Since many commenters shared how they quit smoking, here is how I did it. First off, I was a heavy smoker. I smoked a minimum of a pack-and-a-half a day, sometimes three packs if it was a bad day or I went drinking with the guys. And I didn’t smoke any of those sissy filter brands like Marlboros. I smoked Pall Malls. I started at 10, quit at 13, and started again at 14. When I was 28 and working for the Mattel Division Office Products Division of IBM, I took a call in a building where I had to walk up three flights of stairs. When I got to the top, I had to put down my tool bag and catch my breath. I told myself, “This is ridiculous. You’re 28 years old and huffing and puffing like an old man.” That’s when I decided to quit.
My mom smoked from her late teens to her late 40’s or early 50’s and she quit and gave me a few tips she learned from her smoking cessation class. I used a few of my own.
1. It was a New Year’s Resolution, prolly the only one I ever made. I told everyone I knew that I was quitting. That way, if I didn’t make it, I would look like an idiot. I also kept them informed. I remember one of my coworker’s wife was the branch manager’s secretary. Every time I saw her I told her how many days it had been since I had had a cigarette. She gave me a lot of encouragement. Her boss tried to quit at the same time. He didn’t make it.
There are two types of addiction to attack: psychological and physical.
2. I stayed away from smokers. Fortunately, I was living with a nonsmoker at the time so that helped. I quit eating lunch with my fellow workers ’cause many of them smoked. I definitely did not stop for drinks with the guys after work. That helped take care of the psychological addiction part.
3. Vitamin C. This tip came from my mom’s smoking cessation class. Vitamin C passes right through your body. It also attaches itself to nicotine. Therefore, it flushes nicotine out of your body. Get the nicotine out, there goes the physiological addiction. I would eat an orange every day on the way to work. I would drink orange juice.
After five weeks, I went drinking with the guys one night after work. I really wanted to ask one of my buddies for a cigarette, but I resisted. After that, I knew I had it licked. Also, after that, the smell of cigarette smoke started making me sick. I was out one night with a group of smokers and when I got home and pulled my T-shirt over my head, I gagged from the smell of smoke clinging to it.
Naturally, I started putting on weight and for the first few weeks I did a lot of hacking as my lungs were expelling all the accumulated crap from 14 years of smoking. That’s when I became a runner. I got my heart and lungs back in shape and kept the weight off. When you quit, the body immediately starts trying to repair itself. If you quit soon enough, there will be no after effects. My mother lived to her mid-80’s.
When I started smoking cigarettes were cheap, 20 cents a pack. In the Navy, they were $2 a carton, $1.10 overseas. I can’t believe what they cost now. That’s yet another reason I’m glad I quit. Anyway, thanks for listening as I shared my feelings with the loss of my friend. For those of you who have quit, congratulations. For those of you who want to and have failed, keep trying. Think of all the money you will save. And you won’t be one of those folks at work huddled outside in the cold feeding your habit.
My next challenge? Getting off the opiods prescribed to me for my foot pain. I think they are affecting my sleep and they have seemed to lose most of their effectiveness in curbing the pain. I’m almost off the hydrocodone and have also cut back on the methadone.
I’ve never smoked, and the health hazards are serious and obvious, so please don’t think I’m implying smoking is okay. I’m just mulling…
I’ve had the sense that until recently, the nicotine was part of America’s productive spirit. It seems to help people dig in and concentrate. This was fictionally exemplified in a modern Sherlock Holmes version, in which Holmes slaps on three nicotine patches while explaining, “This is a 3-patch problem!” Not to mention the prominent role of smoking in “Atlas Shrugged”. (Remember the cigarettes with the dollar sign logo?) Has the war on tobacco helped make us fatter and more indolent? I salute Denny for quitting cigarettes and then fighting the good fight against bloat, and also maintaining his work ethic. But how many end up merely substituting one vice for another? I don’t know the answer, but it’s an interesting question.
(I was vaguely interested in indulging in nicotine through patches or vapor, but that would probably be a bad idea due to the addiction factor, so I refrain.)
