Gave up

[White Christmas13]

I have been smoking all my life started when I was 14, I guess

now I am 68 and I gave up about 3 months ago

So my question is have I made it ? How long did it take you

get your minds of cigarettes? I am still longing for one when I have a drink

or coffee in the morning I still don't hate the smell of smoke.

Any comments ?

[stubuzz]

Don't drink coffee in the morning. Change your routine and don't hang around with smokers for a while.

[dddave]

I started at the same age you did and quit in my middle 40's. I was on a skiing trip with a girl I really liked and she got sick in the car from my smoking. I put the ciggies in the glove compartment and never took them out again. I decided that I could never allow myself "Just one", that if I could justify one, the next would be easier to justify and so on. I kept having re-occurring dreams that I would be at a party and suddenly realize I was smoking...I'd wake up feeling terrible....then so relived that it had just been a dream.

The urge to smoke again was never compelling and after a year or two, disappeared. I have never had "Just one"

I'm in my seventies now and sincerely believe that if I had not curtailed my two pack+ a day habit, I never would have made it this far. It was the single best thing I ever did for myself.

I wish you a similar success.

[White Christmas13]

So I guess after many months of not smoking I be all right

[dddave]

So I guess after many months of not smoking I be all right

Not really. Most people I know who have quit, then gone back to smoking reverted somewhere around the six to 9 month mark. You really have to anticipate that the first year or two will be a challenge. If you can figure a way to give yourself some short term rewards to reinforce your goal, so much the better. maybe promise yourself a "special" night out every two months you stay cigarette free or maybe a dinner in a great restaurant...deserving it because of the money you have saved not smoking.

Everybody is different but ultimately it's you vs. you.

Keep in mind what I said before: If you can justify one, then the next one will be even easier to justify and the one following that..."Oh well, what the hell..."

[White Christmas13]

So it has been for a few months now, I have coffees every morning and i feel great

I don't feel the need to have a cig am I over it ?

[MJCM]

I stopped nearly 6 years ago (Cold Turkey 2 packs a day) and sometimes still have the urge to light one up.

But "pure willpower" stops me from doing it (read "a lot of swear words from my darling wife")

[PeCeDe]

to the OP and any others interested in quitting. You may not yet have experienced the true health effects of smoking but as a "now quit" cigarette smoker I can tell you for sure that your body has suffered from your smoking. Should you take a lung function test you would probably find that your lungs are well below the "never smoked" average for your age. Even if you don't have an underlying and undiscovered Cancer you may well have the beginnings, or (even well established) beginnings of a progressive disease called COPD, COPD has been described as "the devil incarnate" of a way to die.

Unfortunately for me I have well defined COPD and so know what I'm talking about, the disease first comes to your notice with an innocent cough, or slight shortness of breath, but soon builds into an ever deteriorating round of terrifying symptoms including inability to breathe in or out at all (akin to a plastic bag over your head), desperately using inhalers containing steroids, cortisone and other broncho dilators in an attempt to at least get some air into your body. The disease is completely non-reversible and almost exclusively due to cigarette smoking, is characterised by sudden and violent downward spirals with no going back, Friend of mine was a fit and sturdy guy until COPD showed up, now is 83lbs, and on 24 hour oxygen, cannot walk more than a hundred yards and fights for every breath... symptoms that remind me of 24 hr. waterboarding.

So OP, if you're looking for reasons to stay quit... Resolve never to buy another pack, never to bum a smoke, bask in the smells and tastes you've not experienced in 50 years, savor each healthy breath and keep your fingers crossed you will not experience the terrors of smoking related illnesses.

Good luck and stay strong!