Hey Puffer, I don’t know much about smoking/quitting, but I do know one thing you may have forgotten to get… especially since you’re an engineer type (me too). Get a small calendar program for your computer. Easy Calendar 2 is a nice one. And no I didn’t write it nor am I affiliated with it. In the calendar, each Friday write “Post on Testosterone”. Some calendars even have a reminder service where you can set the reminders and they’ll pop up on the screen like an alarm clock. When its time to post, get on this website and tell us your progress. Now you’re accountable to us as well as yourself. Don’t let us down but especially don’t let yourself down. Friday is the big day on this site because the new issue comes out… so I’ll be looking forward to seeing a weekly report. Trust me, we won’t mind you posting about your progress.
here is how I did it… I bought one pack of cigs, and had a box of the refill nicorette. I went out to my camp by myself, smoked the whole pack like I normally would, and that was it. I went swimming and running every day and only had the gum when I was really “on edge”. but with no people around to aggravate me, i didn’t need the gum after three days. After that, it’s all mental. It takes like three days of NO NICOTINE to get it out of your system and the physical addiction “supposedly” is gone, then it’s all mental. It took me three tries to quit, but I think for me personally, I needed to go off by myself for a full week before I set foot back in the real world, so it worked for me. Do you have any vacation time to take?
What are you willing to do be a non-smoker?
How far are you willing to go?
How bad do you want it?
What is your level of commitment?
For example:
Imagine yourself swimming on a warm summer night, a slight breeze blows across the inky black lake, the distant beach barely visible under moonless starlight.
Relaxed and floating peacefully, you notice a sudden unsettling stillness in the air.
Something big.. REALLY BIG and unimaginably slimy snaps onto your feet with a viselike grip, a hideous massive powerful something jerks you down and down with a terrific lurch, your are blind and disoriented spinning down and around, your lungs and ears are straining to bursting from the heavy pressure, down and down relentlessly deeper and deeper into some primordial den and into the sickening slime-muck of the bottom and below and beyond.
How committed are you to fight to the surface, to escape to the shore?
Consider your force of will or intention to be a non-smoker in this context and you may find you answer n’ stuff.
My friend…listen to me for a moment. All the ideas expressed here are good. I used to be a fairly heavy smoker, until my father died of lung cancer when I was 25. Seeing him waste away to nothing was, well, not pretty. I would like for you to do something if you get a chance, do not ignore the power of emotional ‘energy’. Go to a hospital ward, and look at children who are dying of leukemia, or any other disease. Ask yourself, ‘Is it really intelligent, or FAIR, for me to destroy my health with these cigarettes, when there are so many people out there who dont even have a chance to be healthy?’ I know this may sound silly, but it works, at least for me. The physical tricks you can employ are helpful, like perhaps chewing Nicorette, and using drugs like those mentioned above. Also, of course,think of all the money you can save, and spend on other things, maybe even donating $20 a month to a children’s charity? Peace.
Smoking is not good for someone who wants to build muscle. Did you know that vitamins are depleted by the smoking habit? There is a measure of Vitamins A, B and C lost with each cigarette smoked?
Vitamins C and E supplements will help detoxify the body, and may also help decrease smoker’s cough.
Vitamin C can also help by cleaning out residual toxins from the bladder, urinary tract, and liver.
B vitamins are needed to counteract stress. Niacin (part of the B-complex) helps smokers to stop smoking. Niacin works because nicotine is the opposite (or mirror image molecule) of nicotinic acid or (niacin). By substituting niacin for nicotine, the craving for a cigarette will stop. Do you have allergies? Then consider that you might have an allergy to niacin. Be aware of the “niacin rush.” Start with a minimal dosage of 50 mg, three times a day. You can increase as you can tolerate to 500 mg, three times a day. Do not take niacin with acid foods, such as vinegar or citrus. Niacin is also a great workout enhancer. I take 200 mg every 15 minutes of my workouts and I have tremendous energy and can put up a lot more weight.
To aid the the repair of damage to the lungs, consider the following nutritional supplements: Vitamin E, Vitamin A (carrot juice is a good source of Vitamin A) .
A diet high in alkaline makes the urine alkaline. When the urine is alkaline, less than one percent of the nicotine is excreted. Slow down nicotine excretion and you can drastically reduce withdrawal symptoms. The use of TUMS will produce a less acidic system.
Good luck!
Power drive. It will replace the function of nicotine with natural neurotransmitters.
