genericbikedude

96 hours is when physical withdrawal peaks. you are over one hump.

battles

Thanks. I already can tell. It felt like I had a sore throat for sometime, but I knew it was just withdraw. Also, after this weekend I think I'm kicking drinking out of my life for sometime, so I am hoping the time away from the bar scene may limit temptations of picking up the habit again.

1stfixedschwinn

Today is DAY 40 for me! I smoked 2 a day for a week, then 1 a day for a week - then just stopped. I replaced it with heavy excercise. So far it hasn't been that bad - I think replacing smoking with something else is key.

humancongereel

man, i quit almost two years ago. a few days ago i had one at the bar, and now i've taken to smoking when i drink. a couple sober, but not really. i'm hoping i don't start again...i'm okay with it as a "just while drinking" thing or one here and there. some people can do it that way. i should just stay quit, though. but damn, i've recently recalled the simple pleasure of a good smoke. which, when i used to smoke 2 packs a day, never happened. it seems cigarettes--like many things--are only really pleasing when you don't do them too much.

Accident

I agree, I've always enjoyed a smoke when it's been a day or so since I had one, but when you start sucking 'em down in a night of drinking they lose their appeal. I'm gonna try and kick the habit next week after finals. It's a bad time to quit now

Son of ronex

3 days and counting ........lord give me strength .

10x

this just in...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers with knee arthritis suffer quicker joint deterioration than non-smokers with the condition, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among 159 men with knee arthritis, smokers reported more pain and were more than twice as likely to show significant cartilage loss in the joint.

Cartilage is the elastic tissue that cushions the ends of the bones; in osteoarthritis -- the common "wear-and-tear" form of arthritis -- this cartilage gradually breaks down, leading to inflammation, pain and deformity in the bones.

Some past studies, though not all, have suggested that smokers might be at greater risk of osteoarthritis. The current one, published online by the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, suggests that when smokers do develop the condition, it may be more severe.

The findings are "provocative" and should spur further research, write the study authors, led by Dr. Shreyasee Amin of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.

The 159 men with knee osteoarthritis in the study were followed for 2.5 years. The researchers used MRI scans to measure cartilage loss in the knee at the beginning, midpoint and end of the study. The men also rated their knee pain at each follow-up visit.

In general, Amin's team found, the 12 percent of men who were smoking at the study's outset showed greater cartilage loss over time and reported more pain than their non-smoking counterparts. This was despite the fact that the smokers tended to be younger and weigh less, which might be expected to delay progression of their arthritis.

There are a number of reasons smoking could exacerbate arthritis, according to the researchers. For one, they note, smoking can deprive tissue of oxygen, which might hinder normal cartilage repair. In addition, since cartilage itself has no pain fibers, it's possible that smokers' greater pain comes from damage to other structures in the arthritic joint.

SOURCE: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, online December 7, 2006.

shapelike

Down from half a pack a day to 5 or so ... must have this **** beat this winter.

mascher

I was just reading the training forum, and it made me notice something that's a little startling: I might have a fairly high fitness level for a non-excerciser, but I can never wear myself out unless I push really hard, and when I push really hard, I either blow up nearly immediately (say sprinting up a short (1/4 mile?) climb in a big gear at a high cadence), or if I push just short of full blast, get my muscles aching for a couple minutes, but can't seem to get the "push" to hit the point of big lactic acid production and tenseness telling me I've hit my max. I've got no middle output range, only easy peasy and blow up.

I thought this was just because I'm not particularly muscular, and the part of me that is (my legs) is just pretty strong, and that I was kind of lazy.

I now realize that smoking has caught up with me enough that I just have blood oxygen levels low enough that it's keeping me from "breaking through." Checking my heartrate in the middle of trainer workouts at several points (durning recovery spins, medium and high endurance output, medium and high sprint out put) I can see that my standard average cadence and resistance barely gets me to 60% of max hr, and that when I'm pushing, I jump to nearly 100% nearly immediately.

Long story short, I've been getting slower and weaker in the last couple years, but I thought it was work stress and laziness. And that's some of it, but as a relatively young person, I figured it couldn't be smoking. Then I counted, and 17 years of a pack a day, and more in the last couple years...

