After Quitting Smoking

[sargeant]

nicotine is a mental depressant....it calms you down.

Its the stress that kills you hence when i get the born again fundementalist non smokers having a go at me i have a fag to calm down

question just where was all this great advice when the british govt was issuing me with a fag and alcohol ration rather than money defending all of your freedoms oh that would be back in 1963 by the way

[PeteC]

I eventually quit because I didn't want to smoke any more. I planned to have a long and healthy retirement. Before quitting I educated myself using www.whyquit.com set my quit date and stopped while adopting their motto NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF.

I'm a long term and very heavy smoker and what I've been reading on the above web site has value. I was very surprised to read about the 'cold turkey' approach rather than the patch/gum approach. Makes a lot of sense. I'm going to keep reading. I'm 59 in two months with a 3 year old daughter. Incentive enough to quit, but not so far. Maybe I'll try it again. Pete

[sargeant]

Before i get accused of encouraging people to smoke let me make it clear

1... If you dont smoke dont start (if you do!) expect to die of stress induced by depression as the born again EX smokers pile on
who do so mainly to reinforce their own personal reason for stopping and probably to convince them selves that the fag you are smoking isnt giving them the same craving that made you light up in the first place and out of jealosy try to ruin your enjoyment

2... If you have stopped be proud but above all prove to yourself that you have stopped by allowing those that have decided against the evidence to enjoy a puff or 2 its their choice

True Story
When told i had prostate cancer the doctor told me to stop smoking
I pointed out to him whilst i shamefully had to admit to nicotine stripes in my underpants on occasions i had never in my life smoked a ciggarette pipe or cigar with my arse and that he was talking out of his

I am now feeling stressed so ill go outside and have a puff to calm down

[hhfarang]

Smoking, just like drinking and over eating, is a personal choice based on trade-offs of pleasure vs risk.

I quit smoking because after watching a relative die a very slow and painful death because if this habit scared the hell out of me.

I still drink too much and eat too much and don't get enough exercise so those are my pleasure vs risk choices.

Maybe if I have to watch someone die a slow and miserable death because of one of those habits it will give me incentive to stop that one too, but on the other side of the argument, I have a 92 year old mother who never smoked, drank, over ate or did anything bad for her health and now she's lived long enough to be a vegetable in a nursing home with no dignity whatsoever.

I don't want to have such a healthy life that I live so long that I can't wipe my own ass!

[malcolminthemiddle]

nicotine is a mental depressant....it calms you down.

This health intellectualization is false. The body's pH balance is delicate. Nicotine is an alkaloid and stress an acid producing event. The more stressful the event the quicker the body's remaining nicotine reserves are neutralized (in the same manner as pouring a baking soda solution on an acid covered car battery terminal). The stressed smoker is thrown into early chemical withdrawal adding additional anxiety to the underlying original stressful event. It's why the anxiety associated with a flat tire causes smokers to reach for a cigarette while the non-smoker reaches for a jack. The anxieties build until the doubly stressed smoker cries out "I NEED A CIGARETTE!" Within eight seconds of the first puff, the smoker's nicotine blood serum nicotine level rises and their withdrawal anxieties subside. The addict is left with the false impression that smoking cured the underlying stressful event when in fact the tire is still flat. All non-smokers experience stress too. The difference is that they don't add early nicotine withdrawal to each stressful event. In truth, stress nicotine depletion causes smokers to experience far more anxiety than non-smokers. In truth, it is much easier and calmner being the real "you" than it is living as a chemical slave. www.whyquit.com

[hhfarang]

MITM,

While I generally agree with what you wrote, I look forward to the answers you will get from the people who genuinely enjoy (or think they do) smoking. I think there will be some smoke here on the forum!

[malcolminthemiddle]

MITM,

While I generally agree with what you wrote, I look forward to the answers you will get from the people who genuinely enjoy (or think they do) smoking. I think there will be some smoke here on the forum!

Hi HHF,

My posts are directed in the main at those smokers who would like to quit but to those people who smoke because they say they enjoy smoking, I should say this.

This may be the most deeply engrained rationalization of all as it has a solid basis in the following flawed denial logic. "I don't do things that I don't like to do." "I smoke lots and lots of cigarettes." "Therefore, I must really enjoy smoking," instead of the correct conclusion, "therefore, I must really be chemically addicted to smoking nicotine." Did you enjoy being the unaddicted "you" or have you forgotten what it was like to live comfortably inside a mind that does not crave for nicotine? If you cannot remember what it was like being "you" then what basis do you have for honest comparison? If you truly enjoyed being addicted to nicotine then why are you here reading these words? Is it that you liked smoking or that you liked not having to experience what occurred when you didn't smoke - withdrawal? Studies have long ranked nicotine as a more addictive substance than either heroin or cocaine. In fact, cocaine's generally recognized addiction rate among regular users is 15% while nicotine's addiction rate of over 70% is at least five times as great. Imagine convincing your mind that it " likes " being addicted to the drug that addiction scientists now rank as the most addictive substance on all of planet earth. We are nicotine addicts . A pack a day smoker smokes 7,300 cigarettes each and every year. How many of your last 7,300 nicotine fixes did you really enjoy ? How many of the next 7,300 will bring tremendous joy to your life? Isn't it time to be honest? www.whyquit.com

[hhfarang]

Again, while I agree, I await the "smoking" replies...

[sargeant]

HH i am trying i really am trying

And it is the ear/reading problems that comes (After packing up) with fundementalist EX smokers

They no bruddy rissom

There are only 2 two reasons for dying
1.. Lack of breath
2.. Boredom ie too bored to bother staying alive

[dtaai-maai]

Again, while I agree, I await the "smoking" replies...

We're all too busy spluttering and coughing our guts out all over the keyboard to make a sensible resp...wrvhbpnc ;CN/WFI[OBVHJQ2=-45y




If it helps, I wish I'd never started.

[sandman67]

Sarge....

I cant put it better than this:



and especially this:

[sargeant]

Sorry sm but i cant get outube up on my steam driven machine

[hhfarang]

Thanks for those Sandman, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing!

[tj]

Trying this year myself to give them away but not holding my breath as to the sucsess of the venture?
On a purley financial basis i estimate i will save approx $4000 AU (120,000 bht) if i manage to kick the habit.
That equates to either :
a free 3 week trip every year.
240 barfines
120 LT
12 buffalo
1400 Gin and Tonics
3000 serves of fried rice
What ever your style it is a lot of bht going up in smoke!!!!

[ozuncle]

tj,
Good Luck.
Thats the way I looked at it.
So far it has been four free annual holidays in Thailand.
I find that a big enough incentive but there are also many other advantages.
I don't stink.
I don't cough.
I feel a lot healthier.
I enjoy the taste of food and drink more.
I am more productive. (Don't have to duck outside all the time.)

The only downside is I have to watch my weight.

Some problems will not go away like the stuffed lungs and receding gums which require constant attention but overall things are a lot better.

Hang in there and try and keep away from smokers as much as you can.