BS: quit smoking

Subject: BS: quit smoking (Chantrix)
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 10:41 AM

A wicked case of bronchitis made it too painful to smoke so I followed it up with some nicotine losenges for a time. All goes well even in stressful change of routine scenarios.

I tried all the help aids in the past including the inhalers and pills. Some quit smoking pills in the past were found to be very dangerous.

IF anyone tries using Chantix let me suggest that you may experience a shot gun effect.
IT not only blocked the nicotine receptors but it also seemed to block the effect of coffee, narcotics both natural and reverse molecule synthetic and perhaps other things that one might potentially enjoy, however I do not know if it would block the effect of mariquana or alcohol.

I think Chantrix is more like a shotgun than a nicotine specific neural receptor blocking drug. Only the drug company has done the rather good study on this drug but this possible shot gun effect was never mentioned in their literature.

If this is true this info might be valuable for other addictions.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 10:47 AM

If you gotta have coffee, like me, Chantrix may not be for you.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 12:02 PM

Ya' know something Donuel.......I don't talk about it much on here but I smoked for 40 years. Ulcers, lung problems, quad bypass, artificial mitral valve, ablation, dissecting aortic aneurysm, and on and on......ALL caused by smoking and still I kept on smoking. That's how strong the addiction is. I had tried every method known at least twice and still I smoked. My body was taken over by the effects of smoking and still I smoked. I damn near died on several occasions and still I smoked. I needed 9 different meds a day, some of them twice a day to stay alive, and still I smoked.

In 2005 when I went into the hospital for blood poisoning as a result of peripheral artery disease, a result of smoking, I tried to avoid it until it was almost too late because I knew I would have to quit and give up my old friend the cigarette. Even then I was having a hard time until I read the dumbest gawdamn thing I think I ever read. A two word sentence that makes perfect sense and yet seems completely idiotic..........Urges pass.

For some reason I had never considered that before but it was the truth. I went from almost 3 packs a day to cold turkey and I have not smoked since. I haven't even cheated in the slightest, not a single drag in 2 years. Urges pass.

Yeah, every now and again, about 20 times a day, I still think about a smoke but I've gone 2 years and man oh man do I ever feel better. Sadly my body is still shot and probably won't live a lot longer but quitting was the best thing I have done for myself in years and years. Urges DO pass.

Just quit man..... I ain't a zealot, I can't say a bad word about anyone who smokes, I know that addiction. But do yourself a favor and quit.

Urges pass.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Becca72
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 12:03 PM

It's funny you mention that, Donuel. I've a friend who is trying to quit using Chantrix and she is a coffee junky...drinks it all day long. She hasn't mentioned anything about the meds affecting her in that way. I'll have to ask the next time I see her.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 12:28 PM

Spaw, thank you for that. I have a friend who is a longtime smoker. He is now 58 and his body is starting to rebel. He has frequent bouts of bronchitis and colds and other respiratory problems. If he weren't a singer, his lungs might be even more affected.

He has become hyper alert, even paranoid at every new symptom. But he still smokes. I think he tells himself that it is impossible for him to quit.

I've saved your post to give him. Just maybe it will help him.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 12:38 PM

Don't mention it to your coffee friend. Suggestion can be a powerful thing.

Spaw, as my all time mudcat veteran I'm damn glad you got a handle on it.

I owned several quit smoking clinics in the 70's.
The American Lung Assoc. used some of my quit smoking phrasiologies but by god yours is top shelf.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 12:41 PM

"I think he tells himself that it is impossible for him to quit."

I felt exactly the same way.....exactly. I had failed so many times and I even remembered a friend from back in my 20's saying she thought I would probably never quit. My Dad died of lung cancer, a straight up 3 pack-a-day Camel man at 53 when I was 23.......kept right on smoking! There wasn't a thing in my life I hadn't done without a cigarette. I smoked in the friggin' shower fer chrissakes!

Tell him urges pass. Try it. Don't substitute something for the urge like a cinnamon stick or knitting or whatever. Just continue to do what you were doing and the urge WILL pass. Quit thinking about it all the time.....just go on with your life (whatever is left of it).

