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Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 4:50 am
by EuroStiller
No No, you save the blue pills for something else, LOL :lol: In al likelihood has one of the many generics that became available after the initial patent expired on Zyban. Zyban is purple. Sounds like he might be using Teva brand generic. Good company, they make most of the penicillin V used in the US. The kind that the dentist would most often give you after pulling a tooth (unless your allergic to penicillin, then they give clindamyacin), or a doctor for certain skin infections of social diseases. In Europe they use Rimonabanat, which is actually a weight loss pill and cannabis deterrent to help people quit smoking (off label use, now becoming more widely accepted). It is available in Canada, but they have found that some of the side effects, which are terrible, outweigh the use of the drug as a smoking cessation aid. So far, I think for those who have the true will power, they can do it "cold turkey" and make it stick. For others that want to do it but just need help luckily, there are medications. But medications alone will not do the trick. Until that psychological bond is severed, it never ends. I wonder if even then it does? I have seen people who have not smoked in decades suddenly, for any good reason whatsoever pick up the habit again. I never pass judgment on any of patients for any of their action. You smoke, okay, but try to cut back and maybe eventually think about quitting. If you want some help, let me know. That is how I play the game. On occasion, I have had to draw that proverbial line in the sand. I hate doing that, I hate telling people, no you cannot have this or that. Life is too short as it is, and we never really get to enjoy the half of it. Maybe it is just because of the kind of person I am or my medical training, of perhaps a bit of both. Well, fiancé is calling, must mean my oatmeal is ready! Later...

EuroStiller- The Doctor

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 10:18 pm
by punkin
Quit three years ago after smoking for 25 years, 4 pouches of White Ox tobacco a week in the end.

Tried a couplea times with the patches and found the worst thing was success. You'd see someone smoking after you'd been of em for a couplea weeks and say 'Give us one, i can now just smoke one when i feel like it.'.

Well ya can't :roll:

In the end i was rooting round wearing patches and still smoking twenty a day when i said to myself, 'Self, you only have to go without one cigarette.' 'Any one can miss just one smoke, you do it in a plane or on a bus, or at work...just skip one smoke.'



The next one.




Haven't smoked since, threw the patches away and just avoided my mates at work during smoke breaks for a few weeks, but i'm a terrible exsmoker type. I hate seeing people smoke, they just look like idiots to me. Hate the smell of their smoke, and don't wish to breathe it. I don't ask people to stop...but i do move away. :evil:

I'll never smoke again.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:00 am
by theholymackerel
Well said Punkin.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:44 am
by Uncle Jesse
smoking is the nastiest habit around. glad I never got it. the smell follows people around. my old pal had a gray moustache with tobacco stains right under his nose, pretty gross. then again I understand addiction and tobacco is one of the hardest to kick. I have huge respect for anyone who seriously tries kicking and even more for people who do manage to kick. and I understand why ex-smokers are such jerks about it sometime. after kicking a habit that hard you don't want to fall back.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:45 am
by Uncle Jesse
Forgot to mention that my pal died around the age of 50 from his third heart attack. Bad genes, yes, but a lifetime of smoking and lack of exercise didn't help. He was one of my best pals ever. Didn't live long enough to see me learn to distill.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:56 am
by wineo
Im on day 3 and doing pretty well using the patch.I slipped up and smoked 2 cigerettes the first 2 days {2 hits at a time}but doing better today.I was smoking a pack and a half a day.I passed on the cold beer last night,and drank some homeade concord wine,and 2 shots of neutral.I knew if I drank that beer,I would want to smoke.I can breath better already.I cant wait to see how much my liquer smelling and tasting improves.{Its real good now}

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 2:07 pm
by Old_Blue
You may go through a coughing phase, I did. Lasted about three weeks.

Hang in there wineo, you'll make it and be glad you did.

We're all pulling for ya.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:35 pm
by As-Ol-Joe
Back slid over the weekend a few times while consuming some cool adult beverages. That is hard. Back on track again.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:38 pm
by Husker
You may find drinking to be one of the hardest "trigger" factors to get around.

