OT: Smoking

J

John Trout

Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
315
Hey guys I just wanted to tell you that after over 10 years of smoking I have finally quit! I haven't smoked for 4 weeks now woo hoo! I have asthma and I finally realized that if I don't quit I am seriously going to have lung problems eventually. I have had a short temper lately but NO asthma at all! Wow maybe it will clear up and I can join the Marines! (Yeah right)

I was wondering if anyone else who quit noticed that they were testy for a while... how long until I'm normal again? :mad:
 
Congratulations. I quit smoking almost four years ago. One of the best things you can do for yourself. I was grumpy for a little while, but then I'm usually a little grumpy anyway :)

--Josh
 
I've been smoking now for 25 years. I once quit smoking for about 2 weeks. I was in the Army at the time, my troops were offering to buy me a months supply each, if I would start smoking again. Short temper? Hell, it didn't even have a fuse for someone to light. It went of by itself. Found myself in a pool hall/bar with a drink in one hand, a cig in the other, and a lit cig in the ashtray. Haven't tried quiting since then. Even not having a smoke for the duration of an 8 hour plane flight causes me to get more than a little irritated at even the smallest things.
As to how long until normal again? Depends, were you normal before?:D
 
I quit about 4 years back using a prescription ( forget it's name, but it helped ).
Around the second year I stopped snapping people's heads off ( unless I just felt like it ).
 
I quit 6 years ago after 35 years as a smoker.I was real testy for over a year.It seems nicotine takes at lot longer to get out of your head than your bloodstream.Now I'm one of those dreaded ex-smokers. :D
 
I quit several years ago for 4 years and then went to an ndn spiritual that lasted several days. There was a lot of Pipe smoking there done ceremoniously. Unlike my Sacred Tobacco some of the people were using straight tobacco and by the time I came home I was hooked again. I was only testy as you call it for about 3 months and I was a 30 year plus smoker, around 35 years to get closer. I smoked for a couple of years and then one day I just got tired of it and quit. I was ready and had no problems and no testyness at all.
After 3 days all of the effects of nicotine are out of your system. The testyness is psychological, just worse in some people than others imo.:rolleyes: :p ;)
I think it's because you gave up something that you didn't really want to give up. I loved to smoke, that is until that final day I got tired of it and quit for good.
I still have a desire now and then to smoke but I know how bad the damned cigarettes make me feel and I wouldn't go back to smokeing for anything!
The desire is never strong and passes quickly. It generally only happens when I set back from a really good meal or a cup of really good coffee and occasionally when someone lights one up and it smells good instead of stinking.

Edit:
Have been off cigarettes and all other forms of tobacco except for an occasional ceremonial Pipe and I mean occasional for about 2 1/2 years now, getting close anyway. I lost my smober chart when my computer crashed.
 
Watchya need to do now is find yourself an activity with which extra lung capacity is a must, such as running or kicking a$$. I know whenever I think of lighting another smoke (quit 2 years ago after 10 years smoking), I keep thinking darnit, if I smoke this cigarette it will mean Ill have that much less endurance when I next spar with them uppity new students, and they need my full attention. :D Anyways, not so much testiness on my side, but the weight gain was horrible. Im still trying to shed the pounds. Then again, smoking didnt help much in the weight department either. Anyways, congratulations. And for those of you who want to know the perscription Rusty took, most likely it was Zyban, which is a fancy more expensive way of naming Wellbutrin. Stuff works ok, quit for a few months on it myself, before discovering the too sick to smoke method of quitting. :p
 
When I stopped smoking about 11 years ago, I'd done some reading beforehand and found that citrus fruits and anything that contains vitamin C helps to clear the nicotine and other toxins out of your system. Since I was smoking about 40 cigarettes a day, I got sick of the sight of oranges once I'd quit.

Like other ex-smokers, I still fancy a smoke now and then. I reckon that the addiction is often as much mental as physical and you need to overcome the psychological effects which can take a long time - a bit like being a recovering alcoholic. Having done that, I put on weight but it's a good trade.
My doctor's opinion is that the human body can carry the extra weight better than it can deal being slowly and continuously poisoned. Fair point, I reckon.


As for the 'grouch factor'? Once I got past the 'bear with a sore head' act (about 3 weeks) I was fine, I'm told.

Derek.
 
I smoked cigarettes, cigars, a pipe, and Italian Stogies for about fifteen years then decided to quit. It caused no discomfort and my personality didn't change, but I smelled a lot better, things tasted better, and I could breathe easier. That was about 35 years ago.

About the same time I quit smoking tobacco, I took up smoking weed. It was a lot more enjoyable and cheaper, as I could grow it myself. I smoked that for about twenty years and quit because of some unpleasant side effects such as anxiety attacks, memory loss, and constant lung congestion.

After about ten years, my arthritis got really bad, I started smoking weed again as I heard it would help. It did wonders. I was pain free and my mobility returned. I became an expert in indoor hydroponic cultivation and devised a system that only took up about twenty square feet and would produce about a pound of high quality bud every six weeks. But my efficiency was my downfall as the narcs had the place where I bought my growing supplies staked out in a sting operation. I got arrested and convicted for growing and had to give up smoking.

