What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Calling ex-smokers

superimposedhope

Somewhat Unstable
If you are en ex-smoker I wanna hear from you. How did you quit?

A little something about me.
I used to have a few bad habits namely powder drugs and pot as well as smoking ciggarettes. I have been clean of drugs (illegal) for 5+years now. Quitting those were tough but I managed to do it. I did it cold turkey and never looked back. However I have unsuccesfully tried to quit smoking several times. Recently I went on Welbutrin (sp?) and it was a bad idea. It made me very violent, and generally irritable and angry all the time for no reason really. In 5 years with my wife I had never called my wife "The "C" word" until the last 2 weeks in which I've done it twice. I stopped taking it!

What now? I want to quit but it's the only thing I can't quit on my own. My wife doesn't smoke regularly (socially) so I don't really have her to quit with me cause she hasn't been smoking lately anyways.

HOW DID YOU DO IT? I want to know!

Thanks
Joe

BTW: If I've been biting lately, sorry, the drug is the reason but I should be on track again soon. I stopped taking it last week.
 
Hey, I quit about two years ago, give or take. I never really had a huge cigarette addiction ( I think I smoke 3 to 4 a day durring the week, and double that on weekend days). I just stopped cold turkey. Every time you put a cigarette to you lips is a choice. I quit to have a kid, and that was more important to me. If you want it bad enough, you'll put up with the week or two of chemical withdrawal. Then you have to contend with the habbit part of it, which can be even harder, but with some will power (and hopefully the support of your wife), you can do it.
 
I have never smoked. I wonder if over-eating is a good comparison...?
However, I was put on Welbutrin once, and I felt awful. For that part that I can relate to, I feel for you.
I just weaned of Effexor and am really struggling with my "irritability" myself. I know exactly what Superimposed is talking about. I have had a couple of days where I am very angry, like I just got in the biggest arguement of my life, and absolutely nothing has happened! I can not tell you much it sucks.

Cheers,

Joe
 
I went through a phase of pack-or-more-a-day cigarette smoking (and pints of hard liquor to top it off, yikes!) when I was 17 for a few months then quit cold turkey for a year or so after realing life is precious no matter how cruddy I felt. I certainly experienced the effects of the withdrawal, but with that came my regaining of overall good health and rapidly decreasing number of daily head and neck aches. I now occasionally smoke socially (and feel terrible about it), but my goal right now is to help my girlfriend quit even if she doesn't want to.
 
I think Dave pretty much said it. Quitting something is a concious decision and its up to you to make sure that you make it stick.

I had a very bad drinking problem for a while untill August 19, 2001. I just woke up that morning (with a bad hangover) and said to myself that that was the last time. And that was it.. never looked back. I did the same thing with my earlier drug problems and also chewing tobacco.

When you are ready to quit, TRUELY ready, not just that "Welllll.... l I think I prolly should quit.. I guess" kinda quitting, then you will do it. If you are looking for drugs and patches and all that stuff to "help" you quit, then you have not made that decision that you are truely ready yet.

I liken things like this to Mr. Miaggi from the Karate Kid who put it best: "Walk on road. Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle.. sooner or later squish, just like grape." Untill you make that full commitment that you are absolutely positively going to quit, you are walking the middle of the road.. sooner or later.. squish.. just like grape.

