BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)

Subject: BS: 3 weeks so far
From: olddude
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:17 AM

without a smoke, cold turkey. funny thing after the pneumonia stuff. i don't miss them in any manner. go figure, i thought i would be climbing the walls. hope it continues. wish me luck i will need it

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:23 AM

Congratulations! You are a success, now, so no need for luck unless you *think* you need it, i.e. carry on as you are.:-)

Having said that, I know, secondhand only, how difficult it is to quit. So Good LUck, too!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:32 AM

Good on ya' Dan. I'm at 5 years now and you'll now find it getting easier in a way. I was so damn happy I'd done it that the idea of even the least transgression was scary. I've said this before but happy as I am at quitting, I am far more proud that I have never once cheated, not the first puff, nothing.

About three years ago I woke up feeling awful and depressed because I had lit one up and so cheated myself and my "time." It took a few minutes to realize it was a dream and there were no cigarettes to be found! Seemed so damn real though.......

Enjoy the fact that you have not cheated and eventually it becomes almost phobic....LOL......

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: mousethief
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:42 AM

Good job! Keep up the good work!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Smokey.
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 01:38 AM

Best of luck, olddude. Be stubborn, stay stopped.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 02:02 AM

Congratulations, Dan!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 02:05 AM

Well done Dan. I did cold turkey with cigarettes some 35 years ago, when I was smoking 50 a day. I had the same experienceas you. I found it pretty easy.

I think the most important thing that IMHO helps you alongthe road, is the following.

If you get tempted to have a cigarette, don't give up.

Tell yourself, that you have gone x number of days without smoking and that is brilliant.

Then you tell yourself that you are going to go longer without having another cigarette.

What is important is to compliment yourself on the achievement.

Too many people think they have failed, if they try a ciggy and consequently, go back to smoking.

Good luck with it Dan

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: ragdall
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 02:35 AM

Well done, Dan! Keep up the great work! If you miss the smoke, I can send you some from our forest fires.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 03:50 AM

congratulations, & as someone here said, don't forget that URGES PASS if one arrives.

hugs

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: gnu
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 05:27 AM

Go Dan!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: KHNic
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 05:40 AM

Keep on going - I've just gone 3 days without nicotine following a heart attack. I'm told it gets easier. Best of luck for staying off the weed!
Nic

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Morticia
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 06:25 AM

Keep going Dan and Nic ( are you our MBS Nic, I wonder?). 6 1/2 years now and I am still so pleased and relieved to have that monkey off my back.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: maeve
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 06:35 AM

Thank you, Dan.

m

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Will Fly
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 06:46 AM

Good man, Dan - well done. Keep going.

I was lucky. I woke up one morning forty years ago and just couldn't stand the thought of another cigarette. They went in the bin and I've never had one since. Don't miss 'em for a minute.

May you go for forty years as well. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: MikeL2
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 08:07 AM

hi dan

Keep it up you are doing fine.

I can't begin to understand what you are going through. I am one of these boring people who have never smoked not even one cigarette.

cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Bobert
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 08:36 AM

Happy Anniversary, Ol'ster... Yer over the hump now...

Bobert (23 years 11 months 17 days and countin' without smokin'... tobacco, that is...)

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 09:19 AM

Keep it up Dan. My last smoke, 3 April 1975. Can't bear even the thought of it any more. You'll find the same when you've really defeated it.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 11:10 AM

Watch out for the "Gee...I wonder what it would be like to smoke one now" thing. That's what made me fail so many times. My mom quit, and told me she was viewing it as an alcoholic who knew they could never, never, never have a drink because the addiction would take hold and they would just go back to drinking again. I'm not the slightest bit tempted these days.

"The Dream"--I think a lot of quitters have that. The first time I quit, I did it a few weeks after my mom quit (because she was having heart problems that led to a bypass days later). My mom called me a couple months later, and started with, "I had the weirdest dream..." and I told her what it was. You're just doing the usual stuff in the dream, take a drag, and realize, "OH SHIT, OH DAMN, I AM SMOKING AND I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SMOKING BECAUSE I QUIT AND NOW I'VE RUINED EVERYTHING..." and you wake up and realize it was a dream. I only had it once though, in all the times I quit. Once was enough.

Congratulations, and good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: jeffp
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 11:18 AM

You can make it, Dan. The first 2 weeks are the hardest.

