Quitting smoking? Emphasis on the question mark.

[The_Face]

I have been puffing down the cancer sticks for about 10 years now, and I want to quit, for good.

 

Problem is, I love smoking. I think I could quit if I hated it. Will I have to get cancer for me to finally hate them, though?

 

How do you quit something you love?

[carhill]

You might like this thread:

 

http://www.loveshack.org/forums/mind-body-soul/addiction-recovery/206006-smoking-addiction

 

 

I have friends who smoke multiple packs a day and destroy their homes, vehicles and health, along with driving away potential friends. Lately, I've been wondering why they don't use the alternative nicotine delivery systems available today, if that's the primary addiction. To me, it doesn't make sense.

[The_Face]

I don't get it either. I think I've tricked myself into thinking a smoke is a shortlived escape, from something? I guess I just like to have a smoke when I'm listening to tunes in the morning. It's like my cup of coffee in the morning, except it's a cigarette and it's all day.

 

I'll check out the other thread. After a cigarette.

[Hawaii50]

I have been puffing down the cancer sticks for about 10 years now, and I want to quit, for good.

 

Problem is, I love smoking. I think I could quit if I hated it. Will I have to get cancer for me to finally hate them, though?

 

How do you quit something you love?

 

Don't sweat it man, you're young, by the time you get cancer you will be able to grow yourself a lung... at Walmart.

 

On a more serious note.. I'm a smoker who wants to quit but in my current position, it's almost all I got. Cigs, coffee, and the occasional J.

 

I could care less about how I die, sort of.. But I don't like how smoking effects me TODAY...The lingering smell, the coughing, I deliberately have to go out of my way to brush my teeth more, and the all around unhealthiness of it all. And above all, the inconvenience of it all, especially in the winter.

 

Any ways.. if you quit smoking today, it would be the healthiest thing you could do.. above eating healthier and working out, if you, we don't quit smoking, our fates are already sealed.

[carhill]

One thing I did notice with a particular couple I've been with a lot is that the man smokes very little when around me by himself but like a train when with his wife, who is essentially a chain smoker. It's like a synergistic habit. I saw this in action recently when visiting and he and I traveling to a car show by ourselves, spending a few days there, then returning home. It was like he was a different 'smoker' away from his wife.

 

In that sense I would think quitting would be like a total lifestyle change, including associations with other people who promote the addiction/habit with their own lifestyle. I see this with alcoholics, having to make wholesale changes in their social structure, to eliminate their 'drinking' friends whom they cultivated while active in the addiction.

 

No easy answers, IMO. My mom quit without notice or comment after smoking nearly 30 years, at age 47, and never smoked again. My dad smoked until the day he died. I've never smoked. Weird world.

[Hawaii50]

One thing I did notice with a particular couple I've been with a lot is that the man smokes very little when around me by himself but like a train when with his wife,

 

If I'm with people that don't smoke, I rarely smoke.. but with people who do.. then it's 1:1, doesn't matter if i gotta light the next with the last.

[carhill]

Yeah, that makes sense, but when I'm with he and his wife, he changes, regardless of whether we are at home, out in public, wherever. I'm still the same non-smoker but his behavior changes. That said, of late I've noticed him actively putting the pack down after picking it up. I think, at 68, his mortality is starting to become evident, where it's increasingly difficult for him to do routine car stuff that he and I have always done easily, meaning working on the cars. Maybe there's a message.

 

Perhaps your point does have traction..... make some changes in social associations where one finds less of a social impetus to smoke.

[Hawaii50]

 

Perhaps your point does have traction..... make some changes in social associations where one finds less of a social impetus to smoke.

 

birds of a feather... and I think it works if you want to be a certain bird to hang around 'em long enough and the impact will be made. social and morale approval drives a lot of what is going on today, whatever it may be..

 

sidenote on the pick-up/put down.. I've unconsciously lit 2 cigs at the same time before. it happens. When I've stopped smoking for periods early in the decade, I'd almost buy cigarettes at the store. not even thinking about 'em or wanting 'em.. just Pavlovian to get my smokes when I'm filling up the tank. tisktisktisk.

[Hawaii50]

Face...

 

smoking is Fk'n retarded. we both know it in the end, and when it's all said and done I will regret the heck out of it.

[The_Face]

Lifting some weights earlier this morning and my body wanted to continue but I found myself just so out of breath, I had to quit early.

 

Damnit. I have to quit smoking today. And I have an unopened pack in the car. ****. Like another poster said, this morning I filled up the tank and just instinctually bought a pack, even though I had a half of a pack already. My daily routine revolves around smoking. Jesus

 

Hoping I can just swap out the tobacco addiction for something healthier, like an addiction to apples, or something. I guess I have to toss that full pack in the garbage. It was a waste of money but that doesn't mean I have to smoke it.

 

Today is Day 1, even though I smoked a few this morning. Starting as of right meow.

