Smoking ,don't do it people

[Allie]

Keep on the track buddy. Cold T for me over 5 years ago - one of the hardest things I did, but I know I'll never go back to smoking now.

I join in with the others and wish you all the very best of luck with it - you'll also find your voice recovering in no time at all.

Al

[toneknob]

Had my 5000-day anniversary a few days ago. Not that I'm counting really - I've been looking for an arbitrary anniversary as an excuse to treat myself to a year-of-my-birth bass (not bought yet, but all of a sudden it's ok to start looking).

So, 5000 days (or 13 and a half years, ish) of not spending a fiver (on average) on fags = about £25000. Probably more when you take into account extra weekend smokes.

Like others, I just stopped. No cold turkey here though, apart from two or three occasions in the first week, there were no withdrawal symptoms. On those two or three occasions, I just did something else for a bit and the symptoms went away. What took a million times more willpower was reading the Allen Carr book to instil the frame of mind to stop smoking easily.

[Woodinblack]

One of the great joys of giving up is every so often going in to a shop and noticing that cigarettes are £8!

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1410773781' post='2552837']
What took a million times more willpower was reading the Allen Carr book to instil the frame of mind to stop smoking easily.
[/quote]

Agreed. It is one of the worse books I ever read. Then I stopped smoking and thought, well, I will give up anyway, nothing to do with that book, just feel like it now. Then went on amazon and looked at the reviews, and they all said 'what a badly written book, didn't work but I decided to give up anyway', then it clicked!

[Allie]

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1410773781' post='2552837']
Like others, I just stopped. No cold turkey here though, apart from two or three occasions in the first week, there were no withdrawal symptoms. On those two or three occasions, I just did something else for a bit and the symptoms went away. What took a million times more willpower was reading the Allen Carr book to instil the frame of mind to stop smoking easily.
[/quote]

I guess stopping affects folks differently. You did very well coping with it.
Just adds to the line of thought that stopping smoking IS achievable if you want to do it. I have loads of respect for peeps that have smoked over a long period of time and managed to kick it using whatever method. I know how difficult it can be.

[kerley]

Everyone is different and needs to handle it in different ways. I am a very determined person so when I chose to give up I knew I would succeed, I simply saw myself as no longer being a smoker from that day.

That clearly doesn't mean that I should just say it is easy and you just need to give up. It is finding what works for you and maybe one of the substitutes would help while you remove the habit of actually smoking and then address the removal of nicotine which the substitute products can help with although they could also just delay the hardest part.

I do think that people who give up for two weeks then succumb haven't really convinced themselves that they really want to give up.

[toneknob]

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1410774706' post='2552848']
Agreed. It is one of the worse books I ever read. Then I stopped smoking and thought, well, I will give up anyway, nothing to do with that book, just feel like it now. Then went on amazon and looked at the reviews, and they all said 'what a badly written book, didn't work but I decided to give up anyway', then it clicked!
[/quote]

I found that when it got to the point where "I'm now going to tell you how to actually stop, if you don't feel mentally prepared, don't read on, come to a clinic" I thought "oh, I feel like a smoke actually" and off I went.

A couple of months later I was smoking one morning after a night out, hungover, felt terrible and thought "I just can't be arsed any more" and put one out half-smoked. That was it. I'd absorbed enough from the book to know what to do (this will vary from person to person). My life as a smug and annoying ex-smoker had begun!

[JTUK]

[quote name='kevvo66' timestamp='1410725810' post='2552477']
I play in a trio so my voice is important too the sound ,so it goodbye ciggies
[/quote]

Focus on that... make sure it is the most important thing and you can
use it to break the lure of smoking.
I think you'll get other benefits of course, but put the most tangible one first, your voice.
I doubt it is easy but will power wins, I think. Make sure you have yours
topped up.

Good luck

[alyctes]

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1410726453' post='2552503']
...
As well as standing in the back garden in the rain and snow.
[/quote]

The only bit I actually miss is sitting on the doorstep late at night, getting the eye from the squad cars

[Skol303]

Go for it!!

