[Ayoob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'J')ust do pushups. That's enough to quit.

Long term maintenance is the application of willpower.

[hubbertspeak7777777]

Smoking kicks ass. Don't quit. Quitting is for sissies.

[lionstone]

Eat red hot cinnamon candy, the burning sensation will feel good against the back of your throat. (kinda like taking an inhale of smoke) your tongue will burn and help take your mind off smoking. Chew about three or four altoids mints and then sit back and breath in and out, let the cool air hit the back of your throat, Do this every time you get the urge. I quit cold turkey this way, I had to get my teeth fixed but still better than getting my lungs ripped open.

[careinke]

Hey Gampy,

Good luck on your quit. I was finally able to quit after 25 years of smoking. Only took 99 tries. I finally did it cold turkey, with the help of a great quitting smoking forum on the Motley Fool of all places! They have the best support board around. You can check them out at fool.com

I firmly believe you have to be ready to quit. Still it was the second hardest thing I ever did. (Survival School as the Senior Ranking Officer was the hardest. LOL).

Also I found this cool little meter that goes on your computer and continuously updates the amount of time you have been smober, how much money you have saved, how many cigs you have not smoked etc. You can download it for free at silkquit.org (they ask for a $4.95 donation, but you don't have to pay to download it if you don't want.

My roughest days were 3, 11, and three months. I still get a craving once every 6 months or so, but it is a LOT milder and passes quickly.

Good Luck,

cliff (Five years, six months, one week, six days, 5 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds. 80929 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,139.67. Life saved: 40 weeks, 1 day, 5 minutes.)

[gampy]

Some nice ideas there, thanks everyone.

Going to go for a hard bike ride before work (it's actually above 0 Celsius today). Doing well today so far. Trying the day by day thing. Not smoking TODAY.

Being at home is not bad, or even sleeping, I actually sleep pretty well. Being at work is tough. Really tough. My quit date was the first day of a 2 day weekend. That first day back was rough.

Hope tonight is better. Thankfully, no stores nearby.

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

Schadenfreude said: "I was just so sick of the stupid fucking habit. And I guess if a person is so dead sick of something like I was, it really doesn't matter how irritating the withdrawal symptoms are. You just know tey'll go away eventually."

gampy said: "The cold turkey thing is also a means to test myself. Kinda like mountain climbing. A zen thing. But fuck it's hard."

I quit about 10 years ago because I was sick and tired of waking up hacking up a lung. I hated the taste and the way it made my mouth dry and smell like an ashtray. I decided to forego all the bullshit and quit cold turkey because I pride myself on such challenges and a challenge it was. But after about a week the cravings began to ease up and the worst was over and then that pride kicked in. I was too far along now that to fail would be an afront to myself.

You can do it. DO NOT GIVE UP!

[JJ]

DONT GIVE UP!!!!!

quit twelve years ago when my wife freaked out and started screaming "YOU'RE GOING TO DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

smoked five or six cigarettes six years ago in the Philippines with my daughter, got pnuemonia promptly. Blame it on the cigarettes...

heard some BAD chantex stories here, probably want to give that one a pass....

[pedalling_faster]

There's been a few times when I started smoking, usually in response to stress. But i've never been a long-term smoker.

In 2004 I had multiple stressors (moving, job change, medical stuff) and the only apparent way to escape from the stress was smoking.

When I got things steadied, I quit on Christmas Day, 2004. I just listened to books on tape all day, focussed my mind on that.

one other time I quit smoking by continuing to smoke, and starting to exercise. That worked, there was an overlap of about a week when I did both.

if you've smoked all your life, that's a different situation, so i'm not sure if my piddling suggestions are of any use.

ever see the movie Cold Turkey ? there's a scene there where the reverend's wife, the reverend might of been Dick Van Dyke, his wife turns back the sheets when she's sees him coming home. because they are using sex to help him deal with it.

[gampy]

Just came home from work, wasn't too bad.

Managed to get through, and get home without buying a pack. Urges still strong and aggravating. I find myself coming really close to snapping at people. Caught myself swearing and cursing when I was alone. Lol. All the cliches, I guess.

Finding it easier to sit at the computer, without needing a cigarette.

It's hard for me to see myself as a nonsmoker. I smoked for so long, it was a part of my identity, or something. It just does not compute yet. I have a deep fear or anxiety when I try to look too far down the road. Weird.
Just trying to look one day ahead right now.

The physical withdrawal is starting to subside , but the pscho-babble shit is starting I guess. I wonder if the oral fixation thing is part of it. Not sure yet which is hardest to deal with.

