Stupid cigarettes! arggg!

Here we go...Bupropion is the generic name for zyban/wellbutrin....

There's tons on info on line...

Good luck flushd, although it's not luck, it's good work.

I wish I could smoke like J_B, just once in a while, but alas, I can not. I just can't. Lash, I do think aids are in order at this point. Just to get me back over the hump; then i'll be set for a good while at least.

Yeah, Chai, it is the nostalgic thing that gets me. I like that way of thinking of it - coming in waves. I thought of surfing when you said that. Don't fight the waves...go with them...let them be.

jespah and Green Witch,
I'm sorry to hear of lost loved ones from lung cancer. It breaks my heart. I have lost my grandpa and my stepdad to lung cancer. They both smoked a lot, right up til they passed away. It seems odd that I can continue to smoke after all I have witnessed, and yet, in a way, it is part of it.

The good thing is that it is really difficult to smoke anywhere in this city anymore. Not in bars, in restaurants, in parks (!) where kids go, certain sidewalks.....so that is a plus.

And..my vanity/pride actually comes in handy when it comes to things like this....the look of my skin, the smell, is starting to bother me again.

The addictive power of cigarettes is not only the nicotine,
but the makers of cigarettes are continually developing
ways to make them even more addictive - or else risk
losing their market altogether.
YES, the craving goes away. I heard someone say that it
had been 10 years and she still craved a smoke. That was
pure depressing. BUT THAT IS NOT MY EXPERIENCE-
when you are over it, you're over it. Or at least I am.
The first few months were the toughest, and I gave up
all the things that went with smoking. Coffee, whatever,
people who smoke. I wanted to quit so so badly, and I
tried and failed so many times. I used the patch, but I
can't tell you how many times I ripped that patch off and
started smoking again. But - as my friend (who had already
quit) told me "As long as you just keep on trying - you
WILL succeed one day." And that's true. Just don't ever
give up trying and don't be mean to yourself for being
human and failing sometimes. As for someone who lived
with me, or family, they have to go outside to smoke. I
can't have it in my face. It wouldn't bother me now, in
terms of craving. But it does bother me because it stinks,
it yellows your walls, the smell gets in your furniture,
your clothing - in everything.
I AM SO SO SO GLAD THAT I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO QUIT!!
One day I decided I was not going to ask myself anymore if
I'm gonna smoke today or not. And I haven't since. Good
luck to you, keep trying and you will quit. I promise.

What does that mean?

I quit about twelve years ago. Now I hate tobacco. For several years after that, my wife continued to smoke. Bad as I hated it, I picked up her smokes for her every day. About a year ago, she decided to quit. She tapered for a short time, then gave it up altogether.

When I quit, it was strange. I had smoked since being a kid breaking up butts and smoking them in a corncob pipe. But, one day, I realized I had not smoked a thing in about three weeks. I guess I quit, I said. And I haven't puffed another.

I have never heard such a thing from a smoker, edgar. How could a smoker go three weeks and not notice it?

Were you in jail?

I was working my job and spending time with my family. Nothing unusual going on. I just got preoccupied with the life I was living, and tobacco no longer fit in.

That is a remarkable story, edgar.

Would that I could say the same about alcohol. I was a self destructive alcoholic. It took three years for me to break that habit.

babs, I ditto the idea of craving a smoke after ten years to be depressing. Occassionally, yes, but not often. that would be a neverending fight then!

edgar, that is great. That is sort of how I quit last time. I did decide to quit, but bc I got so wrapped up in other things, it was not a big deal to go without.

that has me thinking...maybe the trick is to not think about it at'all. to become to absorbed in something else that i forget.

i remember, a few years back now, I was a heavy smoker and would panic if I didn't have some near. Well, I went on this amazing trip for two weeks with a special someone. I forgot to buy cigarettes the whole time. Got home, and the next day went to the store and bought a pack! weird.

Also, once, when I was about twenty five, I bought a book on Yoga. About two weeks after I began to exercise, my body rejected the use of tobacco. This lasted as long as I did the yoga, but, when I moved I left the book and routine behind, consequently began smoking again.

There's definitely something to be said for doing something other than smoking. Everything, every day of our lives, is just hours spent. And hours spent not smoking are, well, hours not smoking. String enough of those together and you've quit smoking.

What do you do that's not associated with smoking? Edgar mentioned yoga. What about, I dunno, swimming, dancing, running, working on some sort of intense craft or problem ...? I dunno, this is what you do, what makes the hours melt away. What do you start at noon and suddenly you look up because you're a little hungry, and it's seven thirty? You can't do that every day, I bet, but you can do it some days. Add more of that to your life, whatever it is.

