I'm quitting smoking...
I agree - if I ever get the Big C, I think I'd like euthanasia - they should offer that, because radiotherapy and chemotherapy tend to make people feel even worse. Depends on the individual cancer and the patient of course, but they shouldn't just try to prolong life when the quality of it makes it not worth living. Palliative care is often a sick joke in the UK, on the NHS. I'd like a Doomsday box containing a lethal dose of something that just sends me off to oblivion without any pain - maybe some nice opiate or other.
In that case I may as well not have quit.
That's often true, but in my case I was smoking so little that it barely cost me anything. Then there's the cost of all the other little treats I buy to compensate me for losing what was a very pleasurable and long-standing part of my life. And if you like cannabis, that could get very expensive if you have to eat it.
I think it's a case of horses for courses - I don't personally find female smokers unattractive as such, in fact for me there's something attractive at the thought of a lady smoking the occasional cheroot.....I guess I'm a bad man I did have a longterm relationship with a chain-smoker once, it certainly didn't disgust me, though if it had lasted a few more months it might well have become a bone of contention.
As for my own smoking habit, it probably has put off a lot of women, but somehow never so much as to render me partnerless for any great length of time. And I have been told that I'm more lovable when I've been smoking a little cannabis, and I think there's some truth in that, though I prefer to think I'm perfectly acceptable without it.
Yes, talking about it is the easy bit......there's evidence that having a "pre-quitting stage" where you prepare yourself, is a good way to improve your chances, but it's so easy to use that as an excuse to delay the actual moment of cessation. Phasing out could be a better option for some personality types, but for others it just becomes another excuse.
I really don't know how I summoned up the strength to stop. I had to do it in my own way, free of nagging and influence from others.....the hot nicotine device was probably crucial - even though I've been scared off it because of the blood pressure problem that I suspect it gave me - I haven't dared to touch it since I noticed the correlation between hypertension and the use of it - but hey, it got me through the first 10 days and that seems to have broken the habit. I tried to quit so many times in the past, and I've been reduced to tears when those attempts failed, and I don't cry easily. For years it was all I could do just to keep it down to a few little joints of tobacco and cannabis, and then I finally sort of lost my temper with myself and went for the grand slam. As if the gods finally called me.
Think of all the nice things you can spend your cigarette money on instead.
So true!
Anonymous, I too am about to give up. I'm 19.. been smoking almost a year about 7-10 a day. The habit is awful, and I was so stupid to have started but I'm down to my final 4... after that.. no more. I think the most important thing to remember is that no-one can tell you to give up... it's got to be YOU who makes the first move.
I'd try getting some patches.. they work a treat... I know they helped me before (I gave up for 3 days just using patches and then I went back to smoking because I was stupid and couldn't quite get passed the habit stage)... I suppose it might be more difficult as an Aspie to break a habit... what are we like with our routines, eh!?
But seriously, best of luck! And like Starr said... all the money you save.. imagine what you could get instead.
I wish I could afford to buy more books, jewllery and model aircraft! But smoking prevents me! It sucks.
The health benefits are definatly a motivater too... I remember one day without smoking and I realised how much easier it was to take a deep breath in! I could actually breathe.
I really hope you succeed... but remember, you have to doit for YOU.
Still not smoking here and it's Day 22 Went through a bad bout of terminal insomnia, shaking, and hypertension, which scared me, but I did some research and found out that it's not the hot nicotine device that's doing it (not consuming enough milligrams to have such an effect) - it could be just that I got a few things stressing me out and that it would have happened anyway even without that or the smoking cessation. The cure was to take a lot of physical exercise and to get on with some work - alone - Blood pressure back to normal, sleeping normal, shaking almost gone. All the dependency has gone into the electronic cigarette - probably couldn't have done it without that - I still get the occasional urge to skin up a fattie, but I just keep looking at the calendar, and reach for my props.
Anybody else got a progress report? It's not easy is it? Apparently depression is a side effect. I don't suppose I'd recognise it if I got that. Definitely more aggressive though. God help my friends!
It's possible to quit, but the chances of failure are 85% using only NHS-approved methods. I've been off the cigs for 81 days now, though it's only been possible by using a hot nicotine delivery device......the atomiser on my electronic cigarette failed after 2 months, so while waiting for a replacement I bought a vaporiser from a head shop and adapted it for use with nicotine liquid by putting a dimmer-switch into the circuit (I had to get the temperature down so the liquid didn't spit all over the place). In a way it could be argued that I haven't really quit, as I'm still a nicotine addict, but nicotine vapour can't be as bad for me as tobacco smoke with all its known carcinogens and the polonium-210 they don't tell you about. Certainly I've noticed that my lungs feel better than they used to when I smoked tobacco.
Of course they might not work for everybody - the nicotine hit isn't quite the same as real cigarettes (though much closer than cold delivery systems or gum/patches), so some will power is still required, but it's nice to be able to "smoke" in public places again, and at home, without stinking the place out or giving people and pets secondary cancer. Anyway, I'd recommend anybody who wants to quit tobacco to give them a try if they can't quit any other way. I failed to quit many times before I got onto e-cigs, so they might have saved me from dying of lung cancer or heart disease.
It's interesting that the US government is considering banning them on the grounds that they're not fully tested for safety - it's true that they need to be evaluated more thoroughly, but I don't see any similar political will to ban tobacco or any of the other legal things that have known health risks......draw your own conclusions. Apparently even if they get banned, individuals should have little trouble getting supplies for personal use by mail order from overseas.