Are the artificially high prices of cigarettes a good thing, or are we just micromanaging private decisions? At least tobacco is mostly a personal vice (yeah, secondhand smoke may be an issue, but that can be addressed without a comprehensive ban on smoking). As opposed to, for example, booze, which makes some people likely to start throwing punches and the like. Or gambling, or pornography, or voting for Democrats. So many vices. On a political level, smokers are singled out for abuse and bullying.
Also, remember that guy, Eric Garner, who got choked to death by the New York police for selling “loosies”? He wasn’t a saint, but that was one black guy who died in police hands for whom I felt some sympathy. He was filling the niche created by the anti-smoking policies that raised prices. He died as a consequence of a government program designed to teach people the hazards of smoking. In that sense, I guess the program succeeded in demonstrating that smoking does indeed kill.
Oh, yeah, and of course Hitler was a militant anti-smoker. Also a vegetarian.
Thanks for sharing the story. Success stories can inspire a lot of others. Good luck on the opiods!
My mother smoked all her life, and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002. She had tried to stop many times, and just was unsuccessful in staying stopped. And it comes on fast. She had a chest x-ray in July which was completely clear and was found to have several spots right before Thanksgiving. I’ve nagged everyone I know to make them quit, and have been such a nag that all of my friends have quit. I’m so sorry for your loss!
Sometimes, all it takes is for someone to see pictures of a smoker’s lungs. I quit many, many years ago. Even though Mom quit after a bunch of years, she had emphysema much of her latter years. Endured one of those damned noisy oxygen generators that made it hard to visit her. Same with my father-in-law. Lost a couple aunts, uncles to smoking related cancer. It’s insidious. Down here in the islands, whenever I see a young person smoking, I jump on my high horse. F the tobacco companies.
My condolences, Denny.
Looking back, it certainly was a different world 50 years ago when almost every office, lobby, restaurant, retailer, school, etc. allowed smoking and/or had accommodations for smokers. It seemed that smokers were in the majority then. In the ’80s I worked at a drafting desk that had a built-in ashtray. I also remember how good my grandpa’s pipe tobacco smelled. However, I almost wretch when I am near the entrance to a Walmart or a Target today.
I remember the adults (especially the moms) in the neighborhood smoking and drinking in their garages or patios in the evenings. They seemed less uptight and neurotic than today’s soccer moms. They also were more mature; they could frankly talk politics and other adult subjects without having a hissy-fit. Many of them had a great sense of humor and could laugh at themselves. I’m not defending smokin’ and drinkin’ but they lived shorter and in some ways better lives.
Fractured my spine in a car accident.Was flat on my back in the hospital for 4 days before they could do their procedure . I ate Pain Pills like candy , and I could nor smoke what a bitch. I was a heavy smoker the Dr. Put me on the stop smoking patch. I can not remember what one, But every morning the nurse came in and changed it out. An older lady , She would put the patch on my arm . Then rub it lightly whispering softly this is going to work.she did not just slap in on and leave I think her bedside manor is why I had great success with the patch I was flat on my back for 7 days in the Hospital , and was in recovery for another 2 weeks when I got home. I smoked 1/2 of a cigarette after the accident. That was 1995. no other smoking other then the occasional weed
I remember as a child visiting a woman who was a heavy smoker all her life. I guess she was 60 or so and had a terribly gruff voice. She had drawn a line on her wallpaper to estimate how much money she spent on tobacco, so that she could stack the money up to that line. She estimated more than $40,000, this was when cigarettes were very cheap. Sure made an impression on me.
Also, we now know movie companies were paid to include smoking in their scenes – kind of a “fagola”. Look at movies made in the 30’s thru the 60’s and hardy a person comes into the scene without lighting up.
My father smoked most of his adult life until he was hospitalized for kidney stones and the hospital would not let him smoke in the room because of the oxygen tent. (yes, otherwise smoking in a hospital room was fine) Dad had some problems that prolonged the stay and when the nurse finally told him it was OK to smoke he said no and never smoked again. Mom also quit after some prodding.
