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Today is my first day without a smoke. So far, I feel very anxious. This isn't because of withdrawal, this is because of mental bullshit. I've been smoking for 18 years. The intake has fluctuated a bit but for a good while there I was a pack a day smoker. Lately, I've downgraded myself to about 5 to 10 cigs a day. I have never tried to quit before. I've thought about it plenty. Read websites, talked to ex-smoking friends, felt guilty but I've never once ever attempted to stop. My motivation is a big one (one that you would think would have stopped me in my tracks before now). Four months ago I lost my mother to complications from smoking. COPD and emphysema are a grisly death that I was ringside for as I was her live-in caretaker. I was with her, day in and day out for years, watching what cigarettes (she smoked to the end) do to someone. I am still shaken and shell-shocked from the experience and the mountains of grief that I deal with everyday do not make the prospect of quitting any easier. But I can't unsee what I've seen, which means it's loving time. I am going cold turkey. Wish me luck, goons. 
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Mar 6, 2011 17:19
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theNewBlack21 posted:Alright, I'm trying this out. I am not a heavy smoker. I've been smoking about a pack a week for a year, but it has slowly been increasing.I've instructed several friends to slap me if I have one. I'll miss it when drunk or high. I didn't write down or mark what day was my last, but I'm pretty sure I'm over 3 weeks clean now.
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Mar 6, 2011 22:45
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Swoon posted:
Good luck!!
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Mar 6, 2011 22:55
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Swoon posted:I am going cold turkey. Wish me luck, goons. Just remember to stay on it no matter what, it does get easier. Use the added anxiety to do something productive, like jogging or something you wouldn't have done before. I'm at 38 days without one, and it really helped to keep up with this thread. Some of the posts can be inspiring when pushing through a craving, Just take a trip over to that 'subscribe' button. Good luck goon! Keep us posted.
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Mar 6, 2011 23:17
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Swoon posted:But I can't unsee what I've seen, which means it's loving time. Good luck, man. I'm truly sorry for your loss. You can do this.
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Mar 6, 2011 23:55
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Swoon posted:Today is my first day without a smoke. So far, I feel very anxious. This isn't because of withdrawal, this is because of mental bullshit. Good luck mate. I had to watch my Nan go through the same thing which had a large part in influencing my decision to quite, along with a load of pressure from my Dad for the same reason. I had a dream a few months after she died. In this dream I answered a phone to hear her voice on the other end, she told me she was going to show me what it was like to suffer from those diseases. What followed was some sort of bizarre waking dream/sleep paralysis episode where I thought I was awake lying in my bed but felt like something was crushing my chest so I couldn't breathe. I genuinely thought I was about to die. poo poo the life out of me. chippy fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Mar 7, 2011 |
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Mar 7, 2011 12:53
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My 51 year old father who has been on 30 rollups a day since age 13 (which at most would only be a SLIGHT exagerration) has successfully quit for over 5 months now since trying E-cigarettes. I was so impressed by this, that I purchased one as well, and so far I'm 9 weeks cigarette free, with no tears, tantrums, weight gain or yearning. Same goes for my better half, who smoked like a trooper and has never once attempted to give up. My conclusion is that E-cigs are amazing. Although there is something to be said about only swapping out one addiction for another, as an intermediate it's a healthier and vastly cheaper option which has frankly made this a breeze. I have gone down to medium nicotine content liquid, with an aim to slowly wean myself off of the nicotine altogether. I've made a couple of serious attempts to give up either cold turkey, or patch assisted in the past and I truly feel like I've made an actual life change at this point, rather than just delaying the inevitable return to cigarettes with willpower.
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Mar 7, 2011 14:27
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Thanks for all the virtual fist-bumps, goons! Rolo posted:Just remember to stay on it no matter what, it does get easier. Use the added anxiety to do something productive, like jogging or something you wouldn't have done before. Funny you should mention that! A week ago I just started HIIT workouts. I work out 6 days a week but I had been completely dragging my feet on doing anything truly challenging. HIIT wears my rear end the gently caress out, so I'm thinking it will be very complimentary to quitting. Plus I can use it as a direct measure of how much better my lungs/heart-rate are functioning. I also started a blog devoted solely to quitting. I'm just going to dump all of my thoughts and physical changes in there so that, hopefully, I can look at it when I'm jonesing.
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Mar 7, 2011 14:54
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I've been off tobacco for about three and a half months now. It's amazing how much more I can breathe! I joined a gym, based on the idea that at the very most the gym costs half what I was spending on tobacco, isn't addictive, makes me feel good instead of awful, and actually improves my life instead of killing me. So yeah, now that I can actually breathe again, it feels really good to work out and flood my bloodstream with oxygen. It's a definite high. I love it.
