=next saturday i quit smoking=

[badhoopty]

i got a prescription for that new chantrix pill that blocks the nicotine receptors in the brain as well as stimulating the same chemical release that nicotine triggers in the brain. my grandma used it and hasnt smoked for 4 months, and that is simply amazing.

anyway, i'm just kinda telling everybody so i feel more commited to it. i know i mentioned it once here already but i'm only 34 and have WRECKED lungs from being around nasty nasty stuff when i was young and dumb. i have pulmonary fibrosis and smoking isnt helping the situation...

when i quit, that will free up about 350-400 bucks A MONTH. smokes are anywhere from 8 to 10 bucks a pack here in downtown chicago and i'm nailing at least 2 packs a day. more if work is bad and i'm working long hours. i really hope that quitting means i can pedal my bike fast again or run up stairs without feeling like i'm going to die afterward.

ironically the client that i work for happens to be the biggest tobacco company in the world...

any encouragement is much appreciated. and if you smoke, trust me, its not fun at all having multiple catscans and thinking you have freaking lung cancer, and its very scarey to have a cigarette convince you to smoke it anyway since you already think you are dying... cigs are evil. its a 50-60 year suicide plan.

and i'm smoking right f'n now.

i hate these things.

[MelvinsArmy]

Congrats, and good luck Hoopty!

My Dad smoked from the time he was 13 until about 45ish. He realized how muc of a grip it had on his life, and how unhealthy it was. One day he just up and quit cold turkey. He has said there isn't much he'd rather have than another cigarette, but he hasn't had one in about 15 years.

[shodog]

That is good news hoopty. Quiting smoking is way hard to do, I saw my parents struggle with it. I had easy access to cigarettes, there were cartons upon cartons in the kitchen drawer. I'm lucky that I never started. The first time I smoked a cigarette, I puked so that was it for me.

Now both my parents are dead from cancer. whether smoking contributed is open for debate but nevertheless, it never did anything good for them.

Congrats on the effort and I hope you pull it off

Jim

[wyldbill]

wow 350-400 bucks a month think of the car parts that could buy.

[SUPERDAD]

Hey Hoop. Don't feel like the only one. Dumb is to quit for 12 years and start again. The trick is to want to not smoke more than you want to, MUCH easier said than done. I have had many bad habits in my life(including weight issues) and ciggs are the only one I have not overcome. I have heard that chantix works, if you are willing to commit yourself to quitting. I smoke less than a pack a day and if it works for you, I will try it. Doc mentioned it at my last checkup, and he seemed impressed with the results with it so far. Good luck and remember that line from the Matrix,"Don't think you can, KNOW you can!".

[Dr. Robotnik]

I thought of starting an, I want to quit smoking thread before, but never had the nerve.

Good luck Hoopty mate, its damn hard and I hope you can do it.

I am going for a chest xray next week because of lung pain, which I imagine is all thanks to smoking

I also hope to quit soon and have set the date as, when the smoking ban is introduced in the UK on the 1st of July. Maybe I'll be able to quit sooner as I got loads of quitting smoking stuff from the Dr. the other day.

Anyone who doesn't smoke, please never start and those who do, good luck quitting.

[Synergy]

Good news and good luck Hoopty, remember falling of the wagon is not always failing, sometimes it just part of the giving up process.

[Mr. ED]

I once heard part of the deal is giving your hands a substitute also:
Lot's of people smoking are playing around with the cig all the time.
It seems to help if you just get another thing to keep your fingers occupied.

Goodluck to all you quitters

[FlyinGN]

good luck hoop.. I have never even tried a cig in my entire 46 years of life.. Hated em as a kid and still do... Best thing Philly did was to outlaw smoking in every public place where food is served .. including bars:)
Let us know how that pill is. Im trying to get my wife to quit and maybe Ill slip her a mickey:)

[aconsola]

Good luck with quitting. I've prescribed a bunch of the stuff with generally good results. Chantix will take care of the cravings, but you have to deal with the habit portion of it also. That takes behavioral modification, like avoiding situations that end up in you lighting one up. I could tell you more, but I'd have to send you a bill
I agree that no-smoking in restaurants/public buildings is a great thing.
It's sad but a large amount of my income is made possible by the effects of tobacco(that's some good motivation to quit).
-Anthony MD (if you hadn't guessed already)

[scr8p]

good luck hoopty. i wish ya the best with it.

i know i should quit, but you have to want to quit. i'm just not to the point where i can do it whole-heartedly. if i can't do that, it'll never work.

[badhoopty]

It seems to help if you just get another thing to keep your fingers occupied.

too bad i aint a chick eh?

once before when i tried to quit i used a 3.5" shock to fiddle with to keep my hands busy. tried yo-yo's too but that makes ya look like a freaking geek...

at this point in my smoking career, EVERYTHING is a trigger. i light up before my feet hit the ground in the morning.

it's gonna suck, but i think i'm p.o.'d enough about it now that i can use the bitterness i feel towards smoking to my advantage. (as i type i light another cig...)

btw i agree that secondhand smoke is a problem. some people are downright rude with thier smoking in public, cigs dont bother me but if somebody lights up a cigar i get sick to my stomach. i totally think tobacco should be outlawed and the taxes transferred to alchohol. if there is one good thing in my life it's that i could live the rest of my days without a drop of alchohol and i wouldnt give a darn. imo alchohol is some real nasty stuff too.

[Asso_man!]

I sincerely wish you good luck Hoopty, I smoke less than a pack a day since I'm 17 and I'm now 34, not any health problem (I still can run fast and for a long period)... BUT, I REALLY want to quit that crap... unfortunately those magic pills won't hit the European market before a long time , anyway, I think it's essentially a matter of willingness to struggle with our own's demons (with a cig head)... It's crap, but human beings like it... and I DO agree with you, alcohol is even worse when it comes to addiction... at least you can still wotk when you smoke 2 packs a day, try the same with 2 Bourbon bottles... GOOD LUCK to everyone trying to quit to buy some more parts and raise the bar on our beloved forum

[justinspeed79]

Good luck Hoopty and everyone else trying to quit. I started young and have been smoking a pack a day or more for about 14 years, over half of my life now I have been smoking. This January it was my resolution to finally do it. I tried cold turkey but it just didn't work for me, the craving were too much. Since January I have gone from a pack and a half a day, to 2-4 a day depending on the day. Still hard to do, but I'm getting better.

[Whiskers]

Hey Hoopty, good luck on quitting. At least you're not mainlining, AKA using Copenhagen, Etc. It's the "Crack" of the tobacco world. I like my Cope, and I like my pipe too. The thing about the tobacco pipe, is you don't really inhale, but right along with the snuff, you set yourself up for oral cancer. But you can get oral cancer from drinking hot coffee, or sucking on mints, etc.

Anywho, good luck man, if you wanna leave it you will.