[whichwayisup]

I'm right where you are now. I'm 41, it's time for me to quit. I love smoking and it's been a part of my life for so long I don't know how to stop. Fear of letting go? Sounds stupid and hard to put into words but it's like I feel I'll lose a part of me if I quit. We associate so much with smoking .. After a good meal, sex, with coffee, hanging out with friends, etc..etc.. such a habit. BUT, I do know that all habits can be broken! Just takes will power and mental strength to want to suffer through the hard times/withdrawals (physically and mentally) to quit.

 

There's that guide to quitting smoking book. I have it but haven't read it .. Yet.

[skydiveaddict]

 

Problem is, I love smoking. I think I could quit if I hated it. Will I have to get cancer for me to finally hate them, though?

 

I've found that smoking (for me anyway), is mostly a consequence of environment. While deployed I smoke like crazy (two packs a day probably), when I come home, the urge leaves completely.

[Taramere]

I'm right where you are now. I'm 41, it's time for me to quit. I love smoking and it's been a part of my life for so long I don't know how to stop. Fear of letting go? Sounds stupid and hard to put into words but it's like I feel I'll lose a part of me if I quit. We associate so much with smoking .. After a good meal, sex, with coffee, hanging out with friends, etc..etc.. such a habit. BUT, I do know that all habits can be broken! Just takes will power and mental strength to want to suffer through the hard times/withdrawals (physically and mentally) to quit.

 

There's that guide to quitting smoking book. I have it but haven't read it .. Yet.

 

I was just on veggirl's thread about giving up, and it's made me think back to that time. I gave up years ago, but had had a lot of failed quitting attempts before I gave up for good. What you say is very relevant for me, because smoking is more than just taking in nicotine (though that's a very big part of it). Being a smoker becomes part of your identity, and I think as a smoker you find ways to perceive it as positively (in order to justify staying addicted).

 

The reasons that teens smoke are still there, I think, in adulthood. As a smoker, part of you feels that it's cool, rebellious and for some reason I associated it with freedom. Now, I watch the following clip and feel angry with myself for having bought into that...

 

 

I'm normally resistant to advertising and PR....but as a smoker I absolutely, 100% bought into all the advertising that gets, and keeps, people hooked. Not so much the direct advertising, but the other methods of supporting the tobacco industry (ie depictions of glamorous, cool women smoking on tv).

 

It never seemed to affect my skin in the way that smoking is reputed to, so I didn't really pay attention to the "it robs you of your looks" argument. One daya friend gave me a hard talking to and said I was starting to show signs of being a smoker. I was horrified, and that was the day I gave up and never went back to it.

 

I didn't lose anything by doing so. There was no part of my identity that was reliant on being a smoker. All those notions are just illusions promoted by the tobacco and advertising industry. You will lose nothing, from giving up smoking, except a bad habit.

[Hawaii50]

I've found that smoking (for me anyway), is mostly a consequence of environment. While deployed I smoke like crazy (two packs a day probably), when I come home, the urge leaves completely.

 

I almost feel like I couldn't even consider quitting out here. too much stress and too few outlets.

[Taramere]

I almost feel like I couldn't even consider quitting out here. too much stress and too few outlets.

 

Have you tried any of the substitutes? I didn't find the chewing gum worked well for me...but I used the lozenges, because like you I'd want something I could reach for in times of stress. They were a surprisingly effective substitute.

[veggirl]

I am quitting right now! Well I did have 3 cigs yesterday but that is much less than the usual. I also bought a pack yesterday, it was so habitual.

 

I have also smoked for 10 yrs.

 

I am quitting because I notice I am short of breath often and I hate waking up with that nasty taste in my mouth/heavy feeling in my lungs. I really want to quit. I love smoking too, it is calming and I don't know....

 

Anyway I am using the patch. I took it off last night to have a cig but am not beating myself up over it. I am not taking cigs with me to work or anything (usually smoke 3 just on the drive to work...2 or 3 at lunch...2 on the way home. I am at work now).

 

I wish you luck, perhaps try a cessation tool? I think the patch is doing some good....I've read that I should use this level of nicotine (the highest dose I guess) for 6 wks, then 2 wks on the mid dose, then 2 on the lowest.

 

I can't go cold turkey, so I am using this. gradual I guess....but I think the great thing is it is helping with the oral fixation...not smoking as I drive is HARD, so I chew gum now. Totally not the same, lol, but it's something. I am hopeful and going to stick with the program.

 

Perhaps something like the patch or whatever would help you to break out of the habits, the habit of a cig in the morning etc.

[Sokar23]

I quit for 7 months then when my gf cheated I started again, I hate smoking but still at times it feels like my only outlet and nothing comes close just to go outside late at night with a smoke and look at the stars is my escape for a few mins, I must admit I do want to give up again soon but not tonight how I am feeling

[kandygurl22]

i just quit smoking a week and a half ago and i've gotta say it's been pretty easy so far.

 

i was a pack a day smoker for the last 11 years... and dont get me wrong, i LOVE cigarettes, i LOVE smoking them and the feeling you get and everything about them, but i just want to work on my fitness and i can feel the cigarettes lately have started to make me wheeze and cough and cant breathe as well when i am training which is not good when i am only 25.

