Are you a non, ex or current smoker?

Hootsmon

oh I am a Nun

PS nasty habit

Gassage

@hootsmon

I had you down for Embassy Regals....

Grunfeld

Gassage said:

As I really need to stop smoking, are you a current, non or ex smoker? If ex, how did you quit?

Ex-smoker.  I've nailed this one as I haven't had a fag in over 20 years but I can remember the repeated failures and "giving up" attempts I had along the way.  And since I started using hypnosis with patients it's something which inevitably comes up.

I did it by reading Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking.  And the exact way which I did it was to read it slowly, over three weeks, to completely turn off my critical mind as I read it, and to think (non-critically, i.e. basically to repeat in my head) whatever chapter I'd read that day.

The "turn off your critical brain" part is crucial I believe.  I made a deal with myself that I'd read the book uncritically because I wanted to give myself a chance and I didn't want to "talk myself out of it".  I now know that what I did was very "hypnotic" as it happens. 

Anyway, I'm glad I did it.  I have never once regretted stopping smoking.  Once my mind set was back 100% as a non-smoker I've never wanted to start again from that day to this.

John_P

Current and having one now.     I'm really close to yet another go at stopping but too full of excuses like work stress etc etc.

Problem is I really like it - I guess that's the addiction.  I go all day at work without one but when I finish I make up for it.

holnrew

Ex. I was a social smoker for two years and a daily (rarely more than 8) smoker for another couple. I quit cold turkey, but went through so much chewing gum.

I went to the bodyworks exhibition last week (dead people plasticised by that German man) and there were a few smokers' lungs. There was one with cancer, one with emphysema and another without any disease but still black as fuck. Made me feel pretty good about quitting. It will be 6 years ago in march, I'm probably as healthy as I'd be if I hadn't smoked at all. (Except there's still that elevated cancer risk). I'd always thought I'd take it up again if my relationship ended, but when it did, I didn't want to.

Sambostar

I too prefer to spend my Band G Council tax on a 20 a day habit too, started when I was 14 some quarter of a century ago.

Also drink far too much coffee.

Also feel like absolute crap warmed up and get regular chest pains, light headed ness and my heart beats once every 1.4 seconds.  But to look at you would call me a picture of health and I can physically out gun and take more pain than 95% or people my age and younger.

Problem with giving up is you feel worse for about 6 months afterwards and every cigarette is like a heaven send asthma inhaler.

Also there is the lifestyle, diet and brain and body chemistry that needs to change and adapt.

Older you get with smoking more the chances are you will definitely get something, COPD, Emphysema, Heart attack and you notice the health effects in your late thirties and forties. I got to give up, but I love it so much.  It has changed my life from a person who gets up and just does things, to a half finisher who loses the energy.  Don't get me wrong, I go all out attack for customers, but for myself, I start and then just give up, although in fairness I am knackered from giving 300% to others at work. 

The only way I can figure to quit is by vigorous aerobic exercise and cutting down I reckon.

But still niggling away at me is this voice that tells me I don't want to be like those nancies that smell of milk and go down the gym and are saving up for a four generational family crest of arms or some dynasty or something and believe that all life forms are designed specifically around them.  It's the nihilistic, rebellious thing.  I donno, maybe I should take up cutting my arms or something instead, as it would probably prove to be healthier.  Also the damage done thing puts me off a little.  But definitely a juvenile voice in there somewhere giving me directions.

How anyone can continue to smoke 20 a day into their 40's, 50's and 60's, be physically active and not notice any side effects after smoking thirty odd years is totally beyond me.

And the main problem with smoking is not the serious ailments, it's the little things no one told you about that really put a stain on your health and lifestyle.

And there are the women, as soon as you have popped out for your first fag, having showered and gone out and you then stink like an ashtray, they take one whiff and suddenly avoid you like the plague.  Again, this happens to me a lot, because I look fit and healthy.  I don't know what they expect.  Ha ha, if only they knew how nihilistic I really am.

equalsql

Both my parents smoked when I was growing up, so I ended up smoking about 8-10 a day. I gave it up when my wife was expecting our first child back in 1991.  I must admit I loved smoking..and would do it today if it were not for the health issues.  Always thought I'd end up as the old gent in the corner of the pub with a pipe in one hand, a pint in the other with his old Labrador at his feet reading the broadsheet.. but that's now just a pipe-dream

Sambostar

A pipe, I got to get a pipe.  They always go out and taste foul.  In the end you give up on them.  Solution.

