NGC - Quit cold turkey 6 years ago

[Perazzimx14]

On this fateful day in 2009 the wife and I gave up tobacco. The father-in-law went in the hospital on 3/31/09 for heart stint(s) and was told he needed to quit using tobacco (decades long 20+ packs of leaf tobacco per week habit). In trying to help him quit the wife and I also decided to hang up he habit. Her and and I have not used any tobacco since (well I did relapse 2 days later for 1/2 a cigarette but felt guilty as sin and hated myself for doing so)

My habit was 2 or 3 packs of cigarette's per day, a few cigars per week and a couple cans of Copenhagen. Started when I was 14 years onld and quit when I was 35.

If you haven't quit yet or you need to quit again, today is as good as any!

[Gliderjohn]

Way to go! ;-T My wife and I beat you by a couple of months quitting in Feb. of 09. We were weak though and used Chantix, but it really helped. One of best things that we have done. Well...one bad habit down and a dozen or so more to go. ;D
GliderJohn

[LowRyter]

congrats

[Orange Guzzi]

No body likes a quitter, especially the tobacco companies.  Born in 1959, my mother had 10 younger sister with husband and I had 6 older siblings that were all smokers.  I was expose to it all day everyday.  I was smoking Roy-Tan (sp)cigars by age 5,  corn silk at age 7 and picking up butts after that.  I was not a full time smoker though.  I never really picked up the habit and avoided it thru high school, college and thru my early 30's.  It was after that that I started.  I have quit for days, weeks and years since, but back slide occasionally.  I like it and I hate it.  It is a very physical addiction.  I makes me understand the drug addiction problems we are all exposed to in our personal lives and in our family, friends and community.  Physical addictions are very powerful.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Congratulations, from all accounts it's really tough to quit.

[Guzzistajohn]

So happy I gave up the coffin nails. It was tough but worth it. Nasty smelly habit.

[Joe A.]

I had my last smoke 12/28/2014.

I feel great!

I miss them everyday. It's like getting rid of a pain in the ass that's great in bed.

[ItsForrest]

It's been twenty years this month since I quit smoking.
Now I'm with a woman who is a heavy smoker. She tried to quit a couple years ago using Chantix but it messed with her hormones so bad that her docter actually told her the Chantix was worse for her than the cigs for now.
I don't want to hound her about it, I want it to be her decision, but not much would make me happier than her kicking the habit.

[Rough Edge racing]

I had my last smoke 12/28/2014.

 How come so many ex smokers know the exact date they quit? I quit a hundred times so it must be easy as Mark twain said... Actual date I quit for good? About the time people I know starting croaking from tobacco related diseases. First to go the drinker/smokers, then the two pack a day smoke em down to the filter people.. and the ones still alive but slowly choking from COPD...But some tobacco users never get health issues..So it's a gamble,do you feel lucky???

[ritratto]

I started when I was 15 and quite three times before it finally took, back in 1986. Have never had another since.
It's just a bad idea.

[jcctx]

4/1/82; yep, my non-smoking anniversary!! Had smoked off and on since high school.

[Spuddy]

So happy I gave up the coffin nails. It was tough but worth it. Nasty smelly habit.

And one's piss smells even worse.

I can't remember when I quit but it's been maybe 6 months ago.  Tougher than quitting the juice. I do puff on a cigar occasionally, but like Bill C. I don't inhale...

[PeteS]

Congrats for quitting, all you guys. It must be tough. I lost my Mom and sister in law. Another friend just turned 60 and carries an O2 generator under his arm but still smokes. My sister in law continued to smoke until the end. About 25 years ago I witnessed an open heart surgery and asked why the patient's lungs were dark gray instead of the normal pink and was told he was  smoker. I never had the desire before or after seeing that.

Pete

[boatdetective]

Congratulations. I quit cold turkey also. The reasoning i used was that it was like a friend who had died: I did not resent the smoking, but realized that nothing would bring it back. For some reason it worked. You absolutely have tio think of it like one single cigarette is too much. -Just like they preach in AA.  You can't make "deals" like "just one a week, just light cigarettes, just one half then i'll put it out".

If you hold the line, your strength and pride for doing so will far outweigh the urge.  However, you will have the psychological urge for at least five full years.  

