Just wondering if anyone else has tried to give up smoking. Both of us trying since yesterday. Ive smoked for 56 years, yep , started at 10. Hardest thing ive ever done, have E smoke with huge nicotine hit, going ok so far. Might sound stupid to non smokers, just that i have never not smoked.
I gave up smoking about 5 years ago now with the aid of a vape. I found it quite easy to be honest. I still have the very occasional tobacco cig, but can go a week or more without even thinking about it. 50g of tobacco will last me 4 or 5 months!
I have to say though that I'm still vaping and I really don't think it's doing me any good long term.
As you said it's one of the hardest habits to quit. I tried many times before vapes were invented and failed within a very short time on each occasion.
With the price of tobacco now it'll save you an absolute fortune.
Keep at it though and good luck :onya:
Thanks Froudy, all help appreciated. 2 days, would love a durry in my fingers.
Best of luck to you and Mrs grog, keep at it, each hour without one is a step forward you'll get there.
Good on ya Grog for cutting it out. Cold Turkey is the only (and quickest) way to go. Read into the science of nicotine & how your body gets addicted to it, that shows why it's so hard to give it up, but it also shows you what you need to do to rid the cravings.
I gave up maybe 15 years ago, read and re-read a site called "Why Quit" because I wanted to know how long these cravings would last & was looking up that, found the "Why Quit" site. I was a 75 - 100g a week smoker & gave up, by using & understanding what was happening to my brain & body during the withdrawl process. Yeah it's hard, but it's worth it in the end, I never even consider having a smoke, I have absolutely no interest in having one nowadays, yeah you will for a while, but each smoke you don't have takes you 1 step closer to getting 'right'.
When you read the science of Nicotine dependancy, you'll see that your body craves it & it doesn't really care where it gets it from, it just wants Nicotine, and as long as you keep giving it Nicotine it'll ALWAYS want it! You won't ever get it out of your system. The only way to get over it is to stop putting it into your system.
BTW, my Mrs smokes and still does, that was fecken enormously hard giving up with her sat at the table at breakfast time with a fag (yeah we used to smoke inside in those days) while I'm sitting there shaking like a haunted shithouse in withdrawl! She now smokes outside & TBH, I can't stand the smell of it at all now. I do recall it used to smell nice to me early on, but now I can't stand the smell.
I was a heavy smoker for 25-30 years, so it can be done.
Signed Reverend KC ! (I'll stop preaching now)
Link now attached for anyone who may want it. https://whyquit.com/
I gave up some years ago now, to be honest
@grog the think that works best is will power, other is breaking the "schedule" (like cigarette after lunch say) but replacing that with something else as the "schedule", for instance, a sweet or something like that. Also stay away from other smokers as the smell will haunt you! Hardest bit is not thinking about it, do that and you'll do well!
Simply put my take on it is - if you really want to give it up you will, if you don't you'll submit.
Congratulations Grog you will never run out of fags again, you will never have fags and a box of wet wet matches. You will realise how bad you and your clothes smelled.
You will always be a smoker but you choose not to smoke. Don't look over your shoulder at how long you havnt had a fag for or you will only beat your last effort. You cannot have another one.... ever !!
You are addicted to smoking but have made the sensible choice to not smoke. Congratulate yourself everytime you see or smell a smoker that, that person is not you. Your grandies will be impressed.
This sermon was brought to you by someone like Col smoked a 50g and a 30g pouch a week for years, had 3 fags and two coffees for breakfast, had a hacking smokers cough. Smoked not just inside but set the bed alight. Had my daughter in tears after a coughing fit asking why I wanted to kill myself.
15 years ago I took my lighter out of my tobacco and put the baccy in the bin. Haven't coughed since.
Congratulations on you and your wife's decision :onya:
Yeah I used to smoke a lot. And not because it was a habit (though it undoubtedly was) or an addiction (again it undoubtedly was) but mostly because I ENJOYED it.
I tried all sorts of things - gum, patches etc and in the end the only thing that actually worked sustainably was COLD TURKEY.
I won't lie, I still have occasional cravings especially if I'm depressed, or at a pub or something. But I have been able to resist those cravings. Been 5-ish years now I think.
The way things are going you'll need to choose between darts and petrol and the answer - as a rider obviously is - buy the petrol.
You can always sniff that too. KIDDING !!!! :rofl3:
Good luck with it mate - you CAN do it.
Oh and the other advice - do it together as it is nearly impossible to win if your partner is staying a smoker. Both gotta be onboard.
I gave a way the fags in 1985 when I left NZ to live in Adel..