Damn. I'm going to read this thread from the beginning again.

genericbikedude

It is amazing how my perspective has changed since I quit smoking. Back when I was a smoker, smoking was this complicated thing, and quitting required lots of thought and there were lots of considerations, shades of gray, etc.

Now that I am a non-smoker, I think that it is simple, and that you all should just stop ****ing smoking. If it sucks, deal. I tried quitting many times, and when it finally worked, I took the "just ****ing stop" approach.

The patch, zyban etc all help, but really you just have to stop ****ing smoking.

bbattle

Some motivational pictures (threads are useless without pics)



healthy pink lungs of 80yr. old nonsmoker on left, ephysema lungs on the right

Fastr Pastr

MAN! Those images are hideous!

In all seriousness, my Dad passed 5 years ago from COPD -- the Smoker's Disease. It's a long nasty way to go.

Be strong! Be there for your future (and stop making the Tobacco companies richer)!!

God Bless your efforts and sustain your abstinence.

jhowell

I'm on day 10! Went from pack a day for 10 years -> a few at work for 2 weeks -> 1 a day for about a week. I'm happy to say that I haven't jonesed in the last 10 days - I think it'll work this time. I've tried to quit about 10000 times before without success.

I think this thread has helped. I know it has. I'm gonna kick ass racing next year.

Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up!

mander

QFT

I haven't smoked for almost a year now. What did it for me was just stopping 50 or 60 times, over and over, and not stressing too much if I started up again. The whole program was based on the idea that there is nothing complicated about smoking, then stopping. I got so used to smoking, then not smoking that the most recent run of not smoking seemed like not a big deal at all.

battles

almost 2 months since I bought a pack. besides the here and there cigarette at the bar (which taste like **** btw) I've been smoke free.

Gordo789

goddamn i have to quit... been smoking 5 years about 1/2 pack a day. Gotta start riding more.

TheBrick

1st Feb today I have made the one month mark. Have had a few when drunk but in my defence I was in a Jazz bar, (it's rude not to smoke in a jazz bar) and the other time with one of my chain smoking friends after a lot of drinking.

Nice picutres.

Son of ronex

3 weeks today ...........

DoshKel

**** yea dude.

You are the man... for real.

exfreewheeler

Yes... but not only for smoking. There are alot of bad habits that we can all help each other with.

I never smoked again after the first toke of a cigarette, thank GOD!

My father was a heavy smoker and I was exposed to high concentrations of second-hand smoke as a musician.

Some helpful info... Lemon curbs the urge to smoke and also helps detoxify. Have some homemade Lemonade!

rokphotography

i smoked for 2 years in high school.. quit by chewing loads of gum.. but some gums have this certain additive that in high concentrations is a laxative.. so i started again 3 years ago and have been in an out of trynna quit.. we should start a FG or just all out cyclist support group

SpiderMike

Just kept starting and stopping. I have a goal, so bought the patches three days ago.

Texas law maker just introduced a bill to make all public buildings, bars, and restaurants in Texas smoke free. Irony of this bill, 14 cities already have no smoking laws. Oh and to aid in the funding of education they added another dollar on the tax for a pack of cigs. Not meaning to go politics in this area, just pointing out that the politicians, in their ironic way, are helping me quit and still go to some poolhalls.

youth

so yeah, i actually quit. you may or may not recall me fighting with myself about it a few months ago. new year's rezzzz

thatguy

Today I've made it one year tobacco free. This is after smoking 1/2-1 pack a day for 9-10yrs. Before, I never really pictured myself as a non-smoker. Now the past year has completely changed my life and riding bikes has been a huge part of it. I celebrated by heading out to the trails where the Cannondale demo truck was making a visit. Got to ride a sweet Caffeine 29er and the dude even gave me a free tshirt. I'm usually a glass-half-empty kind of person, but I'll admit this was the best thing I've ever done. Yes, you can do it. Yes, it will make your life that much better. You're not quitting anything. You're starting something new.

euphoria

I at least switched to hand-rolled cigarettes

$2 for 40 papers and a huge pouch

no wonky chemicals and a much cleaner buzz (they hit better too)

I was never much of a smoker before but one or two of these bad boys replaced the usual 4 or 5