How did you quit? Why did you quit?

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: DoeEyed

Thank you, I will probably try that after I conquer this. My next "plan" was to quit smoking in the car.

Poor DoeEyed ... I feel your pain, & then some. I have been smoking since ... well, let's just say a long, long time. I have made 3 very serious efforts in the last 5 years ... going to Smoke Enders Clinics etc.

It didn't work for me (because of me) but I do know what does work from the people I've seen quit & what I've learned at the clinics. One thing I know for sure ... you can't quit gradually ... I've tried that dozens of times.

If you have cigarettes in your house, or car, you will never quit, because you will always find a reason (as I did) to just have one more. The patches & gum help as well as pills to calm you down. But, you've got to pick out a day & throw those cigarettes out.

I hope God gives you a little more will power than I had. [8|]

[fasteddie]

I started smoking when I was about 12 years old . My playmates and myself would take turns snagging a pack of cigs from our Dad's . We thought it was cool to smoke. I smoked in school even though I played sports. When I went to Boot Camp at Parris Island in 1959 , I didn't smoke for the 1st 8 weeks but started up again because that was the only time you could talk . I smoked about a carton a week even after I got out of the Corps .
My wife and I tried quiting together one time when we were on vacation . We were driving each other nuts until we bought some cigarettes .
In the spring of 1979 , my Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer . He had smoked all his life (Lucky strikes , then Pall malls and then Phillies cigars) . He was receiving Chemotherapy and dreaded each time he went for it . I tried to taper off on my smoking and my wife had quit about 5 years earlier . My dad died November 11, 1979 at the age of 66 . My mother , my 4 sisters and myself were in the hospital room when my Father took his last breath . I really miss him !
We use to be able to smoke almost anywhere at work . I would leave my cigarettes in my desk but would always be reaching in my pocket out of habit . At home , I would only smoke in the basement or outside . Christmas & New Years was approaching . We had two 4 day weekends coming up . I figured if I could make it through that , maybe I could kick the habit .
At 8 am December 24 , 1979 , I opened a pack of cigarettes and was smoking on my back deck in about 30 degree weather . I thought , what the hell am I doing . I tossed the cigarette , threw the rest of the pack in the wood stove and never smoked again . Quitting smoking was about the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life (so far) . My Dad never saw all of his Grandkids . I want to see mine !

[mightyfofaad]

ORIGINAL: DoeEyed

Ok, any previous smokers or tobacco users on here? How long did it take you to quit and how did you do it? Did you start feeling better right away? Breathe easier? Less tired? How did you handle stress?

Okay ... it's 10 months now ... didja quit? Still smoke free? [8|]

[Wanderer]

My wife and I both smoked all of our adult lives. I smoked non-filters to the tune of 4 packs a day. In 2002, my wife and her girlfriend decided to quit smoking on the 4th of July. "Freedom from tobacco" was their battle cry. They bugged me to quit along with them and I finally said that I would, more to shut them up than anything else. I saw my doctor and got one prescription for patches and another for Zyban. We had a big party on the evening of the 3rd of July. Several bottles of 50 year old scotch were involved. Upon arising on the 4th of July, I remembered my promise to quit so I went to open my Zyban pills. The instructions said to begin taking them one week before you quit. Ooops, I can't do that. I put on a patch and went outside to mow the lawn. I got sweaty and the patch fell off. I put it back on with duct tape. It fell off again. (Alabama summers can be brutal). I headed to where I'd left my smokes a couple of times but never lit one up. We were having a pool party at our house that day. Three other couples came over about 1:00 o'clock. One couple, Mike and Jennifer, both smoked. My wife and her "quitting buddy" both lit up at about 4 o'clock. Oh well, they tried, they said. They brought me my cigarettes and an ash tray about 4:30 and said you might as well smoke one too. I guess that pissed me off. "You don't think that I can stay quit?" was my reply. That was going on 8 years ago and I'm still smoke free. Yeah, my wife still smokes and THAT pisses me off too. It's pretty hard to stay quit with people around you smoking. I guess you just have to reach a point where you're ready to quit. I don't want to ever go back to cigarettes, but it still smells good to me when someone else lights up. My sense of smell has returned in spades. So here I am a non-smoker married to a smoker. Six of my seven kids smoke. I hope they'll all give it up eventually.

[69Viking]

Some good stories here, Wanderer that's pretty crazy that you ended up quitting and the ones who encouraged you didn't.  I have never smoked but have two parents who smoked, my Mom quit when she got Breast Cancer and thankfully she survived it and still lives today smoke free.  I saw enough as a kid to know I didn't want to smoke, saw the hole Cancer ate through the side of my Aunt's neck before you passed away.  I think that was the one single moment that made sure I didn't smoke. 
 
