How did you retire the smokes?

[joethebartender]

I've gotta give these things up and I'm looking to hear about your quitting stories. Committ lozenges? The patch? Pills? How did it go? How did you succeed (or fail)?

http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/MuzikBlog/cigwarn-thumb.jpg

[TheGameHHH]

I was never a smoker, but I dipped on and off for years. 2 years ago I was a full time addict, having several dips a day. Back in October I got a call saying my high school baseball had just died (he had been battling cancer since he was 19). I had one last dip, threw the rest of the tin in the garbage and haven't touched it since. Simple as that I just up and quit.

[grlNIN]

Cold turkey.

Since i am young and didnt smoke longer than 4 or 5 years the patch or gum would have been a complete waste of time and probably destroy any real chance of my giving ithe habit up.

My brother and his wife also quit cold turkey, they tried the alternatives and always ended up reverting back to smoking.

I also come from a family of smokers, so, to see my parents in their 50's, who have been smoking since they were 16 or 17 is fucking gross. I mean, i love them but it is just vile, especially when they get sick because they carry the cold and hacking for weeks at a time.

[Badinia]

I quit 14 years ago, before the patch, I just had a set of those little filtered cigarette holders, and the first one reduces your nicotine by 10%, and I just felt like Oscar Wilde, and then three filters later it was reduced by 50% and my body freaked out that I was serious about this shit- I got down to 80% reduction stopped smoking and spent several days sitting in my house, chewing on a leather strap and flaming people on Usenet.

Memories!

Good luck to you. Don't get down on yourself if you backtrack, but think of it as another step in quitting.

[IMSlacker]

I quit cold turkey too. I also had only been smoking for about 5 years. I quit more than 12 years ago and the craving still comes back if I go out drinking.

[grlNIN]

Yeah, when i drink at home i always want one but i do slip if im at a bar(which is very seldom) and bum one from somebody.

More than anything i think it's just become such a great inconvenience. You can't smoke in restaurants or bars-after you eat a meal or while you drink...those are the two things thatI would always want a cigarette after/during.

[TheGameHHH]

Yeah, when i drink at home i always want one but i do slip if im at a bar(which is very seldom) and bum one from somebody.

More than anything i think it's just become such a great inconvenience. You can't smoke in restaurants or bars-after you eat a meal or while you drink...those are the two things thatI would always want a cigarette after/during.

what about that whole cigarette after sex thing? i was never a smoker but that seems like a time that the craving would get the best of me if i was one.

[grlNIN]

Never had it. I have also never typically dated smokers.

[bigredd]

I got sick and quit cold turkey but my ol lady is six months clean on the Chantix.

www.chantix.com

[sr71blackbird]

I usually have only 1 day of aggravation whenever I quit smoking and I do it cold turkey.
I used to smoke for years and I would get sick of it and I would psych myself up to it.
I would reason with myself like: You sleep for 8 hours a night and do not need to wake up to smoke, so all you need is 24 hours under your belt to quit".
Id wake up and say, thats 8 hours, if I can hold out till ___ that will be 24 and once I did that, I quit.
The day will have its challenges as you cope with stress and anxiety, but I keep drinking water or do a few push ups to get it out of my system.
Stay away from social situations for a few weeks and do not drink alcohol for a few days and avoid smokers.

[Gvac]

The longest I've ever quit for is 8 or 9 months. I've done the patch, hypnotism, cold turkey, nicorette gum, just about everything. It's truly a hideous addiction. I've been smoking for 23 years now and after the last time I quit I came back smoking more than ever.

I really, really, really have to find a way to quit these fucking things.

And soon.

[Snacks]

I went for a laser therapy session. It took 15 minutes and I havent wanted nor craved a cig. It has been 18 months and I hope I never want to smoke again.

[Ritalin]

I used the patch, and I was 2 packs a day for 20 years.
My mother in law is using the chantix, and it's working for her. She had 2 heart attacks and couldn't quit, so that means it must work pretty well.

