Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: DanaM on February 08, 2010, 08:56:06 am
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Thought I would start a new topic for anyone wanting to quit smoking :)
It'll be a month for me in a few days and its unbelievable the changes in my body already I have more energy, breathing is 200% improved,
appetite is a little too good ;) heck I'm even in a better mood these days ;D I consider myself a non-smoker now!!!
So if your thinking of quitting take it from a guy that smoked for 40+ years that you won't be sorry and if I can quit so can you :)
We will all be here for you and cheering you on eh :)
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I smoked for awhile but kicked it early on. I suppose for a short time I was on about a pack a day but I always liked exercise too and hated the way it made me feel.
I've always enjoyed it, but I like my lungs at full power even more.
Is your sense of smell improving yet Dana? My father couldn't believe how much his sense of smell improved after about 40 years of smoking, as well.
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Sure is Parnell, I can smell a brownie at 100 yards ;) :D
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keep up the good work dana you are doing great
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DanaM. Did you use any kind of meds to help you stop or just cold turkey. I sure wished I could beat the habit
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Dana said the key words: "consider myself a nonsmoker"
until you change your self image from "smoker who wishes he could quit" to "nonsmoker" you will not succeed.
I smoked heavily for almost 15 years, and tried and failed many times to kick the habit. But about 15 years ago now (January 19, 1996) I managed to convince myself that, somehow (doesn't matter how!) all of a sudden, i was a non smoker.
Have not had a single cigarette since.
Not that i don't smoke...after all, I AM from BC!
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If I quit smoking, RJ Reynolds would have to lay off 13 employees......
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In the past I've tried the gum, the patch, Welbutrin and Chantix and never quit this time I'm cold turkey.
Like radius siad its all mental, you have to want it. I got up one morning (Jan 11th) and just said to myself today is the day I'm a non-smoker :)
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I tried for years to quit with no results. I went to a shrink and she had me put my cigarettes in a metal box with a lock along with a journal. I had the key to the box around my neck on a string and when I wanted to smoke I had to write down the number of the cigarette of that day and why I wanted to smoke it in the journal. Everything was OK until I went fishing. I was carrying my tackle box, two rods, bait can, cigarette box, and a couple of beers. I had to scramble down some rock fill to get to where I wanted to fish. To make a long story short I was carrying so much stuff I slipped, busted my behind pretty good and my tackle box went into the drink. I got so mad I threw my rods in after it and that damn cigarette box in after my rods. I kept the beers. Haven't smoked since.
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Grunt.. I can picture you sitting there drinking those beers and contemplating ;D ;D ;D busted ass and all :'( I quit about eight years ago.. best thing I ever did.. I just quit cold turkey and never looked back.." you gotta wanna!" good on you Dana.. better send me some of those brownies if you find any..LOL
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The way I quit smoking cigarettes was, I had the flu real bad and felt awful. I was going to stop smoking until it went away. But I forced myself to smoke and it made me feel so much sicker on top of the flu that I associated the waves of nausea with smoking cigarettes ever since. Took one day.
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I've never been a smoker and had good reason to never try. My grandfather died when I was 9 months old from lung cancer from smoking cigarettes. He was a dairy farmer on the eastern shore of MD, boat builder and master craftsman. I never really knew him but grew up seeing the things he had made and who he had been.
He was a self taught woodworker, making plenty of furniture and other small items I saw growing up. He was even commissioned to make a scale model of the HMS Brilliant tobacco trading ship to be displayed in the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. He is the reason I got interested in woodworking and now it's one of the most enjoyable things I do.
At times I truly regretted not being able to learn from and build with my grandfather. Knowing how I felt to not have this chance I chose very early on that there was no way I would make that same mistake; I want to be around to play with my future grandchildren.
I guess everyone needs to find their own reason for quitting, something that is more important for them. I guess I was fortunate enough to find my reason early.
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I've been smoking menthol cigarettes for the past 15 years now and my lungs are begging me to quit...just can't seem to get it done :(
I think the only way I'm gonna quit is to hire some 300 pound street fighter to follow me around all day and punch me across the face everytime I reach for a pack.
Everyone tells me the best way to quit smoking is to stop buying them...easier said then done.
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The deciding to quit part is easy. The staying quit part is a sonofabisquit. I quit ten years ago. Finding something to do with your hands helps heaps. I took up knapping. Bill
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If You don't want to Quit 100%...then You are just Spinning Your Wheels...Cause it won't Happen... Truthfully
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Yep, you gotta want it for yourself, and not just to keep other people happy, I've found. Ten years ago, I could smoke a pack a day and still run four miles in thirty minutes, then six years ago, I got bronchitis and kept smoking right through it. Lungs haven't been quite the same since, but I still didn't quit for good until three and a half years ago. I finally asked myself why I was trying so hard to kill myself. Haven't smoked since June 06.
