[Westy]

If anyone here still smokes, I urge you to give it up as soon as possible. Aside from being expensive, Tobacco smoke contains dozens or carcinogens. I'm not an anti-smoking Nazi, but please read the following story if you are uncommitted to giving up smoking.

My father who smoked for 25 years, and quit 15 years ago has small cell lung cancer. It turns out then 90% or so of the people with this type of cancer smoked for 20+ years. Small cell lung cancer is incurable, and the 2 year survival rate is 10%, if you catch it before it spreads. The 5 year survival rate is basically 0.

The first symptom my father had was a stomach ache, he thought it was from some bad spaghetti. After five days he finally went to the ER. After waiting 10 hours, they finally did an X-ray and spotted a liver tumor. The next day he had a CAT scan. His lung cancer had already spread to this lymph nodes, liver, and throughout his chest cavity. His Doctors said he had 3-6 weeks to live if he didn't get treatment.

Now he's on nine different medicines and chemo. Not that there is any real hope of curing the disease, just to prolong his life by six months to a year.

It tears me up to see him this way. He's had a rough life. He left home at 17 to join the Navy. Spent 26 years in the navy, including a couple of tours in 'nam. He should be enjoying his retirement.

Sorry to hear about your dad. Similar thing happened to my mother. She started having a pain in her leg that was found to be cancer that had spread from her lungs. She beat the doctors predictions and lived for 2.5 years after her diagnosis but those were years of crippling pain from tumors pressuring major nerves and suffering horrible side effects from the treatments. She had quit smoking a few years before getting sick but it wasn't enough after smoking for 30+ years.

 

[golgiaparatus]

been 7 years... quit cold turkey.

I tried cuting back.... F that, never works.
Take it away and the addiction dies much faster... 2 weeks of pissy golgi and then I was cured. Whats 2 weeks? Ive taken sh!ts that lasted longer than that

BTW the excuse... I only smoke when I drink... thats for pvssies that arent really trying as hard as they could.

 

[Knuckleslammer]

For acting so tough you sure are a wussy to the pain cigarettes cause when not having one.

When did I ever claim to be tough? It's an addiction and I'm battling it just as every other poor schlump has that has overcome an addiction.
Tough? I never got in a fight in my life. I just have a problem with the way things operate on a societal level.

:eviltongu

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> I just have a problem with the way things operate on a societal level.

:eviltongu

There's always Montana, man. You could still live in a Yurt and get back to nature before it's too late.

 

[douglas]

When I was about 7 my dad (who smoked) had a heart attack. I thought he was going to die, but he didn't. Docs told him to quit. He did, I thought, until I saw him sneaking a smoke in the basement, and he told me not to tell mom. Not sure when, be he eventually did totally quit.
Many years later, He still ended up dieing of a heart attack..but he never exercised.

I really think that is a big reason I try to be healthy...

...me, I have never smoked anything, ever....

 

[Knuckleslammer]

There's always Montana, man. You could still live in a Yurt and get back to nature before it's too late.

he he Before it's too late.

You mean before armageddon? Or when I completley go off the deep end?

 

[SkaredShtles]

he he Before it's too late.

You mean before armageddon? Or when I completley go off the deep end?

Ummmm.......... yes?

 

[ridetoofast]

this past saturday made 8 months since ive had a smoke

 

[bikenweed]

Congrats! I've got almost 2 months without smoking anything. The biggest factor for me is who I'm hanging out with. That and the upcoming races, after the Germany race I'll go to Amsterdam for four days. Will be able to smoke for June, but nothing in July.

 

[PonySoldier]

this past saturday made 8 months since ive had a smoke

Good Deal..stay after it..

 

[partsbara]

despite what everyone says, smoking is cool... just ask the germans here... urban tribal tattoos, VW golf 'boston and bon jovi' models, capri pants... ALL very cool...

stick with it

 

[partsbara]

heres the only reason you ll need

 

[stevew]

VW golf 'boston and bon jovi' models,

Can you snap a picture or two of those if you see anymore?

to satisfy my inner vw geek

 

[H8R]

this past saturday made 8 months since ive had a smoke

Right ON!

This past January it's been 8 years for me. If you've made it past 6 months you're home free.

 

[Tenchiro]

I quit way back in '96, wow almost 10 years.


