Finding it hard to quit !!!!!!!!!!!

[spacebarsux]

I'm a chronic worrier and love to stress, always have I think. Smoking was a great escape. My precious few minutes where I could let the smoke fill my lungs and escape into oblivion.

Now I stress even about that.

I know it's bad, but how much worse is it for us

And on top of that I am asthmatic !!!

I have cut down to one or two a day (not packs!!).

How the fuck do I kick this habit?

[leatherman]

do u have access to Chantix? I took it for a month, and except for some very vivid dreams, found it a very good smoking-cessastion medication.

To help break all the associated habits (which is the most important part of breaking the addiction), I also went through a bag of lifesaver pep-o-mint candies about every two days for the first couple of months afterwards. (My Grandfather used the peppermint candy method to quit cold turkey back in 1965 or so, long before there were any medications to help with the process)

It's now been 988 days since I quit smoking
(well, except for that one that I bummed off of Wolfie when we were out drinking in Seattle during the AMG )

[Miss Philicia]

I know it's bad, but how much worse is it for us

Someone in another thread just posted something about 4 years being knocked off your life if you quit when you're 50 (or some age around that I forget). So how old are you at present? I figured you for someone in their 20's so really why stress out over 6 months being deducted from your Adult Depends Life?

Perhaps it would be more beneficial at this juncture in life to figure out how not to worry about any and everything and have such high stress levels. Anyway, you just said you had cut down to one or two cigarettes so why are you freaking out in the first place?

[WillyWump]

I gotta agree with P, I think the stress you are conjuring up is doing you more harm than the one cig a day you are smoking. Frankly I wouldnt worry about it right now and I certainly wouldnt go down the Chantix route for one cig a day, (based on the potential psychological effects and the cost)

I quit a pack or so a day habit cold turkey. I cant tell you how I did it, I just did. I was ready. You are not. Stop stressing about your 1 a day.

-W

[spacebarsux]

Yeah I can give that a shot Leatherman but i prefer to try the old-fashioned exercise your will power route, I manage it for a month (and have even gone 3 full months smoke-free in the past) but then I give in to temptation and allow myself 'just the one' and the cycle starts over.

Miss P, I'm 28. I agree I need to stop stressing but I can't stop doing that. Maybe that's the root of the problem.

[skeebo1969]

  Have you tried patches?  At the amount you smoke stage 3 would do the job,  that's about 4mg of nicotine.  I just quit a two pack a day habit, along with a quarter ounce of weed every 3 days-- talk about hard.  This Wednesday will make 35 days without a smoke of cigarettes and 70 days without weed.  I used the patches.  Stage 1 (20mg) for two weeks, then stage 2 (14mg) for two weeks, and now I'm on stage 3 (4 mg)...  when this box runs out I won't get any more.

  I know smoking is bad for you, but if I could manage smoking just one or two cigarettes a day I would probably never quit; that's probably the last thing you need to hear though.  Have you even learned how to inhale?

[leatherman]

(and have even gone 3 full months smoke-free in the past) but then I give in to temptation and allow myself 'just the one' and the cycle starts over.

my last attempt at quitting, just before this successful one, ran for 110 days. Stuck in traffic, I smoked just a few hits off of a friend's cigarette. Caught driving in a blizzard just a few hours later, we finished up her two packs of smokes. Within two weeks, I was up to three packs a day! Of course, I was going through some extraordinary times at that point; but when I quit 'quitting', I did it with exuberance. LOL

If you don't decide it's much of a health risk (by the way, smoking has been shown to slightly (only slightly, not enough to be worth any consideration) elevate tcell counts ), remember there's always money to be saved from quitting. I myself quit for purely monetary reasons, and would start right back up if I won the lottery or someone would buy them for me. LOL

Oh, and the temporary costs of mints, along with the minimal calories, has nothing to do with will power. When trying to kick an addiction, don't think of mints, meds or even counseling as crutches; but as helpful support services.

Good luck to you if you do decide to quit.

[leatherman]

This Wednesday will make 35 days without a smoke of cigarettes

WooHoo Tom!  Good luck with that!!

[Miss Philicia]

How the fuck does someone smoke 3 packs a day? Isn't that close to smoking a cigarette every 20 minutes assuming you slept 8 hours?

[spacebarsux]

I am just gonna make up my mind one of these days and quit cold turkey.

   Have you even learned how to inhale?

Yes, both the ciggies and the inhalers. And that's sad.

[Miss Philicia]

I still don't understand why you're freaked out over 1-2 cigarettes a day.

[leatherman]

How the fuck does someone smoke 3 packs a day? Isn't that close to smoking a cigarette every 20 minutes assuming you slept 8 hours?

Remember, I said I was going through extraordinary times. Besides, I only sleep 5 to 6 hours a night as it is, and during this period of time (when smoking that amount) I was sleeping much less.

once an hour, you sit in the car in the parking deck of the hospital and hot-box cigarette after cigarette while you try to deal with the impending death of your partner. Then after he passes away, you sit in a funk out by the closed pool (that you may never open again) and smoke one after another all day long. At least that's how I ended up smoking 3 packs a day during April - July 2008.

[leatherman]

I still don't understand why you're freaked out over 1-2 cigarettes a day.

you say "freaked", he says "stressed".
What? Isn't he allowed to want to quit totally?
The guy's just looking for a little support here

[Miss Philicia]

you say "freaked", he says "stressed".
What? Isn't he allowed to want to quit totally?
The guy's just looking for a little support here

Miss P, I'm 28. I agree I need to stop stressing but I can't stop doing that. Maybe that's the root of the problem.

Yeah, well guess who he agreed with.