You have to want to quit, though. Nothing works unless you want to quit.

[deepinthewoods]

I started smoking in the 80's because I thought it would go good with my new shoes. Little did I know that Virginia Slim 120 menthols clashed with my pants, but it was an all-u-can-smoke for free proposition from the carton hording girl 1 dorm room up, and I had already given up food to buy records.

I have quit several times for long periods over the past 2 decades, always cold turkey. My most recent quit was 4 and a half years ago because I came to the final realization that the reek of smoke never goes with any of my outfits. At least that's what my half starved mind has come to believe, for you see--I still don't eat so I can buy records.

Once you've cleared the psychological hurdles, you'll be a champion. Just try not to replace smoking with some other nasty habit, like fucking children.

[sailor]

in college i got to the point where i was smoking a few packs of unfiltered a day. i just realized it wasn't doing anything for me, good or bad...i just didn't feel the smoke, so i decided "why bother?" and just stopped. now i can stop and start anytime i want (mostly smoke at board events) and haven't had one in like 3 weeks.

[joethebartender]

I went for a laser therapy session. It took 15 minutes and I havent wanted nor craved a cig. It has been 18 months and I hope I never want to smoke again.

This one sounds the best out of all of them!! What's the drill? How does it work? How much was it? ...any guarantees?

[Dougie Brootal]

i ran out of money.

[The Jays]

I just stopped. It helps not being in an apartment/house where you can smoke. Also, being around someone who hates smoke. I do smoke when I drink.

[DESMO22]

I gave up smokin cigs 10 years ago! It was easy and you really have to want to QUIT. I smoked a full large pack in 1 hour and was so fuckin sick for the next 3 days. Never had the earg to smoke ; cigarettes that is ; ever again.

[GonzoStyle]

The longest I've ever quit for is 8 or 9 months. I've done the patch, hypnotism, cold turkey, nicorette gum, just about everything. It's truly a hideous addiction. I've been smoking for 23 years now and after the last time I quit I came back smoking more than ever.

I really, really, really have to find a way to quit these fucking things.

And soon.

you and me both, its true though that you really have to wanna quit, im not there yet. I pretty much have given up everything else, if I gotta give this up too, i may lose it.

[Snacks]

This one sounds the best out of all of them!! What's the drill? How does it work? How much was it? ...any guarantees?

Its not cheap, its $299. You can get it done NJ or NY (NJ one on RT 22 near watching)
They dont really give you any guarantee but i you slip up or crave a cig within the first 6 months they will redo everything for free. Trust me it was well worth $299. I never had a craving so I dont think you will even need the redo.

[sailor]

Its not cheap, its $299. You can get it done NJ or NY (NJ one on RT 22 near watching)
They dont really give you any guarantee but i you slip up or crave a cig within the first 6 months they will redo everything for free. Trust me it was well worth $299. I never had a craving so I dont think you will even need the redo.

what exactly do they do with the laser?

[Reynolds]

Haven't smoked since new years, haven't even cheated once. Surprisingly it's been easier than I thought. I bought the gum, but don't really feel the cravings too often, but it does help when I get a serious urge. I feel a hell of a lot better already. Don't need to sleep as much, not as tired during the day, I can breathe. Smoked for 13 years.. 28 now..

This probably hasn't been much of a help since it's going so smoothly for me, but good luck anyway..

[Snacks]

what exactly do they do with the laser?

its almost like acupuncture but with a laser. there are spots through out your head, hands, arms, ears etc that they put the laser on. I dont know how it works, but it does. Everyone I know that has done it has not smoked since. Supposedly the treatment has something like 97% success (stayed non smoker 1 year after 1 year they dont call to check up on you but I would guess if you can last a year your not going back)

[TeeBone]

I've gotta give these things up and I'm looking to hear about your quitting stories. Committ lozenges? The patch? Pills? How did it go? How did you succeed (or fail)?

Just stop.....It really is that simple. Don't buy them, force yourself to avoid them and just stop. It worked for me.