I am going to celebrate with a nice cigar.

 

[SK6]

two years this august after having quit for 2 years. smoking a year and quit again... It's different this time as its real difficult for me not to be one of those sh!ty ex-smokers who hates the damn smell of 'em.

 

[Potroast88]

Well my mom smokes alot, and probley won't live to see me graduate college. My dad dips but he is "trying" to quit. My friends and I will smoke occasinally when we are at a party, or driving around. I will smoke when I get frustrated about something. I know denile can be a huge part of it, but I can say I am NOT addicted, but I can feel the effects it has on my body. When I hear about all these diseases, I think "Oh this can't happen to me" but it can, and I don't relize that. I need some insentive to quit going to that ghetto conviente store and giving up a few bucks for Turkish Silvers/Royals.

Anybody care to help me and give me some insentive?
Any help would be greatly appriciated.

Maybe if you dedicated more time to spelling and grammar lessons, you wouldn't have the urge to smoke as much.

 

[DaveW]

I quit about 6 years ago?

Just decided I didn't want to smoke and tossed the packet in the bin one evening.
Went from a 50g packet of roll your own a week to zero, didn't need any of that nicoteen patch stuff or the like.

 

[Skookum]

this past saturday made 8 months since ive had a smoke

Coolness. i think it's been around 8 years for me, i'm starting to lose track and that's fine.

i was raised by grandparents who smoked, all my peers smoked and if you're 13 and bored it's a deadly combo. After a pattern of drug and alcohol addiction that ended when i turned 21 i relied on cigarettes as a sort of last crutch.

Coffee and cigarettes are quite common at 12 step meetings, pretty funny really.

i contemplated quitting but i'm a stubborn sort. Which in a way is helpful but probably stalled my decision to quit. You see i just didn't want to do what i saw all my freinds do. Quit and start, quit and start, rinse repeat. So if i made the decision, that was that....

i came upon the decision in a strange way, but in my life strange seems to be the norm for good or bad. At the time i was roofing for a non-union outfit which means i had absolutely no benefit package. i also had a rotting wisdom tooth i had been putting off getting pulled, waiting for enough money to get it taken care of. Enter head virus+tooth ache=me up all night in pain. i was so out of it i decided to talk to my tooth. i said "tooth, i promise you if you stop hurting, i'll go to the dentist and do whatever it takes to make it all good." Hurting stopped, i got sleep, and was in early Monday to get it pulled. i'm not making this up...

At first i didn't even commit to quit. Sure i had contemplated quitting but i was afraid of making the decision. So after a few days i sat down. Everything was pretty easy going after a few days, i decided to make the decision to really quit for good and not just for the duration of the hole in my mouth to heal.

Of course after i made the decision the withdrawls hit hard and i go bonkers.

But utimately i made it using tools i can draw from that i've learned. Most of them concerned are simple and are illustrated in a prior post in this thread.

There was an uneasy uncertainty that floated with me for over a week. Really there are no guarantees when dealing with addiction, and the intangibles in life that can adversely effect your goal of being smoke free. If you are a spiritual person you may recognize an occurance as a sort of end of chapter in one's own personal book of life. i think as far as smoking was concerned that came to me about a week after i quit in the K-mart parking lot. i really have no idea what i was doing at K-mart, but at any rate.... The whole time i had quit i carried the last pack of Winstons i owned in my pocket. A cruel thing to do to myself being an easy way for me to have a "in case of emergency break glass" temptation, but it was also a highly symbolic weight i was carrying to remind me of my powerlessness to the habit. Well i was approached by a scruffy homeless dude, in a gruff disheveled voice "Hey brother you gotta cigarrette?". i replied "No.... but i got damn near a whole pack you can have". "Hey thanks alot man!!!" "No problem." as i walked away....

 

[MisterClean]

how did you quit?

I quit over 20 years ago after waking up one morning following a two-pack night of drinking and smoking (Marlboro Red Box). I hacked a big brown chunk into the sink, threw the rest of my cigs away and never had another.

 

[ridetoofast]

i didnt smoke 2 packs the night before but it was a saturday after a friday night of heavy drinking/smoking and i think i felt worse than a skunks ass with diarrhea.

it just amazes me how something so filthy can be so addicting.