Great stories everyone, it's good to know so many of you have made the commitment to quit.  Now if we could only get it through to the kids of today just how dangerous smoking is.  I'm amazed at the number of young kids smoking again these days.  I think schools need to do more at a young age to deter smoking in kids.  Show them the pictures and videos of what it can do when they're young, so what if they cringe, they need to get the message early in life so they can make the right decision when peer pressure is forced onto them. 
 
Holly I hope you are winning your fight to quit.  I know I don't smoke but I think it really comes down to will power. 

[scotman]

25 years of Copenhagan a can a day.

I had a newborn coming, I thought I might want to be around to see her grow up, so I quit. I took the $5 a day and put in in an envelope, it added up FAST.
I really had no problems day to day. However, when drinking ...well you know the whole drinking and tobacco thing goes. So I stopped drinking (it was usually a Saturday only) and had no serious urge.
Oh for about a year I would get an urge out of the blue, then after another year it was less.
Now 4 years past I have no urge.

Cold turkey, its the only way for me.

Good luck

ORIGINAL: Sailfish

25 years of Copenhagan a can a day.

I had a newborn coming, I thought I might want to be around to see her grow up, so I quit. I took the $5 a day and put in in an envelope, it added up FAST.
I really had no problems day to day. However, when drinking ...well you know the whole drinking and tobacco thing goes. So I stopped drinking (it was usually a Saturday only) and had no  serious urge.
Oh for about a year I would get an urge out of the blue, then after another year it was less.
Now 4 years past I have no urge.

Cold turkey, its the only way for me.

Good luck

I quit drinking cold turkey the whole "you see snakes" is real. But smoking I have tried and tried to quit but can not manage to stop. Tried the patches, the gum and any other gimmick.  Even tried to take up chewing instead becuase I rather have strong lungs. Nothing has worked. 37 now I am hoping to quit by the time I am 40. Maybe this coming year will be the year.

[Ohio farms]

I was in 5th grade when me and Danny B. wrote a note from his mother so the store would sell us a pack of Kents. We went behind the school and smoked em. I didn't smoke another cigarette until I was in my early teens. I'm 62 now and quit 8 years ago. (actually, I quit many, many times over the years, but it never lasted) I finally quit cold turkey. It was the hardest thing that I ever did, but I feel so much better now and may even live a little longer. The hardest part was that I could not imagine myself never having a smoke again...the thought frightened me. I fought off the urges ONE AT A TIME. The urge will go away, but it will come back. Keep fighting it one at a time. Cutting back on your smoking is just putting it off. Nothing will make it easier. We all know better than to smoke...I was a nurse for 32 years for crying out loud.
Good luck to all of you who are trying to stop.

[fasteddie]

I posted earlier about quitting cold turkey . I had quit just over 30 years a go . One of my son in laws was smoking up to 2 packs a day . He bought an "electronic" cigarette and no longer smokes actual cigs . The electronic cig gives him niccotine but not the carcinogens that cause cancer . It has some water vapor that come out giving the illusion that it is smoke . He may take 3 - 4 puffs and then put it away . In NY , a pack of cigs costs $7.28 a pack . They were $5.25 a carton when I quit .

[metrx]

I never smoked, thank God.  My dad (now 66 years old) smoked since he was 15, up to two (2) packs a day, and for a long time, Pall Mall filterless cigarettes.  I remember as a kid him bitching about cigarettes getting expensive...saying that when they hit $1.00 a pack he's quitting...lol.  Well, three years ago in October, he found a drop of blood in the toilet after going to the bathroom...sure enough, he had bladder cancer.  (very common with smokers).  If you think about it, all those cigarette carcinegins you swallow while you're smoking.  He had life saving surgery.  They took out his bladder, prostate, ureathra and a foot of small intestines.  He has to wear a bag to urinate now, but he's alive.  That was the only hunting season he missed in over 40 years of hunting.  Well he quit cold turkey and hasnt touched one since.  I'm thankful and so is he...he would have never got to enjoy his 4th grandkid, my son who is now 5 months old and a future hunter.  Funny thing though...my mom, as upset as she was through the whole thing...still smokes.  I guess it is tough to quit.
 
I know there are people out there who say you could die today getting hit by a car or they know people who smoked 60 years and were healthy as n ox...whatever.  Why put yourself at risk.  Guys...do whatever you can to quit, it will probably save your life, money and add years of enjoyment to your life.  Good luck.   

[bowhuntr15]

Cold turkey!  I smoked for 20 yrs.  I was blessed by simply saying enough was enough.  Yes, it was difficult, bet possible.  I did wanted to help be around for my little one, and I wanted prevent being like a hunting friend that smokes, caughs, and never has shot a deer in his 15 yr. try at bowhunting.  Seriously, to many factors that can kill us, I just wanted to get rid of one.  Good luck to all who want to quit!