Quitting smoking take 326.. Life Changes

[SBMech]

^^^^^^ this, I have watched people who had quit just to throw it away with 1 drag.

You can never, ever, just "take a drag".

You quit, you are done. It has to be final.

 

[Ouderkirk]

Let me just say this, if you do kick it don't even think for a second that you can take a puff or drag ever again. I quit for 12 years and went away to a bachelor party for a weekend where everyone was smoking, asked for a couple drags, by the next week I had a pack a day habit again. That lasted 2 years and was just as hard to quit the second time.

110% on that. You can't go back even for a couple of drags. That leads to the whole cigarette, then back to a pack a day within days.

 

[guest hs]

Wonder if this would work for my Coke addiction? (Coca Cola). I don’t smoke I only drink while on the lake I don’t do drugs but I love soda and I know it’s bad for me and I could loose a lot of weight if I stopped. This sounds like a good way to go if it works for other things other then smoking.

 

[4Waters]

@RiverDave don't forget to get a deep teeth cleaning, it will get rid of the cigarette flavor in your mouth.

 

[Ouderkirk]

@RiverDave don't forget to get a deep teeth cleaning, it will get rid of the cigarette flavor in your mouth.

1000% correct on that too. The tars are on your teeth, and will drive you completely nuts.

 

[rmarion]

Dave

I've done it ALL, patch, gum, candy smokes, not light them, hypnotized...etc.

Smoked 7 years, quit for 7 years.... cold Turkey.....at an event, puffed on one F-ing cig, two days later smoking a pack a day.... tired to quit everyday for another 7 years straight.... May 24, 1995, 4:42 pm...my last smoke...cold Turkey...... the reason... THEY WERE GONNA KILL ME!!!!
If I knew I had one year left...I'd pick it back up!!!!
I loved to SMOKE!!!!! If I took one hit right now...I'd be back to one pack a day by tomorrow........

The urge NEVERS LEAVES!!!!!!
Just carry a pic of your family with you...when you get the URGE...pull out the pic.. it really comes down to your family or a smoke....
(BTW, if nicotine was not added to smokes..... people WOULD NOT BE ADDICTED and there be no LUNG CANCER)... tobacco been around forever, never killed anyone until..... they started lacing it with poison in WW1.....

 

[Q4mtxUS]

Like others have said, I too have tried ‘em all except hypnosis. My X-wife did the hypno with success.
Me....I just walked away from grits (cigs) 7 years ago.

The best stop smoking program......is to just walk away.

 

[Mr. C]

You just haven’t been forced to quit yet. When the wife says you can do whatever you want but if you keep it up me and the kids are leaving, that will do it.


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NO IT WILL NOT!!!! I closet smoked around the house for almost 15 yrs. you either quit for yourself. Or in my case the doctor said you will die soon. I quit 2 1/2 years ago cold turkey. Kids. Wife. Didn’t matter. The drug is tough. Suck it up time. Dave. Do you want it. FYI smoked since I was 13 as well. Sorry not meaning to preach. I swore I would never do that.


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[spectras only]

Dave, don't want to dwell on how many good friends I've lost so far, but one thing was sure, 80% of them were heavy smokers, including one of my two brothers, who died of a hear attack at the age of 63. My brother smoked cigs and pipe, never exercised or do any sports.
If you call cold turkey, it will take ten years for your lung to clear up, think about it. I know you like eats too, but suggest to cut back on calories, it is better for the heart to be skinny than over weight. Calories must be burned with exercise if you like huge meals. As you mentioned every one around you smoked except your Mom, definitely put you on the wrong path IMO. I tried cig at the schoolyard in grade 8 with my buddies and called cold turkey right there and then. They all laughed at me, wonder how many are still around. Hope you'll have the will power to kick this nasty habit/addiction.