Whopper, I did the same thing, Post-it notes with “I don’t smoke” just to keep me alert that I was in a battle. I think if you don’t do that the bastard sneaks up on ya in that ever so friendly tone, “just one won’t hurt”, so I don’t think that’s corny at all. Using written reminders of your own motivations is nt fake or corny, but buying other peoples bullshit “pep sloans” is (ie… successories)
Peace
I love it…the guy asks for no lectures and still gets lectures from non-smokers LOL…cracks me up.
I quit cold turkey 18 months ago after 10years of 25 cigs a day. I used 2 No-Doz tabs (200mg) with 1gram of l-Tyrosine every four hours. I did this for several months. I still have a pack with 3 cigs and a lighter in a cupboard above my oven. The day I reach for those is the day I may as well give up on everything. I had “quit” heaps of times before, but I really just needed to be ready to commit to it. The first 2 weeks were pure hell. My wife quit at the same time & this helped.
I don’t need to tell you weening off never works. You forget you’re supposed to be cutting back the first time the phone rings and you have a coffee in front of you…
I had to avoid “smoking situations” for a while, until I thought I could handle it. The hardest things were rehearsals with my band, cafes, clubs & pubs and of course studying. I have never studied without a packet of cigs and to be honest I wasn’t sure I could write an essay without going thru 25-50 cigs.
I’m not going to give you any “positive thinking crap”…because in your darkest hour of cravings, you’ll out psyche it and just spark up a smoke…
Here’s my advice: Get a reason to quit. Something you can’t argue with. Make sure its not some mainstream anti-smoking drivel because you will block it out too easily. When you have a reason…a real reason, then you need to take care of the imbalance you are about to create with some fucked up neurotransmitters. For me this was near 1 gram a day of caffeine and 4-5g of l-tyrosine (divided into 4-5 doses throughout the day). This was in addition to my beloved coffee.
I chose these compounds over an alternative delivery system for nicotine (such as a patch or gum) simply because I felt I had been a slave to the drug for too long…I wanted off the tar AND nicotine. And my reason for quitting that I could never out-smart myself on?…I didn’t want to be a dad who smoked. My 6yo daughter brags to her friends and teachers how “daddy is strong because he lifts weights…” How could I accept a loving endorsement like that and continue to hypocritically fuck myself up with cigarettes after she goes to bed? (I never smoked in front of my daughter…it seemed wrong).
It worked for me. Get your own reason, and something to take care of the imbalance that will occur when you remove the nicotine from your system. One more thing. I hear people say “nicotine is out of the system in 3 days…after that it’s all psychological.” Well I don’t agree. Sure a habit is broken/made in 6-8 weeks & the substance is out of your system in 3 days, but the suppressive effects of nicotine and other addictive stimulants remain after the drug is removed. In other words, your natural levels of neurotransmitter soup will not be what they should be for some time to come. I can’t give references, but I did hear (a report while I was driving to work) about a 3-year suppression after the removal of stimulants after long term addiction. The report referred to cocaine and speed: I’m going out on a limb here, but I’d bet it’s a similar thing with nicotine…It has to be more than just habit that draws many a reformed smoker back into the tribe after even a couple years of cessation. I wish you well :-)
Isn’t DEATH motivation enough ???
Here’s how i quit, i took all my smokes and smoking paraphanalia(lighters ashtrays, everything)put them in the toilet, had some exlax and covered them in nasty diarea, then fish them out of the john, using tongs, and place the objects in plastic bags, in every room in your house, carry a single diarhea ciggarette in your pocket. Learn to associate smoking with rotten, yellow diarhea, i did. I can’t walk into a bar without throwing up, it’s a fantastic program, i’m thinking of making an info mercial and selling it.
Anyway, THANKS!!! I’d truly appreciate any effective ideas I can get??? YOU THINK THERE IS ANYTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN?? YOU HAVE HEARD, READ, BEEN TOLD AND EVEN SAID YOURSELF EVERY EFFECTIVE IDEA!! PICK ONE!! AND DO IT!! GRRRRR.
Since I stopped smoking Six months, two weeks, 4 hours and 33 minutes ago, I have NOT smoked 6246 cigarettes, saved $1,732.91 and probably added 3 weeks, 16 hours, 30 minutes to my life. ---------------------------------- http://www.quitnet.org/qn_main.jtml?nosession=true
…LOOK AT THE CASH!! THAT IS WHAT BOUGHT WEIGHTS, BARS, A USED MOUNTAIN BIKE AND BUCKETS OF “NEW AND IMPROVED PROTIEN POWER PAK WITH RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES!!”
