Quit Smoking

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
I did it. Well, sort of.

It has been over 3 days without a cigarette and I'm doing it without the patch. I am taking Chantix but honestly, I don't know if that is helping me at all.

This is the longest I've been without nicotene since I was about 18 years old (I'm 31 now). I've never made it this long and despite really wanting a cigarette, I have no intention of doing so. Hopefully, I can make it.

To those of you that were smart enough to have never smoked in the first place, I doubt you know how hard it is to quit. Here is a sample:

The first day, for every single waking moment of the entire day, you hear a voice in your head saying "smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke." And the more you ignore it, the louder it gets, sreaming in your head, "SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO." So you manage to ignore it and then just when you can't take it anymore, it goes away for about 10 minutes but comes back with a vengance and really starts f'ing with you. This goes on for HOURS by the way, not minutes. You start to convince yourself that you're miserable and that a cigarette will make you feel better. You start lying to yourself and saying that you'll just have one and throw the rest of the pack away. All the while the voice is just yelling at you. Then, just when it can't possbily get worse, it starts scratching at you, literally and you can't focus. Everything is blurry and it is like you're living in a fog. Plus, you're dizzy, you can't concentrate on anything and all you want to do is light one up. The voice is still there with it's chanting "SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE." You convince yourself that you won't even be the same person and the rest of the world can go to hell and that you're gonna smoke because cigarettes are your friends, your only little vice. "Smoke, smoke, smoke." Then, if you're lucky enough to make it through the entire day (which I was) you go to bed and wake up feeling better than you've felt in years---for about an hour and then the voice returns but it isn't quite as loud and the constant craving isn't quite as bad and you start to actually think that you've got it beat. The voice is there all day but it isn't as loud and it starts to fade. Day 3 is even better yet --the voice actually comes and goes and you don't think about it all day, there are actually times when you FORGET about NOT smoking.

Day 4? Well, I don't know. I've never made it that far.

But I'll find out tomorrow.

So if you know somebody that is quitting smoking and you don't smoke, just know that it is really hard to do and it really, really sucks.
 

Aaron

Moderator
Oct 10, 2008
15,634
10,634
168
South Louisiana
That's a pretty good explanation of the quitting process, for those of us who never smoked.

Imagine the money you'll save! :)

What's a pack cost lately? ... or a carton? :icon_eek:
 

limegrass69

Confused
Oct 12, 2008
6,079
245
63
New York
Wow...good luck quitting. You'll probably never be over it completely, but you'll thank yourself for doing it. Just have to get over that hill...
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
That's a pretty good explanation of the quitting process, for those of us who never smoked.

Imagine the money you'll save! :)

What's a pack cost lately? ... or a carton? :icon_eek:

Never bought by the carton because I would have felt horrible to spend that much AT ONE TIME on smokes. I think they're around $55 here in PA. A pack just went up to about $5.60-$5.85 depending on where you bought them. It went up April 1st. Despite smoking about a pack a day, I only ever bought one pack at a time.

By the way, I know my logic of not buying a cartons is stupid so nobody needs to tell me.
 

goreds2

Well-Known Member
Oct 14, 2008
6,163
1,017
118
OH H.....EYE OH
I am lucky enough to not have started smoking. I have had friends who have tried to quit and some were successful. I wish you luck. :peace:
 

blyons200

These pretzels are making me thirsty.
Oct 12, 2008
8,448
1,548
113
The BBQ Capital
I did it. Well, sort of.

It has been over 3 days without a cigarette and I'm doing it without the patch. I am taking Chantix but honestly, I don't know if that is helping me at all.

This is the longest I've been without nicotene since I was about 18 years old (I'm 31 now). I've never made it this long and despite really wanting a cigarette, I have no intention of doing so. Hopefully, I can make it.

To those of you that were smart enough to have never smoked in the first place, I doubt you know how hard it is to quit. Here is a sample:

The first day, for every single waking moment of the entire day, you hear a voice in your head saying "smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke." And the more you ignore it, the louder it gets, sreaming in your head, "SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO." So you manage to ignore it and then just when you can't take it anymore, it goes away for about 10 minutes but comes back with a vengance and really starts f'ing with you. This goes on for HOURS by the way, not minutes. You start to convince yourself that you're miserable and that a cigarette will make you feel better. You start lying to yourself and saying that you'll just have one and throw the rest of the pack away. All the while the voice is just yelling at you. Then, just when it can't possbily get worse, it starts scratching at you, literally and you can't focus. Everything is blurry and it is like you're living in a fog. Plus, you're dizzy, you can't concentrate on anything and all you want to do is light one up. The voice is still there with it's chanting "SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE." You convince yourself that you won't even be the same person and the rest of the world can go to hell and that you're gonna smoke because cigarettes are your friends, your only little vice. "Smoke, smoke, smoke." Then, if you're lucky enough to make it through the entire day (which I was) you go to bed and wake up feeling better than you've felt in years---for about an hour and then the voice returns but it isn't quite as loud and the constant craving isn't quite as bad and you start to actually think that you've got it beat. The voice is there all day but it isn't as loud and it starts to fade. Day 3 is even better yet --the voice actually comes and goes and you don't think about it all day, there are actually times when you FORGET about NOT smoking.

Day 4? Well, I don't know. I've never made it that far.

But I'll find out tomorrow.

So if you know somebody that is quitting smoking and you don't smoke, just know that it is really hard to do and it really, really sucks.