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Mar 7, 2011 17:22
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Decided last night that if i don't quit that this cough I've had for a month won't go away. Been smoking for 7 years now since I started college. so about an hour ago I had the last one in my pack so I'll see how this goes. Managed to quit for about 3 months last summer so as long as I can keep with it this time I know I can do it.
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Mar 7, 2011 19:06
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One thing I am slightly angry with the world about is that I quite 6 (7? lost count) weeks ago now and I've had a throat infection for the last month or so. This does not seem fair.
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Mar 8, 2011 00:23
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Day one's the hardest for me. Probably have had only a dozen day ones in the last 3 years since I've been trying to quit. Here goes..
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Mar 8, 2011 02:23
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wharf cat posted:Day one's the hardest for me. Probably have had only a dozen day ones in the last 3 years since I've been trying to quit. Here goes.. This is the odd thing. I don't understand why I differ so much from everyone else who makes this declaration. The first day is NOT the hardest for me at all =(. I smoke about a pack a day. Sometimes more. Yet some days I just don't buy any, this goes on for about two or three days, then I'm out and I think, oh a store, I'll buy some smokes. The first day has no issue, no concern about it, the second isn't even an issue. I don't get anxious or suffer the headaches, shakes, whatever else others get. But if I CAN buy them I do. How do I get over this hump  . I don't think I'm strong enough to just say "hey I won't buy any..." because if I can afford to, and it is nearby. I will. I also wonder why I don't have that "first" day response, going from 1 to up to 2 packs a day to nil for 2-3 days.
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Mar 8, 2011 02:46
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Just came in to say I recently started smoking. Good luck qutting everybody. Well, see ya. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Mar 8, 2011 02:47
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exhaust heat posted:Just came in to say I recently started smoking. I don't think you understand this thread.
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Mar 8, 2011 04:16
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chippy posted:One thing I am slightly angry with the world about is that I quite 6 (7? lost count) weeks ago now and I've had a throat infection for the last month or so. This does not seem fair. But yeah, I quit in mid January, and I've "cheated" twice, once when we went to my fiancee's parent's house, and once when drinking with a friend. Speaking of sore throat, I was sick as poo poo, went to a friend's house, drank some, smoked a few cigarettes and felt better. It was the oddest thing. Felt like horseshit the next day. My part time job has been a bitch though, as I sit for hours doing NOTHING, and that was my worst time to smoke.
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Mar 8, 2011 17:15
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Almost 3 weeks and I gotta say, I feel great. I bought a garmin heartrate monitor/pedometer and got back into running. Work still makes me want one every now and then, but that's just because I'm used to having one right after a shift ends. Besides that, walking home from the train is hard because that was one of my ritualistic smoking times as well. otherwise, it hasn't been hard. Sometimes I want a random one, but I'll just go for a run or eat something instead. Good luck everyone!
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Mar 8, 2011 20:07
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Rolo posted:Just remember to stay on it no matter what, it does get easier. Use the added anxiety to do something productive, like jogging or something you wouldn't have done before. I quit about a month and some ago, didn't really count the days after the first two weeks. This advice up there is the most important one could hold on to. I've (re)started working out, and channeled my cravings into that. After a 10-12 hour workday a one-hour workout session can clear out every smoking desire I had, and the extra oxygen pushed my stamina, so it's very rewarding. I still miss the taste sometimes, but the cravings are gone. Good luck everyone, you can do it.
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Mar 8, 2011 21:23
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I'm on day 3 and thanking my lucky stars that I just started HIIT workouts. It squeezes the anxiety right out of me. Not to mention exhausts me. So far I've only had about three really bad cravings. The kind of craving where my hands shake and I want to claw my own face off. The rest have been just annoying but manageable. So far so good!
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Mar 8, 2011 21:48
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I have been smoking for less than a year, but Phillip-Morris already has me by the balls. The longest I've gone without a cigarette is something like twelve days, and that was just because I was really ill. A conscious attempt to quit would not last very long at all. I want to quit, but as soon as I get over the hump of the physical addiction, I know that I'll enjoy a cigarette... Just one. Then that one turns into many, many stoges. I should never have started, honestly.
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Mar 8, 2011 23:34
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hooptyjr posted:A conscious attempt to quit would not last very long at all. hooptyjr posted:I want to quit, but as soon as I get over the hump of the physical addiction, I know that I'll enjoy a cigarette... No offense, but you don't really want to quit. Not if you are being that defeatist before even attempting. The deck is completely stacked against me in terms of quitting smoking right now. I have had three major deaths in the family (very very close to me, two in my own household) in the last four months. And I quit smoking three days ago, despite the grief, despite the stress, despite desperately needing any tiny lil bit of pleasure I can get right now. I quit. It would have been very easy to excuse myself and cite 'Well, look at the stress I'm under, no wonder I am failing at this/will fail at this.' But I haven't, and I won't.