Jeff (9 years and counting)

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: open mike
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 11:24 AM

if you can make it thru 3 days or 3 weeks....you have it made.
add up the money you have saved, and treat yourself to something
better for you...but not something fattening, as often when you
stop smoking other oral cravings kick in..and the weight goes up..

i probably still have menthol crystals in my lungs from the years
i smoked Kools (or should they call them Fools?)

glad i put them aside decades ago...
i tried chewing on licorice root sticks from the health food store
to keep my mind off the tobacco cravings..plus they make good tooth
brushes.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 11:36 AM

It is always GREAT news to hear of anyone quitting. More power to you, and one day at a time. Some day YOU will be able to post about how many 'years' it's been.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: CupOfTea
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 12:10 PM

Good for you!! I wish you the intestinal fortitude to keep on abstaining.

The aunt who raised me was a long time smoker - starting at 16 years old in the 1920s - and never successfully gave it up until she was 80something. I don't reccomend her method, however. She had Alzheimers, and was in an assisted living facility where the residents weren't allowed to smoke in their rooms & the nursing staff kept their ciggie stash. She eventually forgot she smoked... completely. When asked by a visitor if she wanted one, her reply was "oh, I don't think I do that... do I?"

I wish you the wits to battle this successfully & I hope the surge in how good things taste satisfies the oral cravings... if not, there's always taking up harmonica when you want to take a drag!

c\_/ cheers!
Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 01:09 PM

A bad case of the flu was my key to the non-smoking clan, couldn't stand the smell or the taste.
Now I am a rabid anti-, and have been for almost 30 years.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 21 Aug 10 - 04:06 PM

Yea it seems that getting sick was the key. Before I went in the hospital I threw them away cause I was hacking but didn't know I had pneumonia. Afterwords, I just couldn't stand the thought of smoking anything

by the way the docs did a full lung scan when I was in the hospital. He said they are in great shape for smoking so many years so it was a good thing to quit while I was ahead .. all he found was the Pneumonia on the scan . Long term problems from smoking can occur anytime but at least for now, the scans were fine and pneumonia is fixable. No desire to fall off the wagon .. especially at 10 bucks a pack here in New York State. No one can afford it unless you go to the reservation and they are trying to change that law.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 12:31 AM

good lungs, they're obviously meant for singing!

Here in Oz cigarettes are heading for $20 a pack (if they haven't already hit) which is meant to deter smokers, especially kids.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 07:51 AM

Good for you, Dan. Keep it up!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Lox
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 08:08 AM

You can now look forward to tasting good food and smelling beautiful things.

I've been off for 6 and 1/2 years.

The best advice I can give to stay off them is this:



    Change the subject!!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 02:35 PM

Lox, you are 100% right. That is the only thing that works.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 02:41 PM

QUITTER !

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 22 Aug 10 - 08:53 PM

I am such a Quitter .. and a loser .. can't stick with anything LOL
today was the first day that it really bothered me ... but it passed ..

Oh boy .. no idea way back - what was I ever thinking starting that in the first place

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Genie
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 12:34 AM

I'm so glad you're a quitter and a loser - so far - OldDude.   I quit, for good, over 30 years ago, after having quit several times before for extended periods. I think one of the main reasons that last one "lasted" was that, unlike the previous times, I was still craving cigarettes after 3 weeks. The cravings didn't stop that time until at least a month had gone by.   The earlier times were pretty easy, after the first few days, so I found it easy to kid myself into thinking I could have an occasional cigarette without getting hooked again, and that I could always quit again as easily as before. Wrong.   So this time I stayed off because I didn't want to go through weeks of "withdrawal" torment again.

I hope your will power and rewards hold up and continue from now on.

Congratulations on 3 weeks of being sane, slim, and healthy.

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 12:45 PM

fantabulous.... keep it up Dan!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: topical tom
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 12:54 PM

I was fortunate to be able to kick the habit cold turkey many years ago. It can be done and it sounds like you're the man to do it. All the best, Dan!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 02:13 PM

Now I got this addiction to the "good and plenty" candy ... go figure you know those coated black liquorish thingies ... love em ... the old candy we use to get in the movie theater ... been eating a lot of them .. I am sure my dentist will raise hell with me ... but hey man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Aug 10 - 09:40 PM

one addiction gone, another sneaks in! hmmmmm

I know there are other threads about quitting, full of hints & ideas about quitting & occupying your time (& hands) after doing so.