One thing that I realize is that exercise is a great way to deal with physical withdrawal. I walked home tonight (roughly 5 km) at a pretty brisk pace. Feet hurt, my thighs are stiffening, but I feel the endorphins. Usually I bike if the weather permits, or use the bus.

Hopefully exercise becomes a bigger part of my life now. I was in pretty bad shape, overall. Sorry to ramble here...it helps me.

[hubbertspeak7777777]

I only smoked one today. I've never smoked more than 10 in a day. I don't see the point in it.

[gampy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hubbertspeak7777777', 'I') only smoked one today. I've never smoked more than 10 in a day. I don't see the point in it.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

I quit when I was 18. for all of 9 months. all it took was one smoke and I waas back at it, hard for another 16 years. (21 in all). what really did it for me was when my doctor told me I had hardening of the arteries at 33.

He said I could excercise, change my diet etc but nothing would help more than quitting smoking. He then told me if I didn't that I would be on the operating table in 10 years.

Day by day is good. some of us it takes longer cause its mental. you smoke with everything you do and now you have to replace those habits for things you are smoke free doing.

Keep up the good work!

[jupiters_release]

I smoked for five years and probably wouldn't have quit if good cigarettes were easy to find here in the states. I picked up the habit living in Spain, where in the late 90s you could smoke pretty much everywhere even in schools and banks. When I moved back I wasn't happy to find out all the major brands I was used to Marlboro, Luckys, and Camels tasted awful, no subtlety in the difference either, strong chemical flavors that weren't in the ones produced and sold in Spain. Luckily I discovered Chesterfields, the last good American cigarette, but Phillip Morris bought it around 2000 and turned it into crap as well. Several years of mediocre "specialty" brands I was down to five a day. After bugging out from a cold turkey years previously at a pack a day I decided to quit gradually on rolling tobacco. Went to four a day for a month, then three a day next month, two the following, until I was finally at one a day for about two months. I barely noticed the transition. When I finally quit I had a very mild urge for a couple days and then it was gone, ironically one of the easiest things I've done. If there were good cigarettes commercially available, I might not have stopped smoking when I did.

[FreakOil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jupiters_release', 'I') smoked for five years and probably wouldn't have quit if good cigarettes were easy to find here in the states. I picked up the habit living in Spain, where in the late 90s you could smoke pretty much everywhere even in schools and banks. When I moved back I wasn't happy to find out all the major brands I was used to Marlboro, Luckys, and Camels tasted awful, no subtlety in the difference either, strong chemical flavors that weren't in the ones produced and sold in Spain. Luckily I discovered Chesterfields, the last good American cigarette, but Phillip Morris bought it around 2000 and turned it into crap as well. Several years of mediocre "specialty" brands I was down to five a day. After bugging out from a cold turkey years previously at a pack a day I decided to quit gradually on rolling tobacco. Went to four a day for a month, then three a day next month, two the following, until I was finally at one a day for about two months. I barely noticed the transition. When I finally quit I had a very mild urge for a couple days and then it was gone, ironically one of the easiest things I've done. If there were good cigarettes commercially available, I might not have stopped smoking when I did.

[gampy]

Day 6. Better. Much better.

Feeling pretty good when I woke up. Very little craving at all. Have the day off today, so I don't have to deal with the withdrawal at work.

Now if it would just stop fucking snowing. Holy christ, when is ever going to end? I swear, I have never seen so much fucking snow in my life.

Can't go out today. High winds, blowing snow, -10 C. Fuck. Canada sucks. I want to move to the Bahamas.

[PeakingAroundtheCorner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gampy', 'D')ay 6. Better. Much better.

Feeling pretty good when I woke up. Very little craving at all. Have the day off today, so I don't have to deal with the withdrawal at work.

Now if it would just stop fucking snowing. Holy christ, when is ever going to end? I swear, I have never seen so much fucking snow in my life.

Can't go out today. High winds, blowing snow, -10 C. Fuck. Canada sucks. I want to move to the Bahamas.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakingAroundtheCorner', '
')
YOU"RE ALMOST PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN!

[gampy]

Please remove that shitty rap music from my thread.

Hmmm...is there any rap music that isn't shitty?

Thanks for the moral support all. It helps actually. I live alone, so it's hard to commiserate, and talk when I really need a puff.

I have a number for a smokers help line if things get real bad, hopefully won't come to that.

Can't let my guard down. Next couple days will be dangerous. Have to stay away from the idea that one smoke won't hurt. Almost bummed a smoke off of someone today, was really hard to refrain. Still leaving the wallet and bank card at home.

One thing that has been bothering me through all this. My sex drive has fallen off a cliff. I mean NO interest in sex, or masturbation whatsoever. Anyone ever experience this? It's really weird. I figured my sex drive would improve. Maybe it's an effect of withdrawal?