STINKY SMOKERS!

Xaspar

I am a smoker.
I started when I was 9.
I quit when I was 19 (pregnant with child #1)
Mostly stayed quit until after the birth of my 2nd child at 23. Had a REALLY bad day! and I was back to the old habit.
Quit again when I was pregnant with child #3, but shortly after she was born (at age 25) I began smoking again.
Quit again in 2004 and that stuck until 2006 - stress is always my trigger. Haven't tried to quit again. Not sure if I will any time soon...
At this point I have smoked for more than half of my life (even if you take out the years I wasn't smoking).

McKayMachina

Wow! So many quitters among us! That is so awesome!

Sounds like a lot of us have the same triggers, too.

p.s.: I quit using an e-cig but it took months of weening off of real cigs to really work. Now I don't use the e-cig at all! But the NJOY starter pack was only like $100 and it totally helped me kick the habit.

Oh...I should mention...I do smoke hookah about 10x/year. I didn't include that in the first message. Hookah and a good turkish coffee is just too amazing a combo for me to skip it. But I still don't consider smoking less than once/month a "smoker," per se.

kapeluza

Honestly what keeps me from touching another cigarette is watching a person die from lung cancer. Have you ever seen anyone die from smoking all their life, I have. I watched my uncle die gasping for air and eventually suffocating because he had lung cancer. I don't want that for myself. That was traumatic to say the least.

McKayMachina

Honestly what keeps me from touching another cigarette is watching a person die from lung cancer. Have you ever seen anyone die from smoking all their life, I have. I watched my uncle die gasping for air and eventually suffocating because he had lung cancer. I don't want that for myself. That was traumatic to say the least.

That sounds just awful. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. And I'm sorry for whomever you lost, as well.

The silver lining is absolutely your desire to live a healthier life. So, good for you. Most people would probably just have resigned to a similar fate.

Nogo

I smoked for 14 years. Quit here and there but am finally DONE! Done for 4 years or so. Saturday at the gym a chick got on the machine next to me and I could smell she just smoked a ciggie & nearly moved to another machine. I thought "You're running your *kitten* off on the treadmill so you must care about fitness but you still smoke, WHY?!?!"

Oh, and I quit because of hearing it dries out every cell in your body. And one day I just...quit. If only unhealthy food was so easy for me...

Iamfit4life

Quit 4months ago.
Should have never started. Literally every grandparent I have had has died of smoking related illness.



I quit because I didn't want my children to EVER remember their mother smoking. I don't want them to s moke.
if they did I'd blame mysefl.

ZebraHead

I smoked my first cigarette when I was 7 I carried a pack when I was 10 I smoke for 40 years. I quit about 7 years ago and never looked back.

Easy to smell cigarettes and the smell it leaves on people and places they have been.

Jennjenn1974

I quit almost 3 years ago. The reason? Because at the time I was single and all the the guys who smoked and I dated tended to be *kitten*. Please note I am not stereotyping...just from my experience. So I decided to quit. 3 months later I met the most amazing man. We are still together after 2 years


Edit -- if I have been drinking and there are smokers around...I tend to steal a drag or two. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often LOL!

StarGeezer

Started smoking, like many, because friends in school convinced me it was "cool." Didn't actually start in earnest however until I was in my mid-20's. Oddly enough, when I picked it up at that point, it was the pipe (with tobacco... no "wacky weed" for this kid!) I actually "graduated" to cigarettes because the place where I worked gave us 10 minute smoke breaks, and by the time I went downstairs to the smoking area, loaded the bowl, smoked it for a while, tamped it, smoked a bit more, then dumped and scraped the bowl, it was too high maintenance for the brief break period.

I basically gave it up about 8 years ago... I was unemployed, and New York has THE highest excise taxes on cigarettes in the country (currently around $4.30+ per pack. The price for a pack of cigs in NY state is between $9-11, sometimes higher.) Not to mention I kept getting respiratory sicknesses, related directly to the smoking. Early in 2010, when my mother was hospitalized with a serious and nearly life-threatening condition, I picked up a couple packs. They were nasty, I couldn't even enjoy them anymore.

For a little over a year now, I've been "vaping"... using electronic nicotine inhalators, or "ecigs" if you prefer. There's no combustion or burning of material, so you don't inhale smoke. Instead, an electronic atomizer heats up an inert liquid, turning it into a vapor that is 99.9+% water. You can choose to have varying strengths of nicotine to the "juice", or none at all. I find it keeps the cravings at bay, satisfies the various "fixations" smokers typically have, and is healthier by orders of magnitude than smoking any sort of plant-based materials. There's no ashes, no tar, no stained teeth or fingers, and no stinky clothes or furniture. And best of all, it doesn't screw up your breathing. I haven't picked up a regular cigarette since around February 2010.

niste_ketlin

Honestly what keeps me from touching another cigarette is watching a person die from lung cancer. Have you ever seen anyone die from smoking all their life, I have. I watched my uncle die gasping for air and eventually suffocating because he had lung cancer. I don't want that for myself. That was traumatic to say the least.

I had a guy I "adopted" as my uncle. He was very close to my family. I was around 8 when he really started wasting away from the lung cancer.. The cancer spread badly. And I remember the very last time I saw him, when I went to hug him I could feel every bone in his back because he was so thin. I was so young, but I knew what was wrong, and why he was dieing right in front of my very eyes. It really hurt my family to lose him, and my dad was especially disturbed by it. So much so that he almost ended up cutting up Henry's picture he kept in his desk. Thankfully, none of my family members are smokers.. Not my mom or dad, my siblings, aunts, uncles, etc. Nobody in my close or extended family. A few had been, but they kicked it and they haven't once regretted it.

vickytownsendx

How long have you been a smoker? On and off since I was 14 I'm now 21

Are you trying to quit? Yes

Why or why not? For many reasons, my mum hates it, my friends dad died of throat cancer recently, my chest started to hurt

Have you quit before? Yea, I was on and off

How did you do it? Stopped buying cigarettes.

Why didn't you stick with it? Stress, peer pressure, social smoking

I started due to friends doing it, but I hate doing it now I went from 10/20 a day to 2 a day. I'm getting there slowly. I like swimming and its hard to hold your breath under water while smoking.

Good luck to whoever else is quitting :-)

tamheath

Of course, I had to read. Yes, smoker. Yes, tried to quit numerous times. Have got to try again. Which I why I came to read this post and re-read later. All you quitters are my heros. :flowerforyou:

Iamfit4life

Of course, I had to read. Yes, smoker. Yes, tried to quit numerous times. Have got to try again. Which I why I came to read this post and re-read later. All you quitters are my heros. :flowerforyou:

You can do it too! It's so hard, but it's so worth it.
After the first few months it gets much easier.


First two months I was awful.

tamheath

Wow! So many quitters among us! That is so awesome!

Sounds like a lot of us have the same triggers, too.

p.s.: I quit using an e-cig but it took months of weening off of real cigs to really work. Now I don't use the e-cig at all! But the NJOY starter pack was only like $100 and it totally helped me kick the habit.

Oh...I should mention...I do smoke hookah about 10x/year. I didn't include that in the first message. Hookah and a good turkish coffee is just too amazing a combo for me to skip it. But I still don't consider smoking less than once/month a "smoker," per se.

I have wondered about the e-Cig. I think I might like that....

tamheath

Of course, I had to read. Yes, smoker. Yes, tried to quit numerous times. Have got to try again. Which I why I came to read this post and re-read later. All you quitters are my heros. :flowerforyou:

You can do it too! It's so hard, but it's so worth it.
After the first few months it gets much easier.


First two months I was awful.

Thank you! I think I just need to put on my big girl panties; understand it's gonna suck for awhile, and get the HELL over it. Perhaps with an e-cig. :smokin:

tamheath

Did you start by adding ANY nicotine to the mix?

taeliesyn

I was a smoker for about 10 years, social at first and then full time.
Gave up a couple of times, the longest being about 11 months.
I am now over 2 years smoke free. My OH is still a smoker, so I am stuck being around it.
I gave up cold turkey, and no I don't enjoy being around when the OH/other people are smoking.

gavini

How long have you been a smoker? am 37 now, started when i was 12, didnt inhale until i was 14 (i didnt know i wasnt doing it right until a friend showed me)

Are you trying to quit? there is no try, do or do not. currently i am "do not" but am thinking about quiting sometime in the next few days...

Why or why not? i really, really like smoking. the feeling it gives me, the ritual of it, the taste after a workout or after a meal or with a beer, the break/me time it gives me. i dont like the expense and how i need to clean up before i see my wife so she doesnt get upset about the smell or the health risks.

Have you quit before? yes, 15 years ago i quit for about 8 months, for 6 weeks from july to sept this year. in 2008 or 2009 i quit a few times for a couple weeks here or there

How did you do it? cold turkey

Why didn't you stick with it? first time i was young and didnt see myself as a non-smoker but was at a job where i couldnt take smoke breaks and had a new girlfriend but then the job ended and i went back to it. other times i really missed it and was insanely jealous of people who were smoking and mostly i was doing it to please others but didnt want to quit myself, the 6 weeks recently, i had some sad stuff happen in my world and i used that as an excuse

BrettPGH

One day soon I promise!

I downloaded a quit smoking phone app. Since apparently I'm very good at doing things when I have an app...

leanne2376

How long have you been a smoker?

21 years

Are you trying to quit?

yes

Why or why not?

everytime i do i put on weight and it gets me down - so have decided to tackle my weight issue first

Have you quit before?

yes for 2 years

How did you do it?

cold turkey and exercise

Why didn't you stick with it?

i dont know