Qiut smoking day for AZers and support.Monday.

This March has been one year for me Geno. I smoke a couple of cigars a day, no inhaling.

Now, if I could get my wife to quit, my clothes would smell like nice cigar smoke and not stinky cigs. I know to a non smoker, there is no difference but I would prefer the smell of a cigar or pipe tobacco over stinky cigs any day.

How I quite Geno. Had some tests and ended up with 80% lung capacity and the onset of COPD.

I know a guy that can barely walk far enuff outside to have a smoke, COPD and an oxygen tank. He puffs it up just the same as he always has.

Hate to say it but not long for this world.

80% is weak. No, to still have 80% is pretty good I think.

Glad it didn't get any worse. I walk 7 miles a day at work so that helps. Big hospital.

People should give it a try. You have to want to tho. Even if I hadn't been diagnosed with the onset of COPD, I was already cutting down and preparing myself for the day.

There was just very little to nothing that I enjoyed about having a smoke.

I have pretty good will power with everything else in life but had thought this one would be the toughest. It was actually nothing. I didn't have to quite coffee, beer or anything.

All a person has to do is make up their mind and give it a whirl. Quitting smoking is one of the toughest things to do. People have relapses and there is no shame in that. Just try again.

I had quit years ago with not much success. But when I was off the smokes, I ate a celery stick or a carrot when I got the urge to light up. Just something, anything to keep you busy until that initial 10 minute urge goes away.

These days, a person can use the Nicotine Gum or a Patch to give them a hand.

The gum is not to bad. Apparently you chew it up and then park it between your bottom lip and gums, just like you would if you were using Skoal tobacco.

I believe that once you want to quit, make a conscience effort to just cut back a few smokes here and there for a start. Don't give in to the urge every time. If you find yourself reaching for the pack. Rethink and tell yourself that you can have one later, just not now. Go thru a couple or three urges before you actually allow yourself to have one.

Once you get used to doing that, it becomes easier to put off that urge until a little later. Thats a good start to eventually quitting.

Might sound dumb but often I would keep a reassurance cigarette in an ashtray beside me when I was on the computer. I knew it was there and I could smoke it if I wanted to.

And I know that I cheat. I didn't start smoking cigars until I knew that I was off the cigs. I smoke a couple every day. I blow smoke out of my mouth, I have something to hold onto. I just started with the cigars approx a month or so ago. I have a few puffs, put it out and light it up later.

At least the smoke isn't going into my lungs.

I don't know about the price of smokes in the USA but in Canada, some brands are 12, 13 and change for a pack. It used to cost me close to 20 bucks a day to smoke. That should be incentive enuff.

If the United States Gov ever decides to start adding Sin taxes onto smokes and alcohol, you guys will feel the pinch as well.

Up here, 20 bucks won't even buy you a 6 pack let alone that and a pack of cigs.

I quit just 6 years ago. At 1:30 p.m., February 19th, 2008, I smoked my last cigarette. I woke up with a lump in my neck, and I had a sore throat. It scared me. Fortunately, I did not feel like smoking because I felt sick. As it turned out, it was a swollon gland. A few days later, I felt better and did want to smoke, but I figured I had made 3 days without a cigarette, so I'd see how far I could go.

I had been wanting to quit for 2 or 3 years, talked about it all the time, but I just didn't do it. Meanwhile, my brother and best friend both quit about the same time, and I was getting pressure from them to quit, which pissed me off actaully. I did enjoy smoking when I smoked.

Today, it is the best move I made in my life. I feel so much better, no more colds, flus, sinus problems. My hair and clothes always smell clean now. No more frantically running to the store to get a pack because I ran out. And then there's the money I have saved.

Keith quit January 1st of this year. It's almost 2 months for Keith. I just asked him last night if he's over the hump, and he said not really. But like you hae written in your post, a lot of his friends recently passed away with cancer. In fact, he just learned that his brother Mark now has cancer, so I think that's keeping Keith off the ciggies, thank the good Lord.