Don't even think about fags now, ...... BUT still have a cigar esspecially when out on the bike.
Christ knows why I do that, probably cos I like them ?? lol.
Gave the bastards up in 96, it was damn hard, I had to as I reckon throat cancer was in store for me, I did the cold gobbler 3 times and lasted about a week each time until I would turn into the biggest c**t on the planet, I hated myself like that so I'd start up again, you'd get sick in the guts for the 1st day or so until you got fully back into it.
Then a mate told me he quit using the patches so I gave that a go and I have to say I'd recommend them to anyone giving up. It's a 6 week reduction program from memory, I found it easy on the patches but I know others who it wasn't so good for. You just have to make sure you don't smoke while on the patches, if you do the patches ain't workin'
The hardest part was the first couple of days after the patches but it got easier after that.
Another mate told me you're not a non smoker until you've been 18 months without a smoke and I tend to agree, I lived on butterscotch and similar lollies for about 18 months until I was able to stop eating them. It was a huge saga the whole 18 months, of course, eventually you become a non smoker, oh yeah, my sense of smell got real sensitive, I'd be walking along and some old bat would walk past me the other way and the stink of her perfume would really piss me off :facepalm: funny now but at the time it was pretty annoying, you'd swear they bathed in the shit :rolleyes: I still think a lot of em do.
Giving up the gaspers is one of the hardest things I ever did, I was a coke head for two years in the 80s, everyone I knew was as well, I quit that dead easy, tobacco, now that's another story.
@grog mate, don't wait to become the monster, you n the missus go the patches pronto, can't recommend it enough, and do stick it out, fuck smoking, there's way better things to waste your dough on, of course, I did consume a little more Bourbon than I did as a chimney but it never was a problem, after all, a man does need at least one vice.
Thanks for amazing replies. Some great stories there. Still durry free, ash trays all in bin. Both in great mood, havent yelled at each other yet. I think the nicotine hit from electric smokes really helps, will keep that instead of patches. $50 per day saving, my 14 could look real flash next year. Thanks Champions. :clapping: :worshippy:
I don't know about electric smokes but the patch program reduces the dose every two weeks until the last two weeks you get just a tad nico so when it's time to stop with them you are almost nico free. I worry about gum and other nico supplement methods that you're only maintaining the addiction rather than reducing the intake of the dreaded evil.
Anyway, I used the Nicobate patches if you decide to give them a go, dunno even if they still exist.
The main thing that will get it done is your absolute WANT to get off the mongrels, if you really want to quit you should be able to but you have to really want it.
Good luck mate, nobody should smoke.
I've never smoked but I can imagine using a douche flute replaces the physical habit of smoking, a lot of people tell me that helps.
Should you find yourself at a crossroad seek help :whatever:
https://www.qld.gov.au/health/staying-healthy/atods/smoking#:~:text=Quitline%20(13%2078%2048),and%20advice%20to%20quit%20smoking.
The more informed you are the better. Your body will start repairing itself immediately :onya: :onya:
When I turned 40 I did two things. 1 I learned to drive (car if anyone's wondering :imrgreen:) . 2 gave up the habit of 30 fags a day via cold turkey, I didn't think I was grumpy, my mates say differently that was 19 yrs ago never looked back since, stick with it
@grog it will pay off handsomely in the end :onya:.
Was smoking up to 30 a day, my daughter had lesson in skool warning about danger of smoking, she was 9 years old and cried whenever I lit up a fag.we moved house in 1983 and my wife said no smoking insight of our daughter so I gave it up there and then.Had a few sly ones now and then, still feel like one with a pint though. Well done Mr and Mrs Grog :clapping:
It has been about six years for me since I succeeded kicking the habit, I was on between 20 & 30 straights per day. Money was a big influence as I could see tax free money going up in smoke in front of my face, by tax free I mean I had paid my taxes through payroll and was then spending a big chunk of what was left each month on cigarettes, which are also heavily taxed! The main influence was my health, being stuck behind a desk for 12 hours a day meant I worked, smoked, eat and slept and got no exercise, I would get out of breath going up the stairs which at about 46 years worried me!!
I kicked the cigs and got myself a vape, it took I would say between six and twelve months for me to see any health improvements but now in my early 50's I don't get breathless and up until getting covid my taste was much better and I can eat food that I would never entertain before. I had an ecig to help me of the cigs and decided that I would use it for a year then stop that as well, unfortunately I still use the ecig but am down to a very low strength fluid, no doubt there will be side effects but it keeps me sane and can't be as bad as the real thing I hope
@grog Good luck with it & keep going, it's not easy but definitely gets easier, throw the money you save to one side and treat yourselves to a nice meal out or something (bike parts) each month as a reward :onya:
......or new shoes and a handbag, nearly every week !!
