another quiting smoking thread

[Ou Ji]

I started smoking around 13. Had cigs before that but didn't smoke regularly until 13. Every time I went over a pack a day I would cut back. I quit once for a few months to see if I could do it and it went well so I resumed my pack a day habit for a few more years.

I quit went I started training MA when I was about 21. I had a cig or 2 a few years afterwards but never resumed the habit. Haven't had one in a long long time now and I'm over 50.

I like to think that I control my body, not the other way around. Also, I've quit worse things than cigs. They're actually the easiest I think and I don't get any cravings at all.

Seems like the longer you go without the easier it gets. At least for me. Sugar was a tough one. I was a mad suger consumer when I was young up to about 30.

I used substitution for one of the worst addictions. Fortunately I wasn't too deep into that one so I was able to dampen the squeezing in the back of my brain with a less addicting substance.

Bottom line is pure will power. Just do it and don't look back.

[Mr Punch]

Can you substitute one addiction (a good one) for an old one (smoking)? I've heard people with addictive personalities can do this.

Get addicted to weightlifting or something instead. I dunno. Learn to play guitar or something if you don't already.

my ram arrived today as well. 1 year 1 gig of ram.

So, you substituted smoking with interactive pr0n games...?! Do you ever leave the house? Congrats on your year. How's the health these days?

Not like I care or anything... but it would be comforting to hear from someone who's been through a lot worse health troubles than my minor glitch of not being able to breathe right now...

BTW, not surprisingly, after having been a heavy smoker for just a couple of years between 17-19 (I started when I was 14/15) and then smoking very little from 24-27ish then even less from then till this health condition (maybe down to only 5 cigs a week), I have now not smoked for over a month.

Of course the fact that I get a violent allergic reaction to cigarette smoke, a coughing fit and lose the ability to breathe at all or without extreme pain and hard work for about five minutes has somewhat detracted from my own kudos!

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

thanks for askin about the health thing. it's a little weird, but its less than a year after a bone marrow transplant and i've actually never been better. and its not like i was some couch potato before ... i worked out constantly but didn't take care of myself in other ways.

im even more active than before and i dont think i've ever had more wind. between helping adora with her gymnastics/cheering, teaching her ma basics (the mma guys will love to hear that she can do a perfect rear naked), doing the basics myself, biking, walking, showing off, playing in the back yard, working on the house, lifting (just started god i ****ing missed it), etc, i move about as much as im still and im rarely out of breath.

i also eat really healthy now which is something i would have never done otherwise. i eat a ton of fruit and salad. a ton of it. my salads are as manly as you can get for a salad and i actually had to cut back on them a little when i started pooping green (use spinach instead of lettuce).

the only vice i have left is beer and to some degree coffee which is a new vice. i drank coffee before, but i never actually felt the effects of caffine. for some reason thats changed and i kinda like it. i dont drink more than a cup or two a day, but i definately look forward to it. beer has been moderated to 2 or 3 beers 5 nights a week. i tried cutting back to just weekends, but then id just binge drink so i said screw it and let myself have my couple beers at the end of the day.

all my checkups have went great and the only thing that sucks is my one year checkup at john hopkins, the one where ill finally feel safe that the cancer is really gone, falls on friday the ****ing 13th. gda could have it no other way. provided that everything stays gone cancer and the bone marrow transplant is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. i really try not to take things for granted anymore and im at least aware of it when i do. im a better father and a better person and i've finally learned that no matter how far i've come ill always look back 5 years later and think that i was a know it all ****in moron.

lots of blabbing = im doing awesome and thanks for askin.

if the thread hasn't been purged ill ressurect it when i hit year 2 for sure.

[Mel]

Being a noob, I hadn't seen this thread before. Congratulations GDA. How are your cravings now? I smoked very heavily (2.5 packs a day) for a few years. I quit when I was 20. That was 21 years ago. I used to get horrible cravings--and WEIRD dreams, like smoking 10 cigarettes at once or smoking a 3-foot long cigarette. Crazy. Every once in a while, I'll still have a dream that I'm smoking--and I'm really ****ed off at myself in the dream for doing it. Then I wake up and go "whew!" Every five years or so, I buy a pack of herbal cigarettes--no nicotine. I'll smoke a couple. And then I'll say, "Wow, this is really gross." But such is the power of nicotine that even after 21 years, it tries to lull me like a virgin again--not constantly like in the beginning, but every so often. Fortunately, in 21 years, I have not had ANY nicotine.

