Smoking

[CBright7831 0]

I've been smoking since August of last year and this is truely one of the hardest things in recent memory I've had to do. I've tried over and over and over again and I've done a good job at times, but it seems everytime I get upset I go back to my pack of Marlboro Reds. Any advice? Do the patches or gum work? HELP!!!

[Carnival 0]

don't quit

[theintensifier 0]

You've been smoking for under a year, shouldn't be that hard. Try smoking for nearly a decade.

[theintensifier 0]

My old man is 56 and had been smoking since he was 13, and he quit cold turkey last year.

[Hoff 0]

Oh yeah, no doubt it'll be easy as pie. Addiction is addiction, and six weeks is the figure I always hear thrown around as far as "how long does it take something to become habit." So, yeah, he's probs just as fucked as anyone who tries to quit (your superuncle notwithstanding -- it's very hard for most people).

 

CBright, I myself quit cold turkey, so I won't be much help, BUT I've heard great things about that "QuitPlan" by one of the insurance companies (Blue Cross, maybe). So you should see if you can get on that. I *thought* I heard it was "available to anyone," but I'm not sure.

 

http://quitplan.quitnet.com/p/quitplan/triage.jtml

 

Good luck.

[Guest]

My parents smoke, so that was my deterrent, but if I were you I'd give it up cold turkey. My parents have tried to do it every other way but that one and it didn't work for them. If you have strong willpower, you'll be able to do it. Otherwise it won't be so easy.

[Darth Vader 0]

I heard the best way is to cut your daily cigarette intake in half, do that for about a month and then just stop. Plus I always believe that heavy uncontrolable smoking is accompanied by some sort of anxiety problem, you might want to explore the bigger issue first.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Or boredom. Find something else to occupy free time or periods of driving.

[Red Baron 0]

My Dad quit cold turkey, but my mom chewed bubble gum instead.

[luke-o 0]

Quiting is a pain in the ass, ive been trying to do so for 2 years.

 

I find it's easier if your not round people who smoke.

[Guest Vitamin X]

All of the above suggestions are good, but personally I always just limit myself to thinking that I'm wasting too much of my personal cash on a pack of cigs when I can use those $5 or whatever on something else, something more productive. Hell, someone I know even recommended a solution based on that- everytime you want to buy a pack of cigs and decide not to, put $5 aside in a little box, piggybank, or account. After you've quit successfully, take that money out and spend it on something cool for yourself. You'd be amazed how much you have saved up.

 

I have extraordinarily strong willpower apparently, because I was able to quit both crystal meth and nicotine cold turkey. For me, it was just a matter of looking at myself and if what I was doing to the one body I'll ever have is going to be worth it this young.

[Black Lushus 0]

Or boredom. Find something else to occupy free time or periods of driving.

 

that's kinda funny...my wife sometimes takes drives just so she CAN smoke. (she won't smoke around the kids)

[EricMM 0]

Being around smokers seems to be a big thing because a girl I know who is consistantly TRYING to quit seems to relapse every time she goes out of time to see old friends who invariably smoke.

 

The fact is that its much less the physical addiction than it is the mental one, I think. At least that's what she says, and I imagine it must be since she at the ripe age of what, 21, has been trying to quit for what seems like years.

 

Me? I never started. Thank God.

[Hoff 0]

Or boredom. Find something else to occupy free time or periods of driving.

 

that's kinda funny...my wife sometimes takes drives just so she CAN smoke. (she won't smoke around the kids)

I used to do that as well. Almost never smoked around any of my non-smoking friends and family.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Considering everything else I've been addicted to, smoking ain't so bad. Legal too.

[luke-o 0]

Me? I never started. Thank God.

 

Good lad.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

I never started smoking. I just eat lollipops when I need phallic symbols protruding from my mouth.

 

CBright, what drove you to start? I'm guessing you're in your late teens, early twenties, so it's not like you picked it up in high school like most smokers I know. VX's idea about setting aside the money you'd otherwise allocate toward carcinogens is pretty good to me, and as for the rest of it, just try to chew a lot of gum and keep yourself busy, like Kotz said. I guess I really didn't add anything to the thread, which is probably for the better, because if I went on my usual anti-smoking tirade, people would just get pissed at me, call me a loser, and tell me smoking is cool.

 

EDIT: I chew pencils too. I think I have some really bad oral fixation. I'd be a prime candidate for smoking if it didn't kill my grandfather.

[snuffbox 0]

You wont be cool anymore, Cbright.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

As a child (circa elementary school), I would chew straws something fierce. I eventually broke myself of that habit, though, even in my adulthood, if I let my mind wander while holding a to go cup from a fast food joint, I'll start doing it again. Only briefly, but it still happens occasionally.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

I picked up straw-chewing when I'd get really nervous before performances and my mouth would get really dry. Concerts, I was good to go, but that stupid solo/ensemble thing ruined me.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Or boredom. Find something else to occupy free time or periods of driving.

 

This is the best advice given in the thread.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I can't help on the quitting spectrum, but to cut back...switch to some disgusting, NASTY cigarettes...like Marlboro Lights. They're awful in every which way - smell, taste, even the FEEL of them - which should help be a deterrent. Oh, and keep yourself occupied. It does help if you try to stay in areas where smoking is prohibited.

 

If that doesn't help...get a cigarette case. A small, cheap one. Put only 5 or 8 AT MOST in it, and that's your allowance for the day (that is if, say, you're a pack-a-day smoker).

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I've known people who've tried quitting via nastier cigarettes; they found they got used to the taste of them and ended up smoking just as much as before.

[snuffbox 0]

Start smoking unfiltered Camels.

[haVoc 0]

I quit using the patch. I called one of these NYS quit smoking hotlines I kept seeing on TV and they gave me a free months supply of patches. Two weeks of the 21mg and two weeks of 14mg. I lied and told them I smoked a pack in a half a day and failed countless times trying to quit to make sure I was eligible for the free patches. I actually smoked close to a pack a day.

 

The patches took away a lot of the cravings. Breaking the daily habit of lighting up in different situations was the hardest part. Not having a cigarette in my hand while drinking coffee and alcohol was the real bitch.

[theintensifier 0]

Cigarettes are just....I don't know the proper word to decribe it, but they are just ____ with coffee/alcohol/driving/etc.

[BUTT 0]

Well my mom was able to quit by getting pregnant

And my dad was able to quit by having a stroke

 

I wouldn't recommend either method

[vivalaultra 0]

I started smoking at the age of 13. I've never drank or done any recreational drugs and, by my figurin', everybody has to have a vice. I started out smoking Camels, all varities of Camels-Wides, Regulars, Filtered, Unfiltered, Reds...Reds are the best. Then I used to smoke Marlboro Reds because that's what my Mom smoked and I could swipe a pack from her discretionaly. So, I smoked those for a while. Then, I went back to Camel because they'd send me the best coupons every month ($5 or $10 off a carton). My girlfriend's been hounding me to quit, so I met her halfway and switched to lights, which I find doesn't really work because I just smoke twice as much. But, yeah, if ya wanna quit, just start doing something else with your mouth. Try chewing gum or eating mints. It'll make your breath smell good and it won't give you cancer.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

I started smoking at the age of 13. I've never drank or done any recreational drugs and, by my figurin', everybody has to have a vice.

This is as Texan as fuck, right here.

[theintensifier 0]

Not really. He would've had to say he drinks his body weight in alcohol daily.