I stopped smoking four years ago using my own Patented [i]'Get frickin' angry with yourself and get it done!®'[/i] method (™Skol Industries. All rights reserved. Cheques to the usual address).

It was just before I became a father. I figured that if I ended up dying of lung caner or heart failure, then I'd give ANYTHING for a few extra years - even days - spent with my wife and son. And it scared me how selfish I might feel on that hospital bed, saying sorry to them for not quitting earlier. Of course I might [i]yet[/i] die of lung cancer or heart failure... but if that's the case, I'll at least know I did my best to level the odds.

So yeah... not the most positive and uplifting method! In fact I took a very dark and downward route, but in doing so I found my 'fighting spirit' and came out swinging with gritted teeth

Worked for me.

So if it helps, forget all that 'softly softly' stuff. Just picture it as a gnarly, weatherbeaten mountain and start scrambling. The view from the top is spectacular

[Black Coffee]

Smoking.
One of the stupidest and most selfish things that I can do.
Why . . . .?

The cost in money when we aren't rolling in it is mad. £8.00 for a decent pack of 20 x 30 days a month is £240 - bonkers.
The health costs for me when I'm coughing up bits of. ...... Er stuff.
The costs to my family when I'm fit for nothing other than smoking more fags instead of playing footie with my young sons and footsie and other related sports with mrs bassman.
The cost to my family when I die young or become so ill I'm useless at everything.

Better not to start.

[Roger2611]

They interviewed a doctor on radio 5 the other year who was very successful at getting people to quit smoking, his biggest tip was "don't use patches or any Nicotine replacement tools, Nicotine is what keeps you addicted, so you decide to quit smoking all filled with will power, you stick the patches on so the craving goes away, 3 months down the line you ween yourself off the patches only to find the cravings return but the will power has long since gone" I guess it does make sense if you think about it.

For me I quit cold turkey about six years ago (or three more basses ago ) Just give up for a while you can always take it up again in the future if you so desire!

[chrismuzz]

At the moment ecigs and retraining my fingers to play regular guitar again are helping me. I have smoked the odd "real one" here and there but I haven't bought a packet in months (I haven't been keeping track), which is a result I'm happy with

[darren]

It helps to deal with the various stages of quitting separately. Weeks 1 and 2 - make sure you are well hydrated and never hungry, sleep as much as you can and only talk to people that you are fond of. Weeks 3 and 4 - things are less intense now and you will have developed enough coping strategies to get to your first important milestone, a smoke free month. It will be tough at times though. Weeks 4 onwards- never smoke another cigarette. Ever.

Keep reminding yourself of the reasons you have decided to stop and remember to be proud of yourself.

Good luck

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I always remember a gig I played in a small pub in Fulham a few years back. Looking from the stage, I could see this great big cloud hovering over the top of the entire pub. Dry ice would've been preferable . Now when you go into a pub, you can smell polish, and you can recognise what flavour crisps people were having.
When you get home, you can't smell the tar/nicotine on your clothes next day.

[Woodinblack]

[quote name='kerley' timestamp='1410775127' post='2552856']
I do think that people who give up for two weeks then succumb haven't really convinced themselves that they really want to give up.
[/quote]

Exactly that. I gave up many times. Each time I was struggling to get through the days and failed. When I finally did actually stop, I knew when I stopped my last cigarette that it would be my last. And that made it easy. Don't fight yourself, you will always lose.

[ChunkyMunky]

I only used to do it briefly whilst I was in college (as well drinking and smoking dope) but the one thing that helped me stop is to have a goal in mind. If you were to calculate how much you'd save in not smoking and something you want to treat yourself to (i.e gear is always good) then you can start a fund that goes as an incentive. I gave up for my girlfriend and she bought me a bass as a surprise for quitting. You never know what happens! Best of luck to you and go kick ass.

[blue]

I started smoking cigs at age 14, I stopped at age 23. I'm 61.

You can do it. Move forward and don't look back.