 

[92 cole]

Best of luck to you!!! I am doing the same thing as we speak along with my beer habit at the same time. I have been cutting down for a month and little by little both are going away. It is not easy, cigarettes are as addicting as heroin so I find the lbl method helps the beer is the same thing for me LBL works just don't push it to fast as it takes time to let whats left off the body to get used to it. All this bullshit about cold turkey is just that B.S. Hang in there. MLAO!!!!! Oh and on a side you have to want to quit in your'e mind for sure otherwise it's just b.S.

 

[Mr. C]

Let me just say this, if you do kick it don't even think for a second that you can take a puff or drag ever again. I quit for 12 years and went away to a bachelor party for a weekend where everyone was smoking, asked for a couple drags, by the next week I had a pack a day habit again. That lasted 2 years and was just as hard to quit the second time.

FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. I swore I would never quote this cock sucker ever. But he is right, One hit and you’re back to square one. Yet tougher


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[mothershipper]

I didn't have time to read all the posts on here, so if any of my comments are redundant - apologies in advance. Been smoking on and off (more on) since I was 14 or 15. Quit a few times, but it never lasted more than a year. Never was a pack a day smoker, but I just could never quit for good. Fast forward to my later 40's and my daughter is in her teens. She knows I smoke and I never smoked around her. Every once and a while she'd catch me and be really mad. Also she'd know when I smoked, cause I would smell like an ashtray. I liked smoking, but I hated the side effects - out of breath, stank ass breath, & my clothes stunk. I started having chest pains earlier this year and it scared the shit outta me, I went to the doctor , they did an EKG and he couldn't believe how good of shape I was in even though I smoked. Chest pains were something unrelated. I told him I wanted to quit and he prescribed me Chantix. I promised my daughter for her 14th bday that I'd quit. April 30th at 3:15pm was my last smoke. I have a deal with my kid that we do not break promises like 95% of the rest of the world does and I'm not going to break this one. It still sucks, cause I want one but I remind myself of the promise I made. I sure hope you can quit Dave, not just for you, but for your kids and wife.

 

[SoCalDave]

No lectures, no mind tricks or encouragement. Go to the doc and get Chantix. If you want to quit you will. Chantix literally reprograms your brain (basically burning out all the nicotene receptors).
The program takes abouts 3 months but you'll likely be done long before that. I smoked for over 40yrs., tried hypnosis, tried the patch, tried the gum, tried the nicotene pills and nothing worked. Got the Chantix and two weeks later was non smoker. That was 3 yrs ago. Good luck.

This is the way I quit after trying everything else. For me it was very simple and I had no urges to smoke or side effects. My insurance didn’t cover it at the time but it was the best $265 I have ever spent in my life. Good luck RD.

 

[Bullet28]

Pulling for you Dave and glad to hear you are seeing the doctor you are way to young to be feeling the way you describe, do this for yourself.

 

[Mandelon]

Good Luck Dave, for your sake and for your family. I hope this time it is really going to work.

 

[78Southwind]

I smoked for about 16 years. I tried to quit many times, supplementing chewing tobacco, sunflower seeds and gum. Nothing worked, I just ended up having another habit on top of smoking. Then I just tried to cut down. I got down to about 2 to 3 cigarettes a day then one day just quit. I quit for a couple months and then one day I went to a bar and everyone was smoking so I smoked about 10 cigarettes while I was there. The next day I was pissed at myself and never smoked again.

My buddy got hypnotized to try to stop smoking and it only worked for a couple days. It was so funny, because the suggestion that the hypnotist gave my friend was that the cigarettes tasted like shit (literally like he was putting a turd in his mouth). But he was so addicted that he would suffer through the taste. He would spit every time he would take a drag trying to get that turd taste out of his mouth.

 

[SoCalZero]

Switch to weed...good luck.

 

[rrrr]

If you quit drinking it would probably be easier to quit smoking, IMO. If you can quit smoking and keep drinking, you are either a savage or a effin liar

I have to say it woulda been damn hard for me to quit smoking if I hadn't stopped drinking several years before.

Troostr mentioned DumDum suckers helped him. I sucked on sugar free peppermint Breath Savers. You wanna know how strong the oral fixation of smoking is? I went through three or four rolls a day for four years.

