I Just Quit Smoking! I May Be Going Crazy

[Chris777]

Rocketman,

You need to try an electronic odorless cigarette. I am using the "totally wicked" Torpedo-C. I was introduced to it on Sept 18, 2012 and have not had 1 cigarette since. I smoked for 43 years at least a pack a day. My wife is on it also 50/50. According to my doctor there is no harm as all I do is introduce nicotine to my blood stream, and no harmful tar etc in to my lungs. The nicotine gets stepped down over time and I expect to be totally freeze by the summer.

PM me if you want further details, and good luck.

Chris

[Blue Crab]

Hang tough. Take a long deep breath when the urge comes.

After many failures, I took a course in aversion therapy at a Schick center in Miami. A buzz-like tingle, not painful, on each inhale in a booth. One hour a day for 5 days. Offered me my money back if I still wanted a cig.

Never wanted another smoke in 32 years.

Mind and body are one.

[sepeteus]

Quit 20 years ago! Have to admit, hardest thing I have ever done! Somebody helped me out by suggesting to sit in front of a mirror and watch yourself sucking toxic and poisonous smoke into your lungs!!! Fcuck I looked stupid doing it! This therapy went on for few weeks and ended up HATING cigarettes that there was no option other than quit! Good luck to everybody! Life is wonderful without hangups like smoking! Happy sailing :-)

[bgallinger]

DeepFrz nailed it right on. All it takes is just 1 smoke and you're back to smoking again. I thought I could get away with just having the odd one but it doesn't work. It's now 6 months since my last smoke!

[Chili Palmer]

I'm a bit of an extremist so you'll have to keep that in mind when reading this response...

Start sleeping on the couch and if the wife smokes in the house start sleeping in the garage. You're craving it because you're around it - if your wife won't stop then make her aware of how much you don't want to smoke and how much her smoking bothers your. If she cares she'll either quit with your or make changes to allow you to quit smoking.

Before someone goes off on me: I smoked for 25 years and have been smoke free for a little more than 3 years. My wife quit long before me (she didn't like me smoking but put up with it) I have other family and friends that smoke and that's pretty much how I respond - I am the worse ex-smoker in the world.

My parents have smoked for 50 plus years and when I went to visit them I would always sit upwind, or when we would go to the store I would drive so they couldn't smoke in the car, eventually they were nice enough not to smoke in their car when I was with them. Simply put - I won't get in a car with someone who is going to smoke.

I stay away from smokers because I am addicted to it and being near it is not a good thing, would you go hang out in the bar all day if you were trying to quit drinking, or would you go hang out at the marina all day if you were trying to quit sailing ;-)

This is not THEIR life you're trying to save - it's YOUR life so YOU need to make adjustments to ensure you don't smoke.

Good luck!

EDIT: Using e-cigs is an OK alternative I suppose but it's just another habit. One time I quit smoking for 3 months but I chewed 2 packs of gum a day, healthier - yes, cheaper - a little, but still another stupid habit. Eventually I used Chantix and although the dreams were horrible and I was generally an ass-hole for a few months it worked for me.

[reiner]

I forgot to mention.....when I quit I joined a group on the Net with hundreds of people at different stages of quitting and everytime I thought I can't handle it anymore I put a message on the Group and got so much support. Knowing you are not on your own helps a lot.
Hang in there.

Reiner

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Originally Posted by Chili Palmer

Start sleeping on the couch and if the wife smokes in the house start sleeping in the garage. You're craving it because you're around it - if your wife won't stop then make her aware of how much you don't want to smoke and how much her smoking bothers your. If she cares she'll either quit with your or make changes to allow you to quit smoking.

Love that bit. Good strategy!

Originally Posted by Chili Palmer

I smoked for 25 years and have been smoke free for a little more than 3 years. ...
I am the worse ex-smoker in the world.

No, sorry but I am the worst ex-smoker in the world. I can pick out a smoker from fifty yards in a busy mall.

[Rocketman]

Thanks to everyone for all the support!!! It's getting easier. I am still smoke free.

