Smoking Still?
 

Ok - I looked for a thread that addressed this question but, unfortunately, didn't find my answer.

Here's the deal...I started smoking lightly at age 15. It got progressively worse until I got "addicted." I never really smoked that much (2-3 packs per week).

I quit smoking when I entered seminary last August. Now, it is almost a year later, but my desire for a ciggy is exactly the same. After I eat, when I'm on a study break, etc. the urge comes up. When I'm around second-hand smoke, my body relaxes a bit and my mood lightens. I know that's just a sad psychological reaction to a trigger.

Question: WHEN DOES THIS MESS END????

ETA: I smoked from ages 15 to 25.

I don't think it ever ends. I "quit" smoking in Feb., but lost a patient on Sunday in surgery and was upset (this is when I have my biggest cravings-at work when I am stressed) so I went out and had one. I had another one this AM after a stressful night. I am in what I call the "bummer" phase-where I won't buy a pack but instead bum one from other people. I don't smoke at home anymore which is an improvement. We'll see how this next week goes-hopefully I will stay away from those nasty things.

My mom quit smoking 22 years ago. She has emphysema and chronic bronchitis and has been on oxygen for about 8 years now. She's home bound and has to rest on her way to the bathroom. She still says that there are times she really would like a cigarette. It's a hell of an addiction. Stay quit. The longer you smoke, the harder it is.

Dee

and you would think all of that would motivate me to quit, wouldn't ya?

Are you sure your mom isn't my grandmother?

Grandma smoked from age 13 to 76. Currently she also has chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and according to the doctor, about 10% of her lung capacity. She's on oxygen and takes breathing treatments several times a day. She hasn't left her apartment in 4 months (last time being her 80th bday party, down the hall).

My mother is an only child, so she's grandma's sole caregiver. You'd think this, and watching her father die of lung cancer 14 years ago, would be enough to get her to quit? Nada.

I don't think the craving, or the psychological craving goes away...

I smoked about a pack a day when I was 19 to 22 - and even after I quit I still get the cravings for a smoke, or at least going through the motions. So I still want to take a "smoke break", or have a drag while having a beer on the patio. Unfortunately it'll just require alot of will-power to keep yourself from having a smoke... and don't worry about caving in for one smoke on the rare occasion - as long as it's only one smoke!

But then of course one smoke leads to 2, then t 4 then before you know it you've smoked the whole pack.

The best thing to do is try to replace the "motions of smoking with something else". When you're craving one, try drinking a glass of water, or chewing on some gum or sucking on a mint/piece of candy. If you feel the need for a smoke, replace the smoke with something else.

all this coming from a smoker. It's hard to quit and I commend you for doing so. I quit for 2 days once and then I lost my job, so of course with all the stress I started again

I think the urge to smoke either just goes away or it doesn't. I used to smoke and then I quit for years. Last year, I smoked for about a month and then stopped. This year, I've had a few cigarettes but only in the last few weeks. I never crave one to the point of it making me uncomfortable and I just get sick of it after a while and stop.

My boyfriend, on the other hand, has been smoking for years and would have a really hard time quitting.

Re: Smoking Still?
 

I was never really a smoker, every now and then I'd hit a cig up when I was shit faced drunk or if I was being social around a lot of people that smoked and then I'd blaze one for the peeps.

If you're trying to quit, something that worked for me was drinking redbull. I drank like 4 redbulls a day and quitting alcohol/tobacco/weed or any narcotic at all was easier to do than anything I've ever done in my life. I think I did that about 4 days a week for about 3 weeks and then I didnt need the redbull either. The redbull also help cut me up.....drinking all that had my metabolism going like a freight-train.

That's exactly how I am too. I smoke when I drink sometimes, smoke a lot or a few months and then just stop for a year. I never smoke because I feel like I "need" to it's just something I do every once in awhile and then I get bored with it and quit. There are few people in the world who somehow do not get addicted to nicotine the way most people do (I learned about this in my drugs & behavior class woo!). The group of people are called "chippers" and they can smoke for 20+ years and never become dependent on nicotine the way a regular smoker does.
/random fact

As for the cravings and everything else, I wish I could tell you what to do but I've never actually had a friend quit (only like 3 of my friends actually smoke anyway) but I know Lady Pi Phi has the right idea with trying to find something to replace your smoking behaviors.

