, gotta do it this time. Thanks for all your good wishes folks.

Clifton

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Dec 00 - 06:38 PM

Clifton, three of my brothers quit because they wanted to. The fourth one quit because he had to- every time he lit up, he went into coughing spasms. It is now 25 years later- he is 68- and he has emphysema with one lung that keeps collapsing and he has had to check into the hospital any number of times the last few years. As of two weeks ago, he is in a nursing facility.

I attended a stop-smoking clinic several times before I quit. In one of them the doctor said, "Dying by lung cancer is a kind death compared with dying from emphysema." The problem is that one can breathe in but cannot expel the air. (Quiet, Spaw!) That accounts for the barrel-chested look so many smokers get.

That brother had smoked 3 and 4 packs of Luckies (HA!) a day for 30 years. It was not until 7 months after he quit smoking that I stopped- I knew that if he could survive quitting, so could I.

Sorry about the horror stories- would you believe that this is the first time that I have preached about it? But it's true.

Good luck to you all.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: GUEST,Sergio Alguim
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 03:07 PM

I agree with Davecoje: "Just breaking the sequence "

Dont sit down and wait for the smoke-hunger. DO something! Do something NEW! I know smokers sometimes FORGET (!) to smoke, because they are so busy and they are thinking about other things.

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 04:45 PM

Nutty: It's all sound advice. The tapering off didn't work for me. As I told you I had to make a clean break. I was a bastard for about the first month and then I mellowed out. You can do this! Give 'em hell and may the tobacco companies bugger off. Merry Christmas all, Neil

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: nutty
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 06:47 PM

I'm coming to the end of Day 8 and doing very well. It's not actually the cigarettes that I'm craving for - it's food -- I'm absolutely starving all the time -- I know that if I'm not careful I'll just substitute one addiction for another

Preparing for a family Christmas is keeping me busy and at least this year I won't have to stand on the back step in order to smoke

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: R!
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 10:08 PM

Hello, Nutty. Checking back to read of your progress. Besides improved overall health, your skin and eyes will look much brighter. Give it a couple of months and people will remark that you "look different somehow, don't know what it is but ..." With my newly reclaimed tastebuds I found water so refreshing. That was one of my replacements. I won't discuss the chocolate chip cookies. Continued success. YOU WILL WIN.

Rowana

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: bflat
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 10:19 PM

I once owned a candy store and sold a fair amount of cinnamon flavored gum and candy to folks trying to kick the habit. There were many who claimed it was an excellent substitution. Give it a try.

bflat

Subject: RE: BS: Help,I'm giving up smoking
From: Oversoul
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 11:30 PM

Hey Nutty, a few pounds are much easier to lose than a tumor! I have been through this before, your normal appetites will return! Be patient! Smoking is awful, look for what is great in life...like making music! Do something new to celibrate, get an octave mandolin! Pan-pipes? Music can make this much easier.