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JH63

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Posts posted by JH63

  1. @reciprocity I was exactly the same way as you describe it.  I always thought I could quit smoking anytime I wanted to.  I just didn't want to! Ha!

    About ten years ago I tried to quit for the first time.  I had a very good start on a serious quit.  When I lost it, that's when I knew that I was an addict. But I didn't blame big tobacco. 

    I'd been warned many times, by many different people in my life about the harm I was doing to myself. But I don't remember anyone saying anything about the addiction side of it. Most of those people were probably never smokers.

    • Like 2
  2.  I've spent the last couple of days watching the Big Tobacco video's and the Marlboro video again and I've read the Alan Carr book tree times.  Got me to thinking back to when I was young and first started smoking.  My first memories of smoking were some friends and me riding our bicycles about a mile to a little country store for cigarettes. This was about 1970 or 71 cigarettes were 28 cents a pack.

    We often pooled our money and shared the pack or two as we rode our bikes the rest of the day.  I also remember stealing cigarettes from my mother.  She never missed one or two out of her packs from time to time.  I say packs because for some reason she smoked both Belair's and Salem's.  She died young of lung cancer!

     

    Even when I was in the Army, they put a little box of four cigarettes in each C-ration.  That was twelve stale cigarettes a day. But plenty enough to keep me hooked.

     

    Well I'll get on with it!

    Did the tobacco companies put profits ahead of my health? Yes

    Did tobacco companies add chemicals to the cigarettes to make sure I would stay hooked? Yes

    Did the tobacco companies know that cigarettes were killing people long before I started smoking? Yes

    Does our government, still to this day, allow the sell of tobacco products because of the lobbyist money and the money they get from the ever increasing sales tax, claiming that the increases are to get people to quit smoking? Yes

     

    I never thought of myself as a victim. I can remember telling people that "nobody twisted my arm to smoke" and that "I'm responsible for the damage I've done to my health".  Well I'm starting to think differently about that. Even If I do have to take some responsibility for my situation,  I was surely deceived to say the least.

    This change in thinking may or may not help me as I continue to try and Quit. But it can't hurt!

    Sorry about the long winded Post!

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  3. @Linda I hope the situation that is causing your stress works itself out as soon as possible. Going back to smoking won't help, even if that nicotine monster is telling you it will.

    I'm glad you are here and I wish you Luck!  

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  4. Welcome! It sounds like you know the process! Maybe you could work on channeling that "anger and irritability" into something positive. It takes energy to be angry and irritable, energy that could be just as easily used to be nicer to your friends and family. I say that because my wife always says that I am hard to get along with when I'm not smoking. It's hard for me to concentrate on both at the same time, but I try.

    Good Luck!

    • Like 7
  5. Welcome! You have came to the right place for support on your journey!  As was said above, there is a wealth of information here. Click on the forums tab and start reading, watching videos, etc.

    In your post you said that you quit while you were off from work! That's Great! I think that when you go back to work you will find that staying quit is even easier. Being busy has always helped me keep my mind off smoking!

    Good Luck!

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    • Thanks 1
  6. @Steven Drojensky I'm glad that you are back on track! Hang in here with us. We are all going through the same thing.  There are a lot of people here who have also been through what we are going through. 

    I quit posting here for awhile because I felt like they had forgot what it was really like in those first days, weeks, months.  I was and still am somewhat jealous of the people here that have what I want.  A good solid quit!  I got a lot of advice I didn't want to hear. But after awhile I figured out that the problem was not with them, it was with me.  It was what I needed to hear whether I liked it or not.

    I'd like to qualify what I just said. I believe everyone's quit is a little different because we are all different, come from different backgrounds, and have had different experiences.  So we have to choose what we take and what we leave when it comes to advice from others.

    Good Luck!

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  7. On 2/28/2021 at 5:19 PM, Mona said:

    Don't you have quitting on your mind when you're smoking though?

     

    Yes, I always think about quitting even when I'm smoking. To tell you the truth, the only time I don't think about quitting is for short periods of time when I'm working on something or I'm asleep. Quitting smoking has been a full time thing for me the last couple of years. Last year alone I stopped smoking seven times for a total of 121 days. So, yes my mind is consumed with quitting.