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Good stories guys but ya it has to be your choice and you have to want it :)
Never quit quitting guys:)
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Been wanting to quit for years now. Been smoking for 20. One of these days I suppose. The few times I did "quit", I had to stop drinking coffee as well.........to hell with the smokes, I NEED MY COFFEE IN THE MORNING ;D
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1 month today as a non-smoker ;D
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You got it now Dana...ain't no looking back now...the Body is all over the Addiction...it's in the Mind now
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What mind Mike ??? ;) :D
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Good going Dana, I quit dipping 5 years ago when I quit dip was like candy now I can hardly stand the smell of it.Ron
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All you go to do is get it in your head that you want to not smoke more than you want to smoke.
I quit cold turkey after my fishing experience. The hardest thing was loosing that sense of ceremony that occurs when you light up. Resting from the labors of the day and smoking at the same time was a small ceremony for me. I replaced it with work, work, work, and I ended up making a lot more stuff. It was ok because I like to make stuff.
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Thanks Ronnie :)
Grunt yer exactly right I got up one morning and decided I was a non-smoker eh :)
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I quit dipping yeeeeears ago...and the Smell of a Can of Copenhagen...still makes me want a Dip....but I won't do it...because I know that I would relapse as soon as I did......... :-\
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i quit about 4 weeks ago after smoking for 23+ years.
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i quit about 4 weeks ago after smoking for 23+ years.
Feels good don't it :) Congrats
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I grew up in east Tennessee, almost all the young men in my generation smoked. I started picking up butts on the side of the road and smoking them when I was 10 or 11, by the time I was 16 I was a pack a day smoker.
Back then there were cigarette machines everywhere and this where all us underage guys bought our smokes. When I was 16 a pack cost 25 cents. One day they raised the price to the absurd level of 27cents a pack. You would put 30 cents in the machine, it didn't make change, there would be three pennies change packaged inside the cellophane of a pack. Bet some of you young guys couldn't imagine that.
Anyway, 27 cents for a pack of smokes, totally outrageous. I got so mad about the price increase I quit buying them and actually quit smoking over a 2 cent jump in price. Believe it or not, that was a huge price increase at the time. I saw gas for sale at 17cents a gallon during the same time frame.
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Damn you are an Old One ...Eric......... :P..I remember Premium Gas at $.36 a Gallon....Milk was $1.15 a Gallon...and a pack of Smokes was $.30 a pack...and about $2.95 a Carton....and I am 52.........but then Tennessee has about the Lowest Excise Tax on Cigarettes in the USA.....$.20 a Pack...compared to Michigan's $2.00 a pack....and Texas' $1.65 a Pack..... :o
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I just saw this thread. I just quit dipping about 3 weeks ago. Got me some mint snuff and that really helps. It was hard about the first week but now its not to bad. But as El D said if I smell Cope it makes me want to dip. But I dont because I am done. No relapses here.
Tell
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I remember when I was in Jr. High in Vermont, a can of dip or a pack of smokes was $0.80 and they had no problem selling them to a 12-13yo kid. I got real mad when the price went up to an even $1.00 back in 1980. My Dad quit smoking back in the mid-50s because it was too expensive, but that was back when they would get a 2 digit check for 2 weeks of milk production. Back in the 40s he and his brothers smuggled bootleg cigarettes into Canada to avoid the high excise taxes.
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Just realized I've been smoke free for 2 months now ;D Definately a non-smoker now ;D
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woot
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I started smokeing when i was 17 and quit cold when i was 23. but i still dip.
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Just realized I've been smoke free for 2 months now ;D Definately a non-smoker now ;D
Hurrah Dana! Feels great doesn't it? I have been quit nearly two years now and I will smell one and get a craving... It used to be tough but now it goes away pretty fast. Congrats on hitting the two month mark, keep it up! Tha hard part's over :)
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Dana I think it is about 50 days for me now I didnt keep up with the date i quit Good on you for keeping at it
Ron
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congrats to you too King Ron! :)
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I am proud of you all ...thats for sure! And Jesse....the Dip is probably worse for you than the Smokes...Hope that You decide to give it up before you go through what I did...ain't no fun having Your Jaw scraped...and all of your teeth loosening up to the point that they wobble....I went through the Pain...and lucked out and the Dentist saved my Teeth too.....
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Dana I hope you are still smoke free.
I am now on 15 days with out a chew now. Still struggling with it.
Could use some good karma and support from my friends here.
This is the 4th quit attempt in as many years. Last year I made it 20 days then relapsed. Bought a can and thought I could just have one... no way. I know now that doesnt work. within a month I was chewing a can a day again.