Oh, and the cancer, didn't know about that either of course. Hope you do well GDA.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

thanks mel and im doing fine. i had hodgekins lymphoma so in the absolute worst case scenario where it would come back in the next 2 years i should still have plenty of time to get adora off to college which is good enough for me. obviously thats not what im hoping for, but it helps to think that no matter what i shouldn't be dippin out on her while shes still a kid.

as far as cravings go they are actually pretty rare. at first i really missed just going out and sitting on the porch for a couple minutes here and there. that is until i decided why dont i just go sit on the porch with a beer/coffee/tea/my penis i was worried it would make me miss cigerettes more, but it acutally helped. i still go out on the porch while my friends smoke and every now and then ill have a mild craving while drinking, one of those i havent smoked in so long one wouldnt hurt type deals, but it passes quickly and that's that.

while i am proud of myself i do have to admit i have had a bit more motivation to quit than most people. i didnt quit during the first rounds of chemo and radiation, but when i was one of the 10% who needed to follow up with a bone marrow translpant i figured thats a good sign its time to quit. if just being a father and setting an example and the sheer money that goes into the habbit isn't enough to make ya want to quit a 4 month trip out of town to completely reset your immune system should do the trick just fine.

[FatherDog]

Glad you're in good health, GDA.

[IronFist]

Cheers, GDA.

[fa_jing]

Fuc(k you GDA.





















(J/K)

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

http://cms.psychologytoday.com/artic...05-000003.html

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

running a search for something else i found this thread and thought i'd bump it cause im so awesome.

almost 2 years ... not a drag.

also i didnt mention it before but suzi quit with me. she hasnt had a single drag since either.

we rule.

[jethro]

I still can't quit smoking, err, I guess I haven't tried either. Working out evry night was getting easier for me for a while but now I push myself to the limit every night and cougth up some sich ass shlt. But I always make it. Imagine what I could do if I neevr did that stuff.

[Chief Fox]

I still can't quit smoking, err, I guess I haven't tried either. Working out evry night was getting easier for me for a while but now I push myself to the limit every night and cougth up some sich ass shlt. But I always make it. Imagine what I could do if I neevr did that stuff.

You'd be a super stud like me. Never smoked, never will. I rule!

[The Willow Sword]

Glad that you are doing well GDA. We have had our differences in the past but i whole heartedly respect you for your courage and surviving the cancer. As for your Smoking? Well i smoked all through my teens and when i hit 20 i quit. i quit cold turkey and i think the main thing that helped me to quit was what i supplemented in to my body after the nicotine went away( 3 days is how long nicotine stays in your system after you stop smoking) I loaded up on the vitamin C to aid in repair of my lungs and immune system. i did start to drink coffee and tea( the caffiene). the studies show NOW that coffee in moderate amounts is good for you, just like wine and beer and butter and all those things that they all thought were terrible poisons.
Of course you seem to be eating healthy so you are giving your bod what it needs to repair itself. I also took lots of red ginseng which helped me tremedously. the rest was trying to break that ingram pattern of taking a cigarrete out of the pack lighting it up and taking a drag. Its amazing that when you do something over and over and over again how so engrained it can become within your psyche( now if more people trained like that in martial arts eh?) anyway the point is that trying to break that pattern is a challenge, but not more so challenging than say, doing 100 push ups straight without letting up).

So you just supplement your energy levels with vitamin C and red ginseng, Eat right, replace the "going through the motions" of smoking a cigarrette and replacing them with something else. that tacked onto the "will" that everyone is talking about and you will be fine and tobacco free.

Peace,TWS

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

thanks willow .... we did have our differences, but you were an adversary i have always enjoyed. i looked forward to arguing with you on the interweb. though i would have never admitted it in the past i always thought you were the type of guy id enjoy getting drunk with just to debate everything you're not supposed to debate. i dont mean any offence in saying your sentiments caught me a little off guard, but i really do appreciate it man. cheers.

[Pork Chop]

Great job GDA. I think you're a lot stronger person than I am.

I've never really been one of those everyday smokers- for a month max, but anything longer than smoking daily for week at a time was rare, much more of a weekend thing.

I don't drink that often either- i've had a few months mixed in of binge drinking every weekend, but in general it's pretty rare that i drink more than once a month.

My big issue is when I'm stressed out, when I'm hurt, when I'm angry, when I'm depressed, or when I just want to cheer up; I'll smoke and often binge drink.

The past week has been one of the worst for all of that stuff. I'll admit, I broke down the first night: had a sixer and blew through a pack of newports- I was basically in shock.

The thing is, the pain didn't go away, it got worse. All of the issues got worse. I couldn't smoke and drink in the middle of my ongoing issues, so i was forced to take deep breaths and calm myself down to make the pain go away.

I think it's worked better than smoking ever had and it's bleeding out to other areas of my life- not losing my temper, not so stressed out, not being so down on myself, not feeling so bored, not feeling that i gotta do something crazy to "party". Actually, it kind of reminds me of the revalation that i feel much better when I get enough veggies in my diet.

I find myself eager to commit to cutting it and drinking out of my life.
I'm learning to cope without the self destruction.

So here's to all of us sticking to our guns and living life. Keep it up!