[OT] Nicotine - What's your story

[eco]

I was a smoker for 18 years until January 2 2008 where I successfully managed to stop. I decided that I needed to take my health seriously so I didn't go out for two weeks because going out drinking would inevitably have to have a cigarette, the craving that I had was terrible to be honest but now I genuinely dislike cigarette smoke. For myself I found Cherry menthol airwaves chewing gum helps

[twisted-space]

I gave up cold turkey in february last year. I was amazed at how easy it was TBH, I'd been a 50-75 gram a week hand roller for 28 years so I was expecting it to be a total nightmare and it wasn't, I had maybe a week of real cravings.

I'd also been smoking cannabis on a regular (but not daily) basis and I've pretty much given that up as well, I find it a lot less enjoyable without tobacco.

[trevorc]

i've been smoking for years and years - i've given up for longish periods but always gone back to it. stupid thing is i give up when things are going well and start again when things are going badly, kind of a 'what the fuck, i like it and i'm going to do what the hell i want' reaction...

one funny experience.. i gave up for about three years at the end of the nineties. a year after i gave up i got bad hayfever for the first time in my life, then a total festival of allergies, then pretty severe asthma attacks. when i started smoking again it all went away as if by magic - on the surface of it i'd never been so unhealthy as i was when i was a non-smoker there's probably some understandable explanation for that.. tar preventing allergens getting through to my membranes or something but it was kinda ironic.

i gave up again for six months last year but i'm back enjoying smoking now, if anything this thread's a good reminder that i need to jack it all in once and for all (again..)

[pulsoc]

There is no try - only do, or do not.

[nepotist]

Cold turkey quitter almost 6 years ago. Best thing I ever did.

[slatepipe]

i was only a light smoker anyway but i gave up for the millenium when i was on holiday in nz. i was smoking this 'port royal' rolling tobacco and it just kept making me feel sick. so it wasnt much of an effort to stop at all

i still smoke spliffs though cos they're nice. but i never have any inclination at all to smoke cigarettes

[leisuremuffin]

love nicotine. won't quit.


It's all about harm reduction.


Most days I smoke one hand rolled cig. sometimes i go a day or four without smoking one at all.
somedays i'm out boiling sap for maple syrup, hanging out and shooting the shit and i smoke 5.


I used to chain smoke when i worked on music. Now i sniff nasal snuff instead.
Actually, most of the time i want a cig i sniff some nasal snuff instead.
think i'll sniff a pinch right now... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

harm reduction.





.lm.


ps: what should i select in your poll?

[rtopia]

pack a day smoker for nearly 20 years
never been able to quit for more than a week prior to Aug 15 1999
once I got it in my head that the physical addiction was over in 72 hours and the rest was in my head, never smoked again

However...

The psychological cravings seem like they NEVER go away.
I've been waiting to go on my next smoke break for nearly 10 years.

Best wishes to anyone who wants to quit and every time you try

[musicmachine]

There is no try - only do, or do not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcjnbIF1yAA

[abletoff]

Smoked seven years, heavily.
Quit more than five years ago as my birthday present (well, one of. The others were partially financed by the future saved money on the coming year cigarettes).

I get a cuban cigar or two during the summer and that's all. Quitting fucking cigarettes actually taught me to enjoy the pleasure of smoking and not only succumb to the habit.

[aisling]

I went through a heavy "beedi" phase for a year during the 90's. I coincidently took a human anatomy class, that included the dissection of a fresh cadaver. He was a "life long" smoker you could tell, when I removed the lungs and cut them open, they were black and tar filled, kind of the way your pipe can get full of resin......That cured my further interest in tobacco then and there.......I still struggled with pot for a while longer, and I know it is worse than tobacco physically (on the lung tissue), just not psychologically.....

The lame (or dissapointing) part is that any smoking over 10 years before the age of 35+/- WILL result in COPD. The onset of copd may not happen until much, much later in life (20-40 years forward) depending upon genetics and lifestyle, environment, but enough alveoli sac are destroyed by the smoking to decrease capillary gas exchange, and diminish cellular respiration......There just is no magic bullet to fix this. Cessation will re-grow the cilia, but like nerve and muscle cells, alveoli NEVER grow back......you just have to make do with less. When we are young, we can manage, it is in the last stages of life where this hits us hard. I would seriously recommend suicide as a serious alternative to dying of a COPD disease. It is not just a lung and breathing issue, the lungs play a role in acid/base balances along side the kidney's. When the lungs fail, the kidneys become over worked and taxed, and eventually they begin to fail as well.....It is bad all the way around. Please opt for suicide!

[trevorc]

I went through a heavy "beedi" phase for a year during the 90's. I coincidently took a human anatomy class, that included the dissection of a fresh cadaver. He was a "life long" smoker you could tell, when I removed the lungs and cut them open, they were black and tar filled, kind of the way your pipe can get full of resin......That cured my further interest in tobacco then and there.......I still struggled with pot for a while longer, and I know it is worse than tobacco physically (on the lung tissue), just not psychologically.....

The lame (or dissapointing) part is that any smoking over 10 years before the age of 35+/- WILL result in COPD. The onset of copd may not happen until much, much later in life (20-40 years forward) depending upon genetics and lifestyle, environment, but enough alveoli sac are destroyed by the smoking to decrease capillary gas exchange, and diminish cellular respiration......There just is no magic bullet to fix this. Cessation will re-grow the cilia, but like nerve and muscle cells, alveoli NEVER grow back......you just have to make do with less. When we are young, we can manage, it is in the last stages of life where this hits us hard. I would seriously recommend suicide as a serious alternative to dying of a COPD disease. It is not just a lung and breathing issue, the lungs play a role in acid/base balances along side the kidney's. When the lungs fail, the kidneys become over worked and taxed, and eventually they begin to fail as well.....It is bad all the way around. Please opt for suicide!

beedis are nice..

the rest of it is more persuasive than allan carr, cheers for that

[channelite]

What's the point of smoking cigarettes? It's just to look cool right? I've hated smoke since I was a little kid. Only took a couple puffs when I was really drunk and it didn't anything for me except give me a bad taste and make my fingers and clothes stink like shit.

[ChiDJ]

Love to smoke. No plans to stop. Heart and lungs like a 20 year old, (ECG and Chect X-Ray to prove it). Athlete, (Junior Olympic level in my teens and twenties), I work out 5 days per week and smoke a pack a day. Feel great and look 10 years younger than I am.

COPD? That's why I'm planning on having a kid soon. Stem cells baby. Science will get me a new pair of lungs and a shiny new liver when the first pair wears out.

Don't hate. Just giving a fresh perspective.

T-

[aisling]

Love to smoke. No plans to stop. Heart and lungs like a 20 year old, (ECG and Chect X-Ray to prove it). Athlete, (Junior Olympic level in my teens and twenties), I work out 5 days per week and smoke a pack a day. Feel great and look 10 years younger than I am.

COPD? That's why I'm planning on having a kid soon. Stem cells baby. Science will get me a new pair of lungs and a shiny new liver when the first pair wears out.

Don't hate. Just giving a fresh perspective.

T-

gotta love stem cells........
I'll be grateful when you beat the odds and prove us (me) wrong. I truly hope you do.