The Smoking Room

[livingdeadgirl]

Feel free to discuss, complain, open up, get support, give support or anything else...in regards to smoking, quitting or starting. hopefully quitting since this *is* a health forum ;)

rebecca

[LacyMB]

Well, I'm trying to quit--for the fourth time. It is sooo hard. And I've only been smoking for like 4 years, I don't even know how hard it must be for those who have been smoking longer than that.

My advice to others , learned from previous failed quitting attempts---

1. Avoid the gum. It tastes like ass and makes your jaw hurt.
2. The patch really does work very well, but keep some gum or lollipops around because it doesn't help the oral fixation. It also burns, and makes your muscles hurt. But it does work.
3. buy the entire patch system at once, not one box at a time, it's too easy to slip and just not buy anymore once you finish a box.
4. Drink lots and LOTs of water. It makes you feel so much better.
5. Realize it's not the end of the world if you slip and smoke some. Or get drunk and smoke some. Just get back up and try to not smoke the next day.


*

[GA Raisin Girl]

omg lacy, you are my nicotine doppelganger.

this is my 4th quit in 12 months. and i live in DC.

i'm on the patch now. i don't really, really want to quit, not as much as i did the other times. but i figured i'd try it anyway.

i fucked up tho, because the last set of patches i bought were when i had weaned myself to like 6 cigarettes a day. i'm well over 10 now, and the patch isn't strong enough and i'm too cheap to buy any. so it's keeping me from smoking, but it's not making me a very cheery person to be around.

#4 is my hardest one. if i slip, it's pretty much over for me. last time i quit, i went 3 1/2 weeks before getting drunk and bumming a newport of all things :m. a few days afterwards, i had bought a pack. once i lose that initial momentum, fahget about it.

how do people get back on the wagon right away?

[Lathan]

I quit smoking about a year and a half ago.

I used to smoke over a pack a day for over 7 years. I was majorly addicted. I had some unsuccessful attempts before I finally did it.

If I can do it, anyone can. And it's totally worth it.

:)

[Lathan]

Originally posted by GA Raisin Girl
...and i'm too cheap to buy any.

I don't know how you get your patches, but I have a friend that would buy them on ebay and they were cheaper than in the store...

[LacyMB]

LOL, How fun! We should have a DC smokers support group!

I don't know...I was trying to be all upbeat about it for advice giving purposes, but #3 is the biggie problem for me...i ran out of patches and haven't gotten paid yet, so there is no way i'm blowing $50 on a box of patches...so I have been cheating for the past couple of days. Not severely, but you know, more than like two.
I've been trying not to buy any, just bum them off others, so that makes me feel that I'm not cheating too badly.

I'll have nights out at bars, on the patch and get drunk and just take the patch off and have a couple cigs. then i put the patch back on the next day. It's usually when drinking that I have the biggest problem. Duh, maybe I should stay away from bars! It's so all mental, too, I just like smoking, not for the nicotine or anything but just for the act of doing it. Especially, again, if drinking.

When did you guys start smoking? and why? I don't remember why I started....only that I first started smoking in high school, then quit...then started again second year of college and haven't been able to stop yet, though I've tried lots. Arrgh. I am going to do it this time though, I hope. Or at least once I get some more patches.

*

[GA Raisin Girl]

i started when i was 19, a sophomore in college because i was STUPID. i was stressed out and i decided, oh i know, i'll go buy a pack of cigarettes. don't ask me why. i don't think i had started smoking beedies yet, or maybe i had. yeah, i actually think i started on beedies and they gave way to cigarettes.

god i wish i could have taken that back. :i

[pretty dark]

the start of my smoking career came when i was 12.
i was 26 this march when i quit.
yep, smoked more than half my life.

i quit because i have a daughter.
i couldn't imagine one good thing i could say to her
as i lay dying in horrible pain from cancer etc...

i quit because i was pregnant.
i already smoked through yso's gestation,
why do it again, and just label myself weak?

i quit because i love my partner
and i want to spend as much time with him in this lifetime that i can. i don't want to see him in pain and hurting either...
so i made him quit with me.

we quit together, for support.
we quit apart, because the break of habit was very handy.

in march. when he dropped me off at the airport is when we had our last cigarette together. he went on the patch, and i went cold turkey.

i had one of my sister's cigs when i was in manitoba,
sean was on the patch for a few weeks, and then he just quit by sheer force of will, 'cause the patch was too expensive. he "cheated" a few times, but he DID stop.