Good luck! :)

My boyfriend just recently quit smoking. He stopped smoking, but started dipping (DISGUSTING) to get the nicotene effect. He limited himself to 2 -3 dips a day to try to slowly kick the nicotene addiction. He has now stopped dipping. :) He still has cravings and it drives him nuts sometimes. He now always has a package of sunflower seeds laying around for when he gets the craving.

Scary thing is, my mom only smoked from age 21 to age 40 and she's in this mess now...

ONLY??? Jesus, no wonder she's got BP written all over her lungs.

I've turned into a gum-aholic. That's my trade off, but you'd think that after 10 months, the desire would fade.

I'm tellin y'all, I know I could go right now and pick up where I left off with little problem. After discussing this with my doctor, she tells me that the physical addiction (if there even was a strong one) is now long gone. It's the psychology of it that's getting to me.

I realize that I used to smoke as a reward for doing things: after a test, during breaks, while I was out partying, after cleaning, etc. And, I haven't replaced that reward with food or anything satisfying.

Gum is all I have now. :(

I feel for anyone trying to quit and reading this thread! It sounds horrible.

I've noticed a lot of people have substituted the gum for smoking but the gum ends up costing about as much or more as the cigarettes.

I quit smoking ages ago but I still want a cigarette with every beer I drink, after every meal I eat, & on really stressful days at work.

I quit almost 8 1/2 years ago. I went from about a pack of Marlboro lights a day to nothing. Yup cold turkey!

I do chew a lot of gum (much to my mom's dismay). The cravings pretty much are gone. The only time the urge comes back is when something stressful or traumatic happens and I say "dammit, I could use a smoke"

But I never give in to the urge...because I know I will start up again

My parents and sister still smoke...they haven't been able to quit.

I think this addiction and the addiction to heroin are the toughest to quit.

Man I really do want to quit (SMOKING -- don't do illegal drugs), its just so tough.

There was a time that I had stopped smoking for about week and you have seen the shaking and the "hunger cravings", one of the main reasons why I stop was due to lack of finances (I was broke) and I got my hands on some cash and bought a pack...I haven't stopped since, but I can go long periods of time without any cravings and such.

I know one way a person stopped smoking, the calculated how much of their income annually they spent on cigarettes and it was a large amount, being a broke college student, it didn't make any sense to continue the habit.

One day soon I will get the monkey off my back.

Have never even tried it. Seriously, never taken a drag. Have no desire to. Never have had a desire. I think its a nasty ass habit.

I also advocate 'the california solution' where public smoking is pretty much baned everywhere. I wish we had that ban here. Ours is a half ass ban in restauraunts.

It's gotten to the point where I'll take a shower as soon as I get home from a night out drinking to get the smell off of me.

I cant imagine what it would be like to suffer from an adiction like that. Has to suck.

I'm a smoker in CA, specifically LA, but I have to tell you I pretty much smoke anywhere in public that I want too. But I also try to avoid places where there are a lot of people around, why should they breathe in my smoke. Most of my friends don't smoke (who I also don't smoke around) and when I did start smoking it wasn't my friends who started me.

I've never liked smoking in restaurants, I don't get it, if I'm eating, get those things AWAY from me or I will kill you, I have always been this way.

I pretty much hate everything about smoking (yes, I know its a contridiction, go figure) and but I can tell the difference in taste between some brands and that is a recent thing for me. When people challenge me on my above statment, my answer is pretty much: I'm addicted.

There is a very definite difference in brand tastes. Before I quit, I was getting into the Camel specialty line. I also know the taste of stale old nasty cigarettes even though some of my people never noticed a difference.

I had been pretty much a social smoker, jsut when out w/ the girls drinking, or playing poker, until I spent an evening drinking/chain smoking and was so SICK I threw up for two days. And the worst part, please excuse the grossness, everytime I thew up, it had a cigarette 'taste' to it. That was a month ago, I have NO desire for a cig any more!!! Not that I recommend that to anyone, but it helped me.

yea when I go into "chain" smoker mode, I get sick as well....but not that extreme

I really thought my head might fall off. it was so very bad. :eek:

It's funny I came across this thread! I quit smoking in February of this year and have slipped up only twice since then. I smoked on and off from high school until my 2nd year of college, then regularly from then until now. That was about a 10-year span.

