I smoked 50-60 cigarettes a day until 6 years ago when I quit. I haven’t missed them ever. Not once. NOT ONCE. If it is taking willpower you are doing it wrong, if you quit 5 years ago and still occasionally crave a smoke, you’re doing it wrong.
Alexus, I recommend you read Allen Carr’s The Only Way To Stop Smoking Permanently.
One of my boys quit using the patch and the gum; he was a bit unorthodox though. He put Nicoderm on the roof of his mouth, and the Nicorette was used like dip.
Best of luck.
still hanging in there…
i’m starting to smell the smokers already. they do smell gross. that helps a lot.
the cravings aren’t so bad anymore.
more of a general feeling of dissatisfaction… irritability… need to work to attribute it to the quitting.
part of it is about triggering some life changes, i reckon.
i’ve applied to do a course next year… see how that goes. if i do that i’m pretty sure there will be no looking back for me.
it is nice that my breath feels a bit clearer. not gunked up. mentally preparing for the bronchial / lung / throat crud and infections that will start up in a couple weeks - around the third month as the cilia regenerate and the toxic crud starts to circulate…
i’ll be alright.
when you are going through hell… keep going. best thing i’ve heard all year.
[quote]alexus wrote:
it is nice that my breath feels a bit clearer. not gunked up. mentally preparing for the bronchial / lung / throat crud and infections that will start up in a couple weeks - around the third month as the cilia regenerate and the toxic crud starts to circulate…[/quote]
I’ve heard a lot of people go through this sorta thing… pretty messed up stuff and should definitely make quitting easier.
I used to smoke about a pack a day for a few years and never coughed up shit. I’d like to think that no smokers cough, no throat gunk, etc. would mean my body handled the smokes well enough that I didn’t fuck myself over too much, but it was probably just one of the benefits of youth that kept that shit in check.
[quote]alexus wrote:
still hanging in there…
i’m starting to smell the smokers already. they do smell gross. that helps a lot.
the cravings aren’t so bad anymore.
more of a general feeling of dissatisfaction… irritability… need to work to attribute it to the quitting.
part of it is about triggering some life changes, i reckon.
i’ve applied to do a course next year… see how that goes. if i do that i’m pretty sure there will be no looking back for me.
it is nice that my breath feels a bit clearer. not gunked up. mentally preparing for the bronchial / lung / throat crud and infections that will start up in a couple weeks - around the third month as the cilia regenerate and the toxic crud starts to circulate…
i’ll be alright.
when you are going through hell… keep going. best thing i’ve heard all year.[/quote]
I dont think that you are doing yourself any favors by describing it as going through hell.
You are getting rid of an awfully addictive substance with relatively mild withdrawal symptoms, not fighting cancer, which you might some day do if you do not persevere.
You are not shitting your bed, you have no tremors, in short, you are not climbing Mount Fuji.
You are irritable and possibly have mild digestive problems, be thankful that this is perfectly endurable, it will pass soon.
Meaning, dont make it more than it is, dont obsess about it, dieting or, worse, dragging your ass to the gym while dieting is harder and I assume you can pull that off.
^^ Good advice.
One thing that obviously gets easier is cardio.
And not just after a few weeks, but immediately as smoking has chronic effects but short-term ones too. Just one cigarette causes your airways to constrict for an hour or so (and since most of us smoke every hour we never see the end of it!) so once you stop, even one day later you’ll find exercise easier.
Also, I think you said you’re chewing the nicotine gum. That’s good. If you ever feel like you’re going to go nuts and go back to smoking (your mind can make up an infinite number of good reasons that willpower simply cannot defeat) then be sure to have the gum on hand to fill that desire for smoke.
I went three days without a smoke when I first quit and couldn’t believe it as when I did smoke I could never ever go even 5 hours without a smoke, ( I chewed the gum but ran out on day three ) and I then felt that ants crawling over my skin feeling and almost snapped and bought smokes but found the gum at a local pharmacy (I’m in Asia) and felt as relieved to find the gum as I would have been to find half a pack of smokes in a winter jacket.
I think that no matter how crazy you get for a smoke, that desire can be killed with the nicotine gum. Chew two pieces at once if you have to. If you still need to smoke then your problem is deeper than nicotine.
Sure, smoking is fun. I didn’t even need to do it with other people around. I liked sitting in my favorite armchair, reading a book and smoking. I had no problem, actually I preferred, smoking outside.
When I quit I thought I wouldn’t be able to have a beer or whiskey for a long time either as I was sure that would send me back to smoking, but there was a time when I drank without smoking and that time has of course come again. It simply won’t be as hard as you think.
yeah… drinking turned out to be okay in my first 3 month quit. combination of only being allowed to smoke outside - so simply drinking with the non-smokers and not going outside and my fortunate situation of becoming progressively more intolerant of cigarette smoke the longer i’ve abstained from it.
i think that is a huge part of why i smoked, actually, can handle the smell of MY cigarette okay but other peoples drives me up the wall and i can detect the stench from miles away.
things aren’t as bad as they were last time…
but i’m still basically doing a combo of interval training myself into a bit of a stupor, stuffing my face, and falling into a comatose sleep / anxiously not being able to sleep and getting a bit of a crawling / clawing feeling. spending a bit more time out of it now… but quitting smoking is basically consuming my days… that is how i got through my first month last time. then the infections set in…
i certainly wouldn’t want to underestimate the suffering of cancer. saw my father through the last days of that… but i think the suffering of quitting is often underestimated / undermined.
i think the thought is to minimise how hard it can be for some people (not all, of course). they seem worried that it will put people off quitting if they know how hard it is.
i reckon it is better to be informed, though. for me… how sick i got last time i quit for 3 months… really gave me a taste of my fate if i didn’t quit. if that makes sense. i do think it is a bit of a lesser (in the sense that it does end before death) version of what might well get you in the end.
i didn’t cough up black shit… but i got this awful metallic taste in fairly thick mucus. the mucus felt toxic. felt like my body was struggling to expel it with new vulnerable tissue. guess normally it just sat there on top of the precancerous / dead cells and i didn’t even notice most of the time.
i don’t believe in evil… but if i did i think cigarettes would definately be it. for me, anyways.
