Help smoking Team-BHP members quit smoking

[vivekiny2k]

Aha, the labeling and the "coming of age". I was pressured into alcohol and smoke too. It pains now to remember a bunch of kids from some elite schools (named after saints) standing 10-12 at a time in front of a liquor shop and stylishly having beers. At that time I used to get dangerously fascinated. Thankfully I knew dangers and costs of smoking even before I could have fancied it.

thinking on sudipto's post, the move form govt banning ciggys in movies seems to be a good move.

[cooldude1988765]

Originally Posted by Fordy

Guys,

I have been smoking the last 10 years. As discussed, I have tried many times to quit and I was not successful. Anyone who has quit, culd you please tell me how the withdrawl symptoms be like? Somone told me that "You gain weight", "you get bored" et al.

Any advice would be helpful

Well every ime i tried to quit i was very irritable and sometimes i used to et mild headaches and i could think of nothing but smoking. This is only for the first 3-5 days though. After that it is not too bad but you should avoid hanging out with people who smoke for a couple of months though. Sadly i was not able to do the latter.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by Fordy

Guys,

I have been smoking the last 10 years. As discussed, I have tried many times to quit and I was not successful. Anyone who has quit, culd you please tell me how the withdrawl symptoms be like? Somone told me that "You gain weight", "you get bored" et al.

Any advice would be helpful

I have quit. And I know what tremendous battle each individual who tries to quit has to fight.
As I understand, each quit is different. Not only is it different between A and B, every time you try to quit you may face a different experience. In my case apart from that intense desire to go and have a smoke nothing else of any significance happened. The first few days, if not weeks, that was the only thing on my mind. It is impossible to focus on anything else. That's why I suggest going on a leave to some place when you are trying to quit.
I must admit I had a small nighmare on the second night of my quit. I felt like sliding through a very dark hole.
But I did not face any of the other problems like gaining weight, coughs (a friend who quit with me had this for a few weeks), rise in irritability (I am irritable in any case).
During those intense cravings I used to breathe deep, drink water and tell myself "no I will not smoke again, come what may. I want to defeat this nicotine monster".
Please remember that for the first three days after your quit, the nicotine remains in your blood stream and constantly wants more nicotine. This is what translates into cravings. After three days when your body is free of nicotine it is your battle with your mind, not so much the body per se. So, if you can survive without nicotine for three days you have made it.
All the best. Try again.

[kcnetid]

Excellent that you asked. I wanted to write something like this for more than a year but was just too lazy.

I was a smoker for almost 9 years. For the initial 2-3 years, I smoked 4-5 cigs a day which increased to 7-8 and at the peak, I was smoking more than 10 cigs a day. I quit about 2.5 yrs back and today I can't stand people smoking around me.
It is not easy to quit smoking so don't loose hope if you can't do it in one go. I tried 3-4 times before I quit for good. It was definitely one of the top 5 difficult things in my life. I used my experience of my earlier failures to plan for the final quit.
After me, even a couple of my friends quit.

You should really want it.
Anticipate the fact that the body and mind will crave for it and be prepared to fight it. Mental conditioning and preparation will make it waay easier.
Prepare your colleagues and family for your mood swings and irritability. They will suffer as much :-)

Pick a significant date/event - your wife's b'day or moms b'day. Make sure the time is not close to a stressful event - appraisals, promotion, important business deal, deadlines etc. Stress tends to mess with your will power. Even if you are stressed, if you are aware that this can be risky to your quitting, you can try and handle it.

I recommend a cold quit - no tapering off. No need of nicotine patches. This will reduce the time span of your misery.
As mentioned in the previous post, the first 3-5 days is the hardest. After that it is a battle with the mind. Most modern cigs contain various chemicals which actually create nicotine receptors in your brain. These aid in enhancing the 'kick'. There is this movie 'insider' or something - Russel crowe.

You will be irritable on and off for at least 3-4 weeks - this is when the body/mind craves the drug. I was irritable for almost 2 months.

It will increase your appetite and actually get you more healthy by forcing you to eat at correct times. You will probably gain weight but this is temporary. The weight will go down in 2-3 months. You can keep fruits lying around if you are calorie concious - I gorged on double breakfasts and fruit juices. I also gorged on delicious Hyderabad Biryanis which made me gain weight. Since I was very skinny before that, I came up to normal weight.

As somebody mentioned, it is crucial to avoid smokers. Most smoking is group activity. Go ahead and ask your smoker friends not to meet you for 1-2 months. I managed to quit only when all my smoker friends left the country :-)
Do not go to a bar/pub for 2-3 months which will almost definitely put you back into the habit.
Don't sit idle. Do not go for walks 'alone'.

Even after the first 2-3 months, there will be short sharp and sudden urges once in a while. They will be infrequent but strong. You are not safe till almost 5-6 months. I got one urge while waiting in traffic near a railway crossing and I almost lost it. This was almost 4 months after I quit.

Never go macho - i.e. telling yourself that you can have this *one* cigarette
but not go back to the habit. Always be paranoid :-) it can't hurt.

Take up sport or exercise - usually the exertion will stem your craving for an hour after the exercise and there is something about exercise or sport - even a brisk walk which prevents the craving.

Within a few weeks of quitting, you will dramatically better - this is a combination of improved health - clear lungs and better nutrition intake. Enjoy this feeling and use this as an incentive to keep away. Quality of life does improve quite a bit.

