Smoking and quitting... cold turkey or some form of NRT?

[Mickster]

Those of us who choose to smoke tobacco most-likely know of the associated risks.

Those who don't smoke, or those who have recently-converted to not smoking, are sometimes eager to point out those same risks to current smokers.

There are huge sums of money paid into government coffers by way of taxes upon tobacco and huge sums of money spent by the medical profession in order to treat tobacco-related illnesses.

These are sometimes hotly-debated issues, so I'd prefer to leave any discussion of the above points out of this particular thread and focus solely upon the thread title. If anyone feels the need to discuss any of the above points, please feel free to create a new thread.

So, let's get to the meaty part of this.....

I have smoked cigarettes for many years. I started out spending bus-fare money and walked to school instead, along with other income earned from chores, at around 9 years old, to buy single cigarettes from the corner shop... as did some of my friends.

Those friends and I later clubbed together to buy full 20 packs and shared them out amongst ourselves.

Upon starting work for a living after leaving school, I could afford whole packs of cigarettes for myself and since I had paid for them, could smoke as many as I damn well liked.

Fast-forward a few years to regularly going out with friends for a few drinks, when one could still smoke in public environments and I'd got up to a 30/day habit, one which I've easily managed to sustain for years up until quite recently......

.....that is until I actually sat down and worked out how much I had been spending per annum.

Don't get me wrong, I can still easily afford to spend the same money on cigarettes, but I don't feel the need to now.

Some people have managed to stop smoking by gradually cutting down, others have simply quit on the spot, whilst others have had to use patches or pills.

I have tried patches and pills in the past and they did not work for me. I have also tried to quit cold-turkey. That did not work.

I've recently tried one particular form of E-Cigarette where the Nicotine hit is in a pre-filled cartridge, screwed onto a rechargeable Lithium battery pack, made to resemble a regular cigarette.

This I found to be quite dry tasting and somewhat irritating and thus it was far too easy to switch back to regular cigarettes.

A work colleague introduced me to a different type of E-Cigarette, which uses a liquid form of Nicotine delivery which is available in many different flavours - regular tobacco, fruity, sweet, coffee, menthol, pipe tobacco etc. which seems to be much smoother and less harsh on the back of the throat.

I won't openly mention any trade names since I don't wish to appear to be publicly promoting a particular product, but if anyone wishes to PM me, I'll give details. (I have absolutely no connection to the manufacturer or any supplier of their product either.)

If you have managed to quit smoking, how did you do so and did you use some form of replacement, or did you do it the hard way?

Do you still crave tobacco, or are you repulsed at the thought of it?


Thanks for your input.

 

[jpanhalt]

In answer to the title of this thread, cold turkey is the way to go, if you are committed. My dad did it that way, as have I for cigarettes. ( A few times a year I will indulge in a cigar, particularly if visiting Spain.)

If you require a crutch, I don't think you will ever be completely broken of the habit/addiction. I haven't had a cigarette since 1965. I do love the smell of fresh tobacco smoke in the morning, but hate the smell of stale cigarette smoke.

John

 

[killivolt]

In answer to the title of this thread, cold turkey is the way to go, if you are committed. My dad did it that way, as have I for cigarettes. ( A few times a year I will indulge in a cigar, particularly if visiting Spain.)

If you require a crutch, I don't think you will ever be completely broken of the habit/addiction. I haven't had a cigarette since 1965. I do love the smell of fresh tobacco smoke in the morning, but hate the smell of stale cigarette smoke.

John

My mother quit first, I started at age 13 officially, quit at age 24 now 56. All cold turkey, my father did it at the same time as my Uncle, without the other knowing. He is my mothers brother. They were to stubborn to give up on quitting before the other. After 40 years of smoking neither have started again it's been over 15 years since.

I have saved a lot of money, I quit drinking soda and quit drinking alcohol until twenty years ago, when I met my wife. She drank. You are who you hang with, I had no smoking friends at all and was a loner for years.

Now, I can't stand the smell it and really hate the money "Machine" that feeds the belly's of the rich who profit from it. There family's are old and continue to reap the reward of our poor ignorant choices.

Don't get me started. "I hates'em I really do"

I'm glad you brought this to the forum. You may help others who will fall into the depth's of addiction, the only thing that is worse in my personal opinion is anything made from a poppy or man made. Oxicontin.

