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Been Quit For Over Four Months Now


Cypress Sun

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Haven't had a cigarette in over 4 months now. Still want one though. Strange though, I really want one when I get in my truck to go somewhere. Mowed the lawn yesterday and really wanted one then too. When I go to the matches, someones always smoking.....damn it smells good. Most ex-smokers say it stinks to high heaven, I hope I get that way someday.

 

How long did it take for you to not want a cigarette, cigar or pipe? Or do you still want the tobacco and just don't?

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Congratulations. 

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You'll get there.  The hard part is breaking the habits you developed, such as lighting up when you get in your truck or lighting up after you finish physical work.  It can be harder for some than others.  After I quit, I really didn't have an urge to start again.  Stopped 41 years ago.

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Have you gotten/tried those nicotine bandaids (patches) you sick on your upper arm?

 

Cat Brules

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1 minute ago, Cat Brules said:

Have you gotten/tried those nicotine bandaids (patches) you sick on your upper arm?

 

Cat Brules

 

I used the gum instead. If I'd have used the patches, I'd have looked like an NASCAR car. Pretty much only use the gum now when I have the "urge", 2 or 3 times a day.

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Congrats! I haven’t smoked in 2 1/2 years. I still use nicotine lozenges. The 2 mg ones and I use only 5 per day. The doctor says that’s fine. 
 

I really do not get the urge or want to smoke at all now. The first 6 months I did. Just keep doing what you’re doing and one day it will dawn on you that you haven’t had or wanted a cigarette in months. That day will feel pretty good too. :)

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Well, one sure way of quitting is the testicle/hammer/anvil method, it’s been proven very successful and it works like this. Every time you get the urge to light up you lay one of your testicles on an anvil and smack it with a 5lb sledge hammer. Usually smokers only do it once but the hardcases learn after the second one, hope this helps.:D

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Burning tobacco does not smell bad to me.

 

Smokers, on the other hand, frequently smell like a dirty ashtray.

 

Every once in awhile I will be around someone when they light one up, and oh LAWDY, does that smell good. And I want one. Badly.

 

But I don't do it.

 

It's just like AA. You are never not addicted to tobacco. You just choose not to smoke.

 

Hello. My name is Alpo. I'm a smoker. I haven't had a cigarette in 32 years (I think that's about how long it's been).

 

"Hi, I'm Frank. I'm an alcoholic. I haven't had a drink in 6 months."

 

 

Same damn thing.

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I was a VERY HEAVY smoker and quit about 25 years ago.  My wife passed away last July from complications of lung cancer and I have recently been diagnosed with COPD.  Needless to say I can't be in the same zip code with a smoker.  Stay the course, pardner, it's not easy but it will get better.  Good luck!

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39 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

Well, one sure way of quitting is the testicle/hammer/anvil method, it’s been proven very successful and it works like this. Every time you get the urge to light up you lay one of your testicles on an anvil and smack it with a 5lb sledge hammer. Usually smokers only do it once but the hardcases learn after the second one, hope this helps.:D

 

Thanks for the advise. I think I'll stick to the gum.

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Quitting ain't so hard, it's staying quit. I still smoke a pipe, but I quit dipping snuff 25 years ago, and still have dreams about buying and dipping snuff. I expect it will always be with you. Best of luck and stay the course!

JHC

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28 years next month.  Tex Jones nailed it about that habitual/association thing.  Years after I quit (and no longer had any desire to smoke) I sat down at the sewing machine & found myself reaching where the ash tray used to be.  It's hard but worth it.  I kept reminding myself that, if I ever smoked again, all the agony I'd gone through to quit would be for nothing.

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My father-in-law was a smoker. If I told you how much he smoked, you wouldn’t believe me.  He was having some big problems annunciating coherent speech, traced to plugged-off arteries in his neck.  He had corrective surgery for that, and his doctor told him if he didn’t stop smoking, he’d die.  He quit that day and showed no outward signs of any withdrawal, no personality issues, tremors or anything.  Just remained his normal self.  He never touched another cigarette, pipe, cigar, snuff, or any other tobacco product.  Had no “substitution” issues either, like weight gain, etc., ever.

