Not a smoker anymore!!!!!

I don't smoke, but you know that you always have my support. Good Luck. You can do it!

Thanks, Phoenix! What's your phone number? Can I call you any time of day or night?

You go girl. You can do it, I know you can ;-)

Good Luck. We're all on your side with you.

I quit last year on March 8 - but recently have started smoking vile smelling cigars with quite some regularity and I reach out for the nearest ciggie when I am drinking.

I am with you Rae !!!

Way to go, Rae!

Of course we support you. And since we are in a different time zone there is always somebody there that you can call.

I am sure BigDice can relate to you very well. ;-) He quit smoking in 2001 - just before our trip to Boston - also taking pills. But as you know he smokes now...

But you are a woman! You can do it!

I whipped em, drugs, booze and smoking. I gave up cigars late 2002 and havent looked back. My success in whipping the habits is to envision the consequences and the bad associations derived from the habit.
For smoking I used to obsess about how i couldnt taste things and that smoking made me smell really funky all over.aAny vehicle i drove (except my wifes truck)STANK, and for cigars,it was costing a small fortune .
Focus on the immediate negatives of smoking and reinforce your quitting by recalling the bad, immediate stuff. cancer never stops one because
Ayou believe that youre immune
b when you finally get it , you are fatalistic and smoke to "give up'
..
I know its idiotically simple but , it worked for me and Ive been sober for almost 15 years and smoke free for almost 7 months.

The trick, for me, was not to substitute one habit for another, no matter how positive the substitute is. when it all comes down to it, the substitute habit is hanging on just reminding you that you are "powerless" to quit on your own.

oh yeh, one thing that helped in my journey. give up associations that promote smoking for a while. this lowers the stimulus levels. my cigar smoking always started by me driving to my office each day. For the first few months after I quit. i drove my motorcycle or went directly to the airport by limo. i only drove with other people in the car for a while. this triggers the social skills that prevent us from smoking up in front of others.



try not to crutch yourself with outside medication and prescribed inducements or even 12 step programs.These methods reason that you are out of control and will always need monitoing.
i dont like any program that relinquishes your own control.recidivism to those techniques is high.




ALSO_YOU CAN SEE HOW STAINED MY TEETH ARE> I would obsess about having cleaner whiter teeth, so I got a teeth whitening at the dentist. The theory being similar to when you get your car detailed. You keep it clean longer. so , getting the whitening treatments made my pecuniary side speak to me reminding me that the treatments cost bucks and smoking would be like taking your immaculate ride into a mud bog race

I'm a smoker too Rae and was down to my last pack of ciggies last night. I am seriously considering seeing if I can get through the next few days/weekend without a cigarette and so I bought some nicotine patches instead of my usual carton. We'll see how I do or if I give in and drag my butt to the corner store before long.

If I do stop then I'll have to wash everything (and I do mean everything) in my "smoking room" - I assign myself one room I am allowed to smoke in at home and it stinks! I would also like to have whiter teeth and have put off getting those whitening treatments like farmer mentioned above because what's the point if I am just going to continue smoking?

I feel your pain ....

Rae--and Heeven--

Good luck.

I quit smoking 8 years ago (and I smoked 3 1/2 packs a day) mainly because I couldn't stand belonging peer group of such stupid people.

I gave myself permission to spend the money I would have spent on cigarettes on little treats and treasures for myself: paperback books, out of season fruit, long-distance phone calls.

My budget works by the month and I made sure to spend my dissipation money early. I have my faults, but I never spend money twice.

Good luck to you both. Hold your dominions.

Hi Rae.

While I've never been a heavy smoker, I have smoked for quite a while but I just gave it up for good earlier this week.

I just figured that every other thing in my life had changed over the last three months, why am I holding on to this destructive habit?

We can hold hands and do it together. C'mon Heeven - join us.

Now, while you can't call me 24 hours a day, please know that my a2k mailbox is always open.

<I know I started a thread about giving up smoking.....now where the hell did it go?.....

Oh! Hey guys!

Thanks so much ~ Phoenix, Montana, Jim, Guatam, Ursula, farmerman, Heeven (good luck to you, too!) and Noddy!

I'll let ya'll know when I start the program.....which will be soon!

(((((everyone)))))

Congratulations boomerang! Yippee! I think we have enough people to start a club now!

Rae, do you drink coffee?

Do you have See's candy stores where you live?

See's Cafe Latte lollipops have helped me get over cravings easily.

boomerang ~ thanks for the suggestion, but no, I don't drink coffee. The Wellbutrin pills worked fabulously the last time I did this. I didn't have any cravings at all.

Good luck, Rae.

Like Gautam, I am into cigars after dinner -- and occasionally on the golf course. Mostly one a day -- although I have smoked two in one day on occasions.

No inhaling, though.

Ahhhh...re that "I don't inhale"...ahhhh....not sure how to put this, but I have been known to occasionally inhale one of those roll yer own thingies.

Hi Rae. Just to let you know, it can be done. The Time I quit the ciggies, I simply stopped, went cold turkey from about a pack and a half of strong non filter ciggies a day. No sweat. My wife continued smokeing and it didn't bother me. I could go into the pub for a drink and again, other people smoking didn't bother me. I used nothing but will power to quit. After 3 years I started again. I had 30 minutes to kill, waiting for a train. So a beer and I bought a pack of ciggies. The point is Rae, it can be done. You just have stay ahead of it. If I hadn't gone in that bar on the station that evening........................................................................

Frank Apisa ~ thanks. Re: cigars. I have a pretty funny story about them.....ohmygawd.....(and my son can back me up on this!)

The first time I went through the Wellbutrin program, I did very well. And then my personal life kinda took a nosedive and the stress was really bad. (I'd been off the meds for about a month at this time.)

My son and I went to pick up pizza from Little Caesar's ~ which happened to be right next door to Walgreens. We had about fifteen minutes to kill and decided to window-shop while we waited. Picked up the essential candies for the child and while standing at the check-out line, I noticed these very slim cigars. They even had them in menthol! I looked at my son and he said 'Mom, don't do it'.

Long story short.....I did it. But, I didn't know squat about cigars, and yes, I inhaled. I was sick for about six hours after. It was awful.

oldandknew ~ I've done the cold-turkey thing. The only reason my son is still alive is because I started smoking again. Being anal-rententive and obsessive-compulsive is not a good combination for cold-turkey!

I can do this ~ I know I can. I just need a little help ~ and since the help is out there, I'm going to take advantage of it.

Thanks again everyone for your support.....I'm sure I'll need more of it in the coming weeks!

Hi Rae,
Got off my butts in November '89 ( after 30+ smokefilled years.) You CAN do it!

Congratulations, nextone! Thanks for the good wishes!

I will be smoke-free, I will be smoke-free, I will be smoke-free.....