I'm Still quit, smoking.

I'm with you all the way don't give up. Just remember I have the weakest constitution of anyone on the planet and I did it.

Don't stop trying, it took 13 times for me. Oh and I quit for 2 yrs once until one of my friends handed me one. I didn't know what happened until I inhaled. That's why I was a loner and learned not to hang with people who smoke.

Other people don't even know how they fit into the puzzle. You can't blame them, their just part of an ongoing problem.

Best wishes.

kv

 

[picbits]

I quit nearly 3 years ago. I did it in a mathematical and methodical way.

I picked a date which I'd remember - my daughters birthday.
I then worked back date wise and calculated when I should start giving up based on cutting down by 1 cigarette per day per month.
I made sure I smoked my full allocation every day. The next month I smoked one less cigarette per day and so on.
The last month was a doddle and I didn't even "need" the one cigarette I was having a day but made sure I smoked it. I also made sure that by the end of that month there were no more cigarettes in the house to tempt me.

After three years, I don't crave them any more - I do still fancy one now and again and everytime the anti smoking adverts come on I want one lol. I had a couple of years of dreaming I'd started smoking again but they have gone now.

 

[atferrari]

What I did.

I started at 15 and quit at 33. Now, at almost 66, I am happy I did it by myself.

Let me tell you that I tried twice before quitting. Once for about 30 days and later for around 50 days.

Those attempts were the worst thing I could do because when I started again to smoke I did it in the wrong certainty that I could quit "whenever I decided to". And the worst, it wrongly acted like a strange "authorization" to smoke. It simply fueled my smoking and I came to almost 2 packs a day.

By the time my son was 6 (he is now 40) he used to invite me to run. While he could do it easily with no efforts I was unable to run for more than 10 meters.

As a seaman I used to buy cigarettes by cartons (LOTS of them) to not to be short of them while at sea. I used to hide them (Customs in some countries could be a real pain) at incredible places. I suffered crewmembers short of cigarettes, at the anchor in Lybia, for more than 20 days.

Once, coming with our vessel from Brazil back to Argentina, being on the bridge on watch after midnight in the chart room, leaning on the nautical chart , a hard pain in the chest inmobilized me and I was unable even to tell the AB in the bridge that I was feeling bad. I thoguht: if I die now, he will not even know...

Few weeks later, our vessel went to drydock, where, maybe you know, to check the bottom of the hull you need to climb / go down ladders many times a day. And that means 30 m up and down. Not to speak sneaking inside the vessel.

At that moment I agreed with myself to smoke up to the last and then quit. Forever.

One night, while watching TV with the engineer on duty, I lit a cigarette. When I noticed that it was the last of my last packet I simply told him: Look, this is the last cigarette you will see me smoking, ever.

To complement that decision, the first time I went home I told my children: if you see me smoking again, I will buy you ANY toy you like from the shop. And I am well know that I keep my promises.

BTW, few times I cheated them bringing a small stick of white chalk to my lips. The believed that the moment has come, but no...

Last night I was telling this to someone: the first 6 months I felt bad because I still wanted to smoke. Later I started to improve, finally being able to run with Gonzalo along the whole block.

My eldest brother kept smoking until 2 years ago. I could give you his phone number and if you manage to understand what he says, I will appreciate if you let me know.

Please do.

 

[ronv]

I used Chantex (sp). It was amazing. After a few days they tasted bad after a few more I just didn't want one. But no matter how you quit you can't have just one so you need to know you want to quit. I used the money to make the car payment on a new car - kind of an incentive.

 

[jpanhalt]

Maybe THAT's why new cars don't have cigarette lighters. They want to be sure your payment is on time.

John

 

[picbits]

Maybe THAT's why new cars don't have cigarette lighters. They want to be sure your payment is on time.

John

We get a new car every 6 months and they all have the lighter sockets. They don't however come with the element to light your cigarette.

You can order them as an option though when you buy the car.

 

[jpanhalt]

We get a new car every 6 months and they all have the lighter sockets. They don't however come with the element to light your cigarette.

Exactly, they are not "cigarette lighters." They are (according to Ford Motor Company), an "Accessory Power Point." The owner's manual for the Fusion even includes a warning about plugging a cigarette lighter element into the accessory power point.

