Question for Former Smokers

[AnnaS]

Almost 15 years smokefree here. I do get an urge here and there, but very rarely.

Once in a blue moon when someone blows smoke my way - I want to enhale it, but honestly - most of the time now I want to gag. I hate the smoke, smell, etc. It actually bothers me now too (I feel like I am going to be sick and get nasty headache )

 

[eclectics]

I can relate. Just passed the year and a half mark for me. My cravings come in phases. I'm fine for a few weeks but sometimes I can get cravings every day the week after. No rhyme or reason. Good thing is as strong as some of the cravings are, they don't last long. I'm still waiting for the day I can't stand the smell of a lit cigarette. I still like to stand "close by" and get a whiff! One interesting thing though, I want to gag when I smell someone who just had a smoke. YUK! I can't believe I used to smell like that. As bad as the cravings are, they pass. We just have to remember that even one drag is one too many. I know that if I give in and "just have one", I'll be back to a pack a day in a week. Hang in there! You're not alone.

 

[rie'smom]

I quit cold turkey a few years ago. When I get a craving,I smoke about 3-4 puffs and then I get really nauseated then I either put away the pack or throw it away. This happens every now and again. If I don't give in to the craving, it drives me nuts. Believe me, it feels like poison(I know, I know).

 

[Lorix2]

I quit for good 9 years ago when pregnant with my son. It helped that the smell of smoke made me extremely ill in my 3rd month and never went back to it.

BUT....I still have cravings like after eating sometimes, especially with a drink, or stressful times. I have caved and had puffs of one here and there and once I inhaled, I felt lightheaded, I reeked of smoke and realized that I don't miss it. The urges never completely go away...I just don't get the urges all that often.

 

[Griggle]

I quit 13 years ago cold turkey, and I sometimes get cravings.....I still miss it in a way, but quickly get over it when I smell someone who has just come in from outside and had a cigarette....

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I call myself a "cig-a-holic". I want a cig, everyday.
I have talked to many people like me.

I have quit a couple of times and this is how I stay quit now. I am coming up on 5 yrs this time. I would use "excuses" to go back to smoking. You know the one....I can't quit or I need a cig because of the stress of ___________.

Now I know I am an addict and cigs are a powerful drug. That is why I want to smoke. Not because I am "weak" or "have urges". Nicotine is a drug.
I choose not to smoke everyday.

 

[THE HAT]

dh and I quit together cold turkey, when I learned I was pregnant with ds who will be 10 in May. When we started trying to get preg. I stopped drinking, (not even a glass of wine) but just couldn'g quit smoking (i cut back to 4 a day). The moment I took the ept we never smoked another one. That being said, both dh and I still get cravings. Not very often. sometimes when we are out together, sometimes alone. We have never given in to them. It helps a lot that smoking is banned in all restaurants and bars in Maine.
neither one of us can stand the smell of smoke in the air or on someone. It disgusts us that we used to smell like that.
I don't know if the urge to have one will ever go away.

 

[Stitchfans]

I quit Aug 3, 1989 right after my heart attack. For a while I got an urge once in a while. Haven't had one though for quick some time. Although as strange as it might sound once in a while I will have a dream about me smoking. The heart attack scared me enough to the point where this is no way I will ever go back to smoking no matter what.