Don't get dejected if you fail once - learn from the failures so that you can be better prepared the next time.
Here's wishing you successful quitting (oxymoron?) and healthier life.

Cheers,

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Excellent document there. The most important point being "never go macho". Don't try to prove you can control your cravings and one cigarette won't do any harm. Even one puff can potentially bring down one year's good work. Mentally I used to chant "not one puff ever" all the time for the first week or so. It worked like magic.
One other important point to remember is that the craving attacks you when you least expect it to. It attacks you often without any apparent logic.
When I first had a drink after the quit - about a month or so after the quit - I thought I would get very bad craving. I was totally prepared for it and had worked out my strategy to combat it. But it did not happen. There was absolutely no craving. Earlier I used to smoke at least three cigarettes per peg.
But after finishing a day long drive I suddenly had serious craving even after more than three months of the quit. That was totally unexpected.

[nandans2005]

Guys,

Here is my bit.

I started smoking from my plus 2 and continued smoking for 17 years through my engineering & my first job. I used to smoke about 8 cigarettes per day.

It was that i was being cautioned by my sub conscious mind that smoking isnt any good, but somehow i used to overcome this cautioning and smoke.

After few years, it got to me that i should stop smoking. Then one evening, i told my spouse that i am stopping smoking and i have stopped it for once and for all.

Now its been 4 years since i have stopped and every june 18 , i celebrate the this day just being happy for myself that i could stop without any going back to the habit.

I did suffer with withdrawals for about a week to ten days, which luckily i could resist.

I suggest to all guys out here who smoke to kick the habit just by saying goodbye to it generally oneday and not to substitute the habit with any other habit. I agree its quite difficult but its the best way to do it instead of getting to substitute with something else.

Positives of quitting are good appetite, stinkless shirts, fingers & MOUTH !


All it calls for is good control and thinking. thats it.

Happy Quiting

[Fordy]

Guys, your stories is giving me confidence. I almost believed (after 10 years of smoking) that I can never Quit. Thanks for the inspiration. I will surely join the Gang in 2-3 months

[Proxima]

Originally Posted by Fordy

I will surely join the Gang in 2-3 months

Fordy, if you want, you can join us right NOW.

[Fordy]

Originally Posted by Proxima

Fordy, if you want, you can join us right NOW.

I wish, but I dont think I am mentally prepared for that now.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by Fordy

I wish, but I dont think I am mentally prepared for that now.

With that thinking you can never quit my friend.
If you really wanna quit just do it now.
Atleast try

[nandans2005]

Hey fordy,

I am with you man ! come on drop that cigarette from your hand now. There is a saying which i think you know, It goes like this> " Cigarette is one with Fire at one end and A FOOL at the other end"

why wait for 2-3 months ? you have smoked enough man !

[Thad E Ginathom]

No day is the right day to give up smoking --- so you may as well start... Today!

[scorpian]

A few real good posts i must say..

Well i started in 10 + 1 and went on for a good 9years,smoking fom just one to over 10 a day,one thing i noticed was at the slightest irritation or tension i would light up,finally i reached a stage where i cudnt crap unless i smoked first thing in the morning.

One fine day i just decided i had enough and went straight to a chest specialist and told him that i wanted to quit and to guide me,he put me on nicotex and asked me to have vitamin C and E caps.Trust the first few days are like qa battle with yourself,but after that u start breathing better,feeling better,ur teeth start becoming whiter,skin improves and thats what in a way made me stronger willed to never puff again.

At times i couldnt fight it and almost lit a cigarette and just would hold it in my hand and fight my mind.i was lucky to interact with a Cancer specialist Dr.Shekhar Salkar (the same guy who issued notices to amitabh bachhan).I told him how defficult it was to give up,he took me along with him with his arm around me to all the oral cancer patients in the ward,the arm around me was to prevent me from turning around and running,trust me i almost cried to look at the plite of some of those patients,i spoke to this young guy who sold everything for his chemotheraphy and yet may not survive.

I am not saying this to make u guys sad or feel bad but the fact is quit before its to late,save urself and ur friends the trouble of seeing you die in pain.

I hope you guys who wanna quit stick hard and kick the butt once and for all.

[niks_devil666]

Originally Posted by niks_devil666

Yes sir ! I will post soon (hopefully after 2-3 weeks) . Thanks for the wishes and the link.

3 weeks and I haven't smoked at all. There were no withdrawal symptoms in the first 3-4 days but I used to tell myself all day that "Don't smoke today and you can smoke tomorrow" and tomorrow never comes . This helped me in setting a more achievable target of not smoking for a day rather than not smoking ever!

Anyways past couple of days I felt like smoking in the very obvious situations (while on ride , when it rained) but I haven't and don't intend to. Its all in the psyche now , my body doesn't need it anymore.

Now I have kicked away the only unhealthy thing I was doing in my life.

Cheers to a "healthier" life style !

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by niks_devil666

my body doesn't need it anymore.

Now I have kicked away the only unhealthy thing I was doing in my life.

Cheers to a "healthier" life style !

The challenge is to maintain the recently acquired "healthier" life style. You would have went through many guys experiences in this thread how it came back in a more aggressive manner (smoking habit). I myself have started back the habit even after 2-3 yrs of non-smoking & before you realize you will be back to square-1.

Never ever take the first puff, whatever the situation may be. Just tell to yourself that going through a similar painful process is a REAL PAIN. That's what keeps me going......even today I fear the first puff the most. Wish you all the best