What did I do? Now, for some people, this may sound crazy, but I was praying one night after I returned from convocation in Seattle and I told Jesus that if He wanted me to stop smoking, then he was going to have to take the urge away because honestly, I liked it. I have tried to quit many times before, and I went right back to it.

February 2, 2005 was my rebirth. The 2 times I slipped, I was like EWWWWWW. I smell smoke now and I'm like EWWWWW. In the midst of the EWWWW's, I praise God.

It's possible. It's hard, but it's possible.

So here's a weird question.

I tried to smoke once and totally just threw up - I guess I have a weak stomach. My brother smokes, and when I told him that, he laughed -- says that happened to him, too, and the first few times he smoked during poker games, etc (chain smoked) it happened again. He said he had to TRAIN HIMSELF to like cigarettes - he thinks everyone does, because it's so gross the first few times.

Any thoughts on that? Is that just my weird family, or everyone?

I felt that way the first few times too. Geez, and I wonder why I kept doing it....oh well. the last puking quit for me!!

I smoked a cigarette for the first time in a long time this weekend & I actually feel guilty about it. I guess I had a little too much to drink & my best friend Kelli offered me one out of habit. And out of habit I took it, lit up, & only smoked half of it because I started to feel sick. Even after I got home I couldn't wait to wash my hair & my clothes because of how gross I felt. :(

I enjoyed it from the start!! Of course, I had already been smoking *other* substances for a few years before I started on cigarettes.

I have been smoking for about the last 3 years, I started when I got back from London studying abroad, and I returned to find out that one of my sorority sisters had been messing around with my ex. I was so upset and I was distraught the whole day, and for some reason, I grabbed a cig from my friend and thought that it was just a one time thing, then the addiction just got worse and worse
at my worst, which was last year, ( i was president, taking my senior classes, and had a bf) i was up to a pack and a half a day...
now i'm down to like a half pack a day... still not great
its the triggers that get me, getting into my car, after eating.... drinking w. friends... stressful situations... even at work... i have to take a break b/c i just can't sit here for that long... AND i waitress nights and weekends so thats just a whole other mess.....
anyway... i'm thinking about those commit lozenges... has anyone ever tried them or had any success??

It's been exactly 2 months today for me! The smell of smoke still calms my nerves. :p And I REALLY want one after a bad day at work!!!! However, it is kind of nice to be smoke-free.....

My dad finally quit a few months ago after smoking for about seventy years.

It's too dangerous with his full time oxygen -- which he should have been on for years as well.

I asked him a few years ago, when he had half of a lung removed, why he kept on smoking. He said the doctor didn't tell him not to.

I pointed out to him that he wasn't that stupid -- although, obviously, I was wrong.

I thought he would stop when my Step Mother died of lung cancer and he watched her take a painful, labored gasp every three or four minutes in her final days. He didn't.

By the way, my mom was also a heavy smoker. She died of a massive heart attack at age 70.

I wouldn't presume to tell any of you to stop, but I hope you will think about your future.

I'm sorry to "preach," but I just don't understand.

Please be well.

It's been two years since I last posted and I STILL want to smoke. I've been 100% smoke-free since 2004. Some days I leave work and think to myself, "self, one little cigarette isn't going to hurt, right?" I haven't yet caved to the desire but it sure is frustrating.

I quit on Mother's Day this year, in honor of my mom, who is still going downhill very very slowly. I am still wanting one ALL THE TIME and in the "I feel insane" phase. I am taking it a few hours at a time. When it gets really, really bad, I make deals with myself like.. "If it's still this bad after work, I can buy a pack on the way home" or "If it's still this bad in the morning, I can buy a pack on the way to work". I get through those times, don't buy the pack and make the next deal with myself. I would love to be at a point where this isn't necessary. I also have a rebellious streak in that, if I think "I can't", then I want to more. So, I don't say that I can't have one, I tell myself that I'm choosing not to. One thing that has helped is that, on July 1st, my workplace went smoke free. There is no smoking anywhere on the grounds, even in your own car in the parking lot. The smokers are heading across the street to a bench in front of a firestation. It is really a relief that I'm not one of the people having to do that. The other thing that I am enjoying is the financial part. In Michigan, they are around $5 a pack and it's a relief to not have to be budgeting to make sure I have enough money for cigarettes each pay period.