I am sure that Dad’s quitting helped but he still died of heart disease at the age of 61.
I know of several people who quit by using Chantix. They said, by the end of the program putting a cigarette in your mouth tastes like you are scooping up dirt and taking a mouthful.
I smoked two cigarettes when I was 12, being the bad little juvenile delinquent. Pretty funny when I think of it now.
Denny…..Yep! Pall Malls were my favored smokes back in the days . My decision to quit was something I had been contemplating but got a boost when the entire department was having a hissy fit about no longer receiving change [two pennies] inside the cellophane wrapper when a pack of cigarettes was purchased from a machine.The department all quit smoking in protest
Looking back it was futile for everybody but me as I was the only one who quit for good. The price of Pall Malls then was 35 cents a pack from the machine, 33 cents a pack at the corner store. High Finance decisions do not cause anywhere near the consternation as does the cost for a smoke or a drink.
Pall Mall – anywhere from 1 to 5 packs/day. Started when I was 13-14 and continue to this day. I never had issues with being out of breath, although i did switch to camel filters when I was playing racquetball or riding my bike (my sweat would disolve the Pall Malls.) When I started, they were about $6/carton….now they’re $72/carton.
I messed around with smoking back in high school, but (thankfully) didn’t get hooked on it. One of the few bad habits I don’t have. Now, I am in my 60’s and glad as hell that I was never a smoker. People who smoke don’t realize how noticeable and repellent the residual smell of cigarette smoke is to those of us who don’t. I have heard it said by addiction experts that nicotine more addictive than cocaine and I believe it. I know people who have kicked drug and alcohol addictions, but can’t kick the cigarettes.
Congratulation on kicking the habit, it is not easy.
Yep, the old saw holds true… only thing worse than a reformed smoker is a religious zealot.
True. Except I don’t nag people (with the exception of this post). I never told my friend she should quit smoking. I wished that she would have but that was her decision, just like it is your decision.
OK, then, fair is fair. Two posts but, you ain’t nagging. This friend, who is responsible for the latest pining, was she a married woman, too?
I’ll reserve how the past you wanted to tax the shit out of smokers when weed wasn’t so freely flowing and now bigly taxable too.
Damn right AD. BUT, the tobacco Nazis love the tax money, don’t they?? Outlaw the damn things you rotten baztards!! They never will.
Nah, God gave us who are free to choose wtf we do in life, tax loopholes. This will be fun the more it is pursued.
Two posts in 15 years constitutes nagging? You sure are defensive. I guess that must come of being stuck in a stupid habit you can’t quit.
Nah not defensive, however, your two posts within a day highlights the good libertarian in you who advocated taxing the shit out of smokers for those fifteen years. Frankly put, you wield the hammer of government just like the Democratic Party who assumes anything it deems stupid must be controlled. Case in point, you want me to quit something I enjoy because your “feelz” are so important that they rise above all others who are considered “stupid.” Fuck that. Get over yourself.
If you’re not defensive, then why do you keep commenting? I don’t really care if you want to smoke or not. You’re addicted and can’t help yourself. I advocate cigarette taxes because it’s primarily poor and stupid people who smoke and I am all for those people paying “their fair share” of taxes. I’m actually hoping that those people continue to smoke so they continue to pay taxes. I don’t really give a shit about them. I’m also for the lottery since it’s also a tax on poor and stupid people. Here in Georgia, the lottery pays to send mostly white middle class kids to college in the form of Hope Scholarships. Poor people subsidize it. I don’t advocate controlling smoking as you think I do. I didn’t demand that my readers quit smoking. I begged them to so they would not have to die a horrible death or their loved ones would not have to see them die a horrible death. You are the only one who got all shitty about it like I pissed in your corn flakes and you for some reason took it personally. Sounds pretty darned defensive to me. Maybe subconsciously you realize you are an addict and am powerless so you have to lash out at someone.
Why do you keep commenting? Matter of fact, want to talk stupid, explain the chair.
