I QUIT SMOKING , YOU CAN TOO. I QUIT SEPT 27, 2012, SUPPORT EACH OTHER HERE

That was genuinely witty!

Thanks Desert Fox and everyone of you. Have been reading the last few pages here as I'm on day 13 and looking forward to staying committed on day 14. This thread is amazing and possibly a life safer. Best wishes to all, now I'm off to page #1!

I have been observing this thread for sometime now but never really took much notice although I do admire the purpose behind it and congratulate all those taking part in the task of taking control of your lives back.

So I started smoking about 16 years ago and once tried to give up but it lasted just one month. My dear wife, who smoked caused me to start again.

A slave to the drug, I got into the habit of smoking whenever I was on the phone, after every meal and most importantly first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

My work colleagues even made jokes like oh you need a cigarette now otherwise you cannot think straight. My wife, who still smokes was always complaining at how often I smoked and that I should only smoke in moderation as she does. She complained about the smell on my breath, about the smoke getting into her face when we walked together etc. Basically, every time I smoked when she did not, I got a telling off.

So I said I would quit. I still needed my nicotine shot and so started sucking the nicotine mints every time I normally would light up. sometimes I suck one after another and other times I can go for many hours without. I stopped on November 6 last year and have had two times a relapse. One when I was with a bunch of my freinds (all smokers) after some beers and outside a pub so I promised myself just the once.

The second time was again after some alchahol on New Years Eve and outside again with some freinds but just one cig each time. I still suck the mints but ironically my wife still smokes much less frequently than before but you can bet how much I do give back to her what she did to me. I tell her off if she sneaks outside to light up and when she returns I complain about the smell and how she is addicted etc. exactly what she did to me.

Of course I want her to give up and by being strong myself I know that she secretly admires my strength and it encourages her to smoke less frequently. Strangely enough even though her cigs and lighter are still in our smoking drawer, I still dont have the urge to light up but reach instead for the mints.

I agree with some of the comments about living from day to day and I know, if I relapse again, not to make it a habit but to fight again and get back to my normal routine. I am wondering myself how long I need to keep taking the mints and am afraid to stop taking them as they really do substitute the craving. I dont mind taking them for as long as I need to but they are not cheap to buy and I find if I run out, I panic a bit and buy some more as soon as I can.

Anyway, that is my story and I just wanted to let you all know how I am doing it. take care all and lets all keep going the best we can.

Thanks for posting, Oddballs. I can relate to everything you wrote. Please keep coming back to this thread as your success in putting down the smokes will help the next person attempting to put the poison sticks down.

All best and nice to meet you.

Anon 462 - Congratulations on day 13. Hope you keep coming back here. Best.

Taper off s l o w l y. Nicotine increases blood flow to the brain. When you stop, then what happens is your brain feels sluggish. Of course it does. A vitamin that increases blood flow to the brain is Niacin B3.
[link to www.howtodothings.com]

Don't take too much or your face will get red.

This is a good way to taper off cigarettes of the mints in a practical way. A lot of people could benefit from a low dose of Niacin.

In motivating people, criticism is the WORST WAY to affect change. The best way is reward. Instead of "getting back at her" for smoking and actually not helping you by her habits, instead say, "Your breath is so sweet now. I love kissing you the times when you haven't smoked yet. Mmmmm this is great." or "I feel so attracted to the smell of your perfume. You make me feel excited when I can smell that and I become so aware of your femininity."

These ways are far more effective. Since most women have low self-worth, then when you criticize them for a negative behavior, it can actually make them do the behavior more. (Sound similar to some comments directed towards me above?) When people perceive a criticism, it creates recidivism (resistence to change and return to old habits).

When you were in grade school, middle school, and high school, your teachers used "multiple modalities" to both educate you and motivate you. Research that. A "player" will deliberately use this idea to date more successfully. A lawyer will too to persuade the judge and jury. So will a salesman to increase his sales and paycheck. So will a pastor to win souls.

Last Edited by Don'tBeAfraid on 01/16/2013 07:03 PM

Cat, how goes the good fight?

Oh yeah...

It's the love and support I read of on this thread which strengthens my resolve to love myself more through not smoking just for today.

Love, compassion, kindness, strength, courage - we are all doing it. An addiction so strong that it has been compared to heroin when it comes to quitting - and just for today - we have done it.

One heart, one love
Let's get together and feel alright!
-Ras Robert Nesta Marley


oneLOVEsoulJAH

Thanks for the replies G and Mac, the real clincher to this whole lung thing that I'm going through is that we don't have any healthcare currently :( I can got to a doc in a box I guess

In motivating people, criticism is the WORST WAY to affect change. The best way is reward. Instead of "getting back at her" for smoking and actually not helping you by her habits, instead say, "Your breath is so sweet now. I love kissing you the times when you haven't smoked yet. Mmmmm this is great." or "I feel so attracted to the smell of your perfume. You make me feel excited when I can smell that and I become so aware of your femininity."