LOOK AT THE SMOKES!! IF SOMEONE DROPPED OFF 6000 SMOKES TO ME TODAY AND TOLD ME I HAD 6 MONTHS TO SMOKE THEM…, AND THEN THEY WOULD BE BACK WITH MORE…I’D SMACK HIM!! READ ON!!
…"AND YOUR SMOKING BOTHERS YOU?? IT’S PROBABLY BOTHERING OTHER PEOPLE TOO. NO ONE TO LIVE FOR?? AS A PERSON THAT DOES NOT SMOKE (NOW) I CAN’T BELEIVE HOW BAD SMOKERS SMELL!! TELLERS, RECEPTIONISTS, MY KIDS, MY CO-WORKERS HAVE ONLY BEEN EVER SO KIND NOT TO COMMENT ON HOW ME, MY CLOTHES, CAR AND BREATH MUST HAVE SMELLED.
STOP SMOKING. DON’T QUIT, STOP! (WE AREN’T QUITTERS) CHOOSE NOT TO SMOKE. TREAT IT LIKE A WORKOUT. PUSH YOURSELF. DO A “SET” OF 6 SMOKE-FREE HOURS. THEN DO 2 MORE SETS THAT DAY. REPEAT THE NEXT DAY. WAIT 2 WEEKS AND WATCH YOUR TASTE SENSE COME BACK, WATCH YOUR SENSE OF SMELL RETURN, FEEL YOUR FINGERS BECOME MORE SENSITIVE, WATCH YOUR ERECTION BECOME FULLER, FIRMER, FUNNER.
I HAVE SAID “YES” TO THOUSANDS OF CIGARETTES IN MY LIFE. I JUST HAVE TO SAY “NO” TO ONE. THE NEXT ONE.
POPEYE, SMOKE-FREE but still schmokin’!!
PS... YOU (AND I) CAN DO THIS. GUYS HERE ARE 'FIGHTING' TO LOSE MASSIVE POUNDAGE. WE ARE ALL RESCULPTING OUR BODIES. IT TAKES COMMITTMENT. IT TAKES GUTS. GOT EM? POPEYE
Right here, i am a “recovering smoker” believe
it or not.
My advice? I quit cold turkey and used
Power Drive as well as a picture of my
then girlfriend slid in between the plastic
on the pack of Lucky’s.
Brock
Hey there,
Checkout the website: http://www.whyquit.com
It has some REALLY good info, and a complete plan for quitting, along with a good support system. I’ve heard good things about it.
Danny
Hey John,
Death is not a motivator at all. Smokers have an unsurpassed skill in bullshitting themselves. You know you’ll do ok quitting when you’ve stopped bullshitting to yourself that EMPHASEAMA, CANCER ETC will never happen to you.
If death were a motivator, no one would take it up.
Quick piece of encouragement, in case you hadn’t read it: Five years after quitting, your risk for a myriad of smoking-related diseases falls to almost that of someone who has never smoked! Apparently the body continues to remove the build up tar, etc. after you quit. Hope that helps motivate you (based on your claim that you would be demotivated by the prospect of quitting not providing any reversal of risk/damage.)
Hey Phil, I hope you’re not still using the tongs.
Every week take the money you would have spent on cigarettes and put it into a jar. At the end of a year take a trip to Hawaii or spend it on Biotest supplements. I know the grip that cigaretes have on a smoker. My dad smoked three packs of Pall Malls a day while I was growing up. Everything in our house was yellow with smoke. My brother and I, both asthmatics, would beg him not to smoke, but the addiction to nictotine was stronger than his love for his kids.
Jack Nicklaus said he quit by not thinking about it.
I just rinsed them off, not that it was neccesary, diarhea is a natural and beautiful way for the body to cleanse itself, it’s nothing to fear
Ahh the old monkey. I used to quit all the time every night before bed. Haa seriously though. I could not quit for any length of time cause I would quit and eat and eat and eat. I put on at least 30 lbs in a very short period of time and no it was not muscle. I tried for years to quit but I just couldn’t I always had to have something in my mouth. I hated gum and all they other crap people suggested. Well it dawned on me in 1993 that I could get my tongue pierced and I would always have something in my mouth to play with. That was 8 years ago and I have not had one since. I have since taken out the tongue ring as well I didn’t want to be that old guy with the pony tail trying to look hip. It worked really well for me though. I gotta tell you it kept my weight down and allowed me to get through the nerve racking first year. It was really worth it though.