Blue

[Dom in Dorset]

My story : I had agreed to stop when my wife was pregnant, I didn't want to stop and intended to go through the motions for a couple of days until she got so pissed off with my foul temper that she'd give up on the idea. Day one I came down stairs and lay on the sofa sulking, she popped out to the chemist and got me some patches, I put one on and ten minutes later it happened! I didn't feel any need to smoke, I realized what a hold smoking had over me. Until then I had to make sure that I had enough tobacco for that day/night/first fag of the day etc. I would do late night trips to the shop to buy tobacco ect. Using the patches broke the hold it had over me. That was 2000, haven't smoked since.

[tom1946]

This is my story:

I started smoking when I was 13 in 1959, my mates both smoked and believe it or not it was trendy and most people took it up. I smoked heavily for the next 45 years and on 22nd November 2004 I had my triple bypass operation, I had my last cigarette the day before.

The nurse who explained how it was all going down said: If you smoke again after this operation you are a fool and you'll be back for another op' within 2 years or dead! I've never had a heart attack, just angina. I haven't had a smoke since then and I have never missed them at all, in fact if I'm walking behind someone who's smoking I'll cross the road to avoid them.

These days I feel and breathe so much better, my wife says I smell much better too. They saved my life that day and I'll never forget waking in intensive care with 2 nurses watching me around the clock, I still get emotional remembering that time.

What I'm trying to say is it's never too late to stop and I don't care how you do it JUST DO IT!!!

[dougal]

Smoker for 16 until 30 (10 years ago).

Just to echo the sentiment - I followed my Grandfather's advice: "Giving up is easy, you just have to want to quit more than want to smoke."

Much happier without the cost, smell and addiction.

[toneknob]

[quote name='dougal' timestamp='1410881456' post='2554246']
Much happier without the cost, smell and addiction.
[/quote]

Funny you should mention that - the one thing I was immune to as a smoker was the smell. I had no sense of smell (now back with a vengeance and very sensitive to fag smoke), and my sense of taste improved a lot as well.

Once I was out driving through town and suddenly could smell a recently lit cig. Odd that, being on my own with the windows and sunroof all closed. It was someone in the open-top car in front, coming in through the air vents.

[thisnameistaken]

For what it's worth I quit using Champix which is available on prescription from the NHS. I'd tried to quit cold turkey quite a few times before and failed, managed it on the first attempt with Champix. Might be worth looking up if you don't manage to quit on your own.

[Black Coffee]

Should say that even almost twelve years on I still get that twang of "want" when I smell a new lit cigarette. It's a deep seated addiction, as I remember reading that nicotine is more addictive than crack cocaine and the amount needed to get you addicted is tiny. When you realise the amount of nicotine in a whole pack of cigarettes is milligrams it puts it in perspective.....

Like I said , one of the stupidest things I've ever done, right up there with marrying my first wife who wearied my bones as much as cigarettes wreaked havoc in my lungs and chest.

Edited September 16, 2014 by bassman344

[Woodinblack]

[quote name='bassman344' timestamp='1410886882' post='2554356']
Should say that even almost twelve years on I still get that twang of "want" when I smell a new lit cigarette. It's a deep seated addiction, as I remember reading that nicotine is more addictive than crack cocaine and the amount needed to get you addicted is tiny.
[/quote]

That is why I was glad for the Allan Carr books - I had stopped being a smoker before stopping smoking, so the smell of a new lit cigarette reminds me of how glad I am that I don't smoke, it is really horrible!


[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1410884535' post='2554323']
For what it's worth I quit using Champix which is available on prescription from the NHS.
[/quote]

My wife tried that - it was effective but gave her deeply disturbing suicidal thoughts so got taken off it which was a bit upsetting I assume that doesn't happen with everyone!

[leroydiamond]

Cigs are dirt. Used to smoke and looking back, I feel like an ass hole that I put my body through that abuse. Really happpy to be finished with that dirt.

Edited September 17, 2014 by leroydiamond