Yep! Stupid. Admitted it. Got on with my life. My career at IBM took off since I didn’t want to be considered a Diversity (All Hail Diversity!) hire. I worked two full time jobs, 60 hour weeks, and did a lot of traveling. Wound up becoming incredibly rich. Even the people who hated me didn’t begrudge my advancement since they saw how hard I worked.
Look who commented first trying to justify his addiction, so the real question is why do you keep commenting? Like I keep saying. defensive.
Still avoiding? Still not explaining your story. You still bitch about tobacco users like a victim. Not a good look.
What? The story of my chair? Freak accident while cutting down a tree. I fell 12 feet and landed on my back. T12/L1 incomplete. Happy? Now that that deflection is over what is your next one going to be to avoid talking about how you are committing slow suicide and bragging about it? Paying voluntary taxes to Michigan and the US which are taxes on the stupid? I don’t bitch about tobacco users like a victim. That is in your imagination. Why would they be hurting me? They are only hurting themselves. You are still defensive about your addiction. You make a stupid comment about how you are choosing to die and then get all defensive when I point it out. You are the one acting like a victim. Oh poor me, Denny pointed out that I’m an addict and a little white cylinder is stronger than I am and I need to constantly deflect and then project and call him a victim. Dude. Get some help.
Yep, a freak. And a tax on everyone, but it’s smokers…
Voluntary tax. You don’t have to pay it. Just think how much money you are sending to the Michigan gummint every time you buy a pack of cigarettes and you are doing it voluntarily. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The libertarian part of me loves it. So please. I’m making an exception in your case, smoke more. I’m begging you! The gummint needs your money.
It took me several tries to quit. Acupuncture worked for a spell. But then I took up chewing tobacco. Big Mistake. It is harder to quit than cigs, because of the nicotine uptake goes on as long as I had a chew in my lip; many, many minutes. So I went back to smoking. Then I heard about a drug called Welbutrin. I took it for a few days, until it started ruining my sleep, and then quit. That time I was successful. Haven’t had a smoke in 20 years or more. Or a chew.
Started smoking at 12, hooked by 14. Smoked at least a pack to two packs a day. Couple of months after I turned 32 I developed walking pneumonia and was coughing so hard I would spit the cigarette out soggy. My wife said “You haven’t smoked in almost 3 days. Maybe the worst is past and you can quit?” I had half a pack of smokes in my pocket, so I put them on top of the fridge and said if I start again I start here! Left on WestPac a week later. Put the smoking lamp out in my spaces, (Yes you too Master Chief!) and never looked back. $10 a carton then, $65+ now. Glad as hell I quit. Oh the pack on the fridge? Threw it away when I got home.
In 1974 I had bronchitis for about 6 weeks and I couldn’t smoke. After I got better I thought to myself ” You have been off cigarettes for 6 weeks,why should you start up again?” I too was 28 at the time. Back then Marlboro’s were $3.50 a carton. Now they are about $6.00 a pack.
I grew up with a mom who smoked. She had healthy lungs. Smoked until about six months before her death. She was 94. I started smoking at fifteen, and by the time I completed boot camp I was well past a pack a day. I would light up before I shut off the alarm or turned on the light, and smoke one last one after I crawled in bed.
By seventh grade I had a persistent cough. with the smoking, it got much worse. After I got married, I was doing 2 1/2 packs a day. The wife got pregnant, she was in college, and came down for a week end. She met me at the door, we embraced, kissed, and she barfed all over me from the smell of the smoke. When she did it again in the middle of the night, I got the hint. By the time she came to visit again, I’d quit. My lungs though have not healed. That smokers hack is a constant reminder of what cigarettes can do.
My second wife was a smoker. She agreed to smoke only out side. that lasted about three months. when winter arrived, she moved inside.
I got tired of my 40+ year habit and simply quit cold turkey. 6 weeks
later, I suffered congestive heart failure. Not trying to assert a post hoc
ergo propter hoc fallacy, but I wonder if I should have tapered off.