[Aberlour10]

I have managed to give it up after many unsuccessful tries. I suppose that more than 70% "Water Coolers" dont smoke, is it right? We will see.

Robert

[Winstonm]

I fully believe genuine cigarette addiction should fall into the same category as alcoholism or narcotic drug addiction in that you are never cured, never an ex-user but at best a user who is not using right now.

The addiction to nicotine is the most powerful addiction known to man, worse than heroin addiction, so anyone who has successfully given up tobacco is to be congratulated. Ask any real cigarette addict who has quit for a number of years and he will tell you the urge to smoke never completely goes away - even after the years and years of non-use.

The only difference is that it gets easier to tell yourself, no.

[Aberlour10]

Absolutely true, word by word.

[kenberg]

I started smoking when I was 14. This would be 1953. The claim that cigarette companies kept it a secret that smoking was bad for you is complete bullshit. You just had to look around and see the smokers hacking away. Or check your wind after you have been smoking a while. But I did it anyway. Stupid? Sure.

Even stupider: My father had a stroke the year before. The doctor convinced him he should give up the cigarettes. He did so. This might have been a clue. I ignored it.

My mother, who did not quit, died an agonizing death from cancer about ten years later. My father, who stayed off the weed, lived on another 25 years. He died of circulatory problems. The surgeon said he could tell my father had once been a smoker and there were residual effects that contributed to his death.

I quit several times, the last time in the early eighties after I developed some vision problems that I attribute to smoking (the doctors had mixed views on this).

I have a couple of friends who still smoke. I hate to see it. One of them is fatalistic about it, the other believes he is exempt from consequences.

We all do stupid things. But to anyone still smoking, I really urge you to give some thought to it. I like living, and even more than that I like living with my parts attached and my lungs functioning. Tell the Marlboro Man to go ***** himself.


Best wishes,
Ken

[Winstonm]

I have been clean now for 11 months and 14 days, but who's counting, right? What is weird is that now the only problems I have are psychological urges, but in some ways those are more difficult to deal with than physical urges.

I find that my mind wants to recapture that "rush" of physical sensations that are released when you take a hit after a long period of being without - yet I have to work to remind myself of the myriad of negatives that outweigh those initial seconds of euphoria. Once you can remember how bad it was, it gets easier to brush aside those temptations from your mind.

If you are a cigarette smoker who finds all kinds of reasons to keep on smoking, realize those excuses are no different that the self-lies junkies and meth addicts tell themselves for using their drugs of choice.

[PassedOut]

I never smoked tobacco, probably because I had childhood asthma and got very lung-conscious.

Both my mom and dad smoked, but my dad gave it up when he was 40: He decided to quit when he found himself smoking 3 cigarettes before breakfast. My mom could never quit, and she died 17 years before my dad.

My wife Constance smoked from age 14 to 30 (she thought the "cool" girls in her school all smoked). She picked the day and place she would quit exactly one year earlier. We planned to marry, and she did not want to be smoking when pregnant, nor with kids breathing that smoke (or seeing her as an example).

But she also says that the urge never completely disappears.

[Phil]

My Mom died of lung cancer at 49.

I have never smoked cigarettes.

[Lobowolf]

kenberg, on May 2 2009, 06:40 PM, said:

Tell the Marlboro Man to go ***** himself.

He died of lung cancer in his early 50's, 15 or 20 years ago.

[mikeh]

A friend of mine tells me that in the hospital in which he worked, the lung cancer ward was referred to as marlborough country.

One grandfather, a smoker, died early of lung cancer, on the other side, both grandparents died in their sixties of heart problems... both were smokers, and the only non-smoking grandparent lived to be 99.

I smoked a cigarette at age 8 or so... my grandmother (the one who died early) made me smoke it in order to make me sick. Crude, maybe, but I never afterwards had any temptation to smoke.