Nobody will quit unless they really want to quit. I did it cold turkey, and so did Keith. I can honestly say that today, I do *not* crave those ciggies. :smile:

This thread could be just what I need to quit. Starting tomorrow I will be attempting to quit smoking cigarettes. Still smoke cigars (no inhale), but I really would prefer to feel better and not feel so "heavy"... At 27 years old I would really like to quit before things get worse than they already are. Thank you VERY much for this thread. I see good things coming from this. +1 for you sir.

Anybody who is on the fence about quitting, check these statistics out, especially the one for 24 hours.

Within ...

20 minutes
Your blood pressure, pulse rate and the temperature of your hands and feet have returned to normal.

8 hours
Remaining nicotine in your bloodstream has fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.75% reduction.

12 hours
Your blood oxygen level has increased to normal. Carbon monoxide levels have dropped to normal.

24 hours
Anxieties have peaked in intensity and within two weeks should return to near pre-cessation levels.

48 hours
Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability will have peaked.

72 hours
Your entire body will test 100% nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine. Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day have peaked for the "average" ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and your lung's functional abilities are starting to increase.

5-8 days
The "average" ex-smoker will encounter an "average" of three cue induced crave episodes per day. Although we may not be "average" and although serious cessation time distortion can make minutes feel like hours, it is unlikely that any single episode will last longer than 3 minutes. Keep a clock handy and time them.

10 days
The "average" ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day, each less than 3 minutes.

10 days to 2 weeks
Recovery has likely progressed to the point where your addiction is no longer doing the talking. Blood circulation in your gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user.

2 to 4 weeks
Cessation related anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression have ended. If still experiencing any of these symptoms get seen and evaluated by your physician.

21 days
The number of acetylcholine receptors, which were up-regulated in response to nicotine's presence in the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem, and cerebellum regions of the brain, have now substantially down-regulated, and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers (2007 study).

2 weeks to 3 months
Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.

3 weeks to 3 months
Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared. If not, get seen by a doctor, and sooner if at all concerned, as a chronic cough can be a sign of lung cancer.

8 weeks
Insulin resistance in smokers has normalized despite average weight gain of 2.7 kg.

1 to 9 months
Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath has decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs, thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean and reduce infections. Your body's overall energy has increased.

1 year
Your excess risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.

5 years
Your risk of a subarachnoid haemorrhage has declined to 59% of your risk while still smoking (2012 study). If a female ex-smoker, your risk of developing diabetes is now that of a non-smoker (2001 study).

5 to 15 years
Your risk of stroke has declined to that of a non-smoker.

10 years
Your risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer is between 30% and 50% of that for a continuing smoker (2005 study). Risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day). Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas have declined. Risk of developing diabetes for both men and women is now similar to that of a never-smoker (2001 study).

13 years
The average smoker who is able to live to age 75 has 5.8 fewer teeth than a non-smoker (1998 study). But by year 13 after quitting, your risk of smoking induced tooth loss has declined to that of a never-smoker (2006 study).

15 years
Your risk of coronary heart disease is now that of a person who has never smoked. Your risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker (2011 study - but note 2nd pancreatic study making identical finding at 20 years).

20 years
Female excess risk of death from all smoking related causes, including lung disease and cancer, has now reduced to that of a never-smoker (2008 study). Risk of pancreatic cancer has declined to that of a never-smoker (2011 study).

Brian, I started when I was 15. Quit at 54. Thats a lot of years. Driving truck for so many years was tough. Boring and not much to do except light one up after another.

If you are serious, cold turkey can be hard. Prepare yourself for that cold turkey day.

When you reach for the pack, tell yourself NO, I can have one later, just not right now.

What ever you smoke per day, make an effort to cut that back. Eventually, it will become easier and easier to refuse that urge. Before I actually quit, I was down to 3 or 4 a day.

When yer down to that few, its a ton easier to quit for good. Trust me, those urges become weaker and less frequent. Just gotta fight em for a while.

If yer married or have a girlfriend, just have sex every time you get the urge to light up.

Disclaimer tho. Doing it in the veggie aisle of the super market can get you into trouble.

