Last cigarette 2 years ago today!

[Tailgate]

After about 42 years of smoking...used the patch and have been amazed how relatively easy it has been once I committed mentally. I had only quit once before for about 8 months.. was on a beach in Mexico and decided a Cuban cigar couldn't hurt.... about 5 minutes after the Cuban I was headed to the store to be a pack.

I will say that if the Dr. told me tomorrow that I had 6 weeks to live, I'd be in line to buy a couple of cartons and go out blowing smoke rings....maybe even a Cuban or two...

 

[Helen]

Congratulations, Tailgate! I'm glad you found it fairly easy to quit. I had a really hard time with it but finally quit in 2000. If you are like me, as time goes on the thought of smoking will be repulsive. If I found out I had a short amount of time to live, I might go back to Nicorette gum, but not to cigarettes. Stay strong!

 

[MRG]

Congratulations Tailgate! Not the easiest thing to give up. Just wait to start smelling other smokers, I never knew how bad I smelled until six months after quitting.

For me I needed to see a difference. The first was money! The second was smell. It keeps getting better too.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Congrats!


IMO, I think smoking is right up there with the great pleasures of life.

I grew up in a smoking household and my dad quit smoking (2 packs a day) when he was 55. He's 87 now.

 

[frayne]

Congrats, 64 here and still smoke one or two a day, if that. I should quit but I enjoy the buzz.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Well smoking does lower health care costs...in the long run

 

[Amethyst]

My dad quit smoking in his early 50's (I can just barely remember him with a cigarette or cigar). His father died of a stroke at 55. When Dad had a mild heart attack, our family doctor (so I'm told) informed my father that if he wanted to outlive his father, he'd better stop smoking and get rid of his growing spare tire. Both of which, he did. And he lived to be 87, and died of complications from a car accident.

May you avoid the car accident, but otherwise have an outcome just like his

Amethyst

 

[ls99]

Well done. I know it is easy, done many times. Final one about 20 years ago. Cold turkey.

You should like the freedom from them.

 

[Buckeye]

Congratulations! It took my mother 65 years to quit 'smoking' after she did tons of damage to herself. She's 81 but she is closer to 90 physically. It's really so, so sad. She is living with us now and is in relatively good health overall but she has no stamina because of her COPD.

She actually switched to ecigs about 2 years ago. Getting rid of the hot smoke and tar improved her health dramatically and I could finally spend more than a few minutes around her. All of us (DH, me, and mom) living under the same roof would never have been possible if she had not gotten rid of the smoke. Actually, I would be concerned how terminating her daily dose of nicotine would affect her health since she has been dosing herself for over 65 years.

These should be the best years of her life for all of us but she lit them on fire and blew them away in a cloud of smoke. It's absolutely heartbreaking and maddening.

Someone once told me or I read (maybe here) that he thought cigarette companies added ingredients to their cigs to make the smoke 'healthier.' At the time, I thought the statement was ridiculous but now I think it's true. Cigarettes steal the smoker's health in such small increments, the smoker doesn't notice the extent of the damage being done. Like the boiling frog analogy. By the time you realize how damaged your health is, you're cooked!

If cigarettes killed faster, the customer base would dwindle too quickly and other smokers or potential smokers might notice how really dangerous smoking is to one's health.

 

[kgtest]

Interesting POV that the tobacco co puts enough "healthy" in the products to not be a quick death. I quit 3 years ago. DH was satin reincarnated when she chose to quit, but she quit. I wish my mom would quit, she has been smoking over 50 years and now has COPD...and still smokes pall malls...ARGH! She was on the e-cig for a while, but she needs Chantix. According to my physician he has seen Chantix succeed more than even the patch and Chantix has not been around as long.

 

[kgtest]

Congratulations Tailgate! Not the easiest thing to give up. Just wait to start smelling other smokers, I never knew how bad I smelled until six months after quitting.

For me I needed to see a difference. The first was money! The second was smell. It keeps getting better too.

So true. The lies I told myself to convince myself I would be better off smoking...but now I see the difference...and the looks smokers receive.

 

[Buckeye]

Interesting POV that the tobacco co puts enough "healthy" in the products to not be a quick death. I quit 3 years ago. DH was satin reincarnated when she chose to quit, but she quit. I wish my mom would quit, she has been smoking over 50 years and now has COPD...and still smokes pall malls...ARGH! She was on the e-cig for a while, but she needs Chantix. According to my physician he has seen Chantix succeed more than even the patch and Chantix has not been around as long.

I know people who have been helped by Chantix. Unfortunately, I know others who had terrible nightmares and suicidal thoughts from Chantix. I wish it worked well on everyone who tried it!

Too bad your mom couldn't stick with the ecig. The cost is so much less and I saw a huge improvement in my mom's complextion and lack of coughing. The other great thing is that you don't have to smell the STINK of cigarette smoke and butts and ashtrays. For 55 years of my life, I had to associate my mother with something I despise (cigarette smoke ). It was a huge relief to not have the smoke and that incredibly negative association when she went to the ecig.

