To those who quit smoking cigarettes recently

Thanks, BEAT LA.

To answer the question of why I had my first and why I had my second, it was because I didn't give a crap. I didn't care about dying and in many ways I still don't. As Elliott Smith sang, "I can't prepare for death and anyway I already have." I didn't care about poisoning myself; in fact, I sort of wanted to. And the idea of blowing poisonous smoke out into the world held a special charm for me because I was so angry with the world. Though I am not a particularly bad looking guy I felt ugly inside and I wanted to look and smell ugly outside. I also drank until I passed out, did every illegal drug there is at least twice, and was incredibly and incredibly irresponsibly promiscuous.

Then I broke my leg and couldn't walk for a year. During that year I became so depressed my girlfriend insisted I see a therapist, something I'd resisted my entire life though I knew I needed it if I was going to live much longer. And over a very long time I decided I wanted to live. I further decided that if I was going to live I wanted to feel better, physically yes but especially emotionally. For me that meant I had to get sober. It also meant intensive therapy and I still go twice a week. It also meant I had to go through a very difficult process of finding the right cocktail of needed medication. I take 7 different pills a day. I have to right now. One of them I will need to take the rest of my life, because I am bipolar and bipolar people don't have a chance without a mood stabilizer.

I don't know why I decided to make this such a TMI post. Let me bring it back to smoking and my difficulties with quitting.

I thought, on what was maybe my 50th attempt to quit, that I was doing really well with the patch. I finally really wanted to quit. And I didn't miss the hand-to-mouth stuff, the habitual cigs (after a meal, sex, whatever), the social aspect, none of that. I didn't miss smoking. For three months I didn't smoke and I barely had a craving. Then the patch regimen ended and I had no nicotine and I crashed. Bad.

I looked on the internet and found one site that claimed that there was a 97% recidivism rate for patch-only quitters. And I thought, ****. Then I saw that while, in general, less than 10% of people still smoke, the number for bipolar people was over 70%. And I thought, ****, these are not good stats for me.

So I saw my psychiatrist and I said I can't concentrate, I can't focus, I can't work. I don't want a cigarette but I need my concentration back. I trust my psychiatrist very much because she was a neurologist formerly and understands the brain pretty well. She said my problems with concentration would probably get a little worse before they got better and that given my condition(s), my brain chemistry and my medication, I shouldn't expect to really have my concentration back where it was for at least a year. And I said, I can't wait that long. I won't be able to do my job.

So I got the e-cig. Where once I smoked three packs a day (if I was awake, I was smoking) I'm now smoking the nicotine equivalent of about a third of a pack a day -- but without any of the tar or other chemicals. And as it turns out nicotine is actually good for concentration. Since I have very bad insomnia into the bargain I will need to quit caffeine before nicotine. And then I would like to quit nicotine as well.

That will leave me sober, smoke-free, caffeine-free, nicotine-free, nearly sugar-free (no soda, no candy, I don't like it) and vegan.

I never thought that would be the sort of life I'd regard to be worth living. But, for me (and everyone's different), it was my only chance at a worthwhile life.

I'm trying to go easy on myself with the nicotine though. I only broke my leg about three years ago and all this has happened since then. At least I don't stink anymore. More importantly, I don't want to.

 

I appreciate what Batman Jones is saying about e-cigs.

I am having huge success but I guesss success is relative. Started using them about 3 months ago. Throughout December I carried a pack of regular cigs while smoking the e-cigs...a "just in case" pack. Found I only smoke 3 r-cigs, so my new years resolution was to throw away that last pack.

To this day I have no desire to smoke a regular cigarette. None. And that is a huge success for me. Like Batman, my nicotine intake has dropped considerably too. Unlike Batman, I don't give a crap what smoking an e-cigs looks like to other people. I'm healthier. I don't smell. My taste buds are slowly coming back. I've gain 10 lbs. Considering what I'm gaining, how e-cigs looks is inconsequential.

But like religion/spirituality, (and opionions) everybody has their own style. E-cigs are working for me and it seems to be working for BJones. Patches worked for my other buddy. Cold turkey for others.

The idea is to JUST QUIT.

 

The last line of your post says it all, IMO. I think until you can say that to yourself and honestly mean it, quitting is a futile effort. I tried quitting and failed because I wasn't ready. I might have said I was ready, but I really wasn't.

My daughter was born premature and I watched as she struggled to breathe her first few days...I couldn't in good conscience go outside and purposely destroy my perfectly good lungs while she was inside an incubator just struggling to use hers. That was my 'epiphany' moment.

Best of luck to you and all of the others in this thread who are working to quit. Addiction, in any form, is a m-fer (except for the Best Ass thread. That has become a wonderful addiction of mine).

 

It's been a loooonnng time ago now (89?) but I vaguely recall it took about 4 weeks.

Remember - It will get easier or no one would ever quit. Stay with it and each day will get a little easier. Then before you know it you'll be giving smokers the face when they light up around you. j/k but it does stink.

 

I smoked for 15 years. at my peak was about a pack a day.

It took me 3-4 years to quit. But I wanted to quit and at the end, really wanted to quit. I think that's the key...when you are ready, you can overcome it. You have to be sick of how it makes you feel, smell, and cost. You have to realize that it doesn't relax you, its just that you are addicted and without it you get stressed out as a result of withdrawal systems...that normal people are relaxed without it.

If you are there, than my advise from my personal experiences is to keep trying. Don't worry if you cave and fall back. Just set another quit date and try again. It took me 9 times before I kicked it. And it got easier every time. You have to get good at quitting. Your first time may not succeed. You might cheat. You might start back up for 3 months.

That's ok. Just quit again and again and again. Eventually you will make it.

In the past 4 years I have smoked 3 cigarettes. Couldn't finish the last two. When I am drunk sometimes the old urge kicks in and I take one, light it up and then take a drag.... it tastes so foul and disgusting....and then I smile.

 

Tomorrow will be 1 month for me.

I have an e-cig that I have only refilled once, but its in my mouth all the time. I don't know if I can keep this up forever, just yesterday I'm sure that if my son wasn't in my car I would have bought a pack...or not, who knows. I'm working for 10 days straight beginning next Friday, if i make it through that span it will be a miracle.

Good luck to you guys.

 

Just switch to reefer.

seriously though, I'm not a tobacco addict so I can't offer much besides good luck wishes. So good luck kicking that nasty habit, I know many people who've gone thru it and it's never pretty.