You could meet nice women that way as well. Just walk up and tell them that every time you refuse to light up, you have to have sex and ask if they would be willing to help you quit.

Ya might get punched a few times but play the odds.

Hahahahaha, oh man that one made me bust out laughing..... Phew, my boss must think I'm crazy lol. Thanks for that.
I am definitely wanting to quit. I hate not being able to run and play soccer like I used to. I'm down to at least 6-7 a day from a pack a day. Started 11 years ago and have already started cutting back. REALLY want to quit before my son gets to the age to really know how badly I'm hurting myself. And before he gets too old and I get too far to be able to play and keep up with him.
Thanks for the laugh man, that's just what I needed this afternoon lol.

Blue Hog ridr said:

Brian, I started when I was 15. Quit at 54. Thats a lot of years. Driving truck for so many years was tough. Boring and not much to do except light one up after another.

If you are serious, cold turkey can be hard. Prepare yourself for that cold turkey day.

When you reach for the pack, tell yourself NO, I can have one later, just not right now.

What ever you smoke per day, make an effort to cut that back. Eventually, it will become easier and easier to refuse that urge. Before I actually quit, I was down to 3 or 4 a day.

When yer down to that few, its a ton easier to quit for good. Trust me, those urges become weaker and less frequent. Just gotta fight em for a while.

If yer married or have a girlfriend, just have sex every time you get the urge to light up.

Disclaimer tho. Doing it in the veggie aisle of the super market can get you into trouble.

You could meet nice women that way as well. Just walk up and tell them that every time you refuse to light up, you have to have sex and ask if they would be willing to help you quit.

Ya might get punched a few times but play the odds.

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I quit in my early 20s when they were $.35 a pack, smoking 3-4 packs a day. Everyone smoked everywhere. It took my four tries and over a year to quit,

My reason, I watched my grandfather who was 83, suffer for nearly a year to finally die a most horrifically awful death. If any of you have seen the add run during the baseball games with the guy hanging over a bathroom sink coughing his heart out trying to grab some oxygen, that's how my poor grandfather died. He had an episodes like that until his heart stopped.

It makes me cringe to hear people say things like "hey you got to die of something" , I will be thinking if they only knew. The problem is trying to tell people, they don't want to hear it.

I hope this true testimony get someone upset enough to quit.

Besides cancer and heart disease, COPD (emphysema) is the 4th leading cause of death in the world.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/

Much of the damage is irreversible, which is the best reason to quit now to minimize your chances of smoking ruining your health.

I was one of the heavy chain smokers - somehow I quit. if I can do it, anybody can.

Just curious, but what cigarettes did you all smoke, when you did smoke or if you are still smoking?

My friend Michael "Geese" Gerace passed away at the age of 54 years old. He smoked Lucky Strikes with no filters.

I first started smoking in junior high school, kind of off and on. Trying to be cool, I guess, I started out smoking Kools. They were quite popular because of the cool commercials on TV at the time.

I eventually moved over to normal-strength Marlboros, the red and white, in my early 20s.

I quite for 3.5 years in my 30s. Why I went back, I still have regrets for going back. That first cigarette after 3.5 years that I smoked, I did not even get dizzy. I was stressed about a personal situation in my life, which I then rationalized that, hey, I need to smoke a cigarette to relax myself. BIG MISTAKE! After 2 weeks of this rationalization, I was back to smoking full force, about a pack or more a day.

Somewhere along the line, I switched from hard Marlboros (red and white) to Marlboro Lights. It took a while to get used to the lights, but I soon was okay with them. I was smoking about a pack to a pack and half of Marlboro Lights when I quit 6 years ago.

So what did you used to smoke and/or what do you smoke now?

Nobody will quit unless they really want to quit. It's like any other drug or booze. You have to want to get off them. No national quit day or do it for someone else will keep most people off. Congrats to those that have quit. It's not easy in the beginning, but it does get easier with time. Johnnyt

PS: When Johnnyt has a tough shot or tough position to get sometime looks around the table rail for his lit cigarette. Some memories never go away.

How is Keith doing on the habit?

RADAR said:

How is Keith doing on the habit?

