30 years on...

[Hatchet Jack 0]

Got that monkey off my back, permanently.

Never had nor wanted a cigarette since and I breath nice & easy now.

 

Lordy knows how much $$$ I've saved since then?

Thinks I'll go out & buy a fly-fishing sumthin' or other, maybe two.

Maybe three ☺

 

(BTW - if you're struggling to quit, never give up, keep trying, you can do it)

 

[islander727 0]

Great news! I am on year 11.

 

Thinking about what that two pack a day habit would cost today!!!

[RickZieger 0]

Congrats to both of you. Never started.

 

Rick

[Mlandry 0]

Good move, I watched my Father die from lung cancer at age 48. He was a heavy smoker.

 

Mike

[Steeldrifter 0]

Congrats Jack. I'm closing in on year 7 myself. It's a hard habit to break but never give up, if I finally quit after as many failed attempts I had then anyone can quit.

[FlatsRoamer 0]

And that is why I never smoke. Some of the idiots my age smoke cigs, vapes, pot,you name it. No sir not me, and I'm proud to say that

[Fisherboy0301 0]

And that is why I never smoke. Some of the idiots my age smoke cigs, vapes, pot,you name it. No sir not me, and I'm proud to say that

 

That's good to hear man! I'll admit I've tried a few things. Cigs, vapes, pot, you name it. But I've never felt worse than after a few cigs or hits on a vape. Keep my nose clean and focus on college and fishing now...

[islander727 0]

 

And that is why I never smoke. Some of the idiots my age smoke cigs, vapes, pot,you name it. No sir not me, and I'm proud to say that

 

That's good to hear man! I'll admit I've tried a few things. Cigs, vapes, pot, you name it. But I've never felt worse than after a few cigs or hits on a vape. Keep my nose clean and focus on college and fishing now...

 

Speaking from experience, there are NO benefits to any of that stuff. I hope you guys don't make the same mistakes that I did. I regret it all.

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Especially here in Miami where it is a drug capitol you can imagine all kinds of stuff going around. I mean it when I say I spend my money on fly fishing and tying...

[troutguy 0]

My parents were chain smokers. COPD, heart issues, blood pressure, etc. Smoking always disgusted me. I used to get in fist fights over my not wanting to try a puff when I was a kid. I never tried a cigarette. Sadly, I am seeing cardiac and lung problems in all of my friends who do smoke. The story never ends well. Glad you quit.

[vicrider 0]

I went in for drug/alcohol treatment when I was about 30. Came out clean and have stayed that way for 43 more years. When in treatment we talked about smoking and the advice of the counselors was to take on one addiction at a time. Concentrate on staying sober for a year, then if all is going well take on the nicotine addiction. One year to the calendar day I took my last 4 or 5 smokes and lit them all at once, puffed them down, and have never had another one. Life is much better smoke free and sober but it's not an easy path to leave such ingrained addictions. Like Steve said, several starts and stops along the way are prepping you for the one that sticks and it can be done. Unfortunately, after over 40 years of non smoking and relatively clean air living I have the COPD monkey on my back and can only think how hard things would be if I hadn't have quit.

 

Now if I could get the wife of 45 years to do the same. Oh well, no smoking in the house or vehicles and I won't hang in a smoking environment anymore.

[DrVette 0]

Well i do need to quitt smoking! It is life or death since having Adenocarcinoma in my right lung. They took most of the right lung after an inept nurse pulled my chest tubes straight and hard instead of slow and loose. The bad thing, she was teaching another nurse how to to do it wrong. The newbee nurse and i became friends shortly after. I coerced her to pull the tubes the way the docs explained not the other. She grew a pair that day and went right to it with me coaching...It was weird but cool. She did it perfectly from my perspective...All 3 of my pulmonary docs gave me thanks for helping her. She was almost the timid door mouse, but could rise when challenged...That is my definition of a true heart. I hope she did well after that...she was freaked-out over what i went through. After that??? I wonder???

But i doubt i would change even if i could...it just seems too late to bother with now...maybe 20 years ago??? IDK??? It is almost impossible to describe the feeling of surviving and not having a real life. You quitt caring.

There are ALWAYS those little psych things that gnaw at you even though you may never see them. Good counseling is a must for success here.

You have a tough road that YOU have chosen...If you are serious, you must get help and work with them so you COMPLETELY understand what you MUST do with them and not against them.

The younger you are...the harder you must fight for that future life and leave the reaper standing there frying in the good ole sunshine that calls you to work. If you are not happy there (your work life)it is doubtful that you ever will succeed, so follow those dreams that expand you to new experiences. That should give you a good reward feeling to overcome the other BS.

I actually quitt smoking buds in 1986...Even today that i can legally grow i will not smoke it. I strip it down into an extract that no-one knows what to do with...except me.

I require this to stop swelling and bruising along with seizure control, glaucoma pressure reduction...My doc still freaks on that and gives me all sorts of strange tests for free...he writes it off as research. The cancers are all in remission/cured from genetic testing...except that Basil Cell Carcinoma on my scalp. they are sending me to yet another specialist for that in Nov.???will i still be alive then???IDK???

But a lot of this could have been avoided,or at least mitigated, If i had quitt when i was 20 or even 30. I hope you choose more wisely than I did.

Good luck and i seriously wish you the strength of heart and soul to make this giant little pest get out of your life for good.

[vicente 0]

Drvette have you tried putting some of that oil on your melanoma cbd oil jus supposed to kill cancer.

Someone gave me a thing of balm with a marijuana extract in it works wonders on the hands after a long day of rough work.

[mybadhabit 0]

I drove myself to stop drinking and doing illegal activities back in '90, and quit smoking in April of '91. I was sitting on the couch and had run out of cigs, and had the thought that I wasn't going to walk across the street to kill myself, and never picked up another cig again. I had tried quitting several times before, even went to outpatient therapy in the '80's while I was in the Navy, but nothing worked. I can't thank recovery programs enough for helping me kick those habits, I'd be dead or incarcerated if I hadn't quit all that crap, not to mention probably broke. I took up sunflower seeds for a few years to help with the oral fixation, but not everyone can do that, but lifesavers worked well when I didn't have the seeds. I have nothing but admiration for anyone that can kick an addiction, it's by far one of the hardest things to do, especially if you do it alone. I haven't had the desire to pick up a cigarette in so long that I can't remember the last time I wanted one, and I love that. I did put on a few pounds after I quit, but I can live with that, just don't want to go thru what I've seen others go thru. About 4 years after I quit I had a friend go thru throat cancer from smoking, he went around the world trying every type of treatment that was available. He finally lost the battle and that was like a huge wake up as to how I didn't want to go. DrVette, hope things get going better for you, and from what the docs told my dad, they say it's never to late to stop, but it didn't stop dad, he still smokes after a quad bypass.

 

Blane

[vicrider 0]

Yeah Dr. Vette, you're right about any addiction hard to break but you do need to if you're still smoking. It's never too late in life to quit. You're like a friend in MN who had half his lungs removed. It was through his preaching I really knew I had to quit. After the mine shut down I didn't see him for several months and when I did get over to visit he was puffing on a cigarette. When I asked him what the hell he was doing he said, "Well, I look at it this way. Since they took out one lung I'm only smoking half as much." When we moved to OK I got an email he'd lost the battle to lung cancer and he was 10 years younger than I am.

 

You'd thinking watching your Dad die of lung cancer would stop a person but myself, bro and sis all started them around 16-17. All three quit some years after and we're still all around and all over 70 now. My dad died at 43. 'Course, after he found out about the cancer he did switch from Camels to Winston with a filter.