23 days smoke free so far and it's fantastic!

Food has a whole new dimension of flavor. WOW! Yesterday I cycled 12 miles without having to call 911 for a ride home. (yeah it almost killed me but I recover amazingly fast now) My skin looks different, I smell different and in general I feel great.

w00t!

Congratulations, YK!

I know all too well how hard it is.

As a two-time quitter (who both times idiotically slipped back into my addiction) I will offer you the best advice for "staying quit" that I failed to follow:

You can NEVER have a single cigarette EVER again. NEVER. EVER.

Both times that I quit (the first time for eight months, the second for a year and a half) I foolishly thought that I had it licked and nostalgically thought, "Well... I can have one now without falling off the wagon".

Nope.

Within weeks of my indulgence I was back to being a smoker. Idiot.

I realize now the extent of nicotine addiction, and the next time I give it a go, I'm going to staple that advice to my forehead.

In any case, I truly do admire you for doing this and wish you all the support I can muster.

Thank you!
I've smoked since I was a teenager and it occurred to me that there thousands of things I've never done without a pack of smokes in my pocket.

I haven't seen an entire movie at a theater since the early seventies.

I've never kissed a girl without smelling like smoke.

Until recently I'd never tasted coffee without a cigarette in my hand.

Heck, I've never had this much energy before.

Dancin' in my seat! That's awesome, Art. Good for you!

Mom quit some years back, but only when she was diagnosed with early-stage emphysema. My maternal Grandmother died from it, so that was the jolt Mom needed to get her to kick the habit.

Now if I could just get my brother to quit... our father's three brothers have all had heart attacks directly related to smoking, one fatal, and he only quit when they found a spot on his lung. So my bro's double-damned if he doesn't clean up.

Congrats! I quit a few years ago but gradually started back.

BUT...I am setting Monday for a new QUIT date. Wish me luck!

YK, good for you. I still like my cigars...a man has to have one vice, lol. But good for you.

A few links to read that might help you motivate, Knowjack. Good luck buddy.

smokefree.gov
American Cancer Society
American Lung Association
Quitnet
Whyquit Benefits Table

Thanks Pov. I feel better than I have in years, I can breathe, I don't stink and the exercise I need is a pleasure instead of a nightmare.


Yeah, there's a problem Rick. I don't drink I don't smoke and my wife and I have split up. I don't know what the heck I'm going to do for fun.

Great news, Art!

As someone who has never smoked--my grandfather coughing a hole in his lung was demotivator enough for me!--I'm thrilled to hear when someone has kicked the habit.

Sorry to hear about you and your wife splitting up; whatever the circumstances, the dissolution of a marriage is never easy.

For fun, I suggest volunteering at a church or hospital. I volunteer regularly at my church in both a food pantry and a food kitchen; it gets me out of myself and my own problems, and it truly is fun to share that experience with other volunteers as well as the people you serve.

YK, I'm sorry about you and your wife. If my wife left I'd be in rough shape. On the bright side, you can now have a relatively harmless vice like spending too much money on cycling gear, or scuba gear...

Man, I miss scuba diving. Its a free and easy feeling that i never seem to have with anything else. I can only imagine that its the closest thing to being in space an ordinary human can do.

Rolling over the side and just sitting on a wreck on the bottom for twenty minutes you get to see so much. I really miss it.

Find you a good vice and enjoy. And if its the right thing, I hope things work out for you and the mrs. If it isn't the right thing, then I hope for the best for you.

Or, you can try breaking things. Oh, not good stuff, but you get a used bottle and break it. Go to the gym and punch the hell outta a bag. make like He Who and go lift some old folk into a wheelchair to help them get around. make like Agustus McCray and kick a pig or two, lol.

Hey Art,

Congrats on quiting. Have you been having any withdrawals?

Knowjack,

Go for it!

Congrats, YK. I'm very sorry to hear about your wife, but at least you're taking a positive step toward the future. Good for you.

My mom quit years ago and hasn't gone back, so it can be done!!

YK, that's great news! (About the smoking.)

Glad to hear you've made all this progress, but sorry to hear about the marital split.

Oh, we haven't had a good marriage for quite some time and we've made the classic mistake of staying together for the sake of the kids. It's a little tougher to arrange some things but I think we're both happier for it. Thanks for your concern gang it means a lot but our breakup is a better thing than it might sound.

