Reformed Smokers

[The Mystery Machine]

I have quit before for 3yrs and then went back for 5 yrs. I quit cold turkey June 3rd 2003, so almost a year.

I want a cigarette all the time and I know I will always want one. I call myself a cig-a-holic. All it will take is a great excuse and 1 cig and I would be back at it.

HA! DVCfamily, I keep smoking in my dreams! Oh and then I wake up.

My dh smokes still. Never inside the house or around the kids. I wish he would quit too. He says he will when he is ready. I hope so.

Bottom line...you really have to want to quit to stay quit.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Interestingly enough, at age 35 (36 in May), DH's lung capacity is not too much beyond his years. Proof that the ashtray really is doing the smoking, I guess.

 

[MAC3]

Cold Turkey with a scare from a Dr.

Our health insurance companies changed at work and had to find a new primary. I went to see him for the first time with my daughter who was 4 1/2 at the time.

He listened to my lungs sat down and said..... You've got a very beautiful daughter there, "Do you want to see her graduate from High School?" I had what he called the begining stages of emphysema.

So that day after I had just bought a carton of smokes for DH & I, I put a huge picture of DD on the refrigerator and that was that. 7 yrs ago!

It is the hardest thing I ever done but I'll never go back. I'm the epitomy of the reformed smoker. I hate it. But don't get me wrong there are times that I crave a cigarette.

dvcfamily41801,

I sometimes wake up thinking I took one of DH's. He doesn't smoke it the house though. Or the car when were in it. I could never stand that.

Good Luck I've been trying to talk mine into quitting for years.

Lisa

 

[chager]

Dh quit and started again 2x before stopping for the last last time. The first 2x he was really sick and decided to stop. The last time he literally locked himself in the house for 4 days with videos. Nick went to my parents for this time and I stayed away during the day. He was REALLY grumpy by the 2nd day but doing better by day4. He also stayed away from anyone that did smoke. This included his father and best friend. We liked to go to a local bar when The Reaganomics were there. (These guys are an awesome 80's band!!) However this is another place we no longer visit. He may be able to go back now but I'm not sure I want to try it.
Surprisingly enough watching his grandmother die of cancer did not affect him as far as his smoking. I'm really not sure why he finally decided to stop. Although the only place he could smoke was outside. Never inside or in the car because Nick is allergic to the smoke.
I do believe it is a very hard addiction to break. It is not only the nicotine but all the other chemicals in them that makes it hard. I think that is why the patch never helped. Although it delivered the nicotine, it didn't help with all the other chemicals he was addicted to along with it. That is why cold turkey was the only way for DH. Good luck with whatever you choose

 

[jipsy]

Started smoking at 16, quit when I got pregnant at 19.
Started the day he was born, quit when I was 21; started again at 22.
Quit again when I was 26 and started back when I was 31.
Quit the final time at 37 and have been smoke free for almost 4 years now.

Each time I quit cold turkey and it was always for someone else who wanted me to quit. (That never worked for me BTW).

I finally quit for me. I felt bad all the time, my feet and hands were always cold due to poor circulation and when I asked for a pack of cigarettes at a convenience store and she said "That will be $5.00" I gave them back and said "I don't think so."

I went to the Dr. and got a prescription for the nicotine things that are cigarette shaped. When I picked up the prescription, my insurance refused to cover it, so I gave that back to the druggist.

I figured I averaged 1 1/2 packs a day, and I was in CT at the time so at state minimums I was spending $7/day on cigs. I printed myself a monthly calendar and marked the days $7, $14, $21, $28, etc.

Every day I didn't smoke, I put $7 in a jar and marked it off the calendar.

Money motivates me, what can I say?



Good luck to your hubby, but don't be surprised if he doesn't quit just because you ask him to. He has to find his own reason to quit.

 

[jvas]

Zyban.......what a miracle drug!

Originally posted by RobinMarie
Zyban!

I tried the patch, cold turkey, behavioral methods .. I needed drugs!

 

[AnNaNiCoLe]

I ate cold turkey once...it was good!

 

[wdwnutze]

I started smoking at age 12. I was smoking 2pks a day by the time I finally quit. I had prepared to quit and managed to cut down to 3cigs a day. I then went to hypnosis and have never had another cigarette since. That was 13yrs ago this month after smoking for 14yrs.

 

[parrothead365]

I quit December 16th 1984. Cold Turkey.. with help. My DW (then DGF) told me I could smoke or kiss her.. choose one. I choose wisely. I is a tough thing to do. For me it is a decision not to smoke every day. My DW makes it easier though, I would rather have a kiss than a smoke

 

[MAC3]

I just wanted to add that every day that passed I'd remind myself that if I start now I'll have to go back and do it all over again.

Also with each craving I'd get I would start doing something. If you have nothing to do open a clothes drawer and dump it out on the floor then refold. I know it sounds ridiculous but I'd notice that it took my mind off the craving.

I still have wierd cravings from time to time and I hate them!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

No it does not sound ridiculous.

For me what helps I just accepted the fact "I am a cig-a-holic". I will always want a smoke. I will use any "STRESS EXCUSE" to smoke one. This will NEVER go away for me.

Mine isn't so much a "craving" but a powerful addiction to smoke, if that makes any sense.

 

[AZKathy]

Cold Turkey and lots of sugarless gum! I must add desire to quit to this also. If DH does not want to quit, it won't happen!

 

[WDWFOREVER]

DH gave up 20 years ago - used to smoke 60 a day - and gave up without any help at all, except his unbelievable willpower.

In 1992 and just before my first ever visit to WDW, I decided to give up. I used Nicorette chewing gum. Just before we left for holiday I decided to only take minimal amount of Nicorette with me as I'd heard from other people that "everything" was cheaper in America. They were right - everything was cheaper. Except that you could only get Nicorette gum on prescription!!!! Hadn't expected that! So went cold turkey on the Nicorette and just chewed Big Reds instead!

Jackie

 

[JoNo]

For me it was my grandfather really. I saw him in the hospital when he was dying of lung cancer. I saw the pictures they took of the lung cancer inside his lungs and it devistated me. After he passed away, I swore to never touch another cigarette again. So far I've slipped only twice in a little over a year, but I think i'm doing really good. Sometimes it takes a kick in the butt! I can smell things so much better now and breathe a whole lot better!

 

[caitycaity]

cold turkey. dh told me (before we were married) that he couldn't be with me if i continued to smoke. so i quit.

it's one of the hardest things i've ever done. i quit 3 years ago and i still crave them from time to time, especially when i am drinking. for me cold turkey was the only way to go though. i had tried before using different methods and always went back.

honestly, if dh had not given me an ultimatum, i would probably still be smoking today.

good luck to your dh.

 

[MAC3]

Originally posted by The Mystery Machine
No it does not sound ridiculous.

For me what helps I just accepted the fact "I am a cig-a-holic". I will always want a smoke. I will use any "STRESS EXCUSE" to smoke one. This will NEVER go away for me.

Mine isn't so much a "craving" but a powerful addiction to smoke, if that makes any sense.

Believe it or not I was you! I used to light one off the other. I was the worst kind, a 2 packer! Didn't matter to me. I thought the day I'd quit would be the day they put me in the ground.
But when compared to watching my daughter grow up, the trade was worth it.

I know no guarantees that I will still be here to watch her graduate but I like my odds much better now.

 

[MAC3]

Originally posted by AZKathy
Cold Turkey and lots of sugarless gum!

Me too Kathy, sorry I forgot to mention that!