now he doesn't cough like an old man in the mornings.
we both feel so much healthier. i can walk up the hill.
he <i>rides his bike to work</i> this is amazing, he would have had a fucking heart attack if he had tried to do that while he was a puffer.

we hate the smell when someone passes us on the street with a cig... we hate it, and we love it.
we talk about our cravings and our dreams about smoking. we talk it out.

i love that i don't smell gross anymore. i love how food tastes. i love that sean's fingers aren't yellow anymore. i love being a more positive role model for my children.

anyway, i used to be the sort of person who just loved smoking for smoking's sake... maybe if i'm a 90 year old woman i will take it up then, just for fun or something...

[pagefire]

Hi y'all!

It CAN be done!

But yes, you do have to want to do it.

I started at 12..1972..to be cool. It started slowly, but eventually turned into 3-4 pack a day habit for most of my life. I quit May 8, 1994, and have smoked 2 cigarettes since then..at concerts. I came down with a BAD case of the flu, and COULDN'T smoke for three days, so I figured it was a good time to keep it going. The next two full months were complete HELL. But I had invested a lot of self worth in the idea that I could do this, so I held on to my resolve. For me, the hardest part was giving up my "relaxing" time. I had so completely identified smoking with pleasantness and leisure that it was EXTREMELY difficult to separate the two. I would have a bad time at work..DON"T WE ALL!..but then think that if I could just could get through this crap, then I could take a break and smoke a cigarette..But then I would realize that I couldn't, then get twice as pissed!!
But I stuck to it. I'm not saying this will work for anyone else, but it's what I did. For those two months, I ALWAYS carried with me not one, but TWO packs, and TWO lighters..just in case!!!!!
The only residual negative effect of this has been my bad habit of using the swear expression, "GD"...you know. But I think He forgives me..

One last thing...I REALLY don't miss them at all. BUT..I still dream about them all the time...just like I do about pot..my OTHER long lost obssession.

Good luck y'all....Cliche time, but it's true..If I can do it....... :)

[GA Raisin Girl]

so basically you guys are telling me to rip off the patch and go buy a pack of camels :t

[Danika]

<font color="ff00ff"><br><i>I would love to have a smokie, just one puff, maybe two. Hmm, i havent had one in ages only cause my man doesnt want me to. But gosh!!!! it calms me down so much and helps me relax.

<p>I'm glad that I quit, I just wish these cravings would go away

[lahlea]

i started smoking cigs when i was 16 cause i was having wonderful dreams about smoking. so i smoked a lot, then a month before my 18th birthday, i got sick, so i decided to quit. pretty stupid. the day i turned 18, i went out and bought a pack of marlboro reds. blech. so i smoked again, until may 2000. my boyfriend and i decided together to cut down, so i smoked like one or two cigs a day for two weeks (mostly Drum roll your owns), and the last cigarette i had was a camel light that almost made me puke. sometimes i still want one but i know it would make me sick. it took my boyfriend a little longer, but he did it. sometimes i smoke pot when i crave cigarettes really bad. holding a joint is a huge relief.

anyway, good luck to those of you trying to quit. i know you can help yourselves.

[Rivergirl]

<font color="blue"><b> I want so much to quit but get totally irate and miserable at certain times. I wished I would have listened to Gramma, she always said to never start smoking it's a filthy,nasty, raunchy habit.
The withdrawls really suck big wieners.(ya I am a perpetual quitter):b
I did something <i>again</i> tonight that I really feel bad about, I took it out on an innocent party. I wanted a cig badly, was frustrated as hell and walked by the puter and noticed an IM message flashing(I leave the puter on all the time) and got mad at the flashing message and deleted & the person permanently without ever giving regard that there was a person behind that message. :(

Does anyone else get this irritated while wanting a smoke?

[arthurblacklab]

so basically i smoke,only without filters.I dont mind the dying part,i just wish it wouldnt take so damn long.

[Kai]

I smoked for 9 months when I was 17. I quit and I haven't smoked again (I'm 26).

I quit because I had a job that started at 7:30 am. One day I was getting ready for work, and I needed a cigarette before I ate breakfast. That was a huge wake-up call for me. I realized that I was addicted and I never wanted to be.

So I quit. I kept the pack in my purse, so I didn't stress out about not having any. When I had the same pack, unused for 3 months, I knew I was fine. I threw them away and never smoked again.