 

[Essexive G's]

Interestingly enough that is a lot of what is driving this. My left arm has been tingling off and on for months (been better lately, but all summer long), Sometimes I will have a tightness in my chest. Below my arm pit on the left side off and on most the summer I have felt like someone rubbed Icy Hot on my skin.

For some reason almost all of that went away a little while back. Now though I'm tired.. and I mean really freakin tired all the time. I'll get up at 9-10, and I want to take a 2-3 hour nap at 4-5.. It's literally everything I have to get out of bed in the morning, or after a nap and not just want to lay there all night until the next day. Anything physical and I'm on my ass the next day. I think I have a blockage as well.

Tomorrow we go in for labs.. Monday is the next Dr. Appt and then we are also going to the heart specialist for a stress test etc..

Ironically enough if I just do my normal routine and drink beers in the garage and smoke cigarettes I feel better the next day. I've cut back a lot lately on the booze, and it's harder now than it ever was..

Had beers on Saturday with my buddy John, but it was recreational, not the usual one after another till ya pass out. Had two beers last night with Headless Hula at the end of the night thinking it would help me go to sleep. It didn't..

RD

I know I’m late to this post, I’ve been in Quarterly Businesss reviews for two days. Anyways the tingling in your arm, tightness in chest and the Icy Hot feeling could very well have been related to the heart. What happens when a plaque pocket breaks open it will block an artery. It could be one of the larger ones, but further down in the artery where you may only feel those simptoms. They often get overlooked because most people think that what you see on tv as a “heart attack” is the only way one happens. You don’t have to collapse and turn blue to show signs of a heart attack. You eventually felt better, but with the fatigue because other, smaller arteries will take over supplying blood to the part of the heart that was being deprived of blood from the original blockage. I’ve had heart disease for 20 yrs. I have a lot of experiences that if I put it in a post it would be post that would look like one of your epic posts. If you are interested I would like to share my experiences with you to give you some insight on what you may be going through. Send me a pm if you’d like.

 

[BHC Vic]

NO IT WILL NOT!!!! I closet smoked around the house for almost 15 yrs. you either quit for yourself. Or in my case the doctor said you will die soon. I quit 2 1/2 years ago cold turkey. Kids. Wife. Didn’t matter. The drug is tough. Suck it up time. Dave. Do you want it. FYI smoked since I was 13 as well. Sorry not meaning to preach. I swore I would never do that.


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We will have to disagree. I’ve quit several bad habits. None of them for me. I don’t live for me and haven’t in a while. But of course I’m selfish and only think of myself so....

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

Tried everything, finally nicorette mints and I have been smoke free for 1.5 years. The first year was a mo fo as I was getting away from the mints! Good luck! Nicotine is one evil fucker!

 

[boatnam2]

My mom did hypnosis, think it was 1500 bucks or something, it lasted a day.

 

[Riverbound]

Good luck.

I was fortunate I was able to quit cold turkey. Made the mental decision and stuck with it. Big thing to keep in mind is when (not if) you slip up, don’t let that be the failure and write off the progress. For the first year or so I would still bum cigs when drinking and stuff like that. It’s been a few years now on rare occasion I will have a cigar and that about it. Once you quit you will be really sensitive to the smell at first you will crave and then it becomes disgusting (at least to me it did).

I was one of those kids that took up smoking and loved it. No coughing hacking etc.


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[dave29]

I smoked for 40 years. When I retired I thought, now is the time to quit. I felt like I had been dodging a cancer bullet my entire life and now what? Have a heart attack or stroke when I should be enjoying life. I went on the patch, full strength, for 3 weeks. I wore it 24/7. Great dreams!! I quit drinking coffee and booze so all those habits of coffee and a cig in the morning, on the way to work, during a break, after a meal etc were broken. At the end of the 3 weeks I was good to go. It's been 7 years now and I still crave one but, surviving and thriving in life are two very different things. I hike, snow ski ,off road at 10,000 feet etc. without the huffing, puffing, coughing and wheezing.
Give it a try and if it doesn't work just keep on trying.
I wish you the very best!!!