I’ve heard many times that quitting smoking is supposed to be harder than quitting heroin. I say that’s some bullshit spread by smokers that haven’t quit. The same ones that say chewing the nicotine gum is substituting one addiction with another. I’ve had four or five smokers that still haven’t quit say that to me and I quit with the gum 8 years ago, so shut the fuck up with that shit.( I don’t mean you here but the people that still fucking smoke and state bullshit)
Also the reason why your smoke smells better than that off of other people is the smoke coming off the end of a cigarette is different from the stuff you inhaled through the tobacco in your cigarette. The stuff you inhale is full of wonderful chemicals that come through the cigarette when you suck it in…the stuff coming off the end of a cigarette is just burning ash.
Tons of advices and encouragement in this thread.
I just wanted to wish you good luck, Alexus. Hang in there.
[quote]alexus wrote:
still hanging in there…
i’m starting to smell the smokers already. they do smell gross. that helps a lot.
the cravings aren’t so bad anymore.
more of a general feeling of dissatisfaction… irritability… need to work to attribute it to the quitting.
part of it is about triggering some life changes, i reckon.
i’ve applied to do a course next year… see how that goes. if i do that i’m pretty sure there will be no looking back for me.
it is nice that my breath feels a bit clearer. not gunked up. mentally preparing for the bronchial / lung / throat crud and infections that will start up in a couple weeks - around the third month as the cilia regenerate and the toxic crud starts to circulate…
i’ll be alright.
when you are going through hell… keep going. best thing i’ve heard all year.[/quote]
The feeling will pass, don’t be a pussy.
Winston Churchill was talking to guys running through mine fields, getting shot at, dodging grenades and mortar, hiding from tanks and watching their buddies heads blow off, wondering if their wives were home fucking other dudes, if they’d survive the next five minutes and how they were going to make it back to cover with a leg missing and bleeding every where.
And they did it. Successfully. (With Americas help of course but same shit)
You are putting up with temporary irritation and a headache. Just remember that.
Actually,Ive recently used that electronic cigarette lately and it helped me kick the habit. I been smoking on and off since I was 14. Been smoking some pot lately. Fuck you,Dont judge me. I deserve it after finals is done.
[quote]QuadasarusFlex wrote:
Actually,Ive recently used that electronic cigarette lately and it helped me kick the habit. I been smoking on and off since I was 14. Been smoking some pot lately. Fuck you,Dont judge me. I deserve it after finals is done. [/quote]
are we allowed to think more positively of you for the new habit? Besides most people who dont liek pot havent smoked or smoked once and didnt get high…
[quote]Nards wrote:
^^ Good advice.
One thing that obviously gets easier is cardio.
And not just after a few weeks, but immediately as smoking has chronic effects but short-term ones too. Just one cigarette causes your airways to constrict for an hour or so (and since most of us smoke every hour we never see the end of it!) so once you stop, even one day later you’ll find exercise easier.
[/quote]
I’m just going to add to Nards positive short term list. 
Healing faster: When I used to get a cold(when I smoked) I had the cold for about a week then there would be some kind of infection(sinus or throat) which would last about a week at least. About a month after quitting I got a cold and it was gone in about 3-4 days, no infection(I think the infections happen because your body is fighting the cold longer or something).
Another would be that your taste buds become more sensitive: You wanting to eat all the time is not just for something to do, things just taste better. I remember you’re into Oly lifting so I’d use the new appetite to grow some muscles. The new appetite doesn’t last btw.
Good Luck on kicking that foul disgusting habit.
When I was a young lad I had to clean metal ceiling tiles of all the smoke. It was a nasty urine colored type of ugliness.
Oh by the way, if you have a craving for an oral fixation, I’m willing to help.
HoustonGuy, WTF is up with that last part about Winston Churchill? I thought there’d be advice about quitting smoking.
And was “With Americas[sic] help necessary”?
Are you saying the American armed forces will help him quit smoking?
[quote]Nards wrote:
HoustonGuy, WTF is up with that last part about Winston Churchill? I thought there’d be advice about quitting smoking.
And was “With Americas[sic] help necessary”?
Are you saying the American armed forces will help him quit smoking? [/quote]
Perspective.
And because America is better than everyone.
[quote]Nards wrote:
HoustonGuy, WTF is up with that last part about Winston Churchill? I thought there’d be advice about quitting smoking.
And was “With Americas[sic] help necessary”?
Are you saying the American armed forces will help him quit smoking? [/quote]
Alexus is a woman btw.
Winston Churchill, also a cat lover. 
Somewhat related:
I finally understood why Nards needs to start kicking ass when he runs out of bubblegum.
Forgive me for bumping an ancient thread. I was just curious as to how OP’s been holding up.
[quote]Vicomte wrote:
I have no advice. Something about nicotine withdrawal creates a direct line between my soul and wherever evil comes from.[/quote]
lol
