Have you successfully quit smoking?

I stopped 10 years ago when there was a big change in my life, took early retirement. Cannot say that I felt any ill effects but just a great sense of moral and medical superiority :D
 
Nickg said:
does anyone really quit smoking?

or are they just taking an unusually large gap between cigarettes?

from personal experience, its the latter.
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I never want to quit, I know thats stupid but I like the habit, i perceive it as releaving my stress, gives me a break from work and now they have banned it indoors its quite a social activity

I know its bad for me, but so is driving fast and drinking like a fish, and I won't stop doing that either :p
 
Quit cold turkey, I never want to feel like that again so didnt smoke at all for a couple years, Had a couple at the start of uni when drunk but decided that had to stop so havent smoked in nearly a year again.
 
I switched from cigs to snus a few years ago and used that up until about 2-3 months ago when i stopped nicotine altogether.

I started simming and jogging since quitting, jogging seems a lot easier than it was when i smoked, but i haven't noticed any other major changes.
 
I quit cold turkey in 2007 and I feel even more unhealthy now! I don't crave them anymore. I miss popping to the pub on an afternoon and having a few beers/ciggies while watching the football but you can't smoke there now anyway.
 
Been off 'em now for 9 months after smoking from the age of 18-34. I really feel like ive beaten it this time (it feels very different this time to the countelss other times ive tried to quit).

The key: I think you just have to be *ready*. Quitting before you really want to (for example because you think you should, or you cant afford it, or youre getting pressured into doing it) will leave you feeling deprived and thats when the cravings will lead to an unsuccessful attempt.

In my case having to look my 8 year old son in the eye while he pleaded with me to stop was enough for me!

Best decision i ever made - good luck everyone!
 
Paul11 said:
quit about 5 years ago

i also started to excercise which i think made a big difference

start gently and build up your excercise to work your heart and lungs and it should take long before you feel better
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Yeah, exercise works well with quitting. I quit almost a year ago but started some light cycling a while before, I feel it helped a lot. Most tasks I did in my day I followed with a cigarette, but never fancied one after exercise :).

But as mentioned above, you really need to have decided in your own mind that you want to quit it not be decided by others. Habits are hard to break, it's like changing your way of life, but stick with it, your body will thank you in the long run.
 
I've quit twice for 6 months and always started again when anything stressful happened in my life, have stopped again for 1 month and 2 weeks so far. Each time though I've had trouble sleeping and when I do sleep I get restless. But feel 100 times better myself now that I don't. Don't get as bad hangovers either, or in general smell as bad :p
 
I gave up almost 3 Months ago and I am genuinely falling apart health-wise since giving up, I have had a constant sore throat, hardly any sleep, eye infections, boils, tooth-aches, aches and pains and stiffness, really bad indigestion and whatever I eat my bowels don't know whether to churn out what feels like house-bricks or watery gravy from one day to the next! I was better off smoking like a chimney! :mad:
 
Will Gill said:
I never want to quit, I know thats stupid but I like the habit, i perceive it as releaving my stress, gives me a break from work and now they have banned it indoors its quite a social activity

I know its bad for me, but so is driving fast and drinking like a fish, and I won't stop doing that either :p
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same here

i dont smoke during work though, i get up go to work and only let myself have a cig when i get in later.

at the end of the day, i know its hurting my body, but honestly when im 60 or 70 and it catches up with me, the quality of life will be very limited anyway. so:/
 
Nickg said:
same here

i dont smoke during work though, i get up go to work and only let myself have a cig when i get in later.

at the end of the day, i know its hurting my body, but honestly when im 60 or 70 and it catches up with me, the quality of life will be very limited anyway. so:/
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Unless it effects you at 40-50 when you develop lung cancer, emphysema, severe asthma, heart attack, and so on......

Besides quality of life at 60 is no different than 50, and for many 70 is no barrier to an excellent quality of life. Continue smoking however and you won't reach 70 to find out in all probability.


I quit 7 or 8 years ago. I just stopped, threw away the cigarettes and never did it again. After a week the cravings disappeared so it was not hard in the end.
 
Yup, about 3 years ago. Was pretty easy, just stopped.

I still have the odd puff at parties, etc but only a handful of times since quitting.
 
Cuchulain said:
I know quite a few on here have managed to give up smoking, some found it easy, other not so easy. I found it very easy and gave up for the last time around 6-7 months ago but to be honest, I feel twice as bad now as I did when I smoked 20 a day.

Constant chest infections/wheezing/coughing up blood, no energy, constant headaches, indigestion, lack of sleep, sore limbs etc. None of which were the norm. when I smoked. Maybe I've done irreversible damage from smoking for 25+ years but my Dr. just keeps telling me "it'll probably get better".

My diet remained the same after giving up as did my exercise regime (i.e. non existant) so I'm going to start cycling/jogging to see if it helps, it'll at least give me a bit more energy.

How long did it take for you to start noticing the beneficial (other than the financial) effects of quitting?
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When I quit, it took about 5-6 weeks to notice the difference, no cough or wheezing. I coughed up loads of black crap as my lungs cleaned themselves out which worried the crap out of me, but the doc said that was normal for someone who smoked as much as I did who just quit and not cut down first.

years later, I no longer have asthma which dogged my military career and my lungs are as clear as a bell according to the scan I have a couple of years ago on an unrelated thing.

I would be concerned that you have so many adverse symptoms however and I would get a second opinion, especially on coughing up blood, as that is NEVER normal.
 
My friends dad coughed up blood for a while, didn't get it checked out and then eventually died of TB! Get it checked.

He was in Dubai not in the UK.
 
Nickg said:
does anyone really quit smoking?

or are they just taking an unusually large gap between cigarettes?

from personal experience, its the latter.
Click to expand...

I quit, end of.

In have no desire to smoke again, I have no cravings whatsoever, quite the opposite in fact.

I never realised when I smoked myself just how bad it makes you smell, I can't countenance ever smoking again.

How my wife, who is a non-smoker, ever put up with it I have no idea.
 
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