 

Cat Brules

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You mowed the yard in February?

 

What?

 

:D

 

But really... congrats on 4 months smoke free. Keep it up! Well worth it.

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2 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

Thanks for the advise. I think I'll stick to the gum.

If you stick with the gum your voice won’t change.:P

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Time is everything. It gradually will get easier; the payoff is immense.

 

Nicotine addiction is the one addiction that really gives no return. Alcohol or drugs; well, you get high, feel pleasure for a time, at least.

 

Cigarettes, you just get addicted, and that's about it. Even the idea that it is calming is really an illusion.

 

I was never too heavy a cigarette smoker, but in my middle years I'd smoke during times of gearing up for trial and trying cases; lot of stress. You think then you can't do without it under stress. But actually it increases physiological characteristics of stress. When you stop, you find that not only you didn't need it, it was useless.

 

As has been pointed out, a lot of it is habituation: certain circumstances and settings, watching the smoke rise, the physical, oral side of it-- these are significant elements of it.

 

I do think that there can be a pleasant side to tobacco. I will smoke a good cigar 3 or 4 times only per year, and will smoke a pipe around a campfire also 3 or 4 times per year, and I get pleasure from it, but I quit regular use of cigars and pipes many years ago. In addition, my addiction to tobacco was mild, so this rare usage is not a problem. Those harder hit should stay away from it all.

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I quit a 2 pack a day, 25 year habit in 2006.  Previously, at my ex-wife's insistence, I had tried gum and patches.  Neither worked.  When my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer, I decided to quit.  I did it cold turkey.  There was about a week where I wasn't fit to be around.  After that, it got easier.

 

One of the first benefits (other than saving $2500 a year) was that food began to taste good again.  On the downside, I can't stand to be in a vehicle or closed room with someone smoking.  I do get a perverse pleasure of of a small whiff of a cigarette outside in the open.  

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First, congratulations. Hang in there, it's worth it. I finally figured that out just over twenty years ago.

 

The part about getting past the ritual of smoking is true -- when I quit it was the times I would reach for a cigarette out of reflex that were the worst.

 

I worked on quitting through substitution and mental reconditioning. Where I could, I would put some other action in place of reaching for a cigarette -- I deliberately avoided chewing gum anytime other than when I would have reached for a cigarette to make certain that I treated chewing gum as a direct substitute. 

 

But that only went so far, because in my mind I understood I was just substituting something for the desire to smoke. So I started working on mental reconditioning by getting into the habit of saying, "I don't smoke," anytime the idea of smoking came up. Believe me, when I started I said it a LOT. Eventually, it stuck.

 

As far as how long the urge sticks, it's likely an individual thing. For me, I still got urges for quite a while. That's why I think the mental aspect of it is important. Even now, when I'm around someone who smokes or the idea comes up, in the back of my mind there's a voice that says, "I don't smoke."

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When I was in business I got word that the State Sales Tax people were going to audit my account.

The man who called to tell me when the audit was scheduled, kinda giggled and snorted and told me he was in charge of the scheduling and he was doing me a favor.

At the scheduled time here came the blue eyed blond curvy auditor, right out of a Hollywood love story. I was looking forward to a couple hours of pleasure just being around this angel.

Didn't happen! Visualize a tavern spitoon that should have been emptied last week.

Fortunately she was good at her job and I had everything laid out to make her job easy.  She stayed about 45 minutes, gave me a good boy certificate and went on her way.

I tried for an hour or so to get the smell out of my office to no avail.  My wife came in and asked what was wrong so I told her the sad story.  She looked at me strangely and said,  "That's just cigarette smoker smell."

"Do I smell like that?" I asked.

"You do." She  replied.

"I need fresh air. I'm going for a drive"

My truck smelled as bad or worse than she did. I pulled over to the side of the road, got out and puked all over the side of my truck.

I had wanting to quit anyway.  I have always felt that the sales tax people did me a favor.

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I quit smoking 25 years ago by starting dipping. Quit dipping about 9 years ago; that was the hardest thing I've ever done. I believe the only way is cold turkey. It takes 48-72 hours to get all the nicotine out of your system, depending on how much water you drink and a lifetime mentally to convince yourself you don't need it. I dipped Listerine soaked cotton balls for a good 3 years to help with the mental side. Maybe try chewing on a straw or something similar.