On the downside, when I smell it on someone or walk past someone smoking, I LOVE the smell and want one so bad. And, I feel like I am constantly battling this and cannot relax 100%. I wish I had some inkling of how long it would be before I could laugh and relax and have fun without having to fight this battle, because, frankly, I find it exhausting.

I'm on Zyban and I'm using strongly flavored cinnamon things.. gum, mints, etc. The cinnamon Icebreaker mints help me a lot. Why? I dunno. That strong rough feeling in the throat I guess. I have gained 8 pounds, but most of that was in the first couple weeks and the weight gain has stopped for now, so that's a relief. If I only gain 8 pounds from quitting, I will consider that good.

My dad quit cold turkey after his first angioplasty. I think he smoked about a pack and half of REDS a day. The scare from that surgery was enough to make him stop. He also went through a 100 bag of Dum Dums a week. They cured that oral fixation.

I could try to quit, but I get stressed out very easily and HAVE to have that cigarette or else I freak out.

I just freak out now and then pull the "Sorry, I just quit smoking and my emotions are out of control" card. So far, it's worked out ok.

I personally don't get how anyone can start.

I was forced to take a week long tolerance course at the end of my senior year in high school(it was either that or miss the Prom). It was quite boring, but there was an optional cigarette portion of the tolerance course, because I guess you have to tolerate smokers and understand why they do it. I decided what the heck I will just see what its like. They had a pack of Marlboro Lights and I took one drag - didn't even inhale... it was sooooo disgusting. I was so ashamed of myself that I even bothered with it- and I felt disgusting and the aftertaste stayed in my mouth all day.

That "smokers tolerance" portion sure didn't help me at all, instead its just made me hate smoking and the smell of it even more. Each time I smell cigarette smoke it reminds me of that disgusting day at tolerance camp. I am guessing its an acquired taste.. but from what I remember it tasted like dog shit.

Just this afternoon, I met a living, breathing example of why smoking is a bad idea.

My father-in-law's mother has lived in a nursing home for the past few years. She just turned 99. A lot of the family came to celebrate her (possibly last :( ) birthday.

In the elevator, we met an elderly man. He was confined to an electric wheelchair, had a trake (sp?) ring, and was unable to speak. He could communicate only by honking a horn and some rudimentary sign language... we asked him what floor he wanted to go to, and he held up two fingers, so I hit the 2 button.

To be unable to speak, and perhaps unable to write... I'd rather die than go down that path.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I share your sentiments. What stops me is my "political thinking"... I have been smoke free for 4 years. :eek: I am a casual binge smoker with menthol the "nastiest stuff". Like I said, I know that Phillip Morris et al. sticks stuff in their cigarettes that amplifies the effects of nicotine. People can make all kinds of justifications as to why it is not that crucial. But, one can also use the justification of legalizing marijuana and what is the worst that can happen with your pot?

However, I also know all the genes that are affected by these narcotics. The sad part, is if you start young it affects your development significantly and the effects are not seen until late 30's or 40's.

Please take care of yourselves and find a way to reduce your contact.

Nowhere in this thread did it ask the opinions of non smokers. We are sick of hearing "blah blah it's disgusting". Well, we may find a hobby of yours disgusting.

Please respect this thread and the people who are posting. We are trying to discuss what could make it easier to get rid of the cravings and such. Hearing about how much it grosses you out and the affects you've seen on people doesn't do any good. So please, leave your negativity out of this thread. Please don't even post in here if you've never been a smoker. You don't make it any easier for those trying to quit.

i want oneeee
 

Over the weekend, I was home most of the time, didn't do anything interesting, but I was smoking a lot, watching tv, going out to smoke, etc.
I started to get reallyyyyy nauseaus by it, even the thought of it. I would smoke a half of one and stop... I feel like this might be a turning point b/c my body is literally rejecting it.
However, I am drinking coffee right now and I want one, and then (see GHB thread i posted) i'm stressed about that and i'm super stressed about money right now.... all i want is a cig.... (and i didn't bring any to work... ) ughhhhhh