Room temperature beef.

[The Great Unwashed]

I smoked my first cigarette bunking off from school aged eight.

About 20 years later I had a serious accident, it put me in hospital for some time. There I developed a taste for morphine (but that's for another post).

When I finally got discharged, I realised that I had utterly lost the desire to smoke in the intervening time.

I laughed and I asked myself, "Who'd have thought that riding a Kawasaki into a tree would increase your life expectancy?"

I tell you this as an aside, something you can use next time some moron gets anecdotal on you ("Yeah well my Granddad shot cocaine into his balls for 20 years and it never did him any harm. Until the day his cock exploded killing several passers-by (but that's for another post)").

A couple of weeks later I was smoking again (I had my reasons, life was hard back then, you don't know, why do you always judge!?!?)

Anyway, I have got to an age* where I'm fairly convinced that I should, in fact, finally, once and for all, kick the disgusting, horrible, comforting, warm but bizarrely cool habit once and for all.

Your advice, experience, encouragements are humbly invited.




* an age that surprises me! -- I'd spent my 20s convinced I'd die before I got old. I was an idiot (but my abs were good)

[leafrog]

Two successful quit stories.

Me: Cold turkey (as opposed to room temperature beef. Or are we talking about smoking a brisket?). I was moving from one country to another and found myself in a whole new routine where it was easy to rid myself of old habits. The first jones I had for a smoke came about 3 months later while watching a movie. Someone lit up and I had an "ooooh!" moment. But then I thought of the taste and smell and cost and all the other stuff I was appreciating not experiencing. Cigarette free since May 3, 2000.

Husband: Vaping. He misunderstood the instructions and discovered about a month in that he was dosing himself with far less nicotine than he was used to. He realized that hadn't been a problem, and he voluntarily started ratcheting it down to zero. He was still vaping but was put in a work situation where he wasn't hanging out with other smokers/vapers and found himself using it less and less until he was done. Cigarette and vape free since the end of 2015.

IMO, you need to consider two things, the physical and the psychological addictions. Personally, I think the psychological addiction is the hardest to overcome because smoking is tied to so many activities. Smoke with a drink. Smoke after eating. Smoke with coffee. Finding a way to break those routines or replace the activity of smoking with something else can be helpful.

I wish you the best of luck!

[AuntiePam]

Allen Carr's book -- it's basically hypnosis without the hypnotist. One of my quits was immediately after finishing the book, and it lasted for three years. No withdrawal, no pangs, I could hang out with smokers without getting the urge.

My longest quit was after actual hypnosis -- five one-hour sessions -- that quit lasted ten years and was also easy.

[Lucifer]

It took me years to quit smoking, and I've had backsliding incidents and managed to get way committed to vaping for a year (so stupid). My advice is to stay more committed to quitting than you are to not quitting. That may sound stupid but nicotine addiction is no fucking joke and if you've been a lifelong smoker you may have a hard time. You need to hang in there with quitting and not go too hard on yourself if/when you backslide.

[Lucifer]

This thread is making me crave a butt. Lame

[The Great Unwashed]

leafrog, Thank you. How did you deal with the jones-moments of coffee, beer, socialising, etc? Did you avoid them, or embrace them (if you get my drift)?

[The Great Unwashed]

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

Allen Carr's book -- it's basically hypnosis without the hypnotist. One of my quits was immediately after finishing the book, and it lasted for three years. No withdrawal, no pangs, I could hang out with smokers without getting the urge.

My longest quit was after actual hypnosis -- five one-hour sessions -- that quit lasted ten years and was also easy.

No snark -- so your quits have always relapsed? What have been the "failing" moments?

[Lucifer]

Sometime I'd just give in to the urge and have a couple smokes. I think the idea of "never having another cigarette" was daunting and I'd find a reason to proclaim failure and start up smoking again. When I came to terms with the idea that yeah, maybe this is a process that's going to take years, it became a little easier.

At this point, it's been about a year and a half since I've had a smoke and two months vape-free.

I've been a mostly reformed non-smoker for 12 years

[The Great Unwashed]

Originally Posted by Lucifer

This thread is making me crave a butt. Lame

I am sorry, dude, stay strong! And thank you for your insights.

[Lucifer]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

I am sorry, dude, stay strong! And thank you for your insights.