 

[Gramps]

"smoke right up until you walk in the door, you are going to throw them in the basket on the way out. I asked her how many sessions this is going to take and she confidently said "one."

In 1988 I was up to 2 packs a day and was smoking for about 25 years. Walked in the office and on the way out threw a pack in the basket and haven't touched them since.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Wonder if this would work for my Coke addiction? (Coca Cola). I don’t smoke I only drink while on the lake I don’t do drugs but I love soda and I know it’s bad for me and I could loose a lot of weight if I stopped. This sounds like a good way to go if it works for other things other then smoking.

Start drinking flavored sparkling water.

 

[RogerThat99]

Good Luck Dave. You can do it. I hope the hypnosis works for you.

 

[teded]

I think I mentioned this before in another quit smoking thread. I was hypnotized by Dr. in sierra madre ca to quit smoking in 1987. Left the office after and never smoked again. Best thing I ever did.


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[SoCalDave]

Not to go off track but a little story on my venture, I had quit in 2011 and in 2015 I went back home (Tennessee) to attend my nieces wedding. I was staying with my sister and her crew (she has four boys) and we had been drinking pretty heavily at the reception. When we were back at the house it continued and some weed was also introduced which I welcomed. Well they all smoke cigs and I was feeling no pain so I ask for one and lit it up smoking the whole thing. Within a few minutes things started to go south on me and I became very nauseated and felt like I was going to pass out. Worst feeling I had had in a long time and I attribute it the that one cig I smoked. Never ever touched another one since and never will.

 

[ilmormark]

Dave forget all the gum and patches and hypno stuff i smoked 2 packs of Kool Menthols 100's since i was 17 i quit when i was 40 20 years ago dont care about it dont crave it doesnt bother me even a little bit. TOOK ZYBAN and after 3 weeks of the 6 week program it was over and that was 20 year ago just be careful cause i gained 50 pounds food never tasted so good and things never smelled so good after about 6 months. dont do what i did worked out and pushed myself to hard and the artery to my heart collapsed and i had a mild heart attack as a result of the years of smoking start slow now i work out 2 hours a day and 6 days a week i crave the workout now best thing ever happened to me. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW GOOD YOU =FEEL AFTER A YEAR OR 2 AND YOU WILL KICK YOURSELF IN THE ASS FOR DOING THAT TO YOUR BODY ALL THOSE YEARS

 

[RiverDave]

You just haven’t been forced to quit yet. When the wife says you can do whatever you want but if you keep it up me and the kids are leaving, that will do it.


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I wouldn’t marry a wife that would make stupid ultimatums like that.

 

[BHC Vic]

I wouldn’t marry a wife that would make stupid ultimatums like that.

Lol... I wouldn’t marry a wife that didn’t care about me enough to do it. I don’t like enablers. Guess it depends on how you look at it.


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[YoPengo]

I’ve never smoked so I have no fucking idea how hard it is. Lots of arm chair quarterbacks in here. I Just hope it works for you... I’m pulling for you. Good luck Dave.


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[RiverDave]

Dave forget all the gum and patches and hypno stuff i smoked 2 packs of Kool Menthols 100's since i was 17 i quit when i was 40 20 years ago dont care about it dont crave it doesnt bother me even a little bit. TOOK ZYBAN and after 3 weeks of the 6 week program it was over and that was 20 year ago just be careful cause i gained 50 pounds food never tasted so good and things never smelled so good after about 6 months. dont do what i did worked out and pushed myself to hard and the artery to my heart collapsed and i had a mild heart attack as a result of the years of smoking start slow now i work out 2 hours a day and 6 days a week i crave the workout now best thing ever happened to me. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW HOW GOOD YOU =FEEL AFTER A YEAR OR 2 AND YOU WILL KICK YOURSELF IN THE ASS FOR DOING THAT TO YOUR BODY ALL THOSE YEARS

What is zyban

 

[Mike K]

