Quitting Smoking

[Cagliostro]

If you smoke, quit.
If you can't bring yourself to quitting...

It WILL KILL you.

Eh....at least they're quiet.

I have more problem with noise pollution. Some redneck's stereo will kill me. I just know it.

But that said, I am now officially a week quit. Hoping for two. I started the lower dose patch today. But work is plotting against me.

[aliantha]

If you smoke, quit.
If you can't bring yourself to quitting...

It WILL KILL you.

Eh....at least they're quiet.

I have more problem with noise pollution. Some redneck's stereo will kill me. I just know it.

But that said, I am now officially a week quit. Hoping for two. I started the lower dose patch today. But work is plotting against me.

It's just like going on a diet, I imagine. As soon as I start one, I get a slew of dinner and party invitations.

I never smoked, but my dad did, forever. Cigarettes (Camel unfiltered) and a pipe. He died of kidney cancer, which I suppose could be attributed to smoking since the kidneys filter impurities from the blood. Kidney cancer is particularly nasty because can be pretty much symptomless. He didn't find out he had it 'til he went to the doctor for a sore arm. Turned out the cancer had spread to his bones; cancer had eaten through his upper arm bone. Then they found lesions on his skull. He refused chemo (didn't want to get sick from it) but did do radiation, but it didn't help much. He was diagnosed in the spring and died right after Thanksgiving.

That said, nicotine is horribly, horribly addictive; I don't fault folks who've tried to quit and have a hard time with it. And I'm somewhat in awe of folks who can actually quit, because gods know I've tried to give up sugar and caffeine and have been sucked back in more times than I can count. So...for those who've kicked the nicotine habit:

[Cameraman Jenn]

And that is what this thread is all about. Support and encouragement. Excellent post Aliantha.

[Cagliostro]

Oh, please, Jenn...as if you've never gone off topic before.

[balon!]

[Cameraman Jenn]

I was more worried about it turning from a supportive happy thread to an ugly argument thread. I think that all the people who are doing the quitting thing have enough stress without having to find it in a place they expect to find support. And yes, I am a major thread hijacker of the worst sort.

[balon!]

I was more worried about it turning from a supportive happy thread to an ugly argument thread. I think that all the people who are doing the quitting thing have enough stress without having to find it in a place they expect to find support. And yes, I am a major thread hijacker of the worst sort.

Good one. I've never smoked, but I know what stress is like. It SUCKS.

[Cagliostro]

I was more worried about it turning from a supportive happy thread to an ugly argument thread. I think that all the people who are doing the quitting thing have enough stress without having to find it in a place they expect to find support. And yes, I am a major thread hijacker of the worst sort.

Can we argue about how much you hijack threads?


Nah, I'm totally with you, and as I'm one of the people happy to have the support (read as: attention), then I'm glad.

[Cameraman Jenn]

We could start a thread about it and then you could hijack it and then I could hijack it some more....

Whatever support I can give ya, adopted twin bro, you have but to ask and I will try.

[bloodguard bob]

All joking aside Cag, I gotta say good job buddy.
This is a tough time and to see (read about) somebody in their second week and still keeping spirits up, well, I wonder if I could have been as cool-headed in mine.

[Cagliostro]

Do I owe you WGD for this?

[sgt.null]

Do I owe you WGD for this?

no, but i wills take the precious.

and good work cags! quitting is just the first step. try slushies?

[Cagliostro]

All joking aside Cag, I gotta say good job buddy.
This is a tough time and to see (read about) somebody in their second week and still keeping spirits up, well, I wonder if I could have been as cool-headed in mine.

Y'know, I've quit so many times I've gotten pretty good at it.

[bloodguard bob]

Do I owe you WGD for this?

Kudos are free.

[Cail]

I don't remember the date I quit....I think it's been about 4 or 5 months. But here's the thing.....

I work out. A lot. If I were to type out my weekly routine, you'd probably choke. Suffice it to say I run 6.5 miles a day, I lift 3 days a week, and I do a hardcore ab and pushup regimen. On top of that, I hike, bike, and rock climb. I'm in relatively decent shape, so it would seem.

However.....

I suffer through my running. I'm soaked after 10 minutes, and after a particularly hard run, I can feel all the crap still rattling around in my chest. I still hork up junk left over from waaaaay too many Benson & Hedges.

Never again.

[Rawedge Rim]

true, true, I'm already finding that I have more energy than I did, and doing ANYTHING that keeps both my hands busy seems to help.

Keep at it, I can vouch that over time it gets easier. I smoked for around 23 yrs, and finally quit. Was a real bear at times, but now after 8 yrs. I rarely give it a thought.

[drew]

Re; Quitters.

My Grandfather was a workin' man...smoked all his life, a pack a day or so ( a pack has 25 cigs up here) my parents used to buy him smokes for his birthday.

When he was in his sixties, and had diabetes, his doctor told him he should quit...this would have been the early eighties, (i was just a lad). Years later, he told me how he did it:

He left the doctors office with a half pack. Bought a new pack, finished the half pack, and never opened the new one.
Just like that.
he lived to his early nineties. In near perfect health until the end.
My uncle quit the same way. He worked in a mine, and one day during the lunch break as he watched the dozens of other men walking out and lighting up as soon as they hit the light, he got disgusted, and threw his pack away.
My dad unfortunatly, was not the sucess story. He quit a bunch years ago...first pissing my mom off cause she lost her smoking buddy...then she ended up quitting too. My mom had one foot in the coffin from the smokes at that point, she couldn't walk across the room without going into a coughing fit. She's been smoke free for years now (wish she would have done that while I was still young and inpressionable) dad however, pretneds he doesn't smoke...but everyone knows that he started back up a few years ago. Everyone except for mom, who is in denial.
I think dad pretends he doesn't, so that mom doesn't start up again.
Noble...but stupid too.

Every smoke I have, I feel like I'm letting all my relatives who quit down.
(Had none today...three yesterday.)

[Cagliostro]

Do I owe you WGD for this?

Kudos are free.

The hell they are. I remember them being pretty expensive.

[Menolly]

I've never smoked.
But I grew up in the household of a four and a half pack a day smoker.
My mother never smoked.
But she lived 20 years of her life married to a four and a half pack a day smoker.
My mother died of breast cancer on her 50th birthday.
I was 21.
My father finally gave up smoking two years afterwards.
He went five years cold turkey.
Two months past his five year anniversary, he was diagnosed with oat cell lung cancer.
Five months later he passed. He was 57.
I was 28.
It has been 20 years without either of my parents.
They never knew Hyperception, let alone Beorn.

If you have never started, don't.
If you can find the strength to quit, do it.
If the habit is still beyond you giving up...you have my prayers.

Smoking never affects only the smoker.

[Cagliostro]

I've never smoked.
But I grew up in the household of a four and a half pack a day smoker.

Great Frith, where did he find the time to smoke 4 1/2 packs a day? Even when I was at the height of my smoking (doing it indoors, recently dumped) I was up to a pack and half.