I don't know why it was so easy for me to quit. I didn't have any smoker friends to tempt me. I never liked the smell or taste. I've always thought it was disgusting. Maybe that's why it was easy.

I developed adult onset asthma in 1998. For those of you that smoke, please don't do it around non-smokers. Cigarettes can throw me into an asthma attack. Even if they don't, I get very sick. Many, many people have asthma. I don't think we should be forced to risk our lives when we leave our homes.

((steps off smoker Nazi box))

Ann

[LornaBrigid]

Just the kind of thread i was looking for!
I want to quit sooooooo badly, because
1. i too, have adult onset asthma, probably smoking induced,
2. i hate not being able to breathe at times, and gettign winded,
3. i hate the smell,
4. It's so stupid to willingly kill yourself,
5. I hate the smell and am actually ashamed that I do it,
6. I hate that an addiction has such power over me.

I really do want to quit! But I cannot do the patch or the gum, I have bad reactions to them. I can't afford to goto the doctor and get Zyban.
My husband smokes like a chimney, and our roommate does, too. All of our friends smoke. I've smoked for 11 years. I literally erp when I'm feigning for a cig. That's not an excuse, it's the truth. i get so anxiously hyper, I get weak, and i get sick to my stomach.
But I'm gonna try to make the pack I'm on my last. I think cold turkey is the only way I can do it. I've got to get through it somehow.
When I'm done with this pack, I will start a quitters support thread!!!!! When I do, be sure to post and encourage me! :q

[ethereal spirit]

i never understood the whole smoking to look cool stance. i mean i think puff the magic dragon is cool too but i dont want to look like him.

my dad almost died this year because he had been smoking for about 35 years and just couldnt quit. i say death is a pretty good reason to stop. and another one is for the people around you. people would always ask me if i had some cigs cause i constantly smelled like smoke. it's also very annoying to walk into a room and have people say 'what smells like smoke?'. and i totally understand about addictions. i've been clean off of caffinne for about a year. yes thank you *takes a bow*

good luck you guys!

[by the woods]

I haven't had a cigarette in 4 years!!! I started smoking when I was 14 just for the hell of it and smoked about a pack a week until junior year in High School. Then it went up to about 2 packs a week and then in college I went to a pack a day. I smoked a pack a day for 5 years! My chest started to really hurt and I couldn't breathe after walking up a flight of stairs so I decided to quit. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I have ever done (OK, well second hardest) but it was worth all the pain and suffering I went through to quit! I cried every day for 5 days or so because the nicotine withdrawal was so bad! It took a good 2 months until I stopped thinking I was a smoker and reaching for the cigs out of habit. I found that chewing straws helped me out a lot. I cut them to the size of cigarettes and pretended to smoke them. Weird but it really helped!! I also got this latchhook kit and started making a skirt for my Christmas tree to keep my hands busy. The skirt STILL isn't done but it' getting there! I've been "clean" for 4 years and still, every once in a while, I think "wow, a cigarette would be just fabu right now" but I don't have one! I know that one would lead to two and two to three and so on. It's been 4 years but I still consider myself a nicotine addict and just one would send me back to a pack a day! Good luck to anyone who is trying to quit! It's one of the best things you could ever do for yourself! PM me if you ever want to chat about quitting.

~peace~
beth :e

[livingdeadgirl]

i took this off sticky thread...but am giving it a boost..in hopes that you smokers will keep it up here..to discuss smoking and quitting ;)

[SapphireEmerald]

well, i know what to do for the feeling of holding it.. twizzlers have worked in the past. thats not the reasoni can't quit.. i can't wuit cuz it calms me. what can i do when really pissed or stressed instead of having a cigarette.. i get really violent if i can't have a ciggabut when stressed or pissed. any advice?

[Ms.Mayo]

i quit a 20 year 2 pack a day habit with hypnosis...it really works if you are ready to give it up. i haven't had a cigarette in almost 5 years now. i won't say it wasn't hard but it wasn't as hard as i thought it would be either.

[livingdeadgirl]

:n 2 packs a day?? when did you have time to eat?? hehe..wow. that's just a lot. i was bitching at my hubby for one pack a day. that must have been extremely expensive.