You could say I'm an experienced quitter....
this time I was scared as crap. thought I had throat cancer. Lump in back of throat. sore throat for over 3 weeks.
Saw a throat specialist last week and she said just bad allergies and an inflamed tonsil. Never had allergies do that tho and I have had them all my life.....
Anyway, I'm done. Know now that I cant have just one.
But still struggling with it. Hard to break a 20 yr habit.
Tell - you stick with it? I didnt see you dipping when I met you at glass buttes.
struggling,
wade
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Hang in there Wade, it's a tuff battle, but one you can win ! In January it will be 3 years for me, nicotine free :)
Sounds like you have the right mind set to quite for good this time, just remeber you are not alone !
p.s. Dana doesnt' post here anymore
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Wade....hang in there it will get easier....I am 22 years without a Smoke....and 8 years now without a Dip...it can be done....but only You can do it....after 2 weeks....it is not physical any more....it's all psychological now...good luck...you can whoop it....
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Wade, sometimes it takes a good scare. You are past the physical part but for the rest of your life you cannot have just one. I quit smoking twice for over a year and one ciggerette got me started again both times. I have been trying to quit for the past year again and just struggling with it, I don't feel like I am committed to it as I need to be. I have a million excuses why I am letting the cigs kill me. Really mad at myself right now. Steve
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Thanks much for the support guys.
Actually I am still addicted to the nickoret gum stuff. So not entirely off the nic. trying to ween slowly off that as well.
Determined to stick with it this time tho.
Steve, you are right... I needed a really good scare. the other motivators were apparently not enough. You can do it too tho if you really want to... you already proved that to yourself sounds like. worst part is it sucks each time. dont know why I continued to put my self through that multiple times.
nice Job El D - I will be excited when I can say 1 month!. havent made it that far in 20 yrs.
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Wade, It's been 20 some years since I was a 2 and 3 pack a day guy. I tried dipping and chewing hoping that would help me quit smoking. It doesn't. I will not touch Dip or Chew or a fine cigar because I know I won't be able to quit. I've actually woke up from a dream that I was smoking a cigarette scared that It was real.
I like the taste and feeling too much. I gained 10 pounds when I quit but feel a whole lot better. Now when I'm driving on long road trips, I keep some toothpicks handy. Like Mike said, now it's just a hand habit. Hang in there, Bud. You'll feel better for it, mentally and physically.
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Ya I quit smoking 30 years ago and really wasn't that bad,because I really wanted to,not just thought I needed to,I started chewing a few years later,then quit that for the same reason,then started dipping a couple of years after that,don't know why ??? but still do it,I know I need to quit
but just don't want to,maybe someday. :) Good luck Wade it is a good thing for sure. :)
Pappy
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I'm not sure what another man says can really influence a man's battle with nicotine but I'm obliged to tell my story.
I smoked from age 13 to 32. Like Eric, cigarettes were easy to get in those days. I had a little taste of money from working odd jobs and a bicycle, and had cigs on hand all time. By the time I was 15 I was working full time nights and weekends and up to a pack a day. I quit when my dotter was born. Watching, literally, my dad die of cancer when I was 21, he was 57, forced my hand. I knew if I smoked, I might as well put one in her mouth too.
So I taken up dipping Copenhagen. Well I got me a city job, office building and white starched shirts and all that, and I think spitting and spit cups are generally as nasty as a dirty ashtray, and you know them suit and tie types frown on that stuff anyway, so I just swallered that tobacca juice. 13 years of that, a can lasted me nearly a week but I pretty much had a dip most of the time, and you'd be hard pressed to know it by looking at me.
Well I was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 46, and I been up the crick and over the mountain with it the last 2 1/2 years. They say there's no tests to show correlation, but that's a bunch of crap imho. I swallered all that tar, I know know where it wound up, and then sat there doing it's nasty work 24/7.
Doctors won't say, can't say, how long I got to live othern he said I get to go fishing next June, when I asked him last Friday. My chest lights up like a Christmas tree on the PET scans. That's where colon cancer usually goes when it sets out for greener pastures. Started back on chemo on Monday. Honestly, I'll be happy if I see my kid graduate high school.
If you got a nicotine habit, and folks who care about you and or rely upon you, I hope my little saga makes the difference in your life. Because the reaper's got your name on his list, and it's not a matter of whether, only when. Trust me, unless you are a lot different than most, you are putting a debt on account you will not want to pay up when the time comes.
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PM sent Wade
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So sorry to hear that David, :( You will be in my thoughts and payers. :)
Pappy
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wow david. Man. dont know what to say. sorry man. Here's to pulling and prayin for you to get to graduation....