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Mar 8, 2011 23:56
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What kind of HIIT routine are you doing? I'm ready to quit and all this talk of channeling the cravings into working out has convinced me to give it a try but I'm fairly crap at cardio (being a smoker...excuse me, having been)
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Mar 9, 2011 00:14
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I smoked for 16 years and had my last one a little over 2 years ago. A couple of observations about this: 1. I'd tried to quit several times, getting as far as a few months without a cigarette before I'd cheat, usually drunk at a bar or a wedding, and that would be the end of that. Don't cheat. "Just one" turns into smoking again almost immediately. This last time I actually avoided bars for the first few months and I think this helped a lot. 2. In my early 20's I talked about quitting with this lady who had chain-smoked for like 30 years and quit for 10. She scared the poo poo out of me by saying stuff like, "I still want one really bad even right now." I was scared that nicotine would be this persistent joy-sucking weight on my soul and I'd never be whole again. That has not happened. After the first year orso, I rarely think about cigarettes and if an urge does crop up, it's like a distant echo of a forgotten memory and extremely easy to fight. 3. I've had success with the patch, but this last time was just willpower. An interesting thing about it is that always in the past I would couple quitting with starting a workout routine. I'd have to quit for 2 weeks to "clear my lungs" before starting the routine. This last time I decided that was making excuses and just started working out without quitting. For some reason being already IN an active routine made it MUCH easier to quit when I finally did. I don't know if any of this information is helpful, but I thought sharing a success story and some logistics might be inspirational. Good luck to everyone who's trying to quit. You can do it. I believe you can fly.
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Mar 9, 2011 00:27
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n1000 posted:What kind of HIIT routine are you doing? I'm ready to quit and all this talk of channeling the cravings into working out has convinced me to give it a try but I'm fairly crap at cardio (being a smoker...excuse me, having been) I too, am crap at cardio because of smoking.  But I have managed to build up a bit of endurance over the past 6 months just by plowing through it. I workout 6 days a week, anywhere from 30 mins to an hour and half a day. I just started... well this is a bit embarrassing but hell it's working so I will say it. I started doing the Turbo Fire HIIT workouts from Beach Body. It's incredibly silly but there is absolutely no quarter given when it comes to zinging you straight up to your anaerobic level. I can't speak for how it works out for dudes, but for me and my workout buddy (who is also female and is still currently smoking) it kicks our asses from one side of the room to the other. I've almost yarfed twice and one day I was actually forced to take a knee because I started to blackout on my feet. But if you're into running that's a pretty easy way to get a HIIT workout. Just run til you throw up, basically.  I can't speak highly enough about starting a workout that you never thought you could do before. Something that hits your respiratory/heart rate hard and fast. It burns through all that nervous energy and anger you get during the cravings. Just be careful not to overdo it and injure yourself. Godspeed, goon!
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Mar 9, 2011 00:44
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I'm visiting my long-distance girlfriend in two weeks for the first time since Christmas, and one of my resolutions was to quit smoking. Now then. I've been a smoker for seven years or so (since late high school) and have tried quitting before but never with success greater than a month. Tried the patch probably about 3 times—at one point I got depressed that my spares had literally expired. Any way, I also lie a lot about quitting. I've been "kind of maybe quitting" in my mind for the past four months or so, but haven't had a period greater than one week without one in that entire span of time. For example, I've told the person in question to her face (Skype) that I'm quitting and haven't had one in four days. Except I had two two days ago, five halves yesterday, and like six today. And I lied about that to her. I don't even know why though! I'm pathetic at quitting. Time to read through this thread I suppose  edit: oh hello page 2 (november 2009) post: f#a# posted:What a weird time for a thread, I am on day 4 of round 6 of my attempts to quit smoking. 4 of those rounds really were just short-lived (week or less) whims, though. I've smoked for five years and my family has a history of lung cancer. It hadn't phased me much, and still doesn't, but it's a bit creepy to think about. f#a# fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Mar 9, 2011 |
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Mar 9, 2011 00:48
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I'm on Day 12 but got reeeeeallly close to slipping today, as I happened to be driving by Cigarettes Cheaper right as I was having a brutal craving. I got home and chomped a Nicorette and survived though. I've also started running to combat the eventual weight gain; I'm using the Couch to 5K plan outlined here. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml The first couple weeks are not so bad on those poor tar-filled lungs. It's a mixture of jogging and power-walking.
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Mar 9, 2011 08:28
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Ugh. Last night was my first social gathering event since I quit. I made it through without begging for a smoke but drat did I get some bad cravings. And, I'm so ashamed, I verbally took one of my friends heads clean off. He was just being playfully annoying like usual and I lit into him. Startled everyone in the room cause it seemed to them like it came out of nowhere. What they didn't realize was that I was in the undertow of a very physical craving.  I'm so ashamed.
