Kaneman

That is very true, as soon as I got home and found something else to do (watch Enemy at the Gates) I didn't think about it anymore.

Instead of smoking I do some mind control by doing something else technically not good for me so I can still feel like a bad boy, lol. Like drinking a Pepsi or chewing a straw. haha

Makeitso

Chewing a straw is a good idea, you can also try a snack that's not to high in calories like the little carrots or something like that.

It's a good idea to try something out of the usual. I used to like to light up right when I got in my truck to go somewhere, so I started sucking on a carrot when I got in instead of lighting up. Just try some different things to break the cycle of smoking.

aphatrider

I puffed for almost 45 years,FINALLY quit 6 months ago.If I impress anything on my grandkids,it will be to never start-it,s almost a daily battle not to try just one.

Makeitso

You know, sometimes as hard as you try that doesn't work. I pounded it into my kids heads time and time again, and at 19yrs. old one of them started smoking. He says he's quit now but I think I smell smoke once in awhile so, not sure.

Nermal

The silver lining:

As some of you may know, I recently spent three weeks in a hospital. Wouldn't you know - it was non smoking. With nicotine gum and a small amount of will power, I survived. It would be a shame to waste that investment by starting again, and I haven't. Well, almost. I've 6 cartons in the house, and that's good. If I had none, getting some might be a challenge. I did find a partial pack with 4 cigarettes. I smoked them, but still haven't even considered getting into one of the cartons and opening a pack.

Oh, I also lost 20 pounds, but truely, I want at least half of it back. I never realized how my legs had developed till I got home and saw those pipe stems down where the legs are supposed to be.

Monoborracho

Well, not sure how I should comment, as I'm one of those who NEVER smoked.

As a teenager I watched my father cough up chunks of his lungs with emphysema, then eventually die from lung cancer.

My mother has had congestive heart failure and been on oxygen for over 10 years, and she quit smoking a long time ago.

My best friend from childhood died at age 53 of lung cancer that had metastasized to his liver before being detected, and he smoked from about age 19, in college, till his early 30's.

Those carcinogens stay in your system for a long, long time I'm told.

One out of three smokers quits smoking....by dying of a smoking related disease.

Anybody need any other reasons to quit?

And, oh by the way, IMHO, if you're still counting the days or months or years, you are probably not over the addiction. But best of luck on continuing abstinence.

freeranger

About 20 yrs. ago I quit, after a trip to the emergency room. I woke up one morning and couldn't get air into or out of my lungs. I was given a breathing treatment and started working with an allergy/asthma specialist. No major allergies now, even during peak pollen season, and no more asthma either. Sure wish I had never smoked at all, but I did. My nephew watched my mother spend the last 6 months of her life dying with lung cancer, at my sister's house, and my sister still caught him smoking one day!! I guess the young figure it can't happen to them-btw-don't think he smokes now!! My aunt died of emphysema, my mother of lung cancer which had spread (she had quit smoking, but not soon enough).

wrafl

I used to smoke and gave up 16 years ago. I wasn't a heavy smoker then a pack of cigarette would last me 2 days. I quit when one day I got sick and could not stand the smoke as it made me cough horribly during my illness. After a week or so without cigarettes, I tried to get back into smoking and could not tolerate the smoke and smell of the cigarette. I found a picture of a diseased lung from an article and hang it on the fridge door as a reminder that smoking would make my lungs look exactly like the picture if I don't give up. Quit cold turkey and hasn't had a smoke except a cigar once in a blue moon to celebrate.

VegaVixen

I smoked for seven years in my 20's, for a while up to three packs a day. Some of them were filterless, roll-yourself, using shag from Germany. Altogether, about 13 pack years. When I met my husband, I was down to just a few a day. I knew he didn't want to be with someone who smoked, and he didn't yet know that I did, so I quit altogether. Thanked him later.

So far, no ill effects, though 10 years ago I did have a 13-month chronic dry, non-productive cough of undetermined etiology. I was checked for asthma and allergy, had an upper GI and a bronchoscopy and chest films. All negative for any cause, though the chest film did reveal one small spot that was ruled to be of no significance, in spite of my history of having smoked. The cough was finally stopped by administering narcotic-laced cough syrup. Occasionally after a hard ride, I'll wake up coughing when I turn over in bed. My physical last year showed nothing. This year, I'll request new films to be compared to the old.

Generally, I feel great, considering the lack of conditioning I had between early '04 through late '06.

Coyote!

As a young guy, I used to really like a cigar and two fingers of Knob Creek about three times a year after an afternoon of back-yard welding. About a decade ago, I got a case of TB. [It's a long story, but it was probably work related.] For the record, there's nothing like being denied breath to focus one's attention on the importance of healthy lungs [and a great many other things besides]. Prolly' lost a coupla' tablespoons of lung tissue in the process. Since then I shy away from anything that even remotely interferes with breath.

The positive side is that I'vew joined the ranks of folks who get profound satisfaction and joy from a deep breath of cool clean air.

Nermal

Sadly, Coyote!, I would really enjoy the satisfaction of a lung full of smoke. On the other hand, that would totally waste my efforts to date. Anyway, once I'm able to get back on a bike, some of those hills might not look so intimidating. For the respiration part of the climb. Once the legs come back, I mean, and I sure hope I'm not looking at two years for that to transpire

dauphin

kind of ironic that this thread reappeared recently...it was exactly one year ago today that I stopped....again....it really has been a very difficult year for me and today was one of the most difficult ever....not for missing smoking, but full of the kind of stress that might cause one to relapse. I hope I don't.

VegaVixen

Stay with it, Dauph. If I didn't start smoking again in the last couple of years, you'll be ok. Trust Vega.

MTBLover

Hang in Dauphin. One day at a time!

BluesDawg

It will be 28 years in November since I quit cigarettes after smoking 1-2 packs a day for 8 of the previous 10 years. It is hard now to imagine that I ever did that. I still enjoy a good cigar now and then. But I'm talking about maybe 4 cigars a year. Mostly while camping or while staying up all night drinking whiskey and cooking a hog on a pit. Or after watching a particularly satisfying UGA football victory.

dauphin

wow, you remind me of my birthplace...humidity...large insects....and people barking...