Ya your story helped me... a lot more than you prob know.
Kinda hits home tho for me. I (and I think most everyone) get so caught up in our own life's drama's and our own problems that I dont remember that there is always someone out there that has it worse.
I been thinking on that a lot lately. That I have been too self centered. Too damn whiny....
Here's to pullin for you, praying for you... and not whining about myself. (raises toast) Hope you have a killer fishin trip.
16 days for me tho. I got this one licked. no probs.... now I just gotta kick this nickorette habbit. Ha!.
wade
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I'm real sorry to hear that also, David. And like Wade, here's a toast to an awsome fishing trip next year.
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David, you have a lot of courage and it is good to see you sharing with others right now. All these years on line you have always been one of my favorite people. I have a feeling you are going to beat this thing. Prayers comming your way as they have been. Steve
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Mark the date and time. 4:51 eastern time, 6/30/2010. My last cig just went out.
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Very sad to hear that news David. My apologies for not checking on you lately, I didn't know.
My brother-in-law quit smoking when he had his first heart attack, in his 50s I think, he smoked all of his adult life. He has had so many heart attacks now that I have lost count. He has had so may by-pass procedures that they can't do another.
He just found out he had prostate cancer and during the prostate cancer scans they found he had lung and stage four throat cancer as well.
Two thirds of my smoking friends have had serious health problems, both cancer and heart related. None of my non-smoking friends have had similar problems. We are all in our 60s now. Some of my smoking friends started having heart attacks in their 40s.
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Prayers sent David... been almost 6 weeks for me now... now i gotta work on quittin bacon grease...
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reached 30 days. cant go back now.... too much crap to get this far too many times.
lowest dose of the patch runs out today also... sht
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Good goin N2, I had 4 days no smokes but could not sleep at night day 3 and 4 for some reason. had 2 smokes yesterday and 1 today. Most the guys at work smoke and it really tempts me for some reason. Not sure how long it takes for the physical addiction to leave. Guess I should look that up somewhere. Steve
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Wow, a lot of good inspiration on this thread.
When I realized that the smokes companies really did want me addicted and they knew that their product was designed and honed to a razor edge to hook me I KNEW I was a quitter. I have had lapses here and there, I still have a good cigar around a campfire or out catfishing. If I have a half dozen stogies in a year it is unusual. One of the things that has helped me is my AD/H...oooh, look, something shiney! Where was I? Oh yeah, short attention span thingy. When the craving comes on strong (and it is over 10 years I think since I really quit) I know I am fine if I can make it 10 minutes. Just 10 skinny little minutes are enough for the craving to pass.
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well made it to 44 days without a chew....
but only 14 days with out any nicotine at all.
still jonzin occasionally but I know its all in my head now.
any one else wanna join me?
later
N2
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Congrats!!!! The hard part is over... it gets easier.
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My brother-in-law was at the house talking about his cancer and when he quit smoking, I had the facts wrong in my above post.
He actually quit 34 years ago when he was 39 not in his 50s like I stated. Is his lung and throat cancer related to his smoking? No way to tell, but he thinks it is and his doctors tell him it is a possibility.
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Keep it up n2 hard part is over. Steve
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I'm sorry to hear that also David. I also believe you'll beat this.
I smoked a bit when I was younger, probably a dozen years or so, peer pressure. I always thought it tasted like c**p. Just as soon smoke Poplar twigs than that stuff
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I have smoked for over 7 years...started when I was 14. Didn't smoke that much just every now and then. Onto my high school years I smoked almost two packs a day.
Last month I quit...started from moving on from a pack a day to a pack a week...then just told myself I dont need these damn sticks. I've changed my diet and cut out all mcfatolds unhealthy shit.
Words cannot explain how much better I feel physically and mentally. More energy...not always tired and wanting to take a nap.
I'm 100 percent sure I will never start smoking again...I feel too good to start again.
To everyone else...props and a strong mind prevails.
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Distructo, you hit it on the nose. Dana, way to go. Just enjoy your new found freedom. After trying several times, i just threw em out and never wanted another. Been 20 years. Everything's better. Have a brownie for me!!
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Been trying off an on for a few months now,Michael is right if you dont wnat it 100% not gonna happen,as i dont want to quit I NEED TO QUIT!But if they keep goin uop in price like they have been won't be long til I cant afford them anyway.Try to make this pack my last,i think if i would get out and exercise every time i want one,or find something to occupy my mind til the craving passes i think i can do it.
david-our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family,my non-smoking best friend is battling stage 4 malenoma.so we feel your pain,with all the new meds and technology gettin ready to hit the market,hang in there and i think the both of ya can beat this thing!Rip some lips for me on your trip.