I quit smoking in the mid 70's after 2 years of drink-in-one-hand-&-menthol-ciggie-in-other, when we started going to the pub several times a week. I smoked because everyone did, especailly while they had a drink in hand, but didn't enjoy it, & didn't like inhaling or smelling like a dead ashtray! I was trying to be sophisticated like they were (were they?). I even took an offered cigarette one day at work, & tried to look grown up & comfortable.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: LadyJean
Date: 24 Aug 10 - 12:47 AM

KEEP IT UP OLD DUDE!!!

I watched my mom die of lung cancer. It was sheer hell for her, and not much fun for me.

Find something you can do that needs both hands, and do that as much as you can. If you weren't a dude, I would suggest knitting. Playing music would work though. There aren't a lot of one handed instruments.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 10:45 AM

But, whatever you do, DON'T QUIT BEFORE YOU FINISH SMOKING THOSE SALMON!
                   Dean

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 10:48 AM

Dean
it is hard to keep them lit though LOL

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Amos
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 10:59 AM

Proud of you, man.

I fell off the wagon last year, but am back on it now and am comfortable.

I have had nicotine flowing in my veins since before I was born. In those post-war months when I was conceived smoking was rampant, even in offices, libraries, and restaurants; ashtrays were on every bride's registry list. At least in my part of the world.

It is funny how opinions and acceptance levels change over time.

Keep up the good work. Urges pass.



A

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Amergin
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:01 AM

I fell off the wagon a few years ago....I use the excuse of all the crap I was going through at the time....been a struggle to climb back on....guess if I were to lose weight it would be easier...good on ya...

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:25 AM

"Find something you can do that needs both hands, and do that as much as you can. If you weren't a dude, I would suggest knitting. Playing music would work though. There aren't a lot of one handed instruments."



Ok...come on...someone has to say it... :0)

Good Heavens, Jean...that may well help him stay off the cigarettes, but....he could end up with his eyes severely crossed, albeit with a sloppy grin on his face...

Focus, Dan...focus! LOL   ;0)

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:27 AM

Yea I am climbing the walls, it was ok when I was sick since I didn't even want to think about it. Now that I am better ... good grief this is rough

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: ranger1
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:41 AM

OK, let me put it to you this way, Dan: My mom had to give up smoking last month when she had a triple bypass. You think the pneumonia was rough?! And think of the grandbaby every time you're tempted to light up. Firstly so he has a grampa to teach him how to fish (and all the other cool things grampas do), and secondly, because second hand smoke is really, really bad. I have allergies and asthma, probably due to having grown up in a home with two smokers.

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: ranger1
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:41 AM

PS You're doing great, don't forget that!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:50 AM

Keep going Dan. You will do it

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 11:59 AM

Every urge to light up can be one more song practiced on the guitar.... to send to friends....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: olddude
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 12:25 PM

It is a miserable rotten thing, why did I ever start doing that .. addiction is a miserable thing to carry on one's back for sure .. i will beat it cause I am stubborn and won't give any more money to any tobacco company so I can kill myself .. so i will suck it up and fight the fight ..

thank you my friends
love you all

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: ClaireBear
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 01:27 PM

Warning: horrible story, sent for reinforcement purposes only:

Mylast memory of my mother speaking to me occurred as she lay in a hospital bed, after the first stroke but before the second (much worse) one, but already with orders to receive nothing by mouth, as her throat muscles were nonfunctional.

So...dId she say goodbye? Dictate messages for her beloved grandchildren? Ask me to water the garden while she was in hospital? No, she begged me to find her a smoke and a jug of wine, and she cursed me when I would -- could -- do neither.

She "lived" on for a couple of years after that, if being in a vegetative state is living, but seeing her use up her last chance to communicate with someone she loved in attempting to feed her vile addictions taught me better than anything how evil that sickness is.

Conquer it any way you can, but conquer it.

I'll be pulling for ya.
Claire

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: gnu
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 01:45 PM

r1... "And think of the grandbaby every time you're tempted to light up."

Indeed!

Subject: RE: BS: 3 weeks so far (olddude giving up smoking)
From: Maryrrf
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 02:29 PM

That's a powerful story Claire. As an ex smoker, I know the pull can be strong for awhile, but it does go away. Hang in there, Old Dude. You will be so glad you did.