These ways are far more effective. Since most women have low self-worth, then when you criticize them for a negative behavior, it can actually make them do the behavior more. (Sound similar to some comments directed towards me above?) When people perceive a criticism, it creates recidivism (resistence to change and return to old habits).

When you were in grade school, middle school, and high school, your teachers used "multiple modalities" to both educate you and motivate you. Research that. A "player" will deliberately use this idea to date more successfully. A lawyer will too to persuade the judge and jury. So will a salesman to increase his sales and paycheck. So will a pastor to win souls.

Dont be afraid thanks for your kind advice: Don't worry, I am not too hard on her and will do what you say as I know she is immensly proud of me for stopping. I will encourage her even more now so that those cigs in the drawer are gone for ever.

peace and love

And on top of it all I have had a very stressfull day yet I have no real urge to smoke....cigs or weed

I must be getting somewhere with all this.....

Sick of the general malaise of the last couple days though, it seems that I may have been on some sort of I quit high because for the last 30+ days, I have been unusually happy and generally more fun as noted by the family and for the last two slightly depressed, anxious and pissy for no real reason.... Still not sleeping all too well which is strange because usually depression and always wanting to sleep generally go hand in hand.

I had a similar episode 17+ years ago after my daughter was born and it took almost two years and numerous anti-d's to come out of it. I eventually realized that I was addicted to the anti-d's and they were doing nothing more than masking the problem which was that I was not working, spending too much time in the house not having any fun.. I eventually weaned myself off of them the drugs and never looked back

Thanks for listening....lol

Some women like to do something with their hands because they've been doing something with their hands from smoking. Substituting a clove cigarette every third one is a good way to taper off. You could purchase them for her, and when she wants to light up, offer her one, for that is a common courtesy among smokers, yes? Let her "bum" a clove cigarette instead.

Caution: they may not be good for you, because they do have tobacco in them, but they don't smell so strongly. Switching one bad habit for another isn't great. It's a way though to "mind-shift" so they pause and think about their actions.

Last Edited by Don'tBeAfraid on 01/16/2013 07:28 PM

DF

It's an honor to listen to you, CHL. Thanks for your continued courage in saying what is so.

Right there with you. The cigarettes put-up a smoke screen (to the world and myself). They - like the anti-d you described - allowed me to push a lot of stuff down. Mask. Hide. Sad, smoke, happy, smoke, frightened, smoke, lonely, smoke. The whole gambit. I moved a muscle (reached for the pack, pulled one out, and flipped the Zippo) to change a thought. Distraction, sleight of hand, mirrors for smoke, the ritual changed my thoughts (at least for the moment).

Please don't think me out of order, CHL, but I believe we have some things in common: I don't envision you with a collection of silver spoons and I bet you kept pushing forward from an early age (and if we didn't push forward, we beat the shit out of ourselves). For myself, I was not, to understate the truth, surrounded by people who wanted to discuss feelings or my emotional weather report. Now, after years have passed, we have an opportunity to show-up for ourselves (good, bad, and indifferent). A fucking wonderful opportunity. We made a decision to suit-up and show-up. And the beauty is, we don't have to figure anything out today. We don't have to have any answers and we don't have to judge or label ourselves. We just have to show-up and not smoke today (and, believe me, I understand that the smoking for me is but a symptom of underlying shit that's been with me forever - I mean, who the fuck sticks a toxic stick in their mouth and tells themselves it's ok).

Just as you've been taking care of your family (and I hear that always from you, CHL) it's now your time. You deserve it.

You really do. I know a stand-up man when I meet one.

Takes a giant of a man to tell the truth about themselves. Here's looking-up at you, brother.

Don't Be Afraid - With no disrespect intended, have you ever smoked? I ask because it appears you have much information, but you seem oddly detached when you impart this information. Almost, above the din.

Of course, this all may be my stuff (projection run rampant) and probably has nothing to do with you. But, that's my read.

Given this, it would add immensely to my reading of your posts if I knew you had smoked (on the mechanical, addictive, level most here have) and truly know from whence you speak given your own personal experience.

Thanking you in advance.

Think it might be two weeks for me now... lost count of the days..mainly because i'm not thinking about it.

Been painting my living room!!! getting rid of the nicotine stained walls and ceiling....jeez.... i'm defo not smoking again..

Of course I have, both tobacco and "Mary Jane". Silly. I no longer smoke them. It's not that I'm detached. In fact, I'm passionate about helping people help themselves. If that's not coming through in my many hundreds of posts (actually more like 1200+) on helping others, then I've failed as a communicator.

Please understand. The point of posting information is to give you some tools to cope. They're ways to remove some of the addictive qualities and supplant them with postive affirming things. Even if you think them silly, most of them actually help patients.