My lungs cleared up again and I generally felt better and mentally sharper, and of course the stress and constant paranoia of being discovered was gone; but I was in constant pain and becoming cripple. That was about six or seven years ago and I haven't smoked anything since.

Next week I am going into the hospital for hip replacement surgery, and, when I heal up, I plan to spend long hours sitting on the dock fishing, crabbing, and breathing in the cool, fresh ocean air. A joint, or a bowl of good bud, would be all it would take to make that picture just about perfect.
 
Congratulations, John. I just spoke to a friend who just gave up smoking after 30 years.

I asked him the two-pack-a-day guy why the sudden change of heart, he said it was a decision that came out of the blue.

He was into the 40th day of abstinence at that time. I wish him luck.

As for you, John, stick to your new lifestyle, you won't regret it.
 
I stopped (last time ) for about 6 months. Still miss it occasionally. I had stopped for 20 years (yes years) and even then missed a cig once in a while. It is indeed a psychological addicion.
 
I quit smoking using the patch and Eclipse brand steam cigarrettes.
After ten years smoking (and I liked camels and cloves) I quit.

Some people medicate themselves with booze and cigarrettes, when they really need proper medications for depression, anxiety, etc...

Im no doctor, but I know that much.
 
I didn't smoke for that long - about a pack a day and only six or eight years. I 'quit' several times, but I didn't STOP until about 15 years ago. I was irritable for a few weeks. The worst of it for me was retraining myself - smoking had become such a habit that when I was in a bar or at certain times (just before going to bed, after a meal, or with coffee), I had an overwhelming urge to start smoking again. Not for the nicotine, but because it was what I did. I missed that "full" feeling of smoke in my lungs for a year or more, I also used to dream I'd fallen asleep with a lit cigarette in bed, and wake up in a panic looking for the flames - those dreams went on for years. I feel much better NOT smoking. Good luck.
 
I smoke cigars, I can definitely say the nicotine is there and certainly addictive. I keep myself to a few cigars a week, when I want one more than once in the same day I'll know I have a problem. Btw Gurkha cigars are good :)
 
for about the 10th time, this one stuck. Yes the crankyness will subside
and physical activity will help with it as well. The smoke triggers endorfins
and exercise triggers endorfins, I think it is the endorfins that make them so hard to give up. I agree with Fredrico too , if your active it will help keep you off them, physical exercise will also make you realize how much your actually poisioning yourself, you really can't do the same things and it hurts like hell to just about anything( especially aerobically).

I just don't see that many cyclist on the mtn bike trail or on the roadwho smoke. Have this friend who does smoke and trys. The poor guys suffers horribly. Every time we go down this trail and top the first hill he pukes, at the same spot, Weird actually, there is this bent tree there and he leans on it. He is 20 years younger than me and I kick his butt so bad he won't ride with me anymore and he is at least 50 lbs lighter than me and I beat him to the top of every hill, but he enjoys smoking (duh). I'm not that good of a cyclist either....

Do be carefull if you do start with aerobic activity, a lot of people think
smoking is just bad for the lungs, it's really the heart that take the most damage. Most people who smoke have hearts that are smaller than normal and simply can't take as much stress. I suggest, walking, a heart rate moniter ( cheap $65) and keeping in the 65-to-75% range(start at 20 mins and work to an hour) least 4 weeks and I would do 8-12 weeks to build up some strengh. Then think about a new bike or some running shoes( or whatever). Good news is that the heart like any other muscles will respond to good diet , proper exercise and rest and it will strenghten quickly. Studies also show that aerobic exercise helps regenerate the lung tissue. In about four weeks you should feel a real difference.

I had a lot of trouble in social situations, friends at the bar,
stuff like that. I eventually had to quite hangin' with folks who smoked ( especially after a drink or so), After about a year or two that wasn't much of a problem either. This helped a lot with crankiness. The last time I started back was by smoking one cigar,back to two packs in a week. It's a hell of a lot less trouble just to not do it, that first one will get you every time. You will back slide , that's ok, heck you didn't learn to smoke in a day , so why the heck should you be able to quite in 1 ? Just keep trying..... you'll get there. Persistance will payout.

I used carrots, carried a bunch of the things and ate them instead. It helped a lot. Did gain some weight but it was muscle... and that's not a bad thing.

keep on the path and remember only addicts and stupid people smoke, no matter what they tell you,what ever excuse they make, how many degrees they have or whatever..... I have been there( 2 packs a day) and acknowleged both facts ... your life will be better and longer for the effort.

Hope I didn't offend any smokers out there but heah it's really true. The America heart asscociation has stop smoking clinics and it is what helped me get off it, not to mention encourgement from Dr, Famly and friends. TRY ONE!
 
Get a drs. prescription for Wellbutrin. It's an antidepressant, which helps with the smoking cessation effects, and it also for some reason causes cigs to taste really, really lousy. If you're in the stages of quitting this stuff helps.
 
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