Quit Smoking support thread

[Unkle_John]

This thread is for those of us who want to quit smoking. The idea is for us to help motivate one another and offer support throughout the process.
Whether you choose to quit cold turkey or ween yourself off cigarettes on a gradual basis, this is the place to check in with others who are going through the same thing as you are.

I propose that we each post letting everyone know how we choose to approach quitting and what steps we are taking to reach our goal of becoming smoke free.

They say that the bet way to quit is to pick a quit date...a date that you hope to be cigarette free by. I also suggest that if you choose to quit gradually, you post as often as possible and offer your daily cigarette count.

If you have any suggestions, or helpful hints, please feel free to post them here.

Good luck to everyone who embarks on this journey.

I am quitting b/c a few weeks ago my father has stage 4 Lung cancer from smoking cigars. It's so far advanced they can't remove his lung and he has to do chemotherapy. I don't want to go through that and I urge you all not to either.

[Unkle_John]

So far I have been 4 weeks tobacco free.

[CowboyHippy]

this is a thought, even though i dont smoke and rarely drink

I make chainmaille (like old armor) its idiot simple, cheap as hell and this past year at the ren fes i chatted with a guy who dropped the phrase it's what got him to stop smoking. it is time consuming and somewhat hypnotic.
his shirt was still in progress, but i am on my 6th and this one is 1/4 inch stainless steel 16 ga

here's some ultra useful links
http://www.chainmailconnection.com/
http://www.theringlord.com/

[Unkle_John]

What phrase is that?

[LIBRA]

What phrase is that?


who dropped the phrase "it's what got him to stop smoking".

I think he ment this phrase, you silly stoner, LOL :39: :ehaha

[Unkle_John]

:38:
D'oh!

[CowboyHippy]

who dropped the phrase "it's what got him to stop smoking".

I think he ment this phrase, you silly stoner, LOL :39: :ehaha

Ahem "chainmail is what got me to quit smoking"

hopefully ya'll be able to see the photo, this is me in my last galvanized shirt, cost less than $15 to make in materials, just a lot of hours

http://b4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01536/46/93/1536613964_l.jpg

[Unkle_John]

THAT, is freekin' AWESOME!

HUZAH!!!! :cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Hippie Staff]

that is way cool!!! That must of taken a long time to make??

I like the mystery vans too. :p

BTW - It's Saturday, and I'm here to show my support for Unkle John and his efforts to quit smoking. Go John!! (looking for a happy lung animation to post ..there should be such a thing for this type of occassion.)

[CowboyHippy]

it takes a while, i never smoked but it does kinda get you in a one track mind zone where you dont want to do anything else, that took a few months, if i haul ass i can do one in a bout a month but with kids and ever increasing work duties it'll take a year or more to finish my stainless suit

[PEACE FROG]

Wow cowboy that is very impressive!!!!! Awsome talent.

[Unkle_John]

Well I'm on my last week of patches.

I have wanted a cig a few times, but found something else to occupy my mind with. I had a talk with JuJu (who's been having a problem not smoking ever) and I told her (again) why we are doing this. Life is short and depending on how you believe, you only live once. I told her I wanted to make the best of it and it wouldn't kill us if we had a smoke from a cigarette in the future (with a drink or two). We'll probably get an all natural tobacco, that way it will taste different that the last time we smoked and hopefully we will think twice about taking it up again.

[Hippie Staff]

Good Job John!!! Keep up the good fight.

[Unkle_John]

Today is a bad day.

I haven't been on the patch for a few days and I'm very crabby. I woke up angry, with a headache, and just in general lousy feeling. The drive to work was bad seeing that I feel like I only got 2 hours of sleep. What sad is like I'm a passenger and can only tell myself to do something but can do it.

I was almost nasty to a fellow member of this board. I wrote and deleted 3 replies to their response until I threw my hands up and said "eff it". I feel ashamed of how I feel right now and what I might have said in public. I'm not someone who needs to be getting into debates about my beliefs or anything I boycott, protest, or whatever. I'm afraid I will say the wrong thing and not realize it.

Something like this:
:35: :smilie_lo :53:

[LIBRA]

Well, its either say what you feel or break down and smoke. SO SPILL IT!! lol

Im kidding, I know how you feel though. That should be reason enough for you to say screw smoking, look how it can control and enable you. Its scary.

You can do it!!!!! Just try and find a zen like place in your head, a smoke free place.

[Unkle_John]

November is National Lung Awareness Month. Everyone’s home needs to be tested for radon. The U.S. government has set the radon action level at 4.0 picocuries per liter of air (pCi/L). If you are living with a high level, mitigation is quick and easy.