 

first three days were the worst, i used patches and gum... i was the grumpiest b***h, swearing at everything, inanimate objects, getting frustrated at any little thing hahaha it was kind of funny though... then i started to get really sad and it felt like i was going through a break up or something, like cigarettes were always by my side and now i'm abandoning them.

but i'm a pretty stubborn person so if i caved in and had one i know i'd beat myself up mentally about it for ages.

 

honestly the first few days, you think and act like a bit of an idiot but a week and a half in now, off patches and gum and i only really get cravings when im drinking, stuck in traffic, after coffee or after a big meal.

 

it's really not that bad, the hardest part is deciding what day to actually start it! i postponed my quit day three times over the last month or two before i actually just said f**k it and went through with it.

 

ps: i want to add that i totally agree with the above post about how smoking is my escape too.... but i just went through a breakup, so a week after i decided to just get ALL the pain over and done with from my life in one big go... i dont have that smoking escape now to cope with my breakup either but im proud cause now it's all me fighting hard to feel better on my own.... no more excuses!!

Edited November 7, 2012 by kandygurl22

[veggirl]

gosh Kandy you only need a patch / gum for a week and a half? That's pretty cool, I am 2 weeks into using the patch and I don't even think it works, I want to smoke alllllllll the time. The worst is when I am just sitting at my desk at work.

[Sabian]

A couple months ago I was subscribed Wellbutrin for depression. A couple weeks in I noticed that I had no desire to smoke. I only did it because it was habit and when I was smoking I found that the pleasure I used to get was gone and it was almost disgusting.

 

Wellbutrin is widely prescribed just to quit smoking. I got it for a completely different reason and wasn't even trying to quit smoking. The fact that I did shows that it is pretty effective (at least for me) and wasn't some placebo effect.

[erika2610]

gosh Kandy you only need a patch / gum for a week and a half? That's pretty cool, I am 2 weeks into using the patch and I don't even think it works, I want to smoke alllllllll the time. The worst is when I am just sitting at my desk at work.

 

 

I quit on March 18th of this year. I too tried the patch - but only for a few hours. It made me feel yucky, so I decided to just quit cold turkey. Figured eh, nicotine only takes 3 days to get out of your system, so what the heck? I did use the patch in the past though for some time. You will still want the cigarette - heck, I still do! But the important thing is that you are not smoking that cigarette. The best thing about the patch for me when I used it was that I knew that if I did smoke, I would get sick - so I wasn't able to light up.

 

Are you using step one? Trust me, it does get much easier, and is so worth it!

[runner]

i chose not to quit a long time ago. tried quitting completely, but that didn't work--as someone else said: too much stresses in life, and too few outlets.

 

my workable solution is to not smoke as much. regulate it to where i'm only having one or two a day, and maybe even go a few days without one when things are generally going pretty well. if i find myself smoking like a chimney all day, then i force myself to dig deeper and figure out why i'm off balance; and persue other means to get back to my centre besides the smokes.

[whichwayisup]

i just quit smoking a week and a half ago and i've gotta say it's been pretty easy so far.

 

i was a pack a day smoker for the last 11 years... and dont get me wrong, i LOVE cigarettes, i LOVE smoking them and the feeling you get and everything about them, but i just want to work on my fitness and i can feel the cigarettes lately have started to make me wheeze and cough and cant breathe as well when i am training which is not good when i am only 25.

 

first three days were the worst, i used patches and gum... i was the grumpiest b***h, swearing at everything, inanimate objects, getting frustrated at any little thing hahaha it was kind of funny though... then i started to get really sad and it felt like i was going through a break up or something, like cigarettes were always by my side and now i'm abandoning them.

but i'm a pretty stubborn person so if i caved in and had one i know i'd beat myself up mentally about it for ages.

 

honestly the first few days, you think and act like a bit of an idiot but a week and a half in now, off patches and gum and i only really get cravings when im drinking, stuck in traffic, after coffee or after a big meal.

 

it's really not that bad, the hardest part is deciding what day to actually start it! i postponed my quit day three times over the last month or two before i actually just said f**k it and went through with it.

 

ps: i want to add that i totally agree with the above post about how smoking is my escape too.... but i just went through a breakup, so a week after i decided to just get ALL the pain over and done with from my life in one big go... i dont have that smoking escape now to cope with my breakup either but im proud cause now it's all me fighting hard to feel better on my own.... no more excuses!!

 

I haven't quit yet, but I can sooooooooooo relate to your post! I can see myself reacting and feeling just like you did.

 

Gotta not let fear of having 3 or 4 bad days of nic fits/withdrawal prevent me from trying to quit.

[Welson]

I have quieten it few years ago. It was much difficult time for me. Smoking is worst thing that we do with our bodies. But I think there is lack of motivation. Best of luck if you are seriously thinking about it. You can do it buddy.