Yeah, the withdrawals were pretty tough but not as mind grinding as we've been led to believe and the really bad days aren't all that many. I made it through by staying busy all the time and concentrating on other things. Gardening and cycling helped tremendously. I'm up to about 10 miles on the bike everyday and working diligently to improve on that.
(these "love handles" are a bitch to get rid of)

I like HWW's idea a lot too. I may do something just like that, there are a lot of organizations here that are desperate for some free help.

Damn. I've been strolling through old threads. Each time I hit one of YK's it strike's again just how ...pointless his passing was.

I didn't know him that well, but what I did know of him made me respect him greatly.

Damn. I've been strolling through old threads. Each time I hit one of YK's it strike's again just how ...pointless his passing was.

I didn't know him that well, but what I did know of him made me respect him greatly.

There's nothing pointless about death. Yet there's nothing magnificent about it, either. It just... is. I might not be the best one to hear this from, considering every year on May 30, for ten years, I sob and act like a complete bastard to everyone because of my grandma's death, but I'm gradually stopping. But, in the least, take this.

At least consider that he knows, even where he is now, that you guys respected him, and that must make him happy.

Damn if this quote doesn't hit where it hurts.

That's the truth.

If you (Lash or anyone else) are still smoking,
<span style="font-size: 48px;">THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP.</span>

DAMN. STRAIGHT.

I thank God that I never even started.

if only it were that easy.
I've struggled with smoking for quite a long time now.
Over the years I have quit multiple times, once for as long as a year, but I haven't made it stick yet.
My only hope for smoking now is that i manage to quit before I have children, evne though I don't smoke in the house, I don't want them to have a negative influence like that.

Lucky you, quiting smoking is easily the hardest thing I've ever tried.

Never starting smoking is easily the ONE CHANGE I would make in my past were I goven the chance to go back and change 1 and only 1 thing.

Just ask my parents.

While I've met plenty of people who smoke because their parents did, some kids go the other way. My parents smoked, and it's the main reason I never got into it. I could tell just from growing up around smokers how it was wrecking them (not physically, but emotionally). Something else else about feeling helpless and dependent seemed to crush them a little bit, and make it harder for them to love themselves (or each other, for that matter) and made it hard for me to respect them, since they were so obviously trapped and feeling awful about it. I had asthma and bronchitis as a kid, and I know they blamed themselves for that.

The usual excuses would come out. "It calms me down!" "No mom, it makes you a raving b*tch. You get shaky, forgetful, snappish, angry and frustrated at everything, make all sorts of bad choices and clumsy mistakes in your fidgety state, and then get angry and frustrated at yourself, and think that just one more cigarette will somehow 'calm you down,' when it's the stimulants in the cigarettes that are making you jittery and distracted in the first place."

Thankfully, my mom has quit, but only after burying her husband (who died of the complications following surgery for lung cancer).

In the average year, 100,000 people die directly from alcohol, and another 100,000 die in alcohol-related automobile accidents or murders. 200-1000 die from cocaine (widely different numbers, depending on where you look). ~400 die from heroin. 0 (zero) deaths are attributed to marijuana.

340,000-395,000 die from tobacco.

All the luck in the world to anyone who wants to quit, and congratulations to anyone who has!

Yep, I'd have to say I'd do the same, never start

I'm on my seventh week of Chantix and feeling hopeful.

Over the years I have unsuccessfully tried all of the following methods of quitting:

cold turkey
hypnosis
nicotine weaning
nicotine patches
acupuncture
nicotine gum
Wellbutrin
nicotine lozenges

I was not feeling real good about my first few weeks on Chantix. I've had friends tell me that they quickly lost the urge to smoke with with this pill. For me, the urge was still there. I cut back a bit but was back up to my normal intake by the third week. I read on the instructions that some people have success in their ninth to 12th weeks so I kept on taking it. Then BOOM, the urge started to decrease early in the sixth week. I'm down to a quarter of what I typically smoke, and find it difficult to get through a whole cigarette without getting a funny feeling in my stomach. This might work. Stay tuned.

I'm sorry, but after reading this thread, I'm never quitting smoking!!
So tragic.

<-------- Lighting one now

Good luck, Jerry.

<----Never smoked. Never will.

And - four years after writing that - that time has come.

It's been about nine days now since I started on the smoking cessation drug, Chantix, and - after seven days of an almost exponential drop in my desire - I'm now into day two of being completely smoke free!

I know that doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment, but - trust me - anyone here who has spent any amount of time with me in real life can attest to the fact that there is rarely an open-air moment when I can be found without a cigarette in my mouth.

In any case, for a variety of reasons, I finally feel like the time is right to give this another try and - thus far - I'm really feeling like this is going to be the time that sticks.





