Smoking

[BrennieBaby]

Hi, This is my first post. Just registered today so we will see how it goes.
Why is it so hard to stop smoking???? What has anyone found that has worked for the long term?

[Easy180]

Welcome aboard

Never have smoked so no real help

My mom stopped after smoking for 25 years...She did the one less cigarette a day method instead of quitting cold turkey

Put on 30 lbs but she kicked it for good

[Dar405301]

I quit smoking just last week, so i'm still dealing with cravings, but they're much better. Today is the first day that not smoking didn't bother me at all. I still want them, but I try to think of other things, chew gum, or start doing jumping jacks whenever a craving comes on. Now that it's been a week, my lungs are starting to clean themselves out. I have been coughing since the moment I woke up this morning, and the pain in my chest is almost unbearable. Every few minutes, I have to excuse myself to a restroom so that I can spit out the tar that keeps coming up! GROSS! I've been told by more than 1 person that this could last for as long as a month! I'm definitely bummed about that. The reason that I wrote this reply was not to try to talk anyone into quitting, but to let anyone who's interested know that quitting has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and that I will NEVER put myself through this again! I'll never smoke again, because quitting really is hell on earth. If you're considering quitting, make sure that you are dead set on it. If you're not absolutely ready to kick the habit, you probably won't. Best of luck!!

[Karried]

Congratulations on your success!

I'm sure your family and/or children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will appreciate your efforts for years to come!

[BrennieBaby]

I think that has been my problem in the past, I was never committed to quitting. This time I am kicking the habit for good. Piece of Pie. Cheers

[mcbee04]

My fiance quit about a year ago as a gift to me. He was smoking a pack a day at that time. To quit, he started smoking lights and weaned himself down to less each day. He had picked a date that he was going to quit, and when that day came, he threw out the rest of his cigarettes and hasn't had one since. To each their own, but I was amazed at how easy is seemed for him. He coughed a lot for a week or so, and has gained some weight. I'd suggest finding something to replace cigarettes when you need something to do with your mouth, because he goes for a snack now to keep his hands/mouth occupied. Maybe something low cal and crunchy? Gum and mints?

[mcbee04]

Also, I told him when we started seeing each other that I didn't date smokers, I have asthma and allergies and it seems to really irritate them both. I would wake up coughing with a sore throat after a night of him smoking near me. So maybe threats from your significant other help keep you motivated!

[jacodenn]

I have committed to quit this year. I am trying the ole pavlov method. I can only have a cig when my alarm clock goes off, which I have to reset with each cig. I started out with 1 every 1/2 hour...I am up to 1 every hour this week. Next week I go to 1 every 90 minutes, and so on and so forth until I have quit.

Foe some reason I am finding the morning the toughest, when I wake up...having a very difficult time re-setting my alarm clock until AFTER I have had my one cup of coffee.

I am chewing the heck out of Trident and eating a lil bit more.

BTW...I just checked out that website Oklahoma has up for folks that want to quit... Tobacco Stops With Me.

Good Luck!

[Sjon]

Hello! My name is Sjonna and I work for the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), the state endowment responsible for the The Tobacco Stops With Me campaign in conjunction with the Oklahoma State Department of Health. I'm glad people are checking out the Web site at stopswithme.com.

I don't want to sound like a commercial but I do want to let those trying to quit tobacco use know that they can have FREE help to quit and can receive FREE gum or patches too. The Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline, at 1-800-QUITNOW, provides free one-on-one coaching over the phone for Oklahomans who want to quit smoking or using other tobacco products. People who call are able to work with a coach to set up a quit plan, identify their triggers for smoking and create plans to deal with cravings and get the support they need. All of this happens over a series of about four to five telephone sessions. You don’t have to go anywhere, or participate in a group, and the sessions are all designed around you and your unique needs. Starting this January, this service expanded to include a 24/7 online component where you can track your progress, interact with others trying to quit and find tips on dealing with cravings, etc.

Keep checking back with the stopswithme Web site -- we will be adding lots of content over the next few months and I would be happy to hear your feedback about the site or the television, radio and print ads that are running now for the Tobacco Stops With Me campaign.

TSET is an endowment started by the ratification of an Oklahoma Constitutional Amendment in November 2000. The endowment's funds came from the Master Settlement Agreement and each year the interest and earning from the endowment are used to support tobacco control efforts across our great state. You can find out more at our Web site: Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust - Home.

Best of luck to those who are trying to quit!

[pulse]

I think Einstein told once that the most easiest thing in the world is quiting from smoking he already quite 58 times.
The point is , it is not difficult to quite it is difficult not to start again

[PennyQuilts]

Good luck. I hope it isn't too tough. My mother gave up smoking after 35 years and felt so much better once she got past the first few weeks. My husband, then boyfriend-to-be, quit because I wouldn't go out with a smoker. He still smokes a pipe but no cigarettes. He told me he'd eventually give up the pipe because it was such a pain but that was ten years ago and I don't see it happening. I figure if I kick the bucket, he'll be heading for the 7-11 for a pack of cigarettes and will call 911 from there...