Are the accessory sockets labeled as "lighter sockets" in the UK? In the US, they are not.

Aside for those facts, I was being tongue-in-cheek in the earlier comment.

John

 

[picbits]

Are the accessory sockets labeled as "lighter sockets" in the UK? In the US, they are not.

Aside for those facts, I was being tongue-in-cheek in the earlier comment.

John

Not sure what they are called over here, it's the wifes car(s).

I drive a 12 year old wreck which has a proper lighter socket. The current campaign against smokers in the UK is to try and make it illegal to smoke in your car ......

 

[MrAl]

Hello there,


First of all, congrats on attempting to quit. It's well worth it i can tell you. I cant stress that enough. I've had several family members die due to side effects.

I quit a very long time ago. I decided i wanted to quit before i actually got around to it. What happened was one day i got a very very bad cold, like the flu, where i had to lie down all the time and sleep most of the time, and had a bad sore throat. I figured since i was sleeping most of the time and could not taste the cigarette anyway i might as well quit right then and there.
I was sick for at least a total week long so after i got better i just never picked up another cigarette. After another week i was convinced i had quit so i never went back to it.

But the main point is that when i was sick it didnt seem to matter if i smoked or not so i had a week head start. Once i got better i had already gone a week (or more) without smoking so if i didnt stop then i would probably never stop. A week head start does help a lot! If you get that somewhat unfortunate opportunity dont pass it up...you'll be very happy you didnt...both health wise and financially. More energy, more money.

Years and years later i could not picture myself inhaling anything like that ever again, because after all it is just smoke from burning material and that just cant be good.
It's funny too as i was discussing with a friend that if they ever legalized "pot" in this state (they have legalized it now in at least one state maybe more by now) i would not be able to 'smoke' it anyway (ha ha). I just could not stand that smoke going into my now healthy lungs.

 

[Mickster]

Thanks for all the replies and much-valued words of encouragement/experiences of quitting.

It's now well over two weeks since I last smoked a regular tobacco cigarette... much longer than I have ever managed to abstain before, using other methods.

I won't say that it has been an absolute cake-walk using an E-Cig, since there have been quite a few occasions where I have reached toward where the regular cigs and ashtray would be, but I would be inclined to think that those occasions were more from the previous habit and due to being in a comfortable, familiar setting.

I'm still regularly around friends and colleagues who do smoke tobacco and find myself increasingly put off by the smell.

All I have to do now, is gradually cut down the Nicotine level in the fluid used in the E-cig.

Small potatoes when compared to the constituent ingredients of what I had previously been consuming...

Thanks for the support!

 

[canadaelk]

And in a few weeks, it creeps up to you, and you realize it, and you say to yourself: damn, this food tastes really good! E
Oh, I just noticed you are from GB. Mushy peas, ouch!

 

[picbits]

Mushy peas, ouch!

Decent mushy peas are great, the mushy peas that have been sitting in the tub at the chip shop for a week aren't

 

[Mr RB]

And in a few weeks, it creeps up to you, and you realize it, and you say to yourself: damn, this food tastes really good! E
Oh, I just noticed you are from GB. Mushy peas, ouch!

And you walk up some stairs and find you're not puffing like an old steam loco, because now your lungs have double or triple the working area to absorb that lovely oxygen...

Congrats on the first battle won Mickster!

 

[Mickster]

Hmm Roman,
I'm trying not to walk up too many stairs at the moment, or even walk very far for that matter.

Instead, I'm now taking two stairs at a time and jogging to the car park at work when the opportunity arises!

I also find myself clearing my throat much less frequently thus far, but this apparently appears to differ vastly amongst ex-smokers following quitting. Some report a productive cough shortly after quitting, others report similar coughs a few weeks in after quitting and others appear to not be affected at all.

P.S. that's a particularly neat idea on the compact, very portable, stand-alone PCB inspection system.

Regards.

 

[Mr RB]

...
Instead, I'm now taking two stairs at a time and jogging to the car park at work when the opportunity arises!
...

Excellent! You can synergise the fitness benefits, payoffs from that will be more positive reinforcement. The more the better!

...
P.S. that's a particularly neat idea on the compact, very portable, stand-alone PCB inspection system.
...

Thanks!