I love the smell of tobacco too though eh.

bobblehat

Stopped just over 8 years ago. Read the book and then went to an Easyway Clinic.stopped that day and never wanted another one since. 

If you serious about stopping then check it out. If your just thinking about stopping then read the book , it will change how you think about smoking. IMHO E-cigarettes are just a con and not a method for giving up.Other opinions are available.;)

underdog

Gagaryn;387306" said:

underdog said:

I smoke, I don't trust the vapor things. I know smoking is deadly but at the moment I think it's better the devil you know rather than e-cigs.



This sounds ridiculous to me. Despite doing it, I think vaping is daft! Better to have never got into the nicotine habit in the first place. I know vaping is still relatively un-researched, but to believe that smoking is safer, after all the research and all we know about smoking's dangers is absolute madness.

But no one knows how safe vapes are, I know how dangerous cigarettes are, I worry they're safe in the same way asbestos and lead once were. Also, people I seem to see tend to spend more time with an e-cig in their mouth than you would with an actual cig. For example in shopping centres, or cafes where you wouldn't smoke a cigarette.

I could be, and am probably wrong mind.

Sambostar

Study by Sloan Kettering hospital in the USA analysing lung cancer patients who were trying to quit, having been given E cigs, found the same conclusions as I made about E cigarettes after a day, they make you more addicted, not less.

randomhandclaps

Sambostar said:

I too prefer to spend my Band G Council tax

WHHHAAAATTTT?  Your council groups and taxes you based on your hair colour?  That is pure discrimination.  No way should a local authority be able to label people as being in a Ginger Band..... that's not cool.

underdog

Gassage;387368" said:

I bet the majority of those who have said ex or current are older than say 27?



Tattoos have replaced cigs as the rebellion of choice.

36 year old smoker who owns a tattoo shop here

Sambostar

I'm Band Arsehole not Ginger, just saying, if I gave up, I could afford Band Ginger.  Although, there is the question of getting a deposit together and securing a 3000 year mortgage.

lasermonkey

Ex-smoker. I gave up by keeping a packet of ciggies with me all the time. That way, it was my decision not to smoke, and it seemed to help. Not having any to hand always made me want them even more. Anyway, it worked. Haven't had one in four years.

littlegreenman

I'd say ex-smoker, but seeing as how I simply switched from smoking to vaping 18 months ago I'm really just a different type of nicotine addict. Looking to wean myself off that now by steadily using weaker solutions. On 18mg now, going down a go each time I buy a refill from now on. 1 bottle lasts me about 2 weeks so hopefully be rid of it in a few months.

One thing I can say with certainty though, I'll never smoke tobacco again

gavin_axecaster

Been on the e-cigs for 4 years. Not had a real cigarette in all that time.
About to start weaning myself off the e-cigs - it's time.

axisus

Never taken a single puff. My parents didn't smoke and I was never one to follow the crowd. I used to think I was cool for not following the crowd, but I realise now that social ineptitude probably assisted greatly!

Emp_Fab

I smoked from 13 to 48.  What's that.. 35 years ?  Shiiiiit !!

I gave up when I had my heart attack and the cardiac surgeon told me the greatest danger for me now was getting a blood clot where he had fitted the stent and that the fastest way I could get the blood to clot there was to continue smoking.  I stopped that day and, apart from having an extremely rare couple of drags when I'm blind drunk, I haven't smoked since.

Now, I can't believe the stench on people who smoke.  I was mortified to come to the realisation that I too smelled like that before I stopped.  Now, I just smell of McDonald's and Gin.

Paul_C

I consider myself a non-smoker these days (as the thought of "just having one" is now a thought that disgusts rather than tempts me).

I gave up around 12 years ago, partly because I was dating a non-smoker and didn't smoke around her, partly because I chose to use that opportunity to cut down and see what happened. I had a couple of lapses early on, but I don't think I've smoked for around 10 years, and I have no desire to.