 

[Bikerdude]

I still have a cigar once in a while but also suck on nicotine lozenges. Fairly cheap and pretty harmless. As Sherlock said when Watson asked him why he had 4 nicotine patches on, he replied; "it focuses the mind Watson".

 

[Gumby]

Congratulations, Tailgate. Keep up the good work.

I'm not sure the urge to smoke ever goes away entirely, and some never master the urge, or not until it is way too late. My mother quit smoking (at 73) only after she had half of one lung removed due to cancer. My sister quit (at 49) only when she got throat cancer.

This Friday will be the 31st anniversary of my quitting.

 

[SJ1_]

After about 42 years of smoking...used the patch and have been amazed how relatively easy it has been once I committed mentally. I had only quit once before for about 8 months.. was on a beach in Mexico and decided a Cuban cigar couldn't hurt.... about 5 minutes after the Cuban I was headed to the store to be a pack.

I will say that if the Dr. told me tomorrow that I had 6 weeks to live, I'd be in line to buy a couple of cartons and go out blowing smoke rings....maybe even a Cuban or two...

Congratulations !!!! It is really hard thing to do.

 

[Car-Guy]

I was a pack a day smoker but quit just over 30 years ago. (cold turkey method) Still miss them on occasions but not like the first few months. If I thought I could just smoke one or two a day, I'd start again, however, I'm afraid I'd be back up to a pack a day in no time.

However, if the doctor told me I only had a short time left (anything less than 5 years) I'd light up in his (or her) office.

 

[TrvlBug]

Congratulations Tailgate...that's a great accomplishment.

I quit smoking just over 34 years ago, cold turkey after trying probably at least a dozen times. I knew that if i didn't, I would have severe health issues in no time. IIRC it took about a year before I got sick of the smell of smoke.

 

[Mulligan]

Congratulations, Tailgate! I'm glad you found it fairly easy to quit. I had a really hard time with it but finally quit in 2000. If you are like me, as time goes on the thought of smoking will be repulsive. If I found out I had a short amount of time to live, I might go back to Nicorette gum, but not to cigarettes. Stay strong!

I was a small time smoker (maybe 4-6 cigs a day) and quit about the time you did. Trouble is I am hooked on nicotine mints and been on them 15 years. Doc said no problem as they dont affect my health. He said maybe when I am 65 or so, which is 14 years away, I should drop them as they do slightly elevate BP. Mine is fine though. In fact I noticed FDA even have changed their labeling and you can take them indefinitely. Im not confusing them with a health food, but no harm, no foul, so I will mint away.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Buckeye]

I was a small time smoker (maybe 4-6 cigs a day) and quit about the time you did. Trouble is I am hooked on nicotine mints and been on them 15 years. Doc said no problem as they dont affect my health. He said maybe when I am 65 or so, which is 14 years away, I should drop them as they do slightly elevate BP. Mine is fine though. In fact I noticed FDA even have changed their labeling and you can take them indefinitely. Im not confusing them with a health food, but no harm, no foul, so I will mint away.


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I'm no expert but this is why, if I were queen, I would hand out unlimited ecigs to smokers. The doc said that nicotine paralyzes the cilia in the lungs which isn't great but it's a million times better than nicotine with hot smoke and tar and all other of tobacco's byproducts and those unknowns the cigarette companies throw in.

 

[Boss2014]

Congrats !!! Close to 2 full yrs myself. I took a more circuitous route. First e-cigs then Chantix. Feels great to be a Non-smoker, doesn't it?

 

[GravitySucks]

Congrats!

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[Lucantes]

Congrats to all of the ex-smokers! Keep it up!
I currently have not yet been able to quit, although I have stopped allowing myself to smoke while I am at work and do not allow myself to smoke in our house, and find it difficult. The worst times are when I am playing a game on the computer and the common one of smoking while drinking.
I did make a deal with my wife that I would quit before we retire in 2017, so at least I have a goal/target to shoot for, hopefully I can actually accomplish it!!

 

[fh2000]

I smoked for about 5 years in my youth. I quit when I came to US 35 years ago. The major life changing event helped me quit. When I moved into my current home 25 years ago, I could smell the cig for a number of years from previous owner.

My doctor almost asked and documented the fact that I smoked 5 years in my past life. I am mostly concerned if that small period and my few years of living in my house with prior smokers, have any long term effect on me and my family. I hope not.

 

[Amethyst]

I worry about the long-term effects of growing up in a smoker household (Mom kept smoking after Dad quit), and then 10 years in a workplace filled with extremely heavy smokers (until smoking was finally banned - you could not see across an office to its far wall, the clouds of smoke were so heavy). I have a lot of sinus problems that I would bet are connected to breathing all that second-hand smoke.

 

[Danmar]

DW quit in Apr, 1994. Occasionally she will have one if she drinking with someone who smokes. I don't like that much but doesn't seem to cause long term regression. I have never smoked. Hardly any of our friends smoke. Really seems quite rare now.