I miss smoking

[Mizmoon]

yeah, I know. I'm supposed to be nothing but overjoyed about quitting. I'm not. I miss it. A lot. :-(

I miss the silky paper. I miss the smell of a new pack. I miss the rush of nicotine. If it wasn't for the slow, agonizing death part I'd still be smoking today.

This one guy I used to smoke with always seemed a little unhealthy. Now that I've quit he tells me he HAS emphysema and has had it for some time. Still can't quit. Knows it's going to kill him, doesn't care. Ugh.

Damn you, science! Where are you when I REALLY need you? Make me a risk-free smoke, dammit.

[Magrittes Pipe]

1. So do I.

I just came back from my cigarette break. :(

[LiberalVoice]

2. And sacrifice billions of dollars?

The ciggarette companies will never let it happen. It has to be addictive or it doesn't work.

[MissMillie]

3. Give it some more time

Next month makes 7 years since I've smoked. At this stage of the game, not a day goes by that I'm not happy that I quit.

I don't miss the smell in my hair and clothes.

I don't miss spending all that money on cigarettes.

I don't miss having to find time to have a cigarette while I'm at work.

I don't miss having to make room in my purse for a pack.

I don't miss having to remember to keep a lighter or some matches in my pocket.

I don't miss the effort it took to find the store that sold them cheapest and figuring out how to order my errands so that I could fit a trip to that store in.



When doctors ask me if I smoke... I love saying that I haven't smoked in 7 years.

[ewagner]

4. I sympathize with you

I miss the comfort I used to get from my pipe after a meal, or sitting outside by the grill watching the sun set.

HOWEVER....

After the heart attack in December, I know that the pipe will kill me rather quickly if I ever pick it up again....

great motivation really.........

[zanana]

5. I feel your pain!

I quit smoking over two years ago, and I'm tired of pretending about how "glad" I am. I miss it, too. Have you gained any weight? I gained 40 lbs. and lost it, but I'm hungry all the time. Nicotine IS a pretty powerful appetite supressant. Don't get me wrong; my chances of dying are less now that I've quit and I don't intend to ever go back to it, but sometimes I imagine what that first puff would feel like!

[Mizmoon]

7. oh yeah

someone actually mistook me for pregnant - that's how freakin fat I've gotten. I can lose it, but it does make me sad. I was never fat like this before.

[rndmprsn]

6. 6 years this month...

since i quit...ive never looked back since then, best thing for my health that i could have ever done...since then ive started jogging every morning and eating better. ive lost about 30 lbs since then and live MUCH healthier and i started it all by kicking the habit...you've got to start somewhere you know...gooduck man!

[Joe Power]

8. After almost 7 smoke-free years...

...I still miss some things about it. But not many. It really is a horrible addiction, and the more time you put between it and yourself, the less you'll miss it.

The two things that I think I will always miss, however, is that initial feeling when you light up, and even moreso, the socialization involved in standing outside smoking in a group. Neither is even remotely worth smoking for, though.

Good luck staying away from the nasty things. Keep in mind, the people who make and profit from them want you dead.

[xmas74]

9. I'll smoke enough for both of us.

You like menthol, don't you?

[Mizmoon]

10. yes, you can have the cancer for us both too

here are the things I quit to avoid:

cancer of the:
tongue
mouth
gums
sinuses
larynx
esophagus
lungs

emphysema
COPD

heart attack

[xmas74]

22. I have set my date-March 1.

I have purchased enough packs until then (I made a run to the discount cigarette warehouse a while ago and keep them in the freezer).
After that, I'm trying to decide if I want patches or gum.

[miss_kitty]

23. people who smoke are more likely to get cancer of the bladder and

kidneys as well. MMMM bladderectomy. pee in a bag. forever.

[OnionPatch]

11. It takes time

I felt that way the whole first year or so after quitting. Now it's been seven years or so and the thought of lighting up a cigarette makes me nauseated. Oh and the weight I gained came off by itself too after the first year.

[Beware the Beast Man]

12. I know the feeling.

I ran out of Nicorette two days ago, and I have no spare cash until payday. Right now I have no safety net, and withdrawal sucks. I've come perilously close to cracking today. Hang in there, I'm right with you.

[Magrittes Pipe]

13. If you don't have the spare cash for Nicorette...

...you don't have the spare cash for smokes. 'member dat.

[Mizmoon]

15. Maybe it's time to quit the gum too

nicotine is nicotine ... many theorize that nicotine replacement actually makes it harder to quit.

Just a thought. Good luck - you're doing great!

Don't mind my whining ... I'm still in mourning for my lost habit and waistline.

[LynneSin]

14. A big hug from someone who wished her dad would have quit

My father died when he was 42 (I was 14). I don't know if you have kids or not, but believe me the kids will appreciate it too.

I know if my father could have quit he would have, but it was a damn addictive habit that kept him going until it killed him. I also wish I had bugged him more about quitting. Thing is my mother made it a point to force my father to smoke anywhere he wanted except in the house, in the family car (he could smoke in his own car)or even around us kids. Of course he died at a time when you could smoke all you want at your desk at work. So maybe if I had seen him smoke around me more I might have been more of a persistant bugger to get him to quit

:pals:

[daydreamer]

16. Smoking is evil

You should be proud of yourself for quitting.

[Frogtutor]

17. I remember when you first quit...

I'm so glad to hear you've stayed quit!

It's been almost two years for me, and I STILL miss it; I still have smoking dreams, and wake feeling guilty!

All I can tell you is that it gets a little bit better each day. I just try to remind myself of the reasons I DON'T miss it when I start feeling nostalgic...

Congratulations; as a fellow ex-smoker, I'm very happy for you AND I share your pain!