You too, bro

[Jaglavak]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

Your advice, experience, encouragements are humbly invited.
I was an idiot (but my abs were good)

If you ever had abs, screw you you're on your own.

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

No snark -- so your quits have always relapsed? What have been the "failing" moments?

The ten year quit failed about a year after my first husband died. I started going out for a beer after work with co-workers, all of whom smoked. I thought I'd be able to restrict myself to smoking at the bar. Nope.

There were no triggers, really. My problem was that it had been so easy to quit those times before, I thought I could control it, be a "social smoker". Nope.

The upside is that I can go for long periods without smoking -- flights, road trips (I won't smoke if UncleRon is in the car), movies, work, meetings -- and it doesn't bother me.

ETA: Carr says the nicotine addiction isn't really as bad as we've heard ("it's worse than heroin!", and the nicotine is out of our system in 72 hours. I tend to agree. I've never woken up in the middle of the night jonesing for a smoke, which I think I'd do if the addiction were that strong.

[The Great Unwashed]

Originally Posted by Jaglavak

If you ever had abs, screw you you're on your own.

Shut up, I was just working in some pathos! I have no idea what pathos is, mind you, but I bet it goes well with nicotine,

[Solfy]

My parents both quit smoking last October. They used the patch. I'm still agog with grateful disbelief.

They started in high school.
Having me didn't make them stop.
Living just above poverty level for several years didn't make them stop.
Having a long series of unexplained miscarriages didn't make them stop.
Having my brother didn't make them stop.
My brother's repeated bouts of pneumonia and bronchitis didn't make them stop.
All the begging my brother and I did didn't make them stop.
Losing a close friend to smoking-related throat cancer didn't make them stop.
Losing my aunt to smoking-related lung cancer didn't make them stop.

Then this year, after over forty years of smoking, they stopped.
I honestly never thought I'd see the day.

Mom says the cravings don't bother her at all, but sometimes the habit pops into her head and she reaches for a smoke before remembering she doesn't do that any more.

[The Great Unwashed]

AuntiePam, I have started to understand myself as a creature of habit (in my jeunesse I flattered myself to believe that I was a free spirit).

I anticipate a number of triggers: waking up, driving to work, first break, lunch, second-oh-my-god-I-need-a-cigarette-break, driving home, arriving home, planning for tomorrow, before dinner, after dinner, having just been very funny in a post, post-sex, post-cigarette and just before bedtime.

The good news is, never while I am sleeping.

[The Great Unwashed]

Originally Posted by Solfy

My parents both quit smoking last October. They used the patch. I'm still agog with grateful disbelief.

They started in high school ... didn't make them stop.

Then this year, after over forty years of smoking, they stopped.

Putting aside the fact that your traumatising story made me want to smoke, you didn't actually say what did finally make them want to give up.

[The Great Unwashed]

Look, here's how impulsive I am: in the school-week I start at 8 (enough to make anyone take up crack) so I have to be up by 6:57.30 to even hope to arrive on time.

It is currently Les Vacances d'Hiver. It is 1:52 am. Going back on Monday will feel like being punched in the throat and the testicles AT THE SAME TIME.

I said to myself just 5 minutes ago, you really must retire to bed my old chap, but first some Beethoven.

Then I watched myself pouring a glass of whisky. Even as I was doing this I was saying to myself, "TGU! Don't be a complete twat, we just said it's bedtime!"

Anyway, I need a smoke. Back in 5.

[david86blue]

I was a 2 pack a day smoker for 20 years and finally quit because they got too expensive. (sixty five cents a pack) Now 36 years tobacco free, and also surprised how long it has been. I still get a tiny urge when I smell that first little whiff of smoke from a freshly lit ciggie.

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

Putting aside the fact that your traumatising story made me want to smoke, you didn't actually say what did finally make them want to give up.

They cited cost, but they're quite financially comfortable these days. They smoked through the years when we didn't have a dime to spare, so I'm not buying that as the only motivation. You've got to want it badly enough.

[Pere]

Originally Posted by Solfy

They cited cost, but they're quite financially comfortable these days. They smoked through the years when we didn't have a dime to spare, so I'm not buying that as the only motivation.

Depends how you look at it. It may be relatively affordable as addictions go, but it's an expensive suicide.