[Ms.Mayo]

lol,...maybe that is why i was so skinny then. i seem to have done plenty of catching up over the years :e

[Ben]

I'm having a red marlboro right now

;o

[Ms.Mayo]

Originally posted by torispark
I'm having a red marlboro right now

;o
i smoked marlboro greens

[BottledErotica]

getting sick is a great oppurtunity to quit smoking

i have bronchitis (sp?).. and ive cut back this week.
i think i went 2 days this week without a cigarette.
i smoked like a half of one yesterday.. and today so far so good! i was really thinking about quitting for good this week.. but im going out of town like in a week.. and i cannot travel without smoking.

grrrr.
hopefully someday.
(marb lights over here, mmmmm)

[Lady Zor]

I've been smoking for about 5 years. I want to quit. I'm an emotional smoker. Cigs are my crutch. If I have a bad day or a fight with my love, I smoke and I smoke and I smoke some more. I used to smoke about 40 a day, now only 10-15 at most. Still not good enough.

My Mom bought me the patch, but with finals coming up I'm so stressed and think perhaps I should wait until this emotional rollercoaster has stopped. ...Or is that just an excuse?

I think I'll just set my quit date and go from there. My boyfriend quit cold turkey about 4 months ago. He feels better and his appetite has returned. His skin looks healthy and he smells wonderful. Now it's my turn I guess.

[tripping sleeping beauty]

i started smoking when i was 21. (how stupid is that.) why? i thought it would make me even more cool with friends... and it was something to do when i was bored.
i finally quit last year on october 7th. before that i had tried to quit 3 or 4 times. once i quit for 6 months but went back when i got too stressed out at work. i finally decided to quit because cancer scares me. i am all ready dying.. i don't want to speed the process up. i quit cold turkey.. and i haven't had a craving sense. now i cannot even stand the smell of them... i don't know how i put up with that nasty smell all over my clothes and in my hair for so long. i feel so much better now.

-kelly

[boomboxboi]

shes addicted to nicotine patches


yes
ive smoked since pele came out
and i havent stopped
someone stop me
lol

[snapdragon]

for those interested in new alternatives for quitting tobacco there are a few herbs that can be taken internally and/or smoked to help with the process.

1. lobellia: can be taken internally (available in capsules and liquid extracts) or smoked in *small* amounts to reduce cravings; has a mild relaxing affect on the body. NOTE: if you take to much at once it will make you :m puke (another name for this herb is "pukeweed" and "vomitroot". lol). it is not meant for longterm use. however, if you are serious about quitting it really works.

2. wild oats/avena sativa (aka "milky seed" and "oat straw"): this herb is good for a lot of things including libido, energy, mood enhancement, and can also reduce cravings for tobacco (you'll be too busy looking for some action). ;)

3. roll your own herbal smoking mixtures: a mix of the herbs coltsfoot, mullein, and yerba santa (also lobellia) are good for quitting. these three herbs can actually *help* some respiratory problems, including asthma. you can start by mixing a small amount of these herbs with your tobacco and then slowly reduce the amount of tobacco until you smoke only the herbs (they smell and taste a lot better and are non-addictive). the only problem i run into sometimes is that people think i'm smoking pot. lol. :q

you can find most or all of these items at your local health food store or herb shop. if you dont have a local health food store there are many websites out there that you can order herbs from if you are willing to do a little hunting (which, yes, i am too lazy/sleepy to do for you right now). ;)

hope this info helps someone.

--d.

[LunarBull]

I started smoking when I was 15, started smoking daily around 17, and somehow I quit in October 2000. Kinda. I simply didn't have any money on me one day to get a new pack, so I went the whole workday without one. I decided since I'd gone that long, I would just go home and not get any. I didn't. Or the next day. Or the next. Ironically enough, I'd tried to quit 3 times previously but fell back into it (on a daily basis). The one time that worked was entirely unplanned.

I weight train very regularly (4 to 5 days a week), and run an average of 7 miles at a time, 3 to 4 days a week as well. I don't smoke during the week, nor do I even have the desire to. But once I go out on the weekends, I have to have cigarettes. I don't really know why, but it's an absolute necessity to smoke in social situations - particularly if I go out to a club or bar with friends and get some alcohol in the ole' bloodstream. But then the next morning, I crush up the remainder of the pack I bought and go the rest of the week without them with complete ease. Weird, eh?