My posts are rarely critical save for trolls whom I loathe as they are the antithesis of my own beliefs.

I was in a series of complex lectures on smoking. In them, the rate of actually quitting was miniscule. The only effective long term way from a medical standpoint was:
1)Motivation of the patient
2)Familial and friend support (community)
3)Counseling (whether informal from friends or professional)
4)Medicine like nicotine patches, Chantix, Niacin, etc.

Those who did that had a much greater chance of quitting long term.

Even if you don't quit long term, it's not a big deal.You get back on the horse, so you live longer to see your grandbabies grow up.

Note: Be careful if on Chantix. While it can be like a miracle drug, it also has some adverse side effects. The cost of Chantix is about the cost of cigarettes. In some ways, it therefore easier for a patient to try that from an economic standpoint. It will reduce the craving if you need that.

I could explain the mechanism of nicotine in the brain and you would see why it's addictive, but WORSE the corportations ADD thousands of addictive additives. It's pure evil. Native Americans (First People) smoked an entirely different substance than what you're smoking today. They did it rarely.

Last Edited by Don'tBeAfraid on 01/16/2013 09:32 PM

Thanks for getting back to me, DBA. Much appreciated. The failure isn't in your communication. It's on me.

Thanks for the courtesy of the reply. I wish you all good things.

Great stuff, Jasper. A clean slate. A new year and a new smoke-free you. Much to be proud of (and fresh paint!.... "our mum is so house-proud...our house, in the middle of the street.").

Continued congratulations.

If we were brilliant healers, and could safely do it, we would have people smoke some medicines. Why? It's one of the FASTEST ways to get medicine to the bloodstream, like getting a shot in the doctor's office. Even better, it gets the medicine to the brain in seconds.

There's some complex words in that video. Ignore them. In effect the smoke goes from your lungs, to the blood, to the brain. Then the nicotine (and a ton of additives) connect with special receptors. When two connect to a receptor, it basically turns on a light switch. Then power goes to the pleasure center of the brain. It releases dopamine and you get “high” by a sense of well-being and pleasure.

The same thing happens during sex. It's why I joked (but was serious) about reward sex. It's why you want to smoke after sex. Most addictions are about dopamine.

Worse, the nicotine and additives are noticed by the brain. The brain is efficient and say, “Whoa! If I made more receptors, I could absorb more, and I could get more pleasure. It causes addiction. However the person then must smoke more and more to get the same dopamine release.

It's very short term, and the tobacco companies know it. The additives might even abbreviate the pleasure. This makes a person smoke more often and more of the substance.

It is a conspiracy, and as such VERY PERTINENT to GLP.

Jasper!!! That's such a good sign! You don't know how many days you've quit! I think it's a good sign anyway!

Yay for you!!!! :)

Thanks Mac, I had to grab a your words as always hit right to the heart.... Thanks Brother, and I mean that

"The cigarettes put-up a smoke screen (to the world and myself). They - like the anti-d you described - allowed me to push a lot of stuff down. Mask. Hide. Sad, smoke, happy, smoke, frightened, smoke, lonely, smoke. The whole gambit. I moved a muscle (reached for the pack, pulled one out, and flipped the Zippo) to change a thought. Distraction, sleight of hand, mirrors for smoke, the ritual changed my thoughts (at least for the moment)."


you know Mac, you're making me cry again. I figured I had the little depression thing under control... There is a lot of sadness in having smoked. We killed a million moments of genuine emotion for so so long and we did it by hurting ourselves. But we had to keep on truckin' didn't we? No matter what. There was no time... People needed us. No one knew we needed us too.

It is what it is. At least now we know it.

today we did not smoke because we are all hanging on to that lifeline leading to the shore and nobody but nobody is gonna make us let go. Party on shore soon enough! I'll bring the ouzo.

Love to you all, especially you CHL. It's okay. You'll be okay.

Nah, there's no withdrawals for weed...lol... just the fact that you "think" you need to get stoned. If anything I may be a little irratable

I've been smoking weed longer than cigs, so it is high time that I quit.... And I have a real suspicion that the weed is the real underlying cause of the "asthma"

The problem is that I love the smell, look, taste and texture of it but just like the cigs, I know that it will eventually lead to an early death. Believe me after the age of forty and you've begun to realize that you have more days behind you than ahead, it's a VERY sobering reality

Rambling again.....

Keeping the thread alive, good job guys. I am in a kidney stone crisis, surgery next Tuesday,, on powerful drugs. Will comment when I can but will rely on my support group leaders for a while. Thanks.

CHL, You ain't rambling as much as I do... I should get a life maybe. lol

:)

DF!!!

Oh they better take care of you!
Tell them we said so!

Weed isn't addictive, but it does work in conjuction with estrogen production. It makes you passive. That's too bad, because actually there's some benefits to Mary Jane and using the oil from it could really help heal cancer.