[bugslsu9]

18. I'm Struggling too

I've been trying to quit for the last week, it is not easy. It also doesn't help when you have non-smokers (never smoked) saying, "why don't you just put it down?"

I have extra motivation to quit right now, and it's still hard. My dad had a stroke a little over a month ago due to high blood pressure due to smoking. One thing I do not want to do is put my wife through that. I watched my mom worry herself into shingles, and that is not what I want to happen to my wife.

:toast: To all of us who want to quit smoking, may we all find success

[Hubert Flottz]

19. I quit 11 weeks ago!

I can live without them!

But it ain't easy!

I wonder, after all the money the tobacco companies had to pay out to all the states, WHY...is none of that money being spent to help people quit smoking????

Why are the ones still addicted to tobacco being made to pay extra state and federal taxes???? Where is all that extra tax money going???? Why is that money not being used to help the people who need help the most????

I just watched a TV ad this morning, paid for by the state of Kentucky, about how EVIL smokers are for emitting EVIL second hand smoke around kids! Kentucky has been a top tobacco producing state, almost since the day it became a state! Kentucky has made countless billions, off of the tobacco companies who were conning young folks into starting to smoke cigarettes, over all those years! How quickly Kentucky, seems to have forgotten, how they supported, upheld, condoned and profited from politically, the likes of the suddenly EVIL Joe Camel and Marlboro man! I remember how they once told us ALL to," Come up, come all the way up" and to, "take a puff, it's SPRINGTIME"? I remember how my dear old uncle Sam put the smokes in my Army C rations boxes every day!

So...why is it always the smoker who is the bad guy in all this new "anti-smoker" hype(bullshit)on my TV, instead of the people who made the killing helping the tobacco companies, kill??

[MsUSA]

20. I'm going to quit April 19th. Our 25th wedding anniversary.

It's going to be the present I give my husband. I'm getting nervous about it already. I quit for 6 months once, but went back. D*mn, it IS a powerful addiction. I hate it, I hate what I look like, I hate being the one who leaves someplace to go outside and have a smoke. I just have to quit. I need the ziban to calm me, and I was wondering do you think I can take ziban and do the patch???

[Frogtutor]

26. Yes, you can

BTW, Zyban and Wellbutrin are the same drug, but Wellbutrin is usually covered by insurance because it is an antidepressant. For some stupid reason most insurance companies don't cover Zyban or other products to help quit smoking.

I took Wellbutrin and used the nicotine patch; It will be two years for me in April.

Make sure you start the Zyban or Wellbutrin a few weeks before quitting; it takes some time to build up in your system and start working. Also, my doctor recommended that I continue taking it for six months after quitting. Apparently it can take that long to undo the physiological changes in the brain caused by smoking.

Just take it one hour and one day at a time. It does get easier each day! Good luck!

[MsUSA]

28. Thanks for the support.

[miss_kitty]

21. one of my favourite Smoking soliloquies

From Frasier:

"Frasier: "All right. Now Bebe, tell me, what is so wonderful about smoking?"

Bebe: "Everything. I like the way a fresh, firm pack feels in my hand. I like peeling away that little piece of cellophane and seeing it twinkle in the light. I like coaxing that first, sweet cylinder out of its hiding place and bringing it slowly to my lips. Striking a match. Watching it burst into a perfect, little flame and knowing that soon that flame will be inside me. I love the first puff, pulling it into my lungs. Little fingers of smoke filling me, caressing me, feeling that warmth penetrate deeper and deeper until I think I'm going to burst then WHOOSH! Watching it flow out of me in a lovely sinuous cloud; no two ever quite the same."


I was seriously grappling with the cessation of smoking when this episode aired ("Where There's Smoke, There's Fired" Episode: #3.21 - 30 April 1996) and did not manage it until 26 Feb 1998-hey I gotta an anniversary to celebrate-and yeah, I'd like to celebrate with a pack of 'friends', but I haven't even had a drag off of a cigarette since I stopped, so it's best to leave well alone.

Believe me-I still want one (or more) all the time. Some of us are built that way. others aren't:

"Daphne: "Well, I smoked for years and I never became addicted. To this day I can buy a pack, have a cig or two, toss them in a drawer, and not crave another for months."

Bebe: "There's a word for people who can do that. What is it? Oh, yes: bitch."

Hang in there. You can do it!

[MsUSA]

25. miss_kitty: One of my all time favorite Frasier shows. eom

[Mizmoon]

27. LOL

Bebe speaks the truth :)

Thanks for that.

[radwriter0555]

24. I miss smoking a LOT. But I don't miss DYING one day at a time, I don't

miss handing republicans $3000 a year of my hard earned money.

I don't miss smelling bad or endangering my child.

I don't miss planning my LIFE around an addiction.

[maveric]

29. It gets better. I quit Jan 1 and I now no longer have the craving.

The hard part wasnt the nicotene withdrawl but the mechanical habits involed with smoking. Like, when I got into my truck. I'd,1. put on my belt,2. Start the engine, 3. Light a cigarette.

When I'd first get to work, I'd sign in and then waltz out to the smoking area(outside), where I'd meet my smoking co-workers for the pre-shift breeze session.

On my nights off I'd ritually walk down to the corner store for Coca Cola or milk or whatever and smoke one for the walk there and one for the walk back.

Damn I enjoyed that. But now, after 52 days and a little more money in my pocket, I'm no longer sweating it out like I did for the 1st 21 days.

Persevere, it gets better.

[Sgent]

30. FYI

If your a Mississippi resident, call the tobacco quitline to get counseling, etc.

You get a coupon for 2 weeks of whatever method you decide to try, and if your low income, can get up to 3 months of free nicorette, etc. Also, MS Medicaid covers smoking cesstation products.

At least one state had made some use of the tobacco funds.