[Patrick]

You might try the drug Chantix. It's worked wonders for all of the patients I've put it on.

[jsenter]

Smoking is flat out stupid. I don't know how anyone can breathe smoke into their lungs and think there's anything positive about it. Why start to begin with? It stinks, it kills.

[FritterGirl]

Smoking is flat out stupid. I don't know how anyone can breathe smoke into their lungs and think there's anything positive about it. Why start to begin with? It stinks, it kills.

jsenter, I agree with you in principle. It's obviously best if people should not start in the first place. The bottom line is, however, that some people are more genetically programmed to be more addicted to the nicotine and it has a more instant effect on them. These people tend to have a stronger addiction and a much harder time trying to quit.

Instead of judging people who smoke as stupid, what we should be doing is supporting their efforts to quit.

[jsenter]

I think it's been made public for years now that smoking is addictive. Yet, people still start smoking. It seems like people would be more intelligent and know better.

[Midtowner]

I think it's been made public for years now that smoking is addictive. Yet, people still start smoking. It seems like people would be more intelligent and know better.

At my brother's graduation at OSU, the speaker remarked that he wouldn't hire smokers -- not because what they did was a nasty habit, but because these were people who had received a decent education, were taught to think, had at minimum taken a biology class and knew smoking was bad for them. Despite having all of that information, however, they still made a stupid decision.

The bottom line was that he wouldn't hire people who made stupid decisions when faced with solid evidence regarding that decision.

Good stuff.

[Jesseda]

well i smoked pack to alomst 2 packs a day for 8 years, i stopped smoking completly in may 2007.. I use to try stopping before that but it never worked out.. My mother was admitted into icu and she was in terrible shape, she is at her home now but on oxygen all the time day and night. She has copd really bad, she didnt know this unti she collapsed from lack of oxygen, it was due to smoking she even gave up and admitted that, she use to use the excuse everytime she had a coughing spell her excuses where allergies, or a tickle in my throat. Well when i saw my mother in the icu on oxygen. I went out to my car and tossed my cigarettes out.. i have 2 young kids and i dont want them to be without a dad and i want to see and play with my grandkids, something my mother misses so much, she mentions to me all the time she wants to do something fun with her grandkids, but physically she cant..My mother no longer smokes thank gawd, but it costed her a lot. She smoked for 30 plus years. So my kids and seeing my mom in that state gave me enough will power to stop smoking..

[jsenter]

Glad you stopped smoking. Smoking kills, and you're finally seeing that. I applaud you for stopping for the sake of your family and yourself.

[CCOKC]

I agree that smoking is a bad choice made by people but usually that choice is made before a person has the education and decision skills necessary. After a person is hooked it usually isn't their choice to pick up a cigarette but a physical addiction. I personally have not ever been hooked on cigarettes but grew up with smokers who tried to quit many times before kicking the habit. My mother quit when my daughter was born and wanted to be around to see her grow up. Her mother died of lung cancer a few years later and didn't get that luxury. My dad quit when his mother died of emphysema. I can sympathize with you Jesseda, watching someone you love struggle for every breath is very painful.

[Misty]

I am on day 11 of quitting! I have tried EVERYTHING in the past and finally decided to get hypnotized (by a licenced therapist). It has been amazing, I wish I would have done this 10 years ago. I still have some cravings and have been bitchy, but overall this is the easiest "quit" I've ever done and am confident that this time I will be successful.

As far as the comments about why intelligent people would ever start, well I was 15 when I started smoking regularly and by the time you are mature enough to realize the true dangers you're already hooked. I was probably 11 or 12 the first time I tried one I loved it from the first puff.

[CCOKC]

Congratulations Misty! Keep it up.

[jsenter]

The knowledge that smoking kills is so widespread now. I don't think age makes a difference. It's still an addiction of the ignorant.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

The knowledge that smoking kills is so widespread now. I don't think age makes a difference. It's still an addiction of the ignorant.

If age wasn't a determining factor in decision making abilities, then why don't we let 14 year old boys drive? Why don't we let 12 year olds get married?

And calling people stupid has never been very effective at getting them to stop doing something.

[OKCDrummer77]

The knowledge that smoking kills is so widespread now. I don't think age makes a difference. It's still an addiction of the ignorant.

Unfortunately, teenagers are rarely, if ever, swayed by the threat of long-term consequences. Most don't care about what happens next month, let alone 30+ years away. They think smoking makes them look cool (it doesn't), and they dont think bad things will happen to them (they do).

[Misty]

The knowledge that smoking kills is so widespread now. I don't think age makes a difference. It's still an addiction of the ignorant.

Yes, between writing letters to the C. Thomas Howell fan club, wondering how long I was going to have to wear my headgear, trying to figure out how to put mascara on and dreaming who I would get my first kiss from (FYI, unfortunately it was not C. Thomas Howell as I originally thought it would be) I REALLY should have set aside a little more time to contemplate the dangers of smoking.