I have had some conversations with my wife, and she is going to try to quit smoking, but she want's to do it her way. (What ever that is?) I have told her that is great, but until she does quit, I need to stay away while she is smoking and she understands. She doesn't smoke around me or in the house. We never did smoke in the house, but until now I never noticed how much our house smells like smoke until now. I guess it comes in with our cloths and smoke that drifts in if smoking in close proximity.
For now, I have made myself scarce around the house and spend most of my day on the boat, doing little projects or reading. I am also taking a captain's class, so I have been busy studying for that. As long as I am busy, and not around a smoker, I have no problem controling the erges.
Thanks again for all the support, and thanks for your stories. It is always interesting to hear from others who have kicked the habit.

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by sepeteus

Quit 20 years ago! Have to admit, hardest thing I have ever done! Somebody helped me out by suggesting to sit in front of a mirror and watch yourself sucking toxic and poisonous smoke into your lungs!!! ... I looked stupid doing it! This therapy went on for few weeks and ended up HATING cigarettes that there was no option other than quit! Good luck to everybody! Life is wonderful without hangups like smoking! Happy sailing :-)

Man I think this is a great idea. This combined with a snap on the inner wrist with a rubber band on inhalation ... not a painful one ... when you're out and about could be a real shortcut gamechanger. Quitting is good but a cessation of the desire ... yeah baby!

Good on you Rocketman. And be easy on the wife. Let her do her own thing.:t humb::th umb:

[Tony B]

I quit on Sept. 9th, 2pm 1984 after 27 years of smoking non-filtered cigs.
I had to play head games with myself. The first one was whenever I had the overwhelming urge for a smoke I would tel myself that I will have a cig, but not now, I'll have it in a little while - which I nver did. The other, was to NEVER consider myself an "X-Smoker". I was a "Non-smoker". A non-smoker is someone that doesn't smoke. This helped me break the mental link to smoking.
The good news is that the urges will become less and less and the duration of the urge will be shorter. Other people smoking does not affect me. I hang out in the smoke shed at work. I am a non-smoker so the idea of smoking never enters my mind.
BTW. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Originally Posted by Tony B

I quit on Sept. 9th, 2pm 1984 after 27 years of smoking non-filtered cigs.

Haha, January 19, 2006, 06:50 for me

Originally Posted by Tony B

NEVER consider myself an "X-Smoker". I was a "Non-smoker". A non-smoker is someone that doesn't smoke.

BTW. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kind of similar to me in that it was actually January 1rst 2006 that I tried (yet again) but this time I did not admit failure. I didn't beat myself up and admit I was still a smoker. I simply told myself that it was a slip and that I'm still a non-smoker. I think that helped too.

Hence, the Jan 19 date for the last smoke.

[rtbates]

First congrats. I know how hard it can be. I quit 2 months ago a 34 year habit of smoking a much more addicting substance, so I know. Your wife must stop as well. Change the habits that had you smoking. After dinner, etc.. Having your wife continue to smoke makes the change of associates who have the habit a tough, but very necessary step to stopping any addiction..

[micah719]

One non-smoke at a time. The temptation will always be there.

I was smoke free for 6 glorious months in 2008....until my first day in aged care. The conditions I saw and the state of those poor old people knocked me hard....and a co-worker said "Stef, you look a little pale, want to come for a break and a smoke?". Fatal last words...back on the stinkers. It didn't help that I was visiting my brother at the time, and he liked to smoke on the loo; so there was no way of avoiding a concentrated dose of second hand smoke. I wasn't about to go crap in his tiny garden, though perhaps I should have. And now I work alongside with folks that smoke like chimneys, so quitting again would be horrifying, and some days I'm only seconds from strangling someone anyway, without demon nic chipping in his suggestions. Excuses excuses, but I'll wait until I'm not surrounded by teenie apprentices pushing the envelope of mortal danger, before cold turkeying again. Last time was easy because I was in fruit & veg wholesale...anytime the cravings came, I had free pick of something healthy. 20 apples a day keeps the durries away....though there is a price to pay for that too.

Until and unless your wife kicks the habit, you're pogo-sticking about in a minefield....all the best with your valiant resistance, may you never give in! Fleeing to the sea would be the safest place.

[knothead]

Congratulations John. Stick with it. I know you can do it.