I know the pain of which you speak of. I've quit twice, once for a year. I really , really need to try again.
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
49,832
17,485
168
Toledo, Ohio
Best of luck to you! I've got a couple of friends that were able to stop. One quit 6 or 7 years ago, the other quit about 5 months ago after trying 2 or 3 times. They are both crazy glad they gave it up, both said it was probably the hardest thing they had ever done. So keep the faith. You can do it. Lean on your friends a bit, and hang in there.
 

Calypso

Queen Calypso
Apr 29, 2009
3,085
118
63
carsandcombat.com
Goodluck with this...

My hubby and I have tried plenty on times with the help of Zyban and it worked but something always seemed to come up to get us smoking again...

My Hubby and I just started Champix this morning, so I do hope it works well and better than Zyban....
 

MoeSyslack

Member
Oct 14, 2008
130
7
18
Summer Shade KY
Ive quit several time myself. The longest stretch was 6 months. I always feel way better after I do I dont know why I start again. Im actually starting day 3 on quitting again. I use the nicotine gum. It affordable and works pretty good with the cravings for me. My problem is avoiding starting again.

By the way, that is an exellent discription of quitting.
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
Goodluck with this...

My hubby and I have tried plenty on times with the help of Zyban and it worked but something always seemed to come up to get us smoking again...

My Hubby and I just started Champix this morning, so I do hope it works well and better than Zyban....

I'm using the Chantix too. You can smoke on it for the first week but day 8 is supposed to be the day you don't smoke anymore. My day 8 was Monday and I haven't had a cigarette since. Today isn't too bad, each day is getting better.

However, I'm not going to lie, for me, and maybe my addiction level is different than yours, but even with the Chantix it is NOT easy. Just stay strong and make it through the first day. One thing that helped me was realizing that anything that made me suffer that much when I quit was not worth starting again. Stay strong and good luck.
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
Ive quit several time myself. The longest stretch was 6 months. I always feel way better after I do I dont know why I start again. Im actually starting day 3 on quitting again. I use the nicotine gum. It affordable and works pretty good with the cravings for me. My problem is avoiding starting again.

By the way, that is an exellent discription of quitting.


Good luck brother. I'm only one day ahead of you so we are pretty much in the same spot. Feel free to hit me up if you need some help and vice versa.
 

Calypso

Queen Calypso
Apr 29, 2009
3,085
118
63
carsandcombat.com
I'm using the Chantix too. You can smoke on it for the first week but day 8 is supposed to be the day you don't smoke anymore. My day 8 was Monday and I haven't had a cigarette since. Today isn't too bad, each day is getting better.

However, I'm not going to lie, for me, and maybe my addiction level is different than yours, but even with the Chantix it is NOT easy. Just stay strong and make it through the first day. One thing that helped me was realizing that anything that made me suffer that much when I quit was not worth starting again. Stay strong and good luck.

My prescription says to pick a quit date of anywhere from Day 8 to Day 14. Zyban was the same and we found that if we made ourselves smoke til day 14 it was alot easier because it made us feel so sick by that point to smoke.

Glad it is getting a little easier for you... So have you noticed any side effects yet? I heard alot of people say it makes them really sick feeling...
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
My prescription says to pick a quit date of anywhere from Day 8 to Day 14. Zyban was the same and we found that if we made ourselves smoke til day 14 it was alot easier because it made us feel so sick by that point to smoke.

Glad it is getting a little easier for you... So have you noticed any side effects yet? I heard alot of people say it makes them really sick feeling...

I have had zero side effects. Not a headache, no nausea, no nothing. I read onlline that some people really went off the deep end on Chantix and had really vivid dreams but I've had nothing. Again, I"m not really sure what the medicine is doing because I still went through the withdrawls, still want to smoke, etc. I wonder if 1 mg of medication is enough? Oh well, I'm doing pretty good--day 4--and I've had no side effects from the medication.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
A carton these days is about $50. I don't smoke but I work at a retail place that sells them and get sticker shock whenever I walk past the counter. It's the prices that are keeping me from starting.
 

memebag

Top Brass, ADVP
Oct 11, 2008
17,404
5,807
168
Lake Huntzing
I quit smoking 11 years ago. It was very, very easy. I hope chewing nicotine gum for 11 years isn't too bad for you.
 

semipenguin

Cheeseburger Connoisseur
Oct 11, 2008
25,162
9,251
168
54
Janesville, MN
That's a pretty good explanation of the quitting process, for those of us who never smoked.

Imagine the money you'll save! :)

What's a pack cost lately? ... or a carton? :icon_eek:

Missouri is ok for the price of cigarettes. $34.00 per carton after they raised the taxes...:shock:

Wow...good luck quitting. You'll probably never be over it completely, but you'll thank yourself for doing it. Just have to get over that hill...

Ive quit several time myself. The longest stretch was 6 months. I always feel way better after I do I dont know why I start again. Im actually starting day 3 on quitting again. I use the nicotine gum. It affordable and works pretty good with the cravings for me. My problem is avoiding starting again.

By the way, that is an exellent discription of quitting.

I've gone almost 4 years with out one, then started again back in 2/08. Years after quitting, I was dreaming of smoking!...:right:
 

Vargas

Molon Labe!
Oct 16, 2008
3,426
153
63
Western, PA
Missouri is ok for the price of cigarettes. $34.00 per carton after they raised the taxes...:shock:





I've gone almost 4 years with out one, then started again back in 2/08. Years after quitting, I was dreaming of smoking!...:right:

Wow. 4 years and then started again. Man---the feeling never goes away, does it?