Giving Up Smoking

by ballistic 75 Replies latest jw friends

  • ballistic
    ballistic

    I'm giving up smoking on the 22nd. It will be the third time, but this time as part of a Government sponsored training course with drugs and patches supplied etc. Anyone else given up and got any helpfull advise?

    and do you mind if I sign in this post to let you know how it's going?

    "In 1995 The Watchtower seemed like just another religion, but it wasn't.
    It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the witnessing the average age of which was 26...
    In the Anointed he was 90. N-N-N-Ninety."

  • orbison
    orbison

    just wondering what the average age of those doing the witnessing work now would be

    btw good luck with the quitting smoking, sounds like good support

    orb

  • Valis
    Valis

    ballistic, quitting is hard and here are a couple of things to maybe help:

    find a new hobby.
    make an effort not to replace eating w/smoking.
    try not to have smokes around when you are drinking.
    keep sugar free candy around when you think you need a smoke.

    Hope some of these help.

  • Will Power
    Will Power

    Good Luck
    I'm in the same boat.
    only patches are not free

    Drink lots of water, & easy on the caffeine
    Oranges help, I think its the vitamin C

    I slept alot at first.
    Seemed to be the easiest way to get over the "detox" stage.

    Now I'm in the noyesnoyesnoyes stage
    Times before when I made it this far & it looked like it was gonna work I'd get spooked & bum one, then 2 then get my own.
    Grrrr.

    This time I'm gonna try sleeping right thru this stage as well.

    zzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • drahcir yarrum
    drahcir yarrum

    I was a closet smoker for over twenty years. I tried nicotine gum, patches, cigars, etc. None of that worked. One day I went to the convenience store to buy a pack of my favorite brand (Marlboro Lights) and they were out of them. I tried another store and they were out also. I made it through day one with no problem. The next day I was real busy and didn't have time to stop and buy any and I made it through day two. So far it's been five years since my last smoke. I know that if I smoke just one cigarette, I'll be back on them, so I'm careful not to get in that situation. But oddly enough, after this much time, I don't feel uneasy about it. I also don't mind secondhand smoke. My method, which is not method at all, just worked for me. Everyone is different. Good luck.

    "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son." Dean Vernon Wormer, Faber College

  • MrMoe
    MrMoe

    I need to give up soon, I was thinking on the 23rd (my bday) but I doubt it will happen.

    The number one craving reducer? Sex. Every time you get the urge, just get laid. Of course, then you have that after-sex-cigarette, so don't ask me for advice on that one...

    (OK so everything I say has to do with sex? So what?? Does it really matter? It's been a while now... Give a girl a break!!)

  • picosito
    picosito

    I gave up smoking in order to become a JW. It worked!!! Now after so many years of being a JW, I don't need to be one anymore, but I do not need to smoke anymore either. So I gave up a bad addiction and my free mind as well. But now the free mind is returning and I sure hate cigarette smoke. That was really some tradeoff.

    "We kept larfing and larfing."

  • paulvarjak
    paulvarjak

    I stopped January 1 and haven't had a smoke since. The longest I've ever stopped before was two days.

    For the two months prior, I ramped down from the Marlboro Lights (at .8 mg of nicotine) to a cig with .6 mg then .3 then the ultra tasteless Carltons at .1 mg per smoke. Each time I went down to a lower level, I had a couple of uncomfortable days but would allow myself to completely adjust. Great thing about quitting this way is you can still smoke your normal number of cigs (for me a pack) each day.

    Because my body had already adjusted, it wasn't so hard quitting AND I think that I'm going to make it.

    You can find the nicotine levels of your current cigs in different published studies on US government websites. Sorry, I don't remember the particular site.

    paul

  • Cygnus
    Cygnus

    I usually smoke 2-3 cigarettes a day. Some days I don't have any. I never smoke more than 5 in a day (unless I am golfing and having beers afterwards... then I might have as many as 8 or 9).

    I always feel short of breath in the morning for about 2 minutes. Go through a major coughing spell. Then everything clears up. On the rare circumstance that I had more than 3 the day before, I can't breathe properly for at least 4 hours.

    That sucks, but I can't imagine how a pack-a-day smoker gets through it.

    The only reason I occasionally smoke is because I can (grew up JW afterall). But I don't particularly enjoy it. And I don't understand the addiction to the nicotine.

    In any event, I plan to give up both smoking and drinking pretty soon myself. Wish me luck! LOL

  • Englishman
    Englishman

    Ballistic,

    If you are ready to stop, then you will. Just accept the fact that you are in for some discomfort and that you can handle it.

    Your sub conscious will probably try to pick a quarrel with someone just so's to give you an excuse to start again. Then it will suggest that 1 cigar a day would be OK. A pipe maybe? Sneaky sub conscious!

    After a few days your taste buds wil go crazy. Beer will taste like gnats piss. Food will taste wonderful. Ooh, better start smoking, mustn't put weight on!

    A few tips. Have all your clothes cleaned so that YOU don't smell of smoke anymore. Eat in the non-smoking setions. Get your teeth scraped and cleaned. Eat fruit, smoke and fruit aren't compatible. Don't allow people to smoke in your home, especially in your car, or anywhere near you.

    One more thing. You will feel hyper and agitated for a few days. This is because your bloodstream is carrying around 25% more oxygen now. So if you succombe to a fag the temporary relief is caused by the carbon monoxide suppressing the oxygen, not the niccotine.

    Englishman.

    Bring on the dancing girls!

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