So, Jerry, since you are the only other person I know that went this particular route, how did it wind up working for you?

WOOOOOOOO!!! Go you! My parents both used Chantix (after smoking for over 25 years) and BOTH are smoke free. They say you have odd dreams, but otherwise it's okay. You can do it! Buy yourself something NICE with all the money you're going to be saving!

*cheer*

Way to go Ex.
The second last time I tried to quit I used a similar drug, Champix.
It was pretty effective, but then I was hit with the more severe side-effects and had to stop taking it.

The last time I tried I was just cutting back and was down to 3 or 4 a day but then I started this co-ordinator position at work and am back to a pack a day again.
Figure when this shut-down is over and I go back to my regular job I'll try again.

Good going, Ex--and it *is* a huge accomplishment,

EX !!!! HANG IN THERE!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

I quit smoking (yes it can be done!) .... almost three years ago. I moved and used the new scene to quit cold turkey. (except for two cigarettes in the first months.)

its been three years. I still have nightmares that i am smoking, or rarely cravings ... which is creepy because it must be the chemical addiction.

don't start.

Good Luck Exnihil! I know you can do it!

I did quit after making that post in 2010 -- for about six months. The Chantix really did work while I was on it, but the desire creeped back after I stopped taking it.


I am now taking the Chantix again, and haven't had a cigarette in three months. My doctor says the protocol for the Chantix has changed since my last attempt. It is now recommended that you take it for a full six months. So, I've got the full six month scrip and I'm pretty sure that it is permanent quit this time.

Have either of you tried electronic cigarettes? One of my FB friends has posted and YouTubed about them.

You can do it, Jerry!

Thanks everyone for the support, it really does mean a lot.

Right now I'm still thinking in terms of hours (73 smoke-free!) but I'm really looking forward to the point where it becomes less of a novelty and more just a normal thing to not be smoking.

No, Huey, I've never tried those electronic cigarettes... I kind of feel like the whole "physical motion" aspect of smoking is a really important thing to break and any sort of substitute like that (or other things that sites suggest like a cinnamon stick or a toothpick) are still reinforcing that "hand to mouth" motion. I don't know... maybe that's just me... but I wouldn't think that would work for me.

I did start running again yesterday. I did a two mile course just to see what kind of shape I was in. I had to walk a couple times, but overall I did feel great afterward, so I think that exercise is going to be key.


And huge congrats to Jerry, as well. Three months is fantastic. We can totally be "quit buddies," he said, nerding it up.

Peebs needs bust out the sketch book and do a Spider-Man homage where Jerry and I are walking away from our cigarettes in a garbage can, "Smokers... No More!"

Ooh, that's a fun idea, re-doing old classic covers with various PSAs.

Superman showing Green Arrow a collection of ashtrays and empty smoke cartoons, while Ollie gasps, 'My ward is a smoker!' for instance.

Jerry and Ex, I'm hoping for great success for you!

I started back. Stress.

Thanks, guys. This is the real thing this time. I've quit for good. I feel it in my bones.

No thanks on the electronic cigarette, HWW. There was a woman on an episode of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills a couple of seasons ago who smoked one at a dinner party. She was psychic and friend of Camille Grammer (Frasier's ex-wife). Very irritating person. She was even more irritating when she sucked on that electronic cig. Fingers on a chalk board level irritating. I could never smoke one without thinking of her.

^

Well, for anyone who's interested, here's a link to my FB friend's channel in which he reviews different brands of electronic cigarettes. It might be of help to some.

I KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!!!

She got plastered at dinner and then got in a fight with the other girls!!!

I don't watch RH but I heard the real Allison DuBois, whose life because the series Medium, was on it. Also heard she wasn't nearly as nice as the fictional Allison.

And Ex, I very much appreciate your quitting in time for Legion World Gathering, whether or not that was coincidence.

That was her. She got drunk, used her psychic powers to tell one of the housewives that her husband didn't really love her, sucked on that electronic cigarette, and then the cat fight started.

Something else else tells me you don't need to be psychic to know their husbands don't love them on shows like that.

Cool milestone (well... to me, at least) today.

Measuring from one day prior (to establish a baseline) to when I started on the Chantix, I've crossed a threshold where - within the quitting process - I now have more days of being smoke-free than not:




I have to say, I am absolutely astounded at how well this method is working for me. I literally went from a pack a day smoker to zilch in just a hair over a week!

The vertical lines represent the start of a pack of cigarettes so, basically, my first pack after starting lasted over twice my baseline time. The second pack was started and never finished... I've still got seven cigarettes left that have just been sitting there for a week.

