10 months smoke free!!!

[Samui Bodoh]

Hi all

 

As per the title, I have now reached 10 months smoke free after being a heavy smoker for around 35 years. Yes, I am proud of myself!

 

I have posted every month for the last 6 months or so; if interested there is great info there regarding quitting (written by many, many members). I will add one more argument to my series of posts; I am currently on holiday in my native country and cigarettes here cost around 400 Baht per pack of 20! Holy Shit!!! 400 Baht for a pack of 20!!!

 

Quitters, how are you doing? I know that there are many of you out there, please let us know how things are going and what is either working well for you or not working at all; I know from my own experiences that sharing best and worst things DOES help others.

 

Smokers, what are you waiting for? There is literally no good reason to smoke, so it is time to quit. And, if I can do it after 35 years as a heavy smoker, so can you (but, it is challenging). 

 

Today is the day to make the decision; there is no reason to wait for tomorrow.

 

Looking forward to hearing how all are doing!

 

Cheers

[melvinmelvin]

a job well done OP,  keep on not smoking

 

becoming a non-smoker you can't, but you can become previous smoker/smoke quitter/smoke stopper have your pick

 

I have quit twice,

first time after 20 years of smoking, stopped for 10 years then started again

then now the 2nd time after having smoked for 10 years

 

2nd time was this year - so I am also half a year free of smoke now

 

gained weight? YES

don't think it matters much if you drink or not, except on the kilos

 

what many say that food/drink tastes a lot better I have never experienced

I guess not everybody experience the same - we are different

 

but my smelling has improved a lot, and I myself smell better

 

[melvinmelvin]

The fags that I smoked were about 140/packet, with 2+ packets  a day the monthly sum is not negligable.

 

First time I quit smoking I attended a stop-smoking course run by a physician.

I  wasn't really motivated, the wife pushed/convinced me.

But worked fine, turned out that it was not hard at all to stop smoking.

Why? I think because of the course that gave me thorough knowledge about what to expect, when to expect it

and detailed knowledge about what would take place in my body

 

(some years ago the King of Norway quit smoking, his comment: Disappointingly easy!)

 

The course focused on 3 elements;

* to give you a clear idea of which of the daily cigs that were needed/craved by me/the body in order to maintain nicotine level

* the physical / mental process in the body during the quitting process

* physical and mental remedies that we could use to ease the process of quitting

 

will see if I, later, can find time to expand a bit on the middle one above

 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

A bit re whats happening in the body when you quit smoking, (at least what I learned attending the above mentioned course.)

 

When smoking away as normal the level of nicotine in your body will be at its max,

whether you smoke 20 or 60 a day doesnt really matter, the level will be pretty much the same.

 

You stop smoking.

 

During the first 8-12 days (individual differences here) the decrease in the nicotine level is minimal,

between the 8th and the 12th day there is a sudden dramatic drop in the nicotine level,

during 5-10 hours the level is dropping 90 percent or so

for many this takes place during the night while sleeping and many wake up in a pool of cold sweat in the morning .

Then the nicotine level is way way below the dependancy level.

Then, in principle, your body is no longer dependant on nicotine and the rest of the challenge re quitting is psychological,

note; that doesn't make it easier. You have to watch it.

From that drop and onwards it takes very very long time before the nicotine residues leave the body, 6-7 months or so.

 

Some weeks after the big drop hair starts to come back inside your nose, feels  bit itchy.

After some weeks your ability smell will improve.

 

And of course, lungs and respiratory system will improve.

 

For several years after you have stopped smoking you may experience mental flashbacks that give you an urge to smoke.

Often, such flashbacks are linked to you experiencing situations that you haven't experienced for long long time and which are

thoroughly joyful to you.

For example meeting up with some old and close friends you haven't seen for years and whose company always have been

 

.

 

[Jillie Norman]

So glad you're doing well without smoking. Keep it up!

[Samui Bodoh]

What happened to all the people quitting smoking? Got a comment?

 

What happened to all the people who are thinking of quitting smoking? Got a comment?

 

Is there no one interested in this topic anymore?

[vogie]

I stopped in my early 40s, was never really hooked on it anyway, only smoked when I went out for a beer. Havn't had a ciggie now for over 25 years, found it very easy to stop, it was more an habit than an addiction.

My wife smoked about 40 a day, sometimes more, she died at 39 years old with lung cancer.

 

[giddyup]

Why is you never read any negative posts on the effects of quitting smoking? I gave up around 6 years ago, even though I was experiencing no adverse effects,  and everything was fine for the first 3 years, but in the last 2-3 years all the damage that I did smoking has come back to haunt me. My lungs have a lot of congestion causing me to wheeze and cough up mucus, I am very short of breath and use a Ventolin inhaler regularly, also prone to lung infections. Would these same symptoms have occurred if I'd continued to smoke, who's to know? All I know is that 2 people who are around my age (70's) continue to smoke, have mild smokers coughs, and both swear they will never give up because they fear the cure may be worse than the disease. They say that it's never too late to give up, I'm not so sure about that.