[leafrog]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

leafrog, Thank you. How did you deal with the jones-moments of coffee, beer, socialising, etc? Did you avoid them, or embrace them (if you get my drift)?

I think I was really fortunate to be in a completely new situation, living-wise. I had lived in Asia for 6 years, where smoking was easy and normal. I returned to the US without a job and lived with my non-smoking parents in rural Oregon. Because pretty much every aspect of my daily life changed, it was easy to disassociate what I was doing (drinking coffee in Oregon vs. drinking coffee in Tokyo) from smoking.
I do admit that when I got a job and moved to Seattle, I would smoke when I got together with friends to play pubtrivia or whatnot. Probably about 5-10 a week. Then about 10 years ago I landed in the hospital with something that could possibly be triggered by smoking and I reached the mindset where you are now and haven't smoked a cig since. Don't miss it; have other, more enjoyable vices.

[Solfy]

Originally Posted by Pere

Depends how you look at it. It may be relatively affordable as addictions go, but it's an expensive suicide.

It was expensive back when making the mortgage payment was a monthly nail biter. It wasn't affordable, relatively or otherwise. I didn't go with unmet needs, but there were a few met wants for me or them. They rented part of the house out, cut wood for heat, and drove cars that leaked in the rain and stranded them not infrequently. But there were always smokes.

My point is you can have whatever motivation under the sun, but if you don't really want to quit, you're not going to.

[Glazer]

If you quit quitting, quit again.

[Carolia]

My dad smoked from pre-high school (Grandfather smoked, and he stole his cigarettes) until I was eight years old. His birthday is about two weeks before mine, and he quite cold turkey. The main things I remember about it are first, he was a grouch for about two months. He was angry, exactly, but really on edge. The other things was that he started eating more hard candy--peppermints and butterscotches. For about two years, he would even call them cigarettes sometimes.

His advice on quitting was that it was a matter of wanting it badly enough. He'd never really wanted to quit before, but he got really tired of it. My best friend smoked for year, and when I asked him about it, he said there was no point in bugging her to quit until she wanted to, but as soon as she did, to give her all the support in the world.

All that to say, if you really want to quit, find the method that works for you and do it. You won't regret it--quitting is what let my dad live long enough to meet his granddaughter, and that was well worth it.

[KidVermicious]

Wellbutrin worked for me. Worked really well, in fact.

However you do it though, do it.

[AuntiePam]

Originally Posted by KidVermicious

Wellbutrin worked for me. Worked really well, in fact.

However you do it though, do it.

That was one of my other quits. How did it work for you? The only effect I noticed was dead taste buds, and I figured okay, that's why it will work -- can't "taste" the cigarette.

I was still smoking but not enjoying it, so like the idiot I am, I stopped taking the Wellbutrin.

[KidVermicious]

So when I started taking it, I wanted badly to quit but wasn't actively trying. About two weeks later I noticed I was smoking about half as much as normal, and that was with no effort on my part. So that gave me the kick I needed and I scaled back to five a day, did that for a week, then two a day, did that for a week, and then I quit. Compared to all my earlier attempts, it was flabbergasteringly easy.

I didn't notice any effect on taste buds? Maybe I wasn't paying attention.

[Dragonlady]

It seems to work the same way for me. I started it for mental health reasons and noticed that I almost quit smoking without noticing. Dr said Wellbutrin is Chantix, which was markets for smoking cessation. She told me that there is something in it that actually reduces the urge to smoke for most people. I haven't had any other side effects.

[The Great Unwashed]

Thanks all. I hadn't thought about Wellbutrin et al (I was thinking either e-cig or cold-turkey).

There's one issue (and it's how I fell back into smoking after my accident) -- spliff. Friday night comes and fuck me if I don't need a joint. I suppose there are pipes (never used one, so I don't know if they work for resin and/or leaf, nor if the simple pleasure won't be alterered in some significant way).

We'll see, I am fairly convinced that I have to quit or die. Dying has little appeal to me.

[Glazer]

A bowl is superior to a joint in every way.

[KidVermicious]

Originally Posted by The Great Unwashed

There's one issue (and it's how I fell back into smoking after my accident) -- spliff. Friday night comes and fuck me if I don't need a joint.

Well then, kick that too. Maybe get my butt kicked for saying this around here, but if you need it (in a non-medical way), that's maybe not the best relationship to be having with Ms. Jane.