Good luck
Steve
 
Well, my parents finding out was a big part of my quitting smoking, but I feel like it was a matter of choice for me, really... I have asthma and smoking a pack a day just wasn't something I could sustain. When I started getting winded walking four blocks to get home from the bus stop, and when I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning to cough up phlegmy brown chunks, and when I routinely cut class for a cigarette, I knew I had to stop.
I think the key to quitting any habit is to find the thing you dislike the most about it and focus on that aspect. It really bothered me that I couldn't sustain my breath enough to run or even walk a long distance, and so every time I wanted a cigarette I would just think about how sorry my health was until I was pissed off at the cigarettes :)
Of course, I'm not the best example of a successful quitter, as I still break down and smoke when I'm stressed out or overworked or something, but it's not nearly as bad as it was back in high school. I go months at a time without smoking, and I'm pretty satisfied with that. I try to keep in mind that I'm only human, and so if I slip up and smoke a pack one week, it doesn't bother me - I'm not suddenly 'a smoker' again. I think that's why I've been able to stick with quitting; I don't give up on it just because I still want to smoke.
As for the welbutrin, good for you. That stuff is poison if you ask me. I know psych drugs are there for good reason, but as someone who went through zoloft, welbutrin, paxil, and trazidone and got a close-up look at the side-effects of each, I just don't think they're worth it. I just hope that irritability was the worst of what you experienced.
Anyways, good luck! Quitting is hard, but you've got to have control of your own life!
~Joe
 
LMAO at VFT guy. Squish like grape indeed! What a great comparisson.

I wonder....When you fail (squish like grape), do you whine about it?

LOLOLOLOLOL
 
How do I quit being a 2nd hand smoker?
smile_n_32.gif
 
How did I quit?
Last month my doctor told me I would experience Erectile Dysfunction if I didn't quitw soon.
If that's not motivation nothing is!!!
good luck!
 
  • #10
LOL. Um i think that, if i chose to smoke, i may heve good genes for it. Great grand-muma recently passed away at 102, kicking he habit at 90 when she had to go into a nursing home. A lifeling smoker, it left her with all the problems exept a shortened life expectanct or cancer. perhaps she was lucky. But i hope i die before i cant remember i had a birthday the day efter the big family get-togeather
 
  • #11
I smoked for about 7 years..most of my 20's.
I started my senior year in college..I dont really know why.
a bunch of us were out at a bar one night, and I just wanted to try one..(maybe it was 3 years of inhaling second hand smoke in bars at college? maybe I was already somewhat addicted before I had that first smoke? who knows..)
anyway, I started, and I liked it!!
I really enjoyed smoking for several years..
going out on the balcony on a cool night and having a smoke..nothing like it!
so nice..
(then the headaches and coughing set it..but for awhile, its great!)

I never got up to a pack a day, but I would smoke maybe 10 individual cigs a day..maybe half a pack some days.
then after college, I was in a band!
all the guys smoked..it was just a phase of my life I guess..
you cant be in a rock&roll band, out at the bars from 8pm until 4am, and not smoke!! ;)

so a few years go by..I start to think I should quit, for the obvious health reasons, which I was always well aware of of course..
So I would go up on the roof of my building, have a smoke, and tell myself.."ok..here we go..last cigarette..ok..last puff..ok, there it is!"
next afternoon at the store "pack of marlboro lights please, box if you have it"
I swear I did that probably 100 times!
I even would buy a new pack, smoke maybe 2 or 3 from the new pack, tell myself, "ok, last one! for real this time!" then run the rest of the pack under the hose to destroy the remaining cigarettes! then throw the soaking wet pack away so I couldnt smoke anymore..
of course, there are always more at the store! ;)
what finally did it I think was this constant trying to quit..
that made me smoke LESS..and as I smoked less, I started going into withdrawl..I would go a day, maybe 2 tops, then smoke again..
meanwhile my brain is always in slight withdrawl..
withdrawl made me CRANKY!!!!!
smile_k_ani_32.gif

oh man, I was miserable..(fortunatly I didnt have a girlfriend at the time! ;)
I would drive home from work and be just angry, miserable, hating the world, for no reason..(nothing bad had happened in my life I mean..I knew the real reason..)
finally it dawned on me that nicotine was ALTERING MY BRAIN!!
AGAINST MY WILL!!
and altering my brain in very bad ways!
making me a cranky basket case!
I couldnt MAKE myself happy if I tried!
nicotine was keeping me in a constant miserable state..emotionally and physically..
why would I want to keep paying for the privildge of having my brain chemistry altered against my will? and eventual lung cancer and early death as an added bonus? wow..thats really stupid!
so I finally did it when I REALLY MEANT it!
all the 100 times I "quit" before I didnt really want to..I was just trying because I felt I should..but it was always half-hearted..
once I realized I wanted my brain and my health back, I just did it..