[twhitaker]

The most recent time I quit smoking was last November with the help of Chantix. Good stuff!  ;-T Took them for several months and the script ran out with me being concerned about how to kick that habit. My fears were unfounded. A fellow I work with quit 31 years ago. Last fall he was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer.  :o

[grinmaul]

Started at 13, quit at 47. been 1 year 2 months. put on 50+ pounds so far, not happy with that effect, none of my gear from last year fits this year:(

i don't want to buy new gear because i should be working harder to loose the 50 pounds. will see.

i don't breathe any easier, i cant run as far as i could a year ago, and i run out of breath sooner, all do to the weight gain i am sure.

i keep hearing it will get better...

not about to start again just because of the smell, my god, did i smell as bad as the smokers i pass in the halls at the office?:)

[normzone]

I've managed to avoid the addiction, but I understand the lure. I've dabbled, but my body won't tolerate it for long, so I've no choice.

My parents were afraid I'd go the cigarette route like my peers in early teens, so they authorized a pipe. That was fun, added to my weirdness quotient in the eyes of my peers.

I've been given to understand that it's a tougher addiction to overcome than heroin, and this by persons who would know.

I wonder what the vape crowd will come to learn as the studies develop.

[twhitaker]

There's a saying that, "A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth."

[Perazzimx14]

Congratulations. I quit cold turkey also. The reasoning i used was that it was like a friend who had died: I did not resent the smoking, but realized that nothing would bring it back. For some reason it worked. You absolutely have tio think of it like one single cigarette is too much. -Just like they preach in AA.  You can't make "deals" like "just one a week, just light cigarettes, just one half then i'll put it out".

If you hold the line, your strength and pride for doing so will far outweigh the urge.  However, you will have the psychological urge for at least five full years.  

I had quit smoking cigaretts for a while but continued smokless tobacco and an occasional cigar. Then is was a little more occasional cigar and before you know it I was out buying cigaretts again. I now fully understand why a recovering alcoholic can't have even an occasional drink.

I loved smoking but hated everythign about it. The clincher was we quit smoking in the house before my daughter was born and would smoke in the garage or the laundry room when it was cold outside. After we quit I was in the laundry room and saw my daughters cloths hanging up on the rack and realized how big of a a$$hole I was for smoking. Put her freshly laundered cloths on the cloths rack while smoking a cigarette while doing so. She went to school everyday smelling like an ashtray and it was my fault. Few times in life I have felt so bad for my actions.



 

[Chuck in Indiana]

t's a tougher addiction to overcome than heroin, and this by persons who would know.

 :+1 It certainly can be. I've told the story of my friend Jack here. He quit all his addictions, and he had some  :o except Lucky Strikes.
Quitting was the hardest thing I've ever done.. not that it's an addiction, or anything.. ;D

[mtiberio]

A week ago Sunday I quit smoking cigars, again. I started smoking cigars as a teenager, but really didn't become a daily smoker until 42. Now I'm 60, and I used to joke, of all my bad habits, cigars are killing me the slowest. Well, I have now decided it is not slow enough.

Luckily a few days after quitting (this most recent time) I came down with a hell of a cold. Haven't felt good enough to want to smoke. But I know the drill (for me). If I tell myself I'll only smoke cigars on "special occasions" or weekends, or whatever, I'll be smoking 4 a day eventually.

[sib]

Congrats!  I started smoking at 15, and 15 years later I was up to 2+ packs a day.  I quit on my 30th birthday and I'm still clean 42+ years later.  I can't say it was too difficult; I had most of an unused carton sitting on my closet shelf for a couple of years until I tossed it in a move.  After quitting, I initially gained about 15 pounds but then my weight stabilized until I slowly started gaining again a few months ago, mostly from inactivity.  I still wouldn't call myself fat, just not so bony.  Stopping smoking did make me grumpy, but by now it's acceptable because I'm a grumpy old man.

[Vasco DG]

I gave up on June the first 2013, the day Jude and I flew out to do our big trip on the Cali 14 around the US and Canada. I've had three or four cigarettes since then, invariably when I'm down the pub with mates. I haven't relapsed though.

I love smoking, it's such a beautiful, sensual drug and, at least at first, is full of satisfying ritual. I got a serious wake up call though when my heart started saying 'Enough'! A trip into hospital in an ambulance with my daughter weeping gently beside me because she thought her dad was dying was a pretty good incentive to give up, even for a selfish old bastard like me!