[heysaidyes]

I've smoked for two years now, and I'm eighteen. I'm concerned about gaining weight when I stop (If you lost weight when you quit, I would have quit months ago). Also, the price is an issue. I've been trying to cut my smoking in HALF, that way it is half as expensive. Clever, huh? If you cut anything that costs money in half, it is half as expensive! :q

[squidgy]

I think perhaps I delude myself by associating smoking with other issues - it's as though all I'm doing is making excuses for myself. Not good really. Like - is smoking worse than drinking? Or compulsive scratching? Or painkiller addiction? What about the control issues? Sure I've waffled on at great length about these ideas in other threads, which, needless to say, I'm not so keen to read back to myself now! :n

But maybe I'm doing it again now - oh but hey here goes anyway, it's on my mind so I'll say it.

My doctor recently diagnosed me as having an anxiety disorder and stuck me on beta blockers. He says this also explains the frequent headaches and breathlessness - perhaps it does, because I do have anxiety attacks now and then, but I guess smoking doesn't help. Smoking probably causes these symptoms too. Last year, he also diagnosed IBS - stress can also cause me to have diarrhoea attacks. Ew. But also, to an extent, so can smoking. And coffee and high protein foods.

Yet I still smoke. Erm, why?

Mind you, last weekend was pretty serious. Couldn't sleep, was seriously stressed, felt dizzy, was in pain and was getting the runs. The up side of that is that I went a whole 16 hours without a cigarette. Or a coffee - because I figured they would make it worse. Started again once the symptoms had gone away though.

Many of you have mentioned in this thread that you smoke when you feel stressed. Sure, I do too. But it doesn't make you feel any more relaxed, you're definitely deluding yourself if you think it does.

I think the addiction is something to do with a naturally occuring hormone called "dopamine" .... anyone have any more info on this that they care to post? Thanks.

[livingdeadgirl]

day 2 no smoking.





:n

[Devanshi84]

i started smoking when i was a freshman in highschool.... i graduated this year...so i've smoked for four years.... i moved up from one clove ciggerette a week to a pack of marborlo reds a day....i'm sort of using it to replace another addiction... i'm a cutter (yeah wrong forum sort of...) i used to cut every day and smoke rarely...now... i've pretty much stopped cutting (maybe one breakdown every few months) and smoke all the time.....

[squidgy]

I wanna scream!!!! :s

Wish this thread was a bit busier. Lots has happened since I last posted. I've given up smoking. Not just once, but twice. :) But have beaten my previous record this time.

I'm using patches. By eck do they give me weird dreams or what?

I've learnt that apparently another effect of nicotine is that it plays havoc with your insulin levels - and I'm led to believe that this is one of the things that patches are even worse for than cigarettes themselves, though obviously not taking nicotine in at all is healthiest. But perhaps that explains why so many people who try to give up smoking end up putting on weight. People who have never smoked at all don't get this in quite the same way.

Mind you, it was dwelling on that thought which led me to stop the patch, which in turn led me on to start smoking again last time. This time, the nurse is checking my breath carbon monoxide levels every two weeks before prescribing patches, to make absolutely damn sure that I'm not smoking. I guess that's what you'd call a sort of behaviour therapy thing, it really feels belittling to be doing this, but hey, it works.

[squidgy]

devanshi> totally understand where you're coming from. :) Me, have smoked ten years, it had been about twenty a day. Until I gave up the cutting. Then cig habit leapt to thirty a day. :n I would go round in circles saying "which is really worse" .... but really, that's beside the point. Because, like I say, some people replace a smoking habit with a comfort eating habit. And some people replace a comfort eating habit with an appetite suppressant / amphetamine habit.

And like you say, replacing one problem with another is not a solution at all. But at the same time, it's not an excuse either. Deal with one thing at a time, and take one day at a time. It's a cliche, but it works. If you slip back, then learn from the mistake. We're all human, and we all slip sometimes, and when it happens, you become stronger for the next time round. :)

So don't be too hard on yourself if you think you haven't made as much progress as you'd have liked. But believe in yourself too, because you can do it. Really you can. Hope that helps.

[Ben]

I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of quitting. I have a perfect health and that is why I want to quit. I don't want to wait until my health is all fucked up to quit, I decided it's a great time to stop smoking.

I started when I was 15, now I'm 18. I smoke at most one box per day and I fear I'll smoke more and more and more in a near future. Lately, when I'm nervous or have issues in my head, I smoke a little bit more than one box per day. When I'm drinking, I can smoke one box in a couple of hours!!!!

Any ideas to kill time when you have the desire of smoking?

Thanks! :D

[Prometheus]

Thankfully, I've never started. Smoking took my grandparents lives. That's enough to keep me away from cigarrettes.

[inmyhead]

I have a question.


Are clove cigarettes worse for you than regular cigarettes?