 

I'll still puff a cigar from time to time, but NO dip and NO cigarettes; I don't think I get enough nicotine out of those to tempt me to the other.  Like MizPete I think about how hard it was to quit the first time.

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I joke about quitting but I never started. I was raised in a family where nearly all of the adults smoked. My grand parents on both sides smoked heavily and so did my folks. Mom quit when I was in my early teens and I remember how hard it was for her. They didn’t have the nicotine patches and such back then or if they did she didn’t use them. When I was about 10 years old my cousin and I found a cigar that my uncle had laying around and we decided to try it out and it made me sick to the point I had dry heaves and that was the end of my tobacco use. My brother started smoking in high school and  the last time we were together he was lighting one up right after another, being in his house was not enjoyable. My step dad smoked until just a few years before he died. He hid it until he finally did quit. He’d tell people he quit but he’d do it on the sly and you could smell it on him.

 

CS, I sincerely hope you can overcome the pull that tobacco has on you because you will be so much better off. After visiting with you on the phone awhile back I’m pretty sure you’ll win the battle.

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Howdy,

Positive reinforcement.

See you are taking away something but no positive reinforcement.

At the end of each month put aside the equal of the money you would

have spent on smokes.

Spend that money on your self, your favorite hobby, a steak instead of a burger etc.

Each month add 30x price of smokes to your fun fund.

As the fun fund is spent, write the  item and the amount on the envelope.

Maybe give a try??

Best

CR

 

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5 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

I joke about quitting but I never started. I was raised in a family where nearly all of the adults smoked. My grand parents on both sides smoked heavily and so did my folks. Mom quit when I was in my early teens and I remember how hard it was for her. They didn’t have the nicotine patches and such back then or if they did she didn’t use them. When I was about 10 years old my cousin and I found a cigar that my uncle had laying around and we decided to try it out and it made me sick to the point I had dry heaves and that was the end of my tobacco use. My brother started smoking in high school and  the last time we were together he was lighting one up right after another, being in his house was not enjoyable. My step dad smoked until just a few years before he died. He hid it until he finally did quit. He’d tell people he quit but he’d do it on the sly and you could smell it on him.

 

CS, I sincerely hope you can overcome the pull that tobacco has on you because you will be so much better off. After visiting with you on the phone awhile back I’m pretty sure you’ll win the battle.

 

I'll win the battle, heck the hard part is past me. Ain't no plant gonna best me. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

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17 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

Haven't had a cigarette in over 4 months now. Still want one though. Strange though, I really want one when I get in my truck to go somewhere. Mowed the lawn yesterday and really wanted one then too. When I go to the matches, someones always smoking.....damn it smells good. Most ex-smokers say it stinks to high heaven, I hope I get that way someday.

 

How long did it take for you to not want a cigarette, cigar or pipe? Or do you still want the tobacco and just don't?

You can do it!  I stopped a 2.5 pack a day habit back in 1994.  It took me several days to get over the physical part of it (a bit of disorientation and such) then roughly six months to get past the 'triggers' which included damn near everything I did, drink coffee, drink beer, get in the car, play pool, @#%$, watch TV, and on and on. After that it was pretty much over. It's been 26 years now and no temptation at all, though I never have reached the point where cigarettes smell bad to me.  


Just my advice, and probably worth what you paid for it, but I would ditch the nicotine substitutes, they just prolong the fight.  

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Howdy,

My Dad was the nonsmoker nondrinker of his family of 9 kids.

His brothers died around 55 to 60 years.

Dad topped 90 and did well until a stroke finally got him.

I wonder if he would have lasted longer if he hadn't breathed

all that second hand smoke???

35 years is a long time.

Best

CR

 

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I used to chain smoke cigars. Always had a lit one going. I tapered off until I finally quit. That was 8 years ago. I still walk around with an unlit cigar in my mouth (even when shooting) to this day. The quitting the smoking part wasn't too hard for me but I can't get past the pacifier part.

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