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  8. Welcome to the forum! The oddest thing I remember happening to me was one day during my first week of not smoking.  I felt like I was short of breath and having chest pains. The only thing that could possibly save me was a cigarette! Now that's junkie thinking!  I know my mind will try anything to get what it wants, nicotine.  But that was so ridiculous, I easily threw the thought aside. I wasn't even short of breath or having chest pains.

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  9. I think there are less people smoking. The damage smoking has caused over the years has created a social sigma around it. Most people just don't want to be around smokers at all. When I was young almost everyone smoked. A lot of people started smoking just to fit in. Not realizing what they where getting into.

    Today I can honestly say, I see a few people smoking when I'm out, but I don't personally know anyone who smokes anymore.

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  10. I am sorry to hear that you are having these problems.  But I do understand. I have the same kind of days.

    I hope you can get a handle on this and keep going!  We are at about the same amount of time in our quits.  Lets keep going and see what happens. There have to be some better days ahead. 

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  11. @jillar I am sorry to hear that.

    The reason that story stuck in my mind is because about two years ago I had to have a pacemaker installed. I went to the hospital with a patch on. Had the surgery. They put me in the cardiac ward overnight for observation. Later when I came around I noticed they had removed the patch some time during the surgery! My wife had one in her pocketbook for me to use the next day, so I put it on without telling them.

    I talked to my youngest daughter on the phone, as she was away at nursing school, and told her about it. She didn't like it, to say the least. But I left it on. That's what this addiction does to you! Take Care!

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  12. Thanks Everyone!

    @jillar What you said about comparing quitting smoking to other things that I have had to give up because I'm getting too old to do them anymore, makes sense. Health wise I can't afford to keep smoking anymore. There are many things I can't do anymore because of my age. I will keep that in mind.  You said something else a week or so ago about someone you knew that passed from causes related to smoking. And that they died wearing a nicotine patch. That stuck in my mind, because it puts this addiction into the proper prospective, (reality).

     

    @Boo I understand what you are saying about there being a lot of work to continuously supplying myself with a fix of nicotine. And you are certainly correct!  But for some reason, after 50 yrs. of doing that, it doesn't seem like work to me. It's just something I normally did. I will keep what you say in mind also. When I am happy to be get rid of that Ball and Chain you speak of, I will be truly Quit!

     

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  13. I have been having a lot of problems for the last few weeks. Everyday is as bad as the day before. All I do is think about how not to smoke everyday. The work I'm doing to abstain from smoking is slowly wearing me down. I'm getting to the point of rationalizing smoking again. Not having to think about not smoking all the time would be a great relief to me.

     Yesterday I went back and read all my posts from the very first day I joined this forum (9 pages). The common thread I took from those posts and the replies, was that I have only ever stopped smoking. I have never quit smoking!

    I'm good at stopping for various lengths of time. I can stop smoking using any method. I've used them all over the years. I had a cold turkey stop last year for 31 days. Of my seven stops last year that was the longest. On Wednesday of next week I will have doubled that. But I still haven't quit smoking in my mind!

    Maybe someday I will be able to say I have quit smoking. Maybe I will break this mental block at some point. But right now it doesn't look good.  I'd like to hit my goal of 18 weeks not smoking. That would be my lifetime longest stop. But I'm getting tired. I don't know how to break this cycle of stopping and starting over and over. I put up a good fight, but I never reach the ultimate goal.

    Quitting Forever! 

     

    • Like 1
  14. @Linda I hope it passed and that you are doing better.

    I'm late on this, but I wanted to give you my two cents. You mentioned coffee.  If you drink decafe, ignore this!

    Part of my quit plan is to cut my caffeine intake in half.  I got this from one of Joel's video's.  As he explains it, caffeine has more power when we take the nicotine out of our system.

    I really don't understand it exactly, but I will send you a link, if I can find it.  It has helped me to cut back on the amount of caffeine I'm using.  I'm not as nervous, and can handle the cravings better when I'm not.

    https://whyquit.com/joels-videos/possible-changes-in-caffeine-tolerance/

    • Like 3

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