You have young kids ... you have to quit. Zero question about that.
Smoking is really kinda out of it now ... grew up same as you.
It doesn’t have to be cold turkey like I did.
Now everybody goes the vape way.
I Know 5 people that vaped for a year or so and then just gave it up.
Yeah I know all the experts will chime in about what’s in the vape ... so what ... but again I personally
know 5 heavy smokers that totally quit by going down the vape way.
You have to get the right vape ... that’s the key ... each vape is so different from the next one.
Good luck ... you can do this ...
I remember seeing a picture of a little girl staring at a headstone in a cemetery ... under the picture it read “ Daddy ... I thought you said you were going to quit” .
Geez ... that hammered me cuz I have 2 daughters.
Good luck ... you can do it.

 

[Runs2rch]

I don't have an addictive personality, but I know people that have quit they became addicted to exercising.

Replace the unhealthy addiction with a healthy one.

Also a question to the smokers/former smokers.

What is the draw to something that makes you smell like ass, ruins your body, ruins your clothes, ruins your vehicles, and costs a shit ton of money?

 

[wzuber]

everybody is an individual and have to find out what works for them and their life individually whether it's quiting smoking or building a life, business, boat etc. What matters the most is that you are relentless in finding out what works for you and keeping at it for as long as possible for you. With relentless effort you have built a life, business, family etc. and with that same relentless determination you will quit smoking too.

 

[charlyox]

Good luck RD. We are all pulling for you. Everyone knows smoking is the most preventable cause of death.

 

[RiverDave]

I appreciate everyone sharing their stories and advice.

Obviously I’m paying very close attention to the successful hypnosis stories.

I’m pretty excited and looking forward to early next week. I will also update the thread to let everyone know the results and how it goes. If it really is that easy I’m going to punch myself in the balls for not doing it years earlier and going through all the bullshit of trying to quit multiple times in the past and the hell that brings with it.

For those that don’t smoke the only way I can describe it is like having someone lightly squeeze the back of your neck. It doesn’t bother you at first.. a couple hours later it’s just irritating and you wish whoever that is would just get off your shit. A couple days later you are ready to kill whoever that is that is squeezing your neck.. A week later it’s like Chinese water torture.. Whatever you gotta do to make it stop you will do.. lol.

In the meantime everyone in your life is suffering because you are irritable to say the least.. etc

 

[92 cole]

as I stated before the little by little method worked for me a few times prior but my dumb as started back about 1 year later. here is another (aside from all the obvious) reason to git-er-done it is truly amazing how much better food tastes and your'e sense of smell increases. Even as you go thru the lbl method you will start to realize food starts tasting better lbl.

 

[Zack @ Bling Sauce]

Pulling for you Dave!

I was hesitant to post this as it offers no help but a few months ago I watched my neighbor's body get carried out by the coroner. Dead of complications from emphysema at 60. He had quit smoking many times over the years but never stuck with it.

Sucked but didn't think much of it until I met his daughter and her fiance shortly afterward as they closed up the house. He was scheduled to walk his daughter down the aisle 1 week later...

-Zack




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[RiverDave]

as I stated before the little by little method worked for me a few times prior but my dumb as started back about 1 year later. here is another (aside from all the obvious) reason to git-er-done it is truly amazing how much better food tastes and your'e sense of smell increases. Even as you go thru the lbl method you will start to realize food starts tasting better lbl.

I’m kinda backwards on the food thing. I think because I started smoking so young my brain compensated for it. The last time I had a good run at it, things started tasting different, and my oversized nose comes with an oversized sense of smell. Lol. It was rather difficult for me to go into public places because honestly a lot of people stink like shit. The food tasted bizarro world, and coke tasted horrible, etc.

At this point I don’t care. I can’t keep waking up coughing my brains out and hacking up grey and brown snot etc.. I always said if I get the smokers cough I’m done. Well here we are, and I’m hacking up a lunch every morning and my kids are looking at me like I’m gonna keel over. I remember listening to my dad cough like that when I was a kid and saying “I wish he’d quit smoking.”