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Davie_
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 01:04 PM

I smoked approx 2 packs a day for 40 years im now 54. I tried all the gums, patches, Zyban etc etc..nothing was going to stop me from enjoying my smoke. First thing in the morning, last thing at night if I couldnt sleep I would have a ciggie to relax more,every photo ever taken of me, I have a cig in my hand.
My wife my daughters everyone thought I would smoke till I died.

On 10th May this year, I awoke and was feeling a little poorly, I still rolled my morning ciggie though, but when I puffed on it I wasnt enjoying it, so I decided I didnt fancy it. I have been telling myself that ever since, and it is working...6 months no cigs,no cheating..it feels good not to smoke, I still fancy one every now and again, but as the chap said in earlier post...The urge passes.
I still dont class myself as a non smoker, but heyyyy, I sure feel much better...hope this helps someone..

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 03:59 PM

"Urges pass" - precisely. I'm sure that one of the biggest blocks to people stopping smoking is the way that people constantly go on about how near impossible it is to quit, with the implication being, in a way "It's going to beat you anyway, so why fight it."

I'm sure there are some people for whom it really is virtually impossible - but I'm also sure that there a lot of people who get discouraged and rollover when they are actually nearly there.

This applies to a lot of other things as well as smoking.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 06:14 PM

Pack-a-day man until New Years Day 1980. I decided that it was a stupid habit, and I was stupid for doing it. So I did something smart and quit. 27 years on, and I still get an occasional urge, but..as Spaw said...urges pass.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: The Barden of England
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 06:18 PM

I stopped one morning 15 years ago - just stopped - and did the A.A. thing, so I don't smoke from one day to the next. And SPAW is right, Urges Pass. I don't miss smoking one little bit, and it was the best thing I ever did. I'm convinced that had I still been a smoker when had the 'flu' a few years back, I would not be writing this.
I woke up, and now can smell the roses.
John Barden

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Mickey191
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 06:36 PM

Okay-3 packs daily-the last one I lit - it was not even in my mind to quit. I put the kettle on & walked back to the overflowing ashtray & put the ciggy out. That was it! Two yrs. later I lit one for my brother - he was living out his last 48 hours in a hospital bed. Dying of lung cancer-47 yrs. old.
I wish you well Donuel. And all the others who are giving there health & their life away for a damn cigarette. I have 2 friends now in chemo with lung cancer. One has a 40 yr. old son who is fighting cancer of the tonsils--He NEVER smoked. Second hand smoke?? Maybe. Good Luck.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: kendall
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 07:26 PM

I smoked for 47 years, quit and 4 years later developed cancer on my right vocal cord.I have one regret, I didn't quit sooner. On December 16th it will be 11 years since I had a smoke.
The urge does in fact go away.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 07:42 PM

...and we argue over whether private ownership of guns should be banned.

Cigarettes have cause far more damage and deaths.

I applaud everyone who has finally managed to stop.


I firmly believe that there is some genetic propensity towards certain addictions, and that the only REAL solution is not to have tobacco products available. I grew up in a house full of cigarette smoke, and was never even tempted. I think I was just lucky.

Keep at it, folks.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: GUEST, Ebbie
Date: 10 Oct 07 - 07:48 PM

Bill, the same thing was true for my daughter. I regret that I smoked all the years that she was home. She hated the habit. It took me another two years after she went off to college to get myself stopped.

She has never had one cigarette- other than the countless ones I smoked in her presence.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: GUEST,redhorse at work
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 08:41 AM

What helped me give up a 10-year 2 pack a day habit was a similar bout of bronchitis. Every time I wanted a cigarette, I asked myself "do I really want another bout like that?". The threat of cancer was always too remote, but the thought of wheezing my way into old age coughing up my lungs every morning was too real to overlook.

good luck
nick

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: GUEST,strad
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 09:01 AM

As an ex-heavy smoker I'm delighted that the smoking ban has arrived in the UK.
Now it's just a pain to go in and out of the pub through the wall of smoke outside the door. Maybe I'll just have another pint - or does alcohol kill??