String the hours together.

It means they wake up, inhale, light a cigarette and basically chain smoke until they go to bed at night.

Wow edgar, that really is remarkable.

I quit while I was still drinking, go figure.

flushd, if you do get cravings years later, it IS only once in a while, like once or twice a year, if that, and it's so fleeting, like I said, just a few seconds.

edgarblythe, do you remember the name of the book? Or do you remember what exercises you did? I'd like to recommend it to my dad.

This is key...we tend to think that unless we're able to scratch the itch it will only get worse. But strong cravings are very brief. I walked mine off for the first month.

I had always wished I could be one of those quitters who couldn't stand the smell of smoke. I got my wish; cigarette smoke is offensive to me now. I think the fact flushd still is attracted to the smell is an indication the time wasn't right yet to quit for success. There's an element of romanticism in the practice yet that flushd needs to overcome.

I smoked 3 to 4 packs a day for 30 years from the age of 10... I quit cold turkey in 1991 and have never touched another. 15 years May 1st.

Anyone can quit if you really want to.

If you don't give a damn about yourself think of the expense heartache and general stress you will needlessly put on your family when they have to watch you puke up your teeth and lose your hair on your way to the dirt nap because of chemo, leaving your spouse to raise your children alone because you couldn't stop doing something that will absolutely kill you in a painful and expensive and ugly way.

Stupid cigarettes

Stupid cigarette smokers.

Stupid higher health insurance rates for me because I have to foot part of the premiums for the stupid smokers and their stupid health problems due to their stupid "choice"

Stupid stink that hangs around them, their cloths, hair and vulture breath.




Every morning when I come into the office, there's anywhere from 1 to half a dozen people standing their 15 feet or whatever it is from the front door, stinking up the immediate area.

For months, regardless of how many were there, I'd say "Good Morning" to the individual or group. (different subject, but I have a real thing about greeting people when I first see them in the morning, before launching into the business of the day. Even if it's a friendly "hey! How are you?")

The response would either be…..




Or…….



Then a slow awareness would come to some eyes, and there would be a muttered…."yeah….hi" from a couple of people, while the others remained in a fog.

One day, I thought I'd give them the opportunity to say something first….that was back at…oh xmas time. Since then, it's just been the apathetic stares of people whose brains are so clogged up they don't even know enough to say good morning.

I got to work the other day and six people were outside the back door smoking... I punched in and was throwing down the last of my bagel when the manager came in and said "I know you're not eating that bagel on the clock" I asked if all the people smoking had already clocked in, which they had, and went back to my bagel.

BVT, 3-4 packs for 30 yrs?!
My god man, you are lucky to be alive and well right now!
And I'm so glad you are and you quit. That is very inspirational.


I'm still smoke free. Excepting I tried a herbal cigarette w/ clove and that was gross. So forget it.
Ehh...tycoon...I think you made a good point about the smell of the smoke. Yes, it is still appealing to me, and that worries me a bit. A part of me still wants to be a smoker, it's true. That was very observant.
I wonder what makes it so it becomes offensive. ? ? Possibly a switch of mind and mentality?

chai..hehee. That picture is perfect! I guess as a smoker we really can come across that way....i've seen that before and tried to repress that.

Yesterday was such a weird day for me. I work in support/advocacy, so I'm often being sent or roaming around different parts of the city to see people. Most times it's poorer areas, etc.

well, yesterday I had most of the day on my own time, just had a few things to do, and decided to go see a few folks i used to work with, check out how they were doing as I'd heard they were doing alright and i'm friends with one of guys who works with their family. So, yeah, I picked up some Tim H. coffee and I'm waiting to get a call to let me in.....

and I see this girl, maybe 18 or 20 or so, with a baby and a toddler and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She was wearing a cropped top that showed her stretched-out baby belly and jeans that looked like they belonged to a 12 yr old.
It was so sad. I won't go into it too much, but I wanted to cry for her.

I helt her toddler for a few minutes while she lit her smoke, and chatted for a bit.

Today I've been seeing things really differently, and I think a lot of it had to do with her.

So many people in my field and who i work with smoke, the people we work with smoke at a very very high rate, so it's usual to offer them a smoke and sort of form a bond and get them yapping that way.

This whole long story = I finally am starting to associate Smoking W/Sickness and pain.

.....