first day quitting..easy..first 24 hours arent too bad because your brain isnt yet fully aware of what you are trying to do to it.
brain- "hey..isnt it time for a smoke? yeah, how about a smoke huh?"
me - "yeah, you wish brain"
brain - "ha! yeah yeah..ok, thats what you always say, you will break by nightfall"

2nd day.

brain - "hey, this isnt funny..I would really like some nicotine now..im going to get really mad!"
me - "too bad..im in charge now, I WILL break you"
brain - "oh no you dont! I will make you miserable if you dont give me nicotine right now!"

Third day..the worst.
brain - "THATS IT!!! I AM REALLY CRANKY NOW!! GIVE...ME...NICOTINE!!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"
(if you are married or in a relationship, this is a good day to see *no one*! drive out into the desert with a tent!)

4th day
me - "hmmmm..im feeling better! I can beat it"
brain - "hmmm..nicotine would be nice, but I can probably make it without it"

5th day

The war is won!!
me - "welcome back brain!"
brain - "hey! I feel better"

and brain and I have been getting along nicely ever since!
smile_n_32.gif


IMO, if you can go 3 solid days without a smoke, you already have it beat..
days 2-4, maybe longer, will be very rough..but after a week, its over..
like everyone said, you just have to want to do it..
the trick is not listening to your brain when it demands more nicotine..
beat your brain into submission!
whos in charge? you or your brain?
YOU ARE!!
smile.gif


I know its difficult when you are addicted..but suppose someone came up to you and said "hey, I got a deal for you..Im selling a deadly posion, it will kill you, it will make you miserable and cranky and sick and probably kill you decades early, leaving your wife and children alone and heartbroken, you will probably die before you retire, so you will never really enjoy your later years..
before you die you will be sick and weak for many years, probably in great pain as well..so what do you say? want to try it? not only will get all these terrible things in your life, but you also get to PAY ME $150 a month for the privlidge of letting me sell this deadly poison to you!! yay!
come on! doesnt that sound like a great deal?
$150 a month to rapidly accelerate your own death? sweet!"

yep..such a deal..
you have to quit!!
3 days..thats all it takes.
one week and its over, and you have yourself back..

Scot
 
  • #12
Well, I have never smoked, well, that is not true, I smoke cigars 2 or 3 times a year, only when it's cold and I have some good whiskey.
smile.gif
however, a friend of mine recently quite, he had tried everything to stop. His eventual solution we to write a list of reasons it was important to quit. things like his health were at the bottom of the list, things like his daughters health, wanting to be able to run a mile, wanting to show he was in control of his life, so on and so forth were at the top.

Then, he took this piece of paper, and wrapped it around his cigarette pack, and took that pack with him every where, his notion was that without the temptation he couldn't truly kick it, and he didn't want to mooch off friends in the smoking circle... so he took his own, wrapped in this paper. Every time he wanted to smoke, he would read every reason he wrote down, sometimes he did smoke, more often he didn't, eventually he got to the point where he didn't need the paper, and eventually, he didn't need the pack of cigs...

Another strategy to employ, is finding another addictive habbit that isn't so bad for you to replace smoking, such as runners high and so on (i.e. exercise.
smile.gif
)
 
  • #13
[b said:
Quote[/b] (vft guy in SJ @ Feb. 28 2005,2:30)]I liken things like this to Mr. Miaggi from the Karate Kid who put it best: "Walk on road. Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle.. sooner or later squish, just like grape." Untill you make that full commitment that you are absolutely positively going to quit, you are walking the middle of the road.. sooner or later.. squish.. just like grape.
whoa... lol that's my new signature. hope you don't mind
 
  • #14
Prayer to Christ, truly.
 
Back
Top