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 09:06 AM

Same story here Bill. Both my parents smoked - we even have a picture of their engagement, both with cigarettes held behind their backs! So I grew up in a smoky house. I recall 'trying a puff' aged 4, when mother left her fag end hanging over the edge of the cooker whilst she made lunch, and being me, I probably licked out an ashtray or two (I was terrible for eating inappropriate things like dirt, coal and plaster). But I never had the inclination to start smoking. Maybe it was the lung wracking coughs I'd hear from the bathroom in the mornings, or the handkerchieves full of horrid green and brown sputum that went into the washing basket but I really never wanted to smoke. My mother gave up overnight during an enforced hospital stay when I was 12 and my father had a long struggle to quit them about 7 years before he died in '98. He was not fun to live with during that struggle.

Scientists have tried to prove that certain people are genetically inclined to addictive personalities, which explains why some people find it easier to give up than others, or why some only have to look at a cup of coffee to become hooked. There is evidence to suggest this is so, but I'd be hard pressed to find anything to back this claim up, sorry.

All I can say is, good luck with it, it is worth it in the end. Had my parents not quit, my father would have died 7 years earlier and I doubt my mother would be with us now.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: nutty
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 12:48 PM

Coming up 7 years of no-smoking for me. Made it with the help of Zyban and friends at Mudcat.

The hardest part was breaking the habit of reaching for a cigarette and learning to relax without a fag in my hand.

As Spaw said - urges pass

Personal benefits have been not being involved in the "can't smoke here"scenario and regaining the voice I had as an 18 year old.

As time goes on my lung capacity continues to grow - I can't tell you how much I enjoy singing these days.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 01:11 PM

Habits show themselves in weird ways. Once, a few months after I had quit smoking, some friends and I had breakfast after a long night out.

At one point they noticed that I was stomping out my cigarette in an ashtray- with a piece of bread crust.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 03:01 PM

The habit thing is really funny isn't it? Everytime I went to the Kroger store, about a half mile down the road I would pass a specific point and suddenly have a vicious desire for a smoke. It took a couple of times before I realized that was EXACTLY where I always lit up coming home.......cleared the entrance and the traffic light, settled into a routine drive, etc.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 10:47 PM

It's EZ to quit...I must have done it 20 times.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 10:50 PM

Ah shoot John, it's easier than that! I know I did it thousands of times myself........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Chip2447
Date: 11 Oct 07 - 11:56 PM

9 weeks ago I admitted to myself that I was addicted to cigarettes, haven't smoked since. A few cravings over the past nine weeks, but urges pass.

Chip.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: open mike
Date: 12 Oct 07 - 01:05 AM

congrats to all of you who have succeeded to break away from tobacco!

that image of sir walter raleigh putting his coat down for the queen to walk across a puddle shows him as a chivalrous gentleman, but the tobacco habit that he was responsible for promulgating was not kind.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Oct 07 - 11:43 AM

The threat of torture from bronchitus was key to quitting along with the threat that medication to help quit smoking would cancel the effectiveness of migraine control medicine. Agony is a good initial motivation for change. After that there is the elevation of feeling better stronger and healthier. Happier? ehh at least I'm not less happy.

Compared with prior attempts to quit smoking my experieince for the last 5 days is one of unique confidence, pride and satisfaction that I have indeed quit smoking, quit buying and quit doubting that I quit.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Oct 07 - 11:50 AM

There is a definite difference. When you know that you have quit, you know it. The moment that clarified the issue for me was when I realized that quitting smoking would be difficult and unpleasant but that that was not the point I was on my way.

Subject: RE: BS: quit smoking
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Oct 07 - 01:47 AM

I was lucky enough to stop smoking not long (~2 years) after I started.

There I was, all sophisticated like everyone else (well, looking like I was) - wine in one hand, cigarette in other, sophistiocatedly (sic) smoking & trying not to inhale cos I didn't like the taste! Fortunately I didn't do too much drinking in those 2 years.

But I had 2 friends who needed to go to Detox to get off nicotine, and I have another friend who is addicted to nicotine & can't get the desire to quit. One day perhaps ...

Best wishes to all

sandra