As others have said its a terrible addiction. The best way to give up is never to start! Good news here in Oz is that smoking rates have plummeted in the last few years, especially among the young. Partly that is because it's no longer seen as 'Cool'. Partly it's the cost. A pack of 25 tailor mades is, (I think?) about $27 now. Most kids simply can't afford to smoke!

Pete

[Perazzimx14]

I gave up on June the first 2013, the day Jude and I flew out to do our big trip on the Cali 14 around the US and Canada. I've had three or four cigarettes since then, invariably when I'm down the pub with mates. I haven't relapsed though.

I love smoking, it's such a beautiful, sensual drug and, at least at first, is full of satisfying ritual. I got a serious wake up call though when my heart started saying 'Enough'! A trip into hospital in an ambulance with my daughter weeping gently beside me because she thought her dad was dying was a pretty good incentive to give up, even for a selfish old bastard like me!

As others have said its a terrible addiction. The best way to give up is never to start! Good news here in Oz is that smoking rates have plummeted in the last few years, especially among the young. Partly that is because it's no longer seen as 'Cool'. Partly it's the cost. A pack of 25 tailor mades is, (I think?) about $27 now. Most kids simply can't afford to smoke!

Pete

Has the vaping craze hit there yet? 

[Ad B]

Hi,
 :winer
I quite smoking because I love my wife...
I met my wife in 2000, after a long, long, enjoyable youth(??), I was 42 years young..
When we start living together in 2002, my wife asked me to stop smoking.
So I did... ;D
No, it was my wife told me, she was so happy she has found and met me...
She would like to be with me as long as possible, to have a happy life with me for many, many years.
I promissed her I would stop during summer holidays.
Time passed, we drove with both motorbikes into France, enjoying holidays, country and weather.
I loved to smoke my first one of the day, after breakfast, sitting in front of our tent, enjoying everything!
At one day, Thursdaymorning at 9.35 ( 8)), my love asked me: I thought you would quite smoking???
I looked to her, looked to my first sigarette of the day and told my love: this is my last...
And threw my pack of others into the tent.
Never saw them again and never smoked again!!
 :BEER:
Married my love in 2005...

No, I didn't have a Guzzi yet...

Ad B

[Spuddy]

A fellow I work with quit 31 years ago. Last fall he was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer.

Radon poisoning?  It's real...  Built my house with a dissipation system (inexpensive.)  If I hadn't I have 12x the maximum "allowable" level in the home.

Spuddy

[sib]

These things are risk factors, not absolute causes.  Yes, there are people who smoke all their lives and die at 100 from something else.  Likewise with radon.  The risk factors do add up however, and should be taken seriously.  Honestly, do you want to be one of those who don't beat the odds?

[Orange Guzzi]

Radon poisoning?  It's real...  Built my house with a dissipation system (inexpensive.)  If I hadn't I have 12x the maximum "allowable" level in the home.

Spuddy

Here in Southern Indiana, radon is extremely high.  We have what is called New Albany shell under our top soil. The average soil depth is less than 30 inches.  The radio active isotopes are absorbs into moisture and carried into homes.  We are also in a region that has extremely high pollen counts due to the Appalachian Mountains.  The damage from these two natural causes show up in chest/lung x-rays as black spots on our lungs.  I have had doctors tell me that the spots are very common and are not scored on a health care report as dangerous. 

[balvenie]

             I can recall exactly what I used to say to myself to keep off them. But the point is that keeping on my case was what worked. Took 14 years and a bad case of tonsilitis to figure it out. That was in 1976 and it took years of self talk to keep me off them. Now, I never think about it and can't stand the smell but I have COPD. Deep breathing during my half hour walk helps with that but last year, Symbicort was necessary to combat the cough that almost made me black out.
            

[Red07]

Congrats Perazzi and others,

Tobacco is ONE evil addiction to overcome.  I was a "chain" chewer/dipper. (25yrs).  The only time I didn't have a dip in my mouth was when I was brushing my teeth, or sometimes eating.  I actually had to go to bed with a chew in my mouth, or I couldn't fall asleep.  Pretty nasty!

I still crave Copenhagen every day.  Sept. 1st will be 4 yrs. without a flake.

Randy