Part of the problem, is it is a heavy trigger, and worse than that, the booze has a habit of reducing your inhibitions and/or resolve. I would recommend giving up the drink for a month or so, until at least the physical addiction to the cig's has been removed.

H.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:12 am
by punkin
Or just don't drink with smokers 8)

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:14 am
by wineo
I had a rough day yesterday.My distilling partner{my 22 year old cat} had a stroke,and couldnt walk or get up anymore.I took him to the vet,and we had to put him down.It was a sad day at my house.Needless to say,I smoked 4 cigerettes,and put down a 750ml bottle of 90 proof neutral last night.--------ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:34 am
by theholymackerel
Man, I'm so sorry to hear that wineo.

I dread the day I lose her.

<--------------

It's hard to find a good first mate.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:05 am
by As-Ol-Joe
Wineo, sorry to hear about your partner. ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:08 pm
by EuroStiller
Wineo, sorry to hear about your loss. I had a cat that made it to 20 and I thought that was amazing. She was an American Shorthair. They really do become part of the family! My German Shepherd is just 2 years old, but in the back of my mind I'm already dreading the inevitable because I know it will happen. The fiancé wants a cat, but I don’t think the dog will like that.

I checked my settings; I have not been getting notifications of posts to some topics, like this one. Anybody know how to fix this, just e-mail/ PM me so we don’t clog up the board!

EuroStiller- The Doctor

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:25 pm
by punkin
It's a tough break Wineo, for sure.





Seperate from your desire to never smoke again though, don't get the two issues confused, too easy to use a problem for an excuse. You have to keep on the right track and grasp that desire and hold it tight. Remember...you don't want to smoke anymore. You want to stop. :wink:








BackOnTrackForYouNowPunkin

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 4:21 pm
by blanikdog
I've quit dozens of times. My intentions now are to remain an obnoxious bastard and smoke till I die, which won't be long as a smoker. Stuff being mainstream. :lol: :lol:

blanik

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:24 pm
by EuroStiller
Blanikdog

You sound like me! To remain an obnoxious bastard and smoke until I die! :twisted:
My other goal is to get my picture in the dictionary next to the definition of curmudgeon!

"I have every sympathy with the American who was so horrified by what he had read of the effects of smoking that he gave up reading." Henry G. Strauss 1892-1974

Okay, it's not in the best of taste but I found it funny. Just do the opposite OKAY!!! :)


EuroStiller-The Doctor

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:15 pm
by Uncle Jesse
"All these health nuts are going to feel pretty stupid someday, lying in hospital beds, dying of nothing." - Redd Foxx

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 4:56 am
by EuroStiller
UJ

I love that quote :lol: I'm putting it up on the whiteboard in my office :twisted:

EuroStiller- The Doctor

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 4:20 pm
by Butch50
I quit 29 years ago next month. I smoked two packs a day on average, some days 3. One day the prices went up and I got pissed off about it, thinking how I was spending my hard earned money making old RJ Reynolds a stinking rich man while I was getting lung cancer, so I threw them away. Then the fun started.

I did a lot of reading up on it while I was quitting and learned some interesting things both from reading and from the experience:

1. The actual chemical dependence is gone in less than two months. That floored me, but apparently it is true.
2. The real problem is not the chemical dependence, the real problem is that it is a habit with a huge emotional and physical payoff. If you are a smoker you already know about these payoffs.
3. The real enemy is that little voice in the back of your head that steadily and continuously and oh so seductively comes up with reasons why it is OK to have just one puff, one cigarette. Like water dripping on a rock that voice can wear you down until you give in. One little cigarette doesn't mean a thing, it won't hurt you! You just had a bad day, one smoke to settle down is nothing, it won't lead to another. You already quit and proved it, one cigarette, maybe just a couple of puffs won't mean you are back to smoking.....and on and on and on and on.....
4. That little voice, 29 years later, still pops up once in awhile, believe it or not. Occasionally I dream that I am smoking a cigarette and wake up feeling guilty - 29 years since I had a cigarette and I still have to put up with crap like that.
5. It helps a little (and little things count big) to substitute another physical act in place of lighting up. I used lemon drops, each time I wanted to light a cigarette I popped a lemon drop. I ate about two tons of lemon drops in the first 2 months. About one ton the next month. Pick a new habit to substitute for the cigarettes - it helps.
6. Each time you don't light up a cigarette you weaken the habit. It takes time. Keep talking to yourself about that.
7. A large percentage of the habit is situational. You light up in certain situations whether you wanted a cigarette or not. Some of them are: After a meal, getting in the car, on the can, with a beer, after a movie, etc. You will have your own list of situations. Every time you don't light up in one of those situations you weaken that habit. It takes time. Keep talking to yourself positively about how you are weakening the habit every time you don't light up.
8. That little voice is pernicious, evil, innocent sounding, evil, persistent, extraordinarily creative, seductive, awake 24 hours a day, evil, and the sad thing is that little voice is all you.
9. The more you brag out loud to everyone you know how you quit smoking, the more embarrased you will be to take them up again - it is an annoying strategy to your friends (making it even more appealing) but it is effective. Brag to them, each and everyone, several times a day if you can find them - they will start to hide after awhile...
10. Mark a calendar every day that you don't smoke for at least the first year. It is an enjoyable little victory every morning to cross off yesterday, and a strangely satisfying thing to do. It is a little thing, but it counts BIG.

And I might add, that little asshole voice can be whipped, but take your lunch cause it is a long hard fight.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:50 pm
by GrandPa
blanikdog wrote:I've quit dozens of times. My intentions now are to remain an obnoxious bastard and smoke till I die, which won't be long as a smoker. Stuff being mainstream. :lol: :lol:

blanik
Ditto!
Image
Just don't tell my wife.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 6:36 pm
by blanikdog
Bugger me, grandpa. I thought I was looking at a mirror!!! BRB, gotta have a smoke. :lol:

blanik

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:09 pm
by punkin
How you two going with it?

haven't heard from ya's with a report for a while?

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 8:22 pm
by As-Ol-Joe
Thanks everybody for all of the encouragement. You don't know how much it helps.

Chantix, 4mg gum and a shit load of will power, this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Back slid again, but I think I have it now.

ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 10:20 am
by wineo
Same here Joe.Backslid a few times,but not giving up.
Its hard to reprogram your brain to not smoke when you have done it so long.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 12:11 pm
by punkin
wineo wrote:Same here Joe.Backslid a few times,but not giving up.
Its hard to reprogram your brain to not smoke when you have done it so long.

I use the sugar free mints in a tin....Eclipse.

Just popped one in my gob when i felt like a smoke, up to twenty a day at first :lol:


I still eat a few every day, the smoking was a taste thing for me, just getting a taste in my mouth was enough. Trained myself to like the fresh taste rather than the smoke taste.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 2:07 pm
by wineo
Im going to start walking/running tomorow.When you get out of breath the last thing you want is a cigerette.It also lets you know how bad of shape your in,{motivation not to smoke}Theres a nice 2 mile paved trail on the riverfront and its close by.Nice view of the river,{ohio} and lots of fresh air.I will start walking it fast first,so I dont kill myself.It will take a while to get in shape for running.

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 10:53 pm
by punkin
Good plan mate. A rebuttal of temptation and a fitness reward too 8)

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 1:22 am
by As-Ol-Joe
I have a treadmill and excercise bike in my office. I have been using them more often. Like Wineo said "When you get out of breath the last thing you want is a cigerette." About half a mile at 3.5 speed and I'm ready to sit down and catch my breath.
I am starting to feel proud of myself. I have been trying to quit for years. :D
The only real problem I have is, things are smelling and tasting different. Not sure I like that part, but I guess I will live with it. :mrgreen:

Re: How many here have quit smoking? How did you quit?

Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:47 am
by theholymackerel
As-Ol-Joe wrote:The only real problem I have is, things are smelling and tasting different. Not sure I like that part, but I guess I will live with it. :mrgreen:
You'll like that part the next time ya gotta make cuts!

:D