 

[FreeBird236]

^^^^^^ this, I have watched people who had quit just to throw it away with 1 drag.

I've had people say I should have an occasional cigar, no way in hell.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Lol... I wouldn’t marry a wife that didn’t care about me enough to do it. I don’t like enablers. Guess it depends on how you look at it.


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Weed and cigs are a bit different. To your point, neither are all that great for you. Too much of anything is bad.

 

[comfortably numb]

Zyban:
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-1609/zyban-oral/details

 

[comfortably numb]

Did the hypnosis route 40 years ago with a good friend. Both a pack a day since 15 years old.
He has not smoked since, me I bought a pack that night.

 

[Racey]

I have been smoking regularly since I was 13 years old, it sounds so bizarre to say it in this modern climate, but back then just about everyone I knew smoked. Hell the high schools allowed smoking in the Quad and there was ashtrays everywhere.

Long story short, as much as I enjoy smoking I really just don't want to do it anymore. The idea of getting winded running to the end of the driveway and back is just kinda bullshit, and now that I'm getting somewhat older I'm just starting to feel like shit all the time.

There are some people that have smoked for decades that just put them down and walk away. There are others that have successfully quit on the patch or the gums. I've tried both so many times you'd have to take your shoes off to count that high.

Every single time I've failed at it. People can sit back and say stupid shit like "oh you just don't want it bad enough" or a host of other things that are similar. I can tell you every single time I took it to the absolute limit of sanity, and each time ended with an incident that dictated it was better to go get smokes ASAP than end up in jail or a host of other horrible things.

With that first drag there is a feeling of euphoria as the clamp releases from the back of my neck to feel normal, and sheer and utter disappointment and failure. It isn't like a "Will get em next time" kind of moment, it's much darker than that. It's "Do I really love these stupid fucking things more than life itself?" and the host of bullshit that goes along with that line of thinking.

There is a pretty renowned Hypnotist in Las Vegas that claims one visit and you aren't smoking anymore.. You won't even miss it. I called her up and talked to her about it, and she says smoke right up until you walk in the door, you are going to throw them in the basket on the way out. I asked her how many sessions this is going to take and she confidently said "one." In talking to her further she had some guy that smoked 2 packs a day for like 50 years and he came back for a follow up appointment, and is now a non smoker permanently..

Monday Night I'm going to Vegas with Stacy. I'm going to Have beers, smoke cigarettes and gamble until someone comes up to me and says "Hey man you might want to call this hotline" because on Tuesday afternoon we are going to go see the cigarette whisperer...

If this works (which I'm really hoping it does) I'll put her info up for the other members that are in this sinking boat.

RD

Lol i wonder if that's the same lady my Dad went to 25 years ago. He had to go back to a wedding in Boston and they had just banned smoking on domestic flights, this is a guy that would smoke 2 packs a day Benson and Hedges gold packs, there were always 2 cartons in the center of the bench seat of his pickup. The idea of 5 hours on a plane without a cig was unfathomable to him, so He went and paid this lady a few hundred bucks and never had a cigarette again.

We all joked about years later that the only reason she got him to quit was because he was such a tight ass that the idea of paying her and it not working would drive him insane, so he quit out of spite

 

[Heylam]

Best of luck to you RD, but if it was that good and easy, there’d be a lot of billionaire hypnotists running around.


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[GRADS]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned this but you might want to quit drinking for a little bit at the same time. Alcohol is what would always fuck up my quitting smoking. I would crave a cig 10X more when I was drinking and had much less will power.

 

[nameisbond]

I started at eleven, Back then you could smoke everywhere. Same with my teen years, you could smoke at school, in malls, on public transit and airplanes. Smoking was everywhere. Nobody told us to stop. Now my mom has COPD (heavy smoker) and is on oxygen. She stopped and I think I should as well. I was doing the vape thing and it was going well. Had one drag of my brothers cigarette and bought a pack. Now back up to a pack per day. I might pick up the vape again.