Thread: Quit smoking....

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I've been on Chantix & starting my fourth week of not smoking. Still have that "incredible urge" from time to time & have been curbing it with prayer. Even if God's not directly answering my prayer, I'm getting my mind off firing one up. My second week while my lungs were clearing out (caughing up that gunk), I got a infection at least I thought...may have been allergies and all the pollen in the air right now. Last couple days I have been feeling great & wish I had quit sooner.

I saw an add on TV about Chantix and it wasnt good, i would check with your doc about it .

You've got to truly want to quit, down to the core of your being, period. Otherwise, you'll most likely start again at some point. I'm not trying to be unsupportive, honestly I'm not.

I also smoked for years. I actually started in grade school picking up the occasional unsmoked or barely smoked cigarette from roadsides around my house. I would go on walks specifically looking for cigs. Then, back when cigarette machines were still found in public places, I would buy my own packs when no one was looking.

I was never a chain smoker, but I got up to a pack a day at my peak. I tried to quit a few times because I was sick of coughing up chewy loogies , chronic bronchitis and having to sit at the edge of the bed in the morning for a few minutes before I had the energy to stand up ( being only in my late twenties at the time but felt twice that age); but, I didn't WANT to quit. I'd break down at a party when I was drunk and back into it I would be.

Finally, about 12 years ago, smoking, for whatever reason was not pleasurable. I'd only smoke half a cig before I'd put it out because it tasted like crap. Same brand, I don't know what changed. I had bought a carton earlier in the week when one morning, in the shower, I just out of the blue decided "I don't want to smoke anymore. I want to quit. Right now.". I did. Cold turkey. The rest of the carton went in the garbage. Sure it was tough. Chew gum, eat roasted in the shell sunflower seeds and shell them with your teeth/tongue spitting out the spent shells, chew on a toothpick. You get over it if you want to and you try.

It was one of the best things I ever did in my life, quitting smoking. It really has been.

I do believe it's harder for some to quit than others though. It was not easy for me, but I didn't need the patch, etc. I recognize that some do need help in weaning themselves off of it. Whatever works is the key. I've known some "lifers", truly hardcore smokers that would truly surprise me if they quit. They don't want to; they freely admit they like smoking and they don't want to quit. Look at Joni Mitchell, she's like that. If a person doesn't quit, they'll probably die from it; that's that and it is what it is.

I can't imagine gasping for breath endlessly with emphysema though. To me that would be a fate almost worse if not worse than death.

Chris L

Hang in there. Even though your feeling down you are still better off without cigarettes. Stick it out and you'll be glad you did.

I quit 4 years ago after smoking 10 years.

I smoked Camels with no filters for 36 years. I quit those 10 years ago but substituted chain smoking tobacco pipes to maintain the nicotine dose. I don't inhale the pipe but smoke very strong tobaccos to sate my habit. When I am tattooing and cannot smoke I chew Copenhagen snuff to keep the jones going. It is a drag being addicted to nicotine. If you can beat it more power to you.

Originally Posted by BigIan

i know its the right thing.

i just don`t want to. smoking is one of the few pleasures still allowed me in life.

i quit so i could be in good health, but as soon as i quit i get laid up in bed for a week, not happy!

Hi there BigIan,I know excactly what your feeling and there are other alternatives other than total abstinace, they may not have the total health benefit of abstinance but are emencfully better than cigarettes.
I had the same problem 30 years ago. Hated smoking cigarettes but hated not smoking. My answer to the problem, a pipe. Have you considered getting a pipe? All the calming effects of smoking without inhaling. Or maybe try Snus. Just a few suggestions, hope they help if not good luck with the cold turkey.
P.S Stay away from the cessation products like Champix, patch,s gum etc. you will only be wasting your money as these products have a 98% failure rate on smoking cessation.

Originally Posted by BigIan

i know its the right thing.

i just don`t want to. smoking is one of the few pleasures still allowed me in life.

i quit so i could be in good health, but as soon as i quit i get laid up in bed for a week, not happy!

I never smoked so I can't really know. From what I've seen, the ease (or not) of quitting is determined by how much you've smoked for how long. The people I know who quit and stuck with it were off better once they beat the addiction.


Hang in there

Originally Posted by BigIan

and since quitting i`ve had a major chest infection, i cant sleep and i want to kill some one.....

I started smoking when I was 12 years old. Lying to myself by the time I was 14 ("Oh, I can quit any time I want to. . . ."). Joined the Navy when I was 21. The 18 year olds ran circles around me on the "O" course. I was totally winded and could not keep up. I resolved to quit smoking.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Took me three years of trying and failing over and over and over again. I had my last cigarette shortly after my 24th birthday. Six months later I experienced my last craving for nicotine. After that, I never felt the slightest desire to light up ever again. That was 33 years ago. Thirty three years of freedom.

Ian, sometimes life sucks and sometimes life sucks a lot. but you can get through this. And you can get through it without picking up a pipe or a cigar or dipping snuff. This is something you can do.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Spend all that cigarette money on razors, brushes, strops and hones. Now those things are not addictive at all.

i quit about 3 months ago....i was doing pretty good with it...then it happened i got put back on night shift....ill tell ya working 12's at night by yourself gets very boring just stay with it man i got a bad cough when i stoped the first time. its your lungs cleaning themselves out. i get to do it all over soon as i get off this night shift im on

jimmy your a tattoo artist?

Congrats on stopping Ian now you've taken the first step just keep it up !

all the best for your new clean lungs

ian