Quitters... Check In Here

[arwalden]

Poll question: Quitters... Check In Here

POLL QUESTION: What method did you use to quit?

How are you doing so far? Are you bragging on your accomplishments? Are your friends and family supportive?

HOW MUCH $$$ Per week are you saving??? Are you saving your savings or spending them on gifts for yourself?

-- Allen

[GAspnes]

1. cold-turkey

but it didn't work.

[Beware the Beast Man]

2. Gum, but I've relapsed

The Mrs. and I quit for 4 months this year before we caved. The gum is nice because it gives you something to do in place of smoking. The negatives: you have to wait 15 minutes after eating or drinking to chew, and it's just as easy to get hooked on the gum as it is to get hooked on smoking.

[djeseru]

3. Pregnancy.

But it's kind of expensive and I have a daughter now. This option may not be available for everyone. ;)

[Mandate My Ass]

4. That worked for me once too

but I started smoking again when he was 3. x(

The third time was the charm. I'm 14 years smoke free after going cold turkey the summer of 1990.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way recommend pregnancy as an alternative smoking cessation program. ;-)

[djeseru]

6. No, I wouldn't highly recommend it either!

I still socially smoke (is that what they call it?) when I have an alcoholic beverage. So, I haven't completely quit...

[RodneyCK2]

5. We are talking about naked dancing here...right?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller....

:-)

[sidestreamer]

7. Started, and immediately quit after smoking the filter ((n/t))

[miss_kitty]

8. i call it 'stopped' and i haven't had even a puff since 7:30 am

26 feb, 1998, but i don't really keep close track on it. :-)
i don't brag that hard. i was smoking about a pack a day and here in this state, i am saving $5-6 a day. it took me several tries. i still want one really bad every now and again, especially throughout some of my cancer treatment...you know, when they deliver more bad news, etc.

here's what motivated me to stop. i wanted to save money. i was concerned about my health. i was watching 'Dead Ringer' and rich bette said to poor bette "Are you still doing that? it's MURDAH on your skin." or words to that effect...i was flipping around the dial and the tobacco companies were running an ad campaign urging ppl to write their state AGs that were suing them and tell them to settle. sort of like a rapist telling the victim, "Hurry up and Get over it. I am." i was livid. i swore right then and there i would NEVER GIVE THOSE FUCKING ARSEHOLES ANOTHER PENNY. it goes for their subsidiaries, too. Nabisco, Kraft whatever i find they own, i no longer consume, if i ever did.

so it goes like this, motivationally speaking:
1) cost;
2) health;
3) vanity; and
4) anger in the extreme at the greedy mofos who increase the costs of healthcare around the world while pocketing mass profit.

i tell ppl it was the first time i used my anger for good, instead of evil :evilgrin:

ps. i tell all my friends NOT to beat themselves up if they are not successful; i don't advise telling ppl you are quitting, it makes it more easy to beat up on oneself if there is a backslide.

you meant cigarettes, right?

[arwalden]

10. LOL... Yes, I Meant Cigarettes

Ya nut! :hi:

Congratulations on your success! My motivation was cost. I had no intention of quitting until one weekend (over two years ago) I went to purchase two cartons of cigarettes and they had gone up to $90.00!!

That's $4.50 a pack... when purchased by the CARTON! I went over to the pharmacy aisle and bought nicotine patches instead.

The patches worked so well that I didn't even finish the entire 8 week program. After several consecutive days of forgetting to put on a new patch... I realized that I didn't even need the patch anymore.

-- Allen

[miss_kitty]

11. excellent. congrats. keep goin'

this one time i went up the street to have a martini with a smoker pal about 6 months after. i rarely drink (another money saver on two levels-#2 being cheap drunk status maintained)
anyway, scott went to light up and saw me look lustfully at his long, stiff throbb-i mean cigarette-and said "oh should i NOT smoke?" i had to tell him "hey we're in a bar, but this will be the toughest cigarette i WON'T be having." mmmmm martinis and smokes-a natural.

but at this time, when i get the urge, i just make myself remember how crappy it felt to burn up a pack in an evening, the stink and it passes....i still call it stopping, because i think it is like alcohol-even if i never have another cigarette, i will still be a smoker...

god i remember when they were 33 cents a pack in oregon. we felt so robbed because they were 50 cents in WA st...

[BlueCollar]

9. cold turkey mostly

I did buy one box of the lozenges but only chewed on one when the cravings were really overpowering...about once every two days

it's only been three months though...I feel pretty good about it now

at $3.40 a pack (A little over a pack a day for over thirty years)...about $40.00 a week but it's all going in to the gas tank...

Dad's pleased as punch...

:puffpiece:

[ET Awful]

12. I used Zyban. . . it's been over 2 years ago now.

Honestly though, when I look back on it now, I think the Zyban was nothing but a crutch. You could've given me a placebo and called it Zyban and it probably would have had the same effect.

I didn't take the drug for as long as they said to, less than half as long actually, and I still haven't wanted a smoke for a long, long time. What is weird is there are STILL times when I instinctively reach for a pack and a lighter, not out of desire to smoke, but out of over 20 years of physical habit :). There's nothing to reach for of course, but my hand does it anyway.

Then again, I do go through a lot of chapstick, I wonder if that's replaced the fixation. . .

[Liberal Veteran]

13. Patch/Zyban combo....

Smoke free for 2.5 years now!

[skygazer]

14. Cold turkey

Three years ago. The first couple of days were rough then it was okay. My boyfriend and I quit together and we've had no problems and have not been tempted since.

We were each smoking about a pack a day - here in California, that was nearly five bucks a day and I have not seen an extra cent - I have no idea where that money went. Funny how you anticipate saving the bucks but they don't seem to appear. Probably the rising gas prices ate it up........

[Madrone]

15. Zyban RULES!

I didn't even WANT to quit smoking - went on Zyban to "humor" the doctor, while intending to keep smoking. Urge completely dried up, and even better, I don't even THINK about smokes when taking it.