[sailor]

its almost like acupuncture but with a laser. there are spots through out your head, hands, arms, ears etc that they put the laser on. I dont know how it works, but it does. Everyone I know that has done it has not smoked since. Supposedly the treatment has something like 97% success (stayed non smoker 1 year after 1 year they dont call to check up on you but I would guess if you can last a year your not going back)

crazy. congrats. i really wonder how that works.

[Thebazile78]

I quit cold turkey too. I also had only been smoking for about 5 years. I quit more than 12 years ago and the craving still comes back if I go out drinking.

Yeah, when i drink at home i always want one but i do slip if im at a bar(which is very seldom) and bum one from somebody.

More than anything i think it's just become such a great inconvenience. You can't smoke in restaurants or bars-after you eat a meal or while you drink...those are the two things thatI would always want a cigarette after/during.

Both of you point out something that they've actually studies - pleasure receptors in some folks' brains ping more often if you combine nicotine AND alcohol.

In college, I started and stopped smoking quite easily, mostly because I started for a stupid reason (I missed a guy after we broke up. Dumb, I know.) and made it difficult on myself to get cigarettes (only would buy English Ovals from the tobacconist shop downtown vs. buying whatever I could afford from the campus convenience store) . . . plus, I didn't really enjoy it. I was bored and depressed.

Then I quit.

After college, when you could still smoke in bars, I was a "social smoker" because I enjoyed a cigarette with my martini.

I quit for good when I had stomach problems in 2001. That was when smoking made me throw up and I almost puked from the second-hand smoke in my then-boyfriend's apartment. (Hell, I was so sick, it almost got him to quit. When he didn't quit, we broke up.)

But, any time I'm somewhere that you can drink and smoke together, I kind of feel like something's missing.

[grlNIN]

But, any time I'm somewhere that you can drink and smoke together, I kind of feel like something's missing.

Really? I think it makes me hate it more and actually appreciate the laws that were set in place in NY/NJ.

I was in Kentucky at a restaurant and we had to walk through their smoking section. I was so disgusted i didn't even want to eat there. I couldn't help but start thinking why people would want to smoke before or after a meal at the table where they are going to or just ate food.

It's nasty and unsanitary.

[Thebazile78]

Really? I think it makes me hate it more and actually appreciate the laws that were set in place in NY/NJ.

I was in Kentucky at a restaurant and we had to walk through their smoking section. I was so disgusted i didn't even want to eat there. I couldn't help but start thinking why people would want to smoke before or after a meal at the table where they are going to or just ate food.

It's nasty and unsanitary.

Not like a restaurant; I never smoked in a restaurant. And I agree that smoking while you eat is completely disgusting.

What I meant was that it feels like it's missing if I'm in a bar or at a party (think frat basement or something with Natty Ice in a keg) and there's smoking, because the pathway in my brain was wired to bar + martini = cigarette.

I agree that it's a filthy habit.
I also agree that it's gross.
It's also not a pleasurable enough sensation to make me start up again.
But finding an explanation made me feel a little less crazy . . . and a little more able to pick my vices!

[grlNIN]

Gotcha.

i've actually stopped being friends with people because they smoke too much. Is that nuts? Maybe but it was usually side by side with hanging out at bars and just generally having too many vices and that kind of shit.

[Thebazile78]

Gotcha.

i've actually stopped being friends with people because they smoke too much. Is that nuts? Maybe but it was usually side by side with hanging out at bars and just generally having too many vices and that kind of shit.

No, it's not nuts. I think that it may only be part of the reason you've stopped being friends with them.

I broke up with the guy I was dating before Matt because of his smoking, drinking and other "activities" . . . the fact that he would balk at taking me to a movie (total cost $20 and a 10 minute walk from his apartment) but would spend hundreds of dollars while out drinking with his buddies (and tell me that he'd spent hundreds of dollars out drinking with his buddies - between the liquor and the cab rides home) was the last straw.