[vinit.merchant]

While all my tries failed to quit, finally I was forced to give up.

I fractured my ankle badly, needing surgery, some 8 screws and a plate.

In the last 22 days, I have maybe had a few puff's here and there when I had company, refusing the entire stick all the time, plus also committing myself to not buy any packs in future.

From 20-25 to nil/nada/zero . But I still get that urge sometimes. Really strong urge. The only thing that has helped in fighting this urge is not having the sticks for consumption close by.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by kumaranna

My two cents on quitting smoking often i give to my friends. It is more effective if you are a heavy smoker for a longer time.

First calculate the amount of money you have spent on cigis over your smoking periods. The longer the better. You will be astonished to see the value for which you could have bought a car, plot etc

Second look for the length of your cigarette and calculate the distance if you sequentially arranged the number of cigarettes you have smoked in your life. This figure also will surprise many.

Frankly, logical, or even sensible, stuff never worked for me. I was never sensible about money, nor was I careful about health, and if the TV programs showing tar-blackened lungs upset me, I'd have a cigarette to get over it.

ok, ... But smoking is stupid.

I stubbornly smoked through coughs, colds, sore throats, and even through a couple of more serious attacks of bronchitis. Even when it hurt, I smoked.

Heck, I was so stupid that it is a wonder that I ever gave up!

Nothing short of a major health scare made me take that decision to give up, and even then, I'd been coughing every day for a couple of years.

Nobody has to be that stupid. Thankfully, many are not. Some of course are even more stupid, and don't give up until they have already given themselves a death sentence. Grim stuff, eh?

It's nice to see so many people here who are much less stupid than I was

[selfdrive]

I used to be a heavy smoker in college but gave up smoking around 12 years ago. There have been times when I felt like starting off again.

But I have been thankfully able to resist the urge by distracting myself. For some reason, last week I could not get my mind off a deep puff of a cigarette. The feeling kept coming back to me, and I got more and more desparate.

It helped that I was in office so I barricaded myself at my desk and kept asking colleagues to bring me food. All the food didnt help, so I got onto Whatsapp with a few bhpain friends. Some were not so encouraging, but it helped me get distracted from wanting to smoke.

I probably ate twice what I would normally but at least the urge was averted. Not such a big deal after all. But I just didnt want to get back to being a 'smoker'

[Mahesh Prasad]

Two weeks since I gave up smoking. Going strong and the urge has reduced considerably. Also reducing the nicotine gums, still managing with a pack bought last week and it still has 5 gums remaining.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

More than 3 months now. Feel good! Thanks for the support guys.

And like noopster warned, my friend has gone back to smoking. He's reduced greatly - from double digits to 4 a day but we keep pushing him to stop.

One stumble. Friends, adult beverages and gave in to the temptation sadly. This happened in the weekend. Thankfully stopped with one and have never smoked since or felt like it too.

[heydj]

Have not smoked in over 3 months. Just gave up one day. I myself still call myself smoker, keep a complete pack nearby. Just live one day at a time, saying today i will not smoke. Its all psychological I feel, if someone tells us you can't do this ever we want to do that thing even more. Hence never say never.

Even if one is to smoke, I would suggest getting a cigarette rolling machine, filters, rolling paper, and tobacco. Most of the times we just want couple of drags but feel bad about throwing the stick. In such a scenario roll a light one and that's it. This way we can control how much tobacco goes inside us.

Of course quitting is the best policy!

[Surprise]

Got into this thread after a very very long time while searching for a different purpose....went through previous threads n bit of searching to find out my quitting date...looks like its 7.5 Yrs since my last puff -

Many tempting situations & reasons to give rebirth for that habit in this journey...I knew just one puff is enough to get into that habit again in full swing. Hope to continue this journey -

[Thad E Ginathom]

I like the avatar: soaring up there in the clean air!

After twenty years, I don't really get tempted, but I do suspect that a puff or two could undo all that positive history. Also very necessary to avoid any product that might contain tobacco, like paan.

I gather there is a new craze: not smoking nicotine, but vaporising and inhaling it. Comes with the added allure of gadgets, much as smoking, for me, came with that of rolling my own. I would not go near that either: just another method of getting, or staying, addicted.

[PapaBravo]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Frankly, logical, or even sensible, stuff never worked for me. I was never sensible about money, nor was I careful about health, and if the TV programs showing tar-blackened lungs upset me, I'd have a cigarette to get over it.

ok, ... But smoking is stupid.

I stubbornly smoked through coughs, colds, sore throats, and even through a couple of more serious attacks of bronchitis. Even when it hurt, I smoked.

Heck, I was so stupid that it is a wonder that I ever gave up!

I can totally relate to you sir. It is exactly the same case with me. I am quite angry at myself for not quitting the stick. Its just not me, but I feel really bad for my family that they have to suffer indirectly due to my smoking. Smoking has taken toll on my health too. I have tried two times before but got back on in two three days. I have been smoking 10 cigs a day for the past 11 years. Don't really know how to quit ?

Regards

[Thad E Ginathom]

It's simple: you have to really mean it!

Honest, there is no other way. You can use stuff like patches, e-cigs, whatever, to ease the path, but only your decision counts for anything in the end --- and you are still a "smoker" until you finish with all that nicotine.

Remember the joke: Giving up smoking is easy: I've done it lots of times.

It's your decision...

[KevinP]

Hi All,

I managed by using E-cigs. Did some research and studies show that, its the hand to mouth sensation and the deep breath that one takes when inhaling that is what makes quitting hard, not so much the Nicotine.

Been smoke free for 5 years now, not using Ecigs much either dont really crave for it. I actually hate the smell of Tobacco now.

Basically you will only quit when you want to quit!

[sabsubs]

Hi all, it's been almost 2 months since I have touched a cigarette. I quit the habit very gradually. It came down to 5 a day then 2 a day then one a day and eventually one a week. 15 years of smoking that started from my college days. But for the part 3 years I had smoked a lot. Daily dose used to be between 10 to 15. Even today there was an urge to smoke. But some how over came the urge. I think now I can stop it permanently. Feeling great.

[shailu]

I started smoking in mid 90's . Off-late although i tried to give up smoking i was not successful. Every thing changed on June 23rd at 10 am when i started the day at office i had slight discomfort in chest and in matter of minutes i had unbearable pain. I was struggling to breath and was profusely sweating. I knew in minutes i was having a Heart Attack. I was Rushed to the Hospital were doctor confirmed it and was hospitalized for the next one week. 3 Blocks were found and i had to be installed with 2 Stent's (Balloon) .

"Do you Smoke?" was the question i was asked by the doctors and nurses in Emergency ward and in ICU and later on too.

It's been a month i am still recovering and i request any one who reads this (if you smoke) to quit smoking as it will burn your heart and your pocket . I had to spend 6.2lakhs to the hospital.

[nowwhat?]

Originally Posted by shailu

It's been a month i am still recovering and i request any one who reads this (if you smoke) to quit smoking as it will burn your heart and your pocket . I had to spend 6.2lakhs to the hospital.

Heart-wrenching to hear about this. Out of curiosity, how old are you?

[noopster]

This is a very interesting read exploring the origins of addictions. As a recovering smokaholic (5 years clean now) I can relate to it pretty well.

It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned -- and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction by our teachers and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true. Until I set off three and a half years ago on a 30,000-mile journey for my new book, Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs, to figure out what is really driving the drug war, I believed it too. But what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong -- and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it.

Link: http://huff.to/1S5bu2A