Initially, I was holding on to them as a sort of "emergency reserve" but... no more... after ten days of putting no nicotine into my system, I would be a lunatic to go for "just one more".

Into the trash with them!

Figures Exnihil would have a graph.

Some people do better psychologically if the cigarettes (or chips, whatever one's quitting...) are still there if they want them. If feeling deprived is an issue that's sometimes the way to go.

But whatever's working for you!

Chuck em. some place far away.

My experience from previous attempts at quitting.

Advantage of chucking them - if you get a craving late at night, after the store is closed or at times when getting to the store is too much trouble you can ride out the craving.

Disadvantage - if you break down after chucking them, you have to buy a pack. If you buy a pack you usually end up smoking the whole thing.


Currently - I haven't had a cigarette or pack in the house for a couple of months and haven't broken down. An incentive I have going, is that I am putting the money I used to spend on cigarettes in an envelope. Saving for a down payment on a new car.

If I remember right I heard of someone who quit and put one cigarette on the mantle, and promised that if he ever smoked another it would have to be that one. I think the idea of smoking the very one you've been turning down for years can help you avoid it, and it being only one can at least avoid the disadvantage Jerry mentioned.

Plus if you show off the cigarette as the one you aren't smoking, the idea of people seeing the cigarette gone could also help deter you.

Just spitballing ideas, you never know what might work for someone.

A lot of psych studies say people have finite willpower (so that's why the Green Lanterns have to recharge!), so if you spend all day turning down the cookies in the pantry you're more prone to having an extra drink in the evening. Little treats like Jerry's setting aside the saved money for a new car help replenish the willpower, so to speak.

CONGRATULATIONS, guys

I wonder where on the Emotional Specrum the Treat Lanterns fall?

Or are they just what kids carry at Halloween?

w00t! A full month down and still on the wagon!


So... what have I learned thus far over the past month?


1. Top of the list, no doubt... is that I am a freaking addict. I would always joke when people would tell me to quit smoking that, "I would... it's just that cigarettes really help me out with my nicotine addiction." Yeah... turns out that's not a joke. A month smoke-free and there hasn't been a single day when - at some point - I wasn't seized by the overwhelming desire to light up. The Chantix helped out with that immeasurably at the outset, but it was really wreaking havoc with my sleep, so I had to go off it a couple weeks ago. Nevertheless, even without it, I've held on... but it has absolutely been a painful struggle.

2. There is no real end point in the process. It's bizarre, right? This should totally be self evident, but "quitting smoking" isn't a definitive goal-oriented thing, like dieting to a certain weight, for instance. It's not like I've hit thirty days and can now celebrate with a cigarette. The only goal is, "Thirty days? Cool... now do another thirty." I'm not sure why, but I almost feel like that realization somehow makes it slightly easier... like I'm not just trying to accomplish some short term thing, but a complete change to my life.

3. Overall... not that many people smoke. This is a really weird realization but, having been a smoker, of course, I would have always been in places where other smokers gathered, so it always seemed to me like smoking was a fairly ubiquitous social activity. But once I stopped going to the gazebo, or the little spot outside or restaurants and bars and such, I suddenly realized what an absolute minority that group really is. Again... it's something that seems like common sense, but was actually pretty eye opening to me.

4. This is a foul-smelling world. One of the first things that changed for me after quitting was regaining my sense of smell and - trust me - for someone who is now acutely aware of scents, this place reeks of artificiality. For every natural aroma of cut grass and freshly grown flowers, there are like ten other scents of perfume and laundry soap and sprays and whatnot that are just assaulting us from every direction. Bleh. I need to start going to more natural places and stay the heck away from stores where crowds shop!

5. It turns out that I really dig yoga. I always knew that exercise was going to be part of my "rehabilitation" program, but I figured I would mostly focus that on running and hiking (as those are the things I've always gone to). While on vacation a couple weeks back, though, my buddy and his wife took me to their yoga studio a few times and I loved it! I'm going to be joining the studio here in my hometown, and I can't wait. Who knew?


Anyway, this post was mostly just for me... it sort of helps me to keep my focus on why I'm doing this if I can look back and see the things I wrote at certain points in the process... but if writing this down helps anyone else going through it (or thinking about it) all the better!

It's great that a couple of these insights you've gained are helping you come to terms with this process and making it easier.

You're right that not a lot of people smoke anymore. In a way, by smoking, you'd be missing stuff by losing out on what the majority of people are doing most of the time, if that makes sense.