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Keith quit smoking January 1st of this year. As of the time of this writing, he doesn't drink or smoke or do drugs. We eat red meat once a week and have fresh veggies every night. I just turned him onto steel-cut oatmeal, and he loves it. Good for blood pressure.

Keith is doing well. He hasn't complained about not smoking. He did it cold turkey, just like me.

I would highly suggest anyone go to their local American Lung ass. and get involved in their program. I have provided a link at the end of my post. My wife went through the program and never smoked again. I have never smoked but I took the course with her as support and it was very interesting.

It does work. Quitting smoking is a very hard thing to do, there is no reason to pretend it is not. It also has to be a selfish decision, you have to do it for your self not because your wife of husband wants you to. You do it for yourself. My wife quit around 30 years ago and never even thought about it again.

http://www.lung.org/stop-smoking/how-to-quit/getting-help/

JAM said:

Just curious, but what cigarettes did you all smoke, when you did smoke or if you are still smoking?

My friend Michael "Geese" Gerace passed away at the age of 54 years old. He smoked Lucky Strikes with no filters.

I first started smoking in junior high school, kind of off and on. Trying to be cool, I guess, I started out smoking Kools. They were quite popular because of the cool commercials on TV at the time.

I eventually moved over to normal-strength Marlboros, the red and white, in my early 20s.

I quite for 3.5 years in my 30s. Why I went back, I still have regrets for going back. That first cigarette after 3.5 years that I smoked, I did not even get dizzy. I was stressed about a personal situation in my life, which I then rationalized that, hey, I need to smoke a cigarette to relax myself. BIG MISTAKE! After 2 weeks of this rationalization, I was back to smoking full force, about a pack or more a day.

Somewhere along the line, I switched from hard Marlboros (red and white) to Marlboro Lights. It took a while to get used to the lights, but I soon was okay with them. I was smoking about a pack to a pack and half of Marlboro Lights when I quit 6 years ago.

So what did you used to smoke and/or what do you smoke now?

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I smoked Camel non-filters for 50 years and unlike Clinton...I inhaled. Johnnyt

Johnnyt said:

I smoked Camel non-filters for 50 years and unlike Clinton...I inhaled. Johnnyt

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My roommate used to smoke filterless Camels. When I'd run out of mine, I'd try one of hers. They were STRONG!

We were at a pool tournament in Richmond about, gee, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, subject to check. Richmond is a tobacco town, with Camel being right there. In fact, I remember we bought about five cartons of Marlboros while we were in Richmond because they were cheaper there than our area.

Anyway, at the tournament, Camel sent out a crew offering FREE cigarettes and lighters and ashtrays and discount coupons to the people in the pool room. The Camel "exotic blend" cigarettes at that time were flavored. They had about five different flavors. The only two I can remember were vanilla and Irish coffee. I remember how thrilled I was to get the free cigarettes and the trinkets.

I quit smoking cig's 18yrs. ago, cold turkey. Best thing I ever did. I was only 26 at the time but smoking 2 pac's a day. In my opinion it's probably the hardest addition to quit.
I don't see how anyone can afford it.

Roadking said:

I quit smoking cig's 18yrs. ago, cold turkey. Best thing I ever did. I was only 26 at the time but smoking 2 pac's a day. In my opinion it's probably the hardest addition to quit.
I don't see how anyone can afford it.

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Roger that. They're 10 bucks a pack here in my area right now. The drug store chain CVS has quit selling cigarettes.

Make no mistake about it that nicotine is addictive. Some say quitting cigarettes can be just as difficult as quitting heroin.

It took me about 3 years to convince myself to quit. I thought about it every single day, but I just did not have the will power to quit. Finally, one day, I did, and it was the best thing I've ever done. I'm so happy that I did, and I do *not* miss it one bit.

When I see smokers now, standing outside, isolated, in a corner somewhere, getting their "fix," I actually do empathize with them, but in some strange way, I feel sorry for them, knowing how hard it is to get rid of that nasty habit.

When you think about it, blowing smoke in the air out of your mouth, it's a stupid habit to even start. :grin-square: