The first time I quit smoking (for about 3 months), EVERYONE in my daily life smoked- my fiance who I live with, almost all our friends, everyone on my pool league team (we play each week at bars which made it even harder). That time, I used the patches which helped tremendously and sometimes used an e-cig too, particularly when I'd be out at bars with friends or at pool league, so I could "smoke" without actually smoking (usually I had the ones without nicotine).

Not long after finishing the patches routine, I started cheating...I'd bum one from my fiance sometimes on weekends, decided I could smoke IF I was drinking, etc. Before I knew it I was buying packs and it went on like that for a few months. Then I did the whole on-and-off thing for another month or so. Then I got really sick, after just ONE day of smoking (after not smoking for about a week) and realized- I CAN'T smoke anymore. It's STILL hard...as much as I know how sick it would make me, I'm still tempted- that's one thing that scared me...less than 24 hours after a breathing treatment at urgent care, I was seriously considering having "just one." Really?! How insane is that?!

It's so great you want to quit and not let smoking take over your life. Most smokers are slaves to cigarettes and you have a chance to not let that be the case for you. :flowerforyou:

Hi, I'm copying a post I put on the message board a few weeks ago. You may find it a compelling reason to quit.

Hi,
I am using this board to encourage you to give up the weed by using my experience to show what can happen if you don't break the addiction.
Obviously everyone knows that smoking kills and most publicity is given to lung cancer. Rightly so, because the prognosis isn't good for anyone with this evil disease. But folks, there are other nasties about and I'm here to tell of one. to tell you how it is from a personal perspective, not theoretical. not text book but living with it. It's called COPD-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder. It can take the form of bronchitis, emphysema or both. I have emphysema.
I discovered I had the disease in 2008 when my entire respiratory system shut down and I lapsed into unconsciousness where I stayed for two days. I was kept in Intensive Care for 1 week and in chest ward for another 10 days while I was pumped out and pumped up. Pumped out? Yeah, the crap in my lungs. For 3 days, the gunge taken out of my lungs was the jet black colour and consistency of the tar macadam used to surface roads. Even on the day I was discharged from hospital the stuff coming out was coloured. Pumped up? Yep, my lungs had seized up and couldn't take in and redistribute enough oxygen around my (large) body. So I had an oxygen mask attached 24/7 for 8 days reducing thereafter until I could take in enough unaided.
I should have be more aware, I'd probably had it for years but chose to ignore the increasing breathlessness when I walked anywhere or exerted myself in other ways. I smoked about 40 cigarettes a day fro many years after I stopped playing sport. I have destroyed 77%- let me repeat that 77% of my lung function. It cannot be recovered because the lung sacs here gone. So folks, I am being kept alive by the equivalent of less than half a healthy lung. Because I never had a "smokers cough" i thought it would never happen to me. It did & there is no-one to blame except myself.
I have to exercise to keep the remaining lungs efficient otherwise they will slowly deteriorate. For me that is an issue because I am lower limb disabled and can barely walk. So I have to go to the gym and do cardio there. I take steroids ever day plus two other inhalers. the steroids keep down inflammation in the lungs, the inhalers open up the airways to assist oxygen intake but they can only do a little.So the slightest effort like going upstairs at home makes me breathless and this is even tho' I work out. The steroids help to put on weight. COPD is not usually a killer but it leaves the sufferer very susceptible to chest infections and viruses and it is those that kill. As soon as I have a minor sniffle, I'm given mega strong steroids and they make the weight pile on. It's a vicious circle because the more weight I carry, the more difficult it is to avoid breathlessness. But without the steroids, the sniffle could develop into a full blown chest infection. Since 2008 I've had 13 attacks of pneumonia.

When I was diagnosed with COPD, the Chest consultant gave me a stark choice. Stop smoking or be dead in 12 months. I suddenly found an irresistible desire to live long. So giving up was not difficult!! It helped being bedridden for a couple of weeks in hospital-just took the edge off and I've never had the slightest urge to smoke again. But I know for some it's difficult.

COPD isn't just about the lungs. They carry oxygen all over the body so when they fall short other things happen. My brain was starved of the right level of oxygen and it affected my memory. I now have a terrible short term memory and this is a common complaint with COPD. My skin became very dry and peeled easily, my hair became dry.
If I lose much more lung function, I will have to be attached permanently to an oxygen tank 24/7. Great prospect eh?.

Listen, people.
Smoking is evil. It is an addiction just as heroin is an addiction, just as alcohol can become an addiction. If you are serious about stopping, treat it as an addiction. Do your cold turkey in the best environment you can-away from temptation if possible. Don't keep packets of cigarettes around or lighters. Chew gum so your mouth has something else to do and get some worry beads or a ball point pen so that yours hands also have something to fiddle with. Avoid places where there is tobacco smoke-at least for the first month or so. If you are in the UK and go shopping, hold your breath as you go to the entrance of the superstore-all the addicts congregate there!.
Copy the outlook of alcoholics- you are a recovering addict and only one puff away from reverting. Soon, like me, you will become an arch critic of smoking and smokers. Some call it hypocritical, I don't care. Smokers stink- their clothes stink, their hair stinks, their hands stink, their breath is vile. It's like kissing an ash tray yuck! You put other peoples health at risk through secondary smoking. Selfish, anti social..
If you want support add me as a friend, otherwise good luck & persevere

He's not smoking much anymore (maybe one a day) BUT the first time I quit, for 3 months, he was smoking like crazy. Almost all my friends smoke too. The first time, when I was successful, I asked him not to smoke in the car when we would be driving, or in the garage (where we hang out and play pool most nights). I also asked him to TRY to be subtle about it. He used to say "Hey want to come outside with me?" and then proceed to smoke in front of me, which drove me crazy. And yep, if I asked to bum one he would say "Nah, you can do it!", though with enough asking, he would give in. Once I told him that I did NOT want to be around it, so to please just go outside without saying anything, he respected that and it was a teeny bit easier. As for group situations, I honestly don't know how I got through those...I guess the same way I do now...I just remind myself of how horrible I will feel (emotionally and physically) and it helps. Plus at this point a lot of people think I'll never quit so it feels good to prove them wrong by letting them see me go without smoking I also told everyone I knew that I quit, so that I would get a huge guilt-trip if I tried to bum one (not pleasant but it helped keep me in check).

Now I follow the same "guidelines" I set for myself the first time I quit. It's easier since my fiance isn't smoking much but when he does smoke...or when I'm at pool league (where everyone chain smokes and we're at bars so drinking is involved too), I do get irritable and almost bitter that I can't smoke too...but feeling like that is kinda scary- it really reminds me how much smoking has taken over my life and how much it controls me, and I hate that- so that helps me refrain from it in social situations. I just hope it eventually gets easier and it won't be such a struggle. It's definitely the hardest in the beginning, and I get mad at myself for "relapsing" after 3 months. If I hadn't I'd still be having a fairly easy time (or at least way easier) and that's another thing I tell myself to keep me from smoking again...I don't want to go through the quitting process again!

I also started working out when I quit smoking (both times) since I never felt well enough when I was smoking. That helps too because to me, smoking will make it harder to lose weight because I'm so much more limited physically.

Sorry this turned into a novel, but I hope it helps!

Yes, thank you!

Just to add to my response of a day ago. I discovered last night that with COPD flying, of any kind, is risky and long haul flying is absolutely off limits. If Airline companies discovered I had COPD, they may well refuse to accept me as a passenger. So that's good bye to any chance of visiting countries I have dreamed off for decades. And all because I was addicted to nicotine and never thought the bad things would happen to me.
Don't smoke. It's a modern day version of forbidden fruit in the garden of eden-the fall out can be catastrophic.

Rick

I think I'm ready to quit... again. I quit before and I think I'm ready now. Everyone in my family smokes except my sister, including my husband, so that's a struggle.

dont think, be sure. really think about it and convince yourself that you can and will do it. if you cant or wont do that then dont bother trying. being around all those smokers will be tough, you need to mentally prepare yourself for that to be able to power through it and saying maybe, telling people you are "trying" to quit will give you that out when push comes to shove and things get difficult and that is when you will crumble.
none of that has to happen since it is all up to you and your mind to decide what will happen, once you decide what will happen in your head then you can make it happen in reality.
if someone tells you "good luck" say no thanks, i dont need luck, you may need strength and perseverance but everyone has those inside of them whether they realize it or not, luck doesnt bring them out, your mind does.

you can do it if you really want to.