And that's great on the yoga! I'm considering getting into it myself, mainly because one of the programs I created is an insurance program for yoga instructors (run by my client, who is also a well known yoga instructor, and now has become a good friend).

You can run daily morning yoga sessions when we get to Chicago!

Day 45 of being completely smoke free but suddenly - for no apparent reason whatsoever - I have been completely seized over these last couple of days by the overwhelming urge to have "just one". I haven't yielded, but... sheesh!

Man... stupid, stupid addiction.

It is so bizarre. I had, for a couple weeks, been fairly well adjusted about it, then - suddenly - there it is, back again.

The worst part is... I don't even feel like there's any specific trigger. I'm not overly stressed, no real problems... it's just... there.

But... it's times like this that I'm glad I've been posting here because... what did I say back in '09?





Well, there you have it. Thanks for the advice, 4-year younger Ex.

Man... so, Peebs or Jerry (or whoever), is this symptomatic of your own quits? I'm at six weeks, but did you guys get your own "dark night of the soul" at a certain point well into the process. Any tricks for getting through it?

Keep listening to X0-4.

I would guess it's very common to have different symptoms as your body goes through different stages of detoxification.

Just remember you don't really want it, it's only a craving and you can put it off for one more day.

Are you still on Chantix?

Keep strong, Ex! We're pulling for you (and Jerry). Remember, I specifically brought the subject up over our dinner! You told me you felt some need to smoke when you made stops over your trip down here because you had always done so in such instances. Maybe that has something to do with it? These coming weeks and months may be extra trying for you as you attempt to fufill your project.

You can DO it, Ex!!!

Thanks, guys!

No, Shiney... I dropped the Chantix after a couple weeks and have just been sustaining on will-power. The Chantix was amazing for the initial quitting. Literally 8 days after the first pill I was smoke free. It helped alleviate the worst of the withdrawal (no crawling skin, achy joints, anger outburst, etc.) but the side effects were pretty severe and were giving me insane insomnia. So, personal experience... it's great for that initial push... but I wouldn't continue more than a few weeks with it.

Paladin, yeah... you're right... the "road trip" effect was a bit harrowing, as - normally - I would have been having a cig at each rest stop. But I think that's definitely something I can overcome with time. Maybe I'll have to start buying a candy bar or something at rest stops. Of course, if I go that route, over time, I might have to adopt a new screen name. I hear "Lard Lad" is available.

It's real easy to trade one addiction for another, but then you often end up with both.

Oh yeah, Ex. That overpowering urge is the hardest part of the process. And, it sticks around for a while. The only advise I can give you is DON'T SMOKE. Not even one. Not even a quick drag. That first drag is the thing that always spoils it.


Still not smoking here and still on the Chantix. I'm going to take the whole six months to buy myself as much time as possible with the urge dulled.

I haven't had a cigarette in 50 years. If I can do it, so can you.



(stick in there guys!)

The Legion was only 5 years old when you quit! You must have been young.

Hang in there, Ex!!

I quit January 3rd 2010, I was a 2 pack a day smoker for over 20 years.

I used the Farmers Almanac to do so, the sign must be in the knees.

Great! I hope Jerry and Ex are still hanging in there...

Ex posted something on FB stating that he had hit the 100 day mark. So he's good.

How about Jerry? We're rooting for you too!

I haven't updated with my "quitting status" for a while because, honestly, at this point it's basically just become a natural state. I'm now eight months smoke free, and I self-identify as a non-smoker (even changed my insurance info... yay!)

But... I sort of felt it was necessary to post on Legion World today specifically, because today makes...


247 days!!!

w00tskie!

Good job, Ex!

I seem to have also quit smoking. I went on Chantix awhile back, although my experience was a little different from Ex's. After being on the Chantix for awhile, I still wanted to smoke. after more time on the Chantix...I still wanted to smoke.

However...

Chantix takes all the fun out of smoking. I would get no satisfaction from a cigarette at all. After a few months of this, I decided it was time to get off the Chantix, or give up the cigarettes, so the cigarettes went away.

It's been almost 3 weeks without a cigarette, so I'm thinking it's for real this time.

And thank you so much for your advice, Ex. I can never have "just one." Ever. Or I'm back.

Keep up the good work lancesrealm!

Great work lance!

It's been 22 days. Some people ask me how I feel. I feel like ax-murdering a bunch of annoying people and celebrating with a cigarette.

Well, not really. The Chantix allowed me to work through most of the physical addiction. There are still some cravings, but they aren't nearly as bad as they could be.

I've been off the Chantix for a few days. It didn't really have any side effects, except it might have been messing with my sleep a little.