[babalu1997]

my father smoked throughout my childhood, so lots of second hand smoke for me

in 1990 i was living in a remote location, and he came to visit me for 6 weeks

he had some cigarettes with him

when the cigarettes ran out he asked me where to buy some
i did not know where to buy them and we walked around the food store and even a bar, saw none

he spoke no english so asked no one

he did not smoke, but did remark he saw no one smoking

only the english expatriates smoked

he has not smoked since

later i found out they did sell cigarettes

they kept them locked underneath the counter with the condoms

[mike777]

"they kept them locked underneath the counter with the condoms"


cigs and condoms under lock and key...what year was this and where, 1990??

and now in 2009 people advocate that all drugs be legal......

beer....crack cocaine...harder stuff..np. Just be 21 or over and go down to your local corner drug bar.

I grant I grew up where if I had been 21 I could walk 300 feet and get all the legal cigs and hard whiskey I wanted.

[matmat]

watching captain kangaroo.

[Aberlour10]

Winstonm, on May 2 2009, 06:51 PM, said:

I have been clean now for 11 months and 14 days, but who's counting, right?

I am counting myself ( 23 months & a few days) because it was a long and really hard way.

[pigpenz]

left one out how about I dont smoke cigarettes but smoke pot

[sireenb]

I once managed to stop for 5 years, then started again

I got a terrible allergy when I stopped. If I was within 20 metres of a cigarette my eyes would start watering non-stop. When I started smoking again my eyes were fine.

I am considering giving up again but want to lose a lot of weight first because when I quit last time I gained 10 kilos in no time!

It is a terrible habit and stopping is very difficult. Anybody who never started is very lucky.

[hanp]

Very nice thread, congrats to all that have managed to quit.

I never smoked.

[dicklont]

sireenb, on May 3 2009, 04:45 PM, said:

I am considering giving up again but want to lose a lot of weight first because when I quit last time I gained 10 kilos in no time!

Do it as soon as possible sireenb.
Don't wait until you lose weight, that may take a long time.

Start exercising right away, swimming, walking, running.
It's easier to do something else instead of not doing something.
Sports will take your mind of the cigarettes, give you back some air and help you control your weight.
When you gain a little weight anyway, deal with that later.

[jdonn]

I have always justified not smoking by not wanting to spend the money. It's a relatively dumb reason but hey whatever works. A better reason would be watching my grandfather have 3 heart attacks, burn down his house, and die of lung cancer.

I do have a cigar about once a year when the mood strikes, which is not often enough to addict me to anything so I equate it to an occasional unhealthy meal.

Winstonm, on May 2 2009, 06:10 PM, said:

I fully believe genuine cigarette addiction should fall into the same category as alcoholism or narcotic drug addiction in that you are never cured, never an ex-user but at best a user who is not using right now.

Or gambling?

[gwnn]

How much do cigarettes cost in the US? Here it's like 2$ a pack and is going to rise to about 4$ I think due to taxes. That is quite high for our standards of wages. Jdonn's reason is especially compelling to our students.

[kenberg]

sireenb, on May 3 2009, 09:45 AM, said:

I once managed to stop for 5 years, then started again

I got a terrible allergy when I stopped. If I was within 20 metres of a cigarette my eyes would start watering non-stop. When I started smoking again my eyes were fine.

I am considering giving up again but want to lose a lot of weight first because when I quit last time I gained 10 kilos in no time!

It is a terrible habit and stopping is very difficult. Anybody who never started is very lucky.

Weight is an issue. So is the problem with your vision.

Vision: I also had problems with my eyes from second hand cigarette smoke after I quit. But my vision problems began when I was smoking and I still think there was something going on there. The following, I think, is very possible: The reaction you get to ambient smoke when you are not smoking is an indicator of how your body reacts to cigarettes. When you are actively smoking the body finds ways of adjusting, but that is not at all the same as saying that your body is really coping. Covering up is not coping.

Weight: I never had weight problems when I was young. The vision problems I had were treated with heavy doses of prednisone and I have had weight problems ever since. Exercise works for me in dealing with them, especially hiking and long walks. I can't say it is the route for everyone but I enjoy exercise so if I just overcome the inertia I am fine.

It's not just that cigarettes will kill you. They reduce your ability to live life fully and the endgame is often awful. We are all going to die, but there are ways to live and ways to die. I don't usually tell people what to do, but I hope you will give some thought to what seems to me to be a very clear course of action. Dump em.