Friday night, footy on, beers as well. No harsh words, both going ok. Would kill for a smoke. This just not normal, will manage. I fought stupid cancer thing but this is harder. 14 up the mountain tomorrow, worth waiting for.
I don't want to sound like a broken record but when I was on the patches I never felt like I wanted a smoke let alone needed one.
6 week program, new patch on the arm every morning:
40mg 1st 2 weeks, 20 mg next 2 weeks, 10 for the last two weeks.
Once I finished the last of the 10s I found it a bit weird not being on the patches but that only lasted a couple of days, then 12 months on the lollies.
I had really vivid dreams on the patches which is typical, I actually liked the dreams, others not so much?
Nothing a reformed smoker wants more than to help someone else off the merry-go-round.
Give em a go mate.
Hope your team won Grog,.......
Well done, you don't smoke :clapping:
:hat:
Well done to you all
Luckily for me I've never started smoking but from friends who have given up it's possibly one of the hardest things to do .
:salute:
One week today. Cant believe we did it. Both going ok. Ash trays thrown out, thats a $400 saving this week.
Bloody awesome Grog, the first week is the hardest & you've done it.
You have to be careful not to subconsciously just light one up now, (it's a habit & you always have one doing xxx, & you just do it without even being aware) best way to avoid that happening is to not have any on you, ok if you still need to have that reassurance to have a pack somewhere in the house, but just don't have them on you.
Keep on the great work Mr & Mrs Grog! :clapping: :cheers:
Well done the Grogs.....$400 sheets is a lot of money in a week :clapping:
Well done, shows you've both got willpower. Geez that a bit of coin in just one week. Didn't realise smoking was that expensive.
I'm almost tempted to take it up so I can stop and have an extra ton of $ in my pocket.
Whaddaya mean it doesn't work like that......
Yeah, 9 packs of smokes per week were us, $45 a packet. Makes petrol look cheap, even if its not.
Beer make petrol look cheap. :whistling:
It's great that you've both taken on the challenge together and yes you have willpower. :cheers: :cheers:
The human condition normally involves 30 straight days to alter so stick with it and fight the cravings. Nicotine is more addictive than heroin.
Quote from: mjgt on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, 08:25 PM
Beer make petrol look cheap. :whistling:
Bottled water makes petrol look cheap.
Coming up a month soon, neither of us bought or smoked cigarettes. I cant believe it really. I kept looking for ash tray while having a beer, not entered my head now. Even removed the ash tray from 14 😂
Well done.
I was getting through well over 20 a day when I was working. My consumption has now dropped to 6-10 per day and frustratingly I feel worse now than before, my bad behavior is now catching up with me.
A quick calculation (20 x 365 x 40) suggests that I have got through well over a quater of a million cigarettes in my lifteime and over the last few months I have been suffering severe shortness of breath. I've been poked and prodded and scanned and it looks like a toss up between COPD or the onset of asthma, but I have been prescribed an inhalor which is now giving relief.*
I'll probably let them go during the course of this year, but I still look forward to those few times in the day when I take a few minuites away from everything with a smoke and a coffee - the Nicotine can probably be replaced or dispensed with but what else do you do to fill those quiet "reward" moments?
*The gadget now referred to as "Vlad The Inhalor"
Quote from: grog on Monday, 11 April 2022, 06:27 PM
Coming up a month soon, neither of us bought or smoked cigarettes. I cant believe it really. I kept looking for ash tray while having a beer, not entered my head now. Even removed the ash tray from 14 😂
That's bloody awesome Grog!! Well done to you & Mrs Grog. You have done the hard part, it just gets easier from here, there will still be the odd time when something crops up & you reach for a fag, but it'll only last a few seconds (that crave) and it'll be gone, another stimulus situation defused. You get them all done in the end & you don't ever think geez I'd love a fag. :smoke: You have to just remind yourself, there is no such thing as having just 1 smoke, if you did have 1, it puts your physiology right back to day 1 with all those cravings. You've done the hard bit, keep at it mate. :onya: :clapping: :cheers:
Well done Grog and Mrs Grog, shows you both have great willpower. :cheers: :hat:
Congratulations to you both, you've cracked it.
No looking back now....... :hat:
Quote from: Rynglieder on Monday, 11 April 2022, 09:00 PM
*The gadget now referred to as "Vlad The Inhalor"
/me approves