Go to www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html to find out how to get a radon test kit from your state or go to your local hardware store. Visit www.cansar.org to see other non-smokers affected by radon-induced lung cancer. http://www.epa.gov/radon/zonemap.html

Lung cancer takes the lives of about 162,000 each year among which are about 21,000 preventable deaths due to radon exposure. Please let me speak for those who no longer can and urge you to use this November to test for radon; it may be the month to save your life or that of your loved one.

[Peace&&love]

everyone has great ideas!!

i thought i would add my thoughts also.

i have been smoking for about a year and a half now and im not going to lie, it is completely Nauseating.

i have been wanting to quit now for about a month.

so my plan:
my new years resolution is going to be:

QUIT SMOKING!!
yay. i will tell you all how it goes

[crazylegs]

I smoked from age 18 to 26. I could never really handle more than about 10 to 15 cigs a day. What finally got me to quit was my wife(then my gf) nagging me.:) Since I wasn't smoking much toward the end it wasn't all that hard but did take a commitment. I think it's one of the more important accomplishments I have made. I think it's a really good thing to do, not just for your health, but also for developing your will. If you can quit smoking, look how much power you can marshal for anything else you want to do with your life. Essentially you become a stronger person.

For many years after that I still had dreams of smoking. Then in the dream I would feel terribly guilty. I had one other cigarette. I was at a gathering where a bunch of guys were standing around smoking. I bummed one and during the time I smoked it I realized what nicotine does. For the brief time that you smoke and maybe a little afterward, it anesthetizes you. You feel at ease, content. Where previously I had thought the conversation was kind of dull, I enjoyed being there, just hanging out, shooting the breeze. And then it was over and I was back in the real world.

As for your idea of having a smoke now and then at parties, I wouldn't recommend it. As long as you think of it as some kind of reward or way to have fun, your subconscious will focus on it and keep you tied to it. Better just to put it away for good and be done with it. That's my view anyway. Also I think sometimes people decide to quit smoking and then continue hanging around people who smoke or places where smoking happens. If so, they're still essentially smoking even if it isn't their own cigarette. Sometimes change involves a lot more than just altering a single behavior.

[5littlehippies]

okay so I started a stop smoking support thread on PD back on October 1st, I believe, and have ben posting there as I too have been trying to quit smoking. I figured since I am posting in this forum more, I should join this thread as well.

Well, I have been about 2 months without purchaseing cigarettes at all. This is good...although I still have undeniable urges from time to time. I have a friend or two who will let me bum a smoke in an extreme craving situation, but all in all I have been doing pretty well. I have had a lot of stress lately as I have been dealing with my thyroid being all out of whack, so I have given in here and there, but I don't ave more than 1 a week if that. The cravings are getting further apart and I think they should be pretty much gone all together in short order.

Oh yeah...i forgot to metionthat I started smoking at age 17. I quit during both of my pregnancies but started back up for some stupid reason. Anyway, I'm 34 now so that's pretty much almost 17 years of smoking. It really is a hard habit to break.

So, how are you doin' Unkle John?

[Unkle_John]

I haven't pressed my lips to a butt since we started the thread. I stopped keeping track of how long it's been. It's like I never smoked, i smell it at work and it doesn't make me want one, it's just another smell.

[5littlehippies]

kudos, my friend! I'm very proud of you!

[Unkle_John]

thank you very much. :)

[CowboyHippy]

I haven't pressed my lips to a butt since we started the thread. I stopped keeping track of how long it's been. It's like I never smoked, i smell it at work and it doesn't make me want one, it's just another smell.


hopefully before long it will get to be a revolting smell for you. shortly after we had our first shindig at the house we enected a 25 ft rule ban due to the stink

[PEACE FROG]

I haven't pressed my lips to a butt since we started the thread. I stopped keeping track of how long it's been. It's like I never smoked, i smell it at work and it doesn't make me want one, it's just another smell. Not only have I not pressed my lips to a butt I haven't smoked a cigarette either. Still lookin for the right butt.......

[Unkle_John]

Not only have I not pressed my lips to a butt I haven't smoked a cigarette either. Still lookin for the right butt.......


:) :o :D :confused:

[CowboyHippy]

:) :o :D :confused:

I figured someone was fishing for a comment with a setup like that...i wasn't gonne bite, he he he

[Unkle_John]

who...me? :D

[LIBRA]

Good job on the whole not sucking butts!!!! WHOOO HOOO!!

Im really happy for you!!

[butterflyDancer]

second day today.

[Unkle_John]

Congrats!!!

Hang in there if you are going cold turkey. I know it will be tempting, but go some yoga breathing exercises and it will help you get through it. I have had a few bouts with depression (work, dad, debt, etc), but still holding strong on not smoking a cigarette. I just think about how I wish my dad never smoked, though he did work in factories, but he'd be around longer to possibly see a grand child from me.