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Mar 9, 2011 15:05
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Swoon posted:
It happens man, and people forget about stuff like that pretty quickly. Congrats on getting through the night without a smoke!
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Mar 9, 2011 15:54
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fyo posted:It happens man, and people forget about stuff like that pretty quickly. Congrats on getting through the night without a smoke! Thanks! I'm hoping to get better control of my irritability. Really felt like poo poo after going Satanic on him. I wish I had a speed bag or a heavy bag, I think it would help during those freakouts.
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Mar 9, 2011 16:55
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Swoon posted:Thanks! I'm hoping to get better control of my irritability. Really felt like poo poo after going Satanic on him. It does get easier. Your body is throwing a fit because it wants its sweet sweet nicotine and you said no. A punching bag isn't a terrible idea, although I wonder how much you would then associate a craving with throwing a punch... Doing a bunch of pushups and situps or basic calisthenics is nice because if you do enough you're too tired for that crave-rage to turn into anything more than a silent frustration, or alternatively, more situps.
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Mar 9, 2011 17:41
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I am on my 58th day without smoking, I quit cold turkey and the first 3 weeks was hell but I did it. I do still have a pretty bad cough and was wondering if this is something I should be worried about or will it eventually go away. I smoked for 18 years roughly around a pack every 3 days. Once I got passed the 3 week withdraw I rarely even think about smoking anymore if I do I just take a deep breath and enjoy being able to breathe a lot easier now.
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Mar 9, 2011 17:53
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3 days in now. Cold turkey, 10 year smoker. I want to kill everyone around me.
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Mar 9, 2011 17:56
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Let's do this poo poo. This crap is bad for me. I'm quiting right now.
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Mar 9, 2011 19:28
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I'm currently a little past three months. I quit cold turkey after I got sick with the flu. I haven't even thought of going back, they seem so alien to me now. It's funny how that works. I started 7 years ago, averaging a pack a day. This was probably around my third round of quitting - but for some reason this one feels different and I know it will stick! poxin fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Mar 9, 2011 |
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Mar 9, 2011 19:56
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Farking Bastage posted:3 days in now. Cold turkey, 10 year smoker. I want to kill everyone around me. Mmm yes. Let the hate flow through you! I'm so with you (4 days here). This is pretty much me at any given moment  Unless I'm busy sleeping crappily.
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Mar 9, 2011 20:08
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The last cigarette I had was back in June of last year. The last time I had nicotine in my body was November of last year. E-cigs are the only thing that really worked for me. I haven't even had a craving for nicotine or a cigarette since I quit completely. e: Just so you know, I was a 2 pack a day smoker. Mux fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Mar 9, 2011 |
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Mar 9, 2011 20:12
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Traffic Reporter posted:It does get easier. Your body is throwing a fit because it wants its sweet sweet nicotine and you said no. A punching bag isn't a terrible idea, although I wonder how much you would then associate a craving with throwing a punch... Doing a bunch of pushups and situps or basic calisthenics is nice because if you do enough you're too tired for that crave-rage to turn into anything more than a silent frustration, or alternatively, more situps. Yeah I do HIIT workouts 6 days a week and they help tons. And you're probably right, I don't need anymore things that make me want to throw punches right now. I'm curious to know, those of you who have quit and stayed quit for longer than say 6 months, did you guys turn to exercise? Were there any of you who didn't workout through the whole thing?
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Mar 9, 2011 20:21
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Swoon posted:Yeah I do HIIT workouts 6 days a week and they help tons. And you're probably right, I don't need anymore things that make me want to throw punches right now.
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Mar 9, 2011 20:36
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Mux posted:I think I gained more weight and sat in front of the computer more (I didn't take breaks to go outside and smoke). Do you think you gained weight because you were rewarding yourself with food? Or do you think it was because of the oral fixation?
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Mar 9, 2011 22:03
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There are (at least) two closely related aspects to nicotine use which suppress appetite that also often effect weight gain or overeating in people who quit smoking. Taking nicotine rapidly releases dopamine in the brain at similar levels and just a bit quicker than eating a nice meal which causes that familiar feeling of satisfaction and calm. After quitting a smoker misses out on this regular dopamine boost...unless they substitute a quick snack for a cig break! In addition to affecting dopamine, consuming nicotine also rapidly raises your blood sugar. If you're a heavy smoker, your blood glucose levels are artificially boosted above what your body "expects" based on the amount of food you eat. In order to compensate your body might increase insulin production or glucose release from glycogen...the important part is that the body is used to this bonus sugar dissolved in your blood and once you quit it's suddenly absent. Now you've got low blood sugar which makes you irritable, stressed out, jittery (sound familiar?) and most of all hungry. To reiterate, people get fat after quitting because eating food gives a similar (albeit weaker) rush to smoking a cigarette, and your biochemistry makes you hungry.
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Mar 10, 2011 08:10
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