WAKE UP CALL

Smoking, as well as drug testing, is basically an intelligence test these days...

Thanks Tim..

Steve, THT sucks, sorry to hear it. You just have to quit, no choice, you know that. I went cold turkey from 3 packs a day, 30 years ago. It was hard. But what helped me was starting an exercise program at the same time. It motivated me to stay off the sticks.
Good luck.

Steve
You can do it. I quit a two pack a day habit cold turkey 40 years ago after waking up one morning with a coughing fit and reaching for a cigarette. I tried and failed a few times before, but that morning I flushed the pack down the toilet and decided to hang tough. The first couple of weeks were hardest -- that persistent demanding tickle in the back of the throat. But I'd tell myself every day that I suffered for nothing the days before if I gave in now.

The physical demand soon lessened. And over a longer time the habitual expectation also deminished -- though my coffee consumption probably doubled.

I'm using the same approach now to lose weight and put on muscle in anticipation of lupron in my near future. So far 15 pounds gone, another 10 in sight over the next several months, and biceps I haven't seen since I was 30.
Jim

Perhaps helpful to mention the possibility of transitioning to e-cigarettes, use them for a while, and then move on to quitting smoking in any form.

That's what a cousin of mine (a fellow a bit younger than me) did, and he claims that it worked for him.

He noted that the kind of e-cig that he used allowed him to decrease gradually over time the amount of nicotine in the thing, which he found helpful. He was able to detach from the nicotine at his own rate.

Of course e-cigarettes have their own controversy, and apparently they are "safer but not exactly safe."

There are lots of articles on the web about them, of course, so it should be easy to find and read about them if one is interested.

E-cigs are likely one of those things that aren't for everybody, but at least worth mention, since apparently they do work for some.

I never got a chance to meet you Steve. That's something I regret. I've got an agreement with my wife to enter a secession program. She is 5 years younger than I am (she's a "light" smoker) and now is a good time to quit.

Put the cigs down is the message from your doc. From me too. I wish you the best luck here. I've lost family members to cigarettes.

T

You are fighting two separate beasts, the addictive properties of the drug and the mental aspect when your brain is telling you to smoke when you do an activity. That's why I used butterscotch candies, every time my brain shouted it was time for a smoke I popped a candy in my mouth. It was for sure a 'crutch' but it worked.

None that I've heard of. Mine was thanks to Agent Orange in Vietnam

Reltnie said...
Hearing from all you former smokers, I need to ask: Any correlation between smoking and prostate cancer?

Tom

Another Agent Orange guy here. Here is what the American Cancer Society has to say about cigarette smoking and prostate cancer.

"Smoking
Most studies have not found a link between smoking and getting prostate cancer. Some research has linked smoking to a possible small increased the risk of dying from prostate cancer, but this finding needs to be confirmed by other studies."

Steve, good luck on quitting. I watched my dad tethered to the oxygen and his lung failure at the end. Not pretty and you sure want to avoid it. Looking forward to hearing your progress.

Jim

Having worked as a part-timer at a funeral home for the last nine years, I've seen firsthand, many times, what smoking does to people's health and to their lives. Ironically, whenever we have a funeral for a heavy smoker, it is quite common to find the relatives of the deceased spending more time outside smoking than in the chapel with the deceased. That never ceases to amaze me.

I quit smoking 48 years ago when I met my wife. She told me that I would have to give up smoking if I intended to have a serious relationship. I took her at her word and promised the half pack of Marlboros I had left would be the last I would ever smoke, and they were. I would snuff them out after a few puffs and re-light them later...took about two weeks to smoke the last ten, but I never smoked again after that.

Good luck, Steve. You can do this. Re-train your mind to think of cigarettes as the enemy, the polluter of your lungs, the force that wants to deprive you of years of life. Here's wishing you a smoke-free 2018.

Good luck on quitting. I watched my dad die from the side effects of emphysema, due to smoking, and it was not pretty. I know it is a tough, tough addiction.