Giving up smoking

[LuthienTinuviel]

A typical pack a day smoker spends over £112 a month and nearly £1,500.00 a year! Imagine if someone handed you a lumpsum like that right now!!!

hmm right at this moment i'd prolly go buy a pack! but as sad as this sounds, i DO need one more party before i give all this up for good.

our party is next wed. night. thursday is my first day as a quitter!

i started when i was in 8th grade, and now im in grafde 11.
i also do a variety of other things, but im usually careful unless it comes to pills, those i will pop w/o concern.

heh..heh.. character flaw.

[Philia]

Anduril, do you think what you do, no matter how little or how inoften (er is that a word), infrequent you do it, has no consequences on your mental and physical health?

Speaking from someone who has done about everything, and regrets every bit of it, it is hard to quit (no matter what drug, alcohol, or tobacco...heroin...never did crack or ecstacy...thank goodness) and it is harder, once you quit, to get the trust back from the people you love.

Anduril, you may not hink you have a problem, but I didn't either.


Okay, now I am going to get happy, and say
Sween Congrats, keep up the good err...not smoking...same to everyone who doesn't smoke, and encouragement to those who are thinking about quitting!

[Starr Polish]

Congrats to all of you! I don't smoke, and I have no desire to ever light up, but I have seen close family members either try to cut down or quit smoking. The most succesful person being my mother...she started smoking when she was fairly young, and quit when I was a child, but I've caught her lighting up a bit. Luckily, not often (I can usually tell if she's been smoking).

My sister smokes, and thinks I don't know. Grr...it's so disgusting. She brought some old clothes for me a few weeks ago, and they stank up my room...and she had washed them. Disgusting.

I'm particularly sensitive to smoke anymore, since I'm rarely around it in enclosed spaces.

I really don't see the appeal in it (or drugs, either), and it's incredibly stupid that kids are starting now. Why? It is not attractive, and it smells disgusting! If anyone can seriously answer my question as to why they decided to smoke, I'd love to hear it.

DARE didn't do much for me either, but that's because by then I already knew I'd never do drugs. My mom even jokes about not having to worry about me taking drugs, since I react very strongly to most prescribed medicine, and I'm even affected by Tylenol.

[mirial]

Congrats all!


*speaking of quitting, I saw a bumper sticker the other day "Rehab is for quitters." relevant? probably not!)

[Coney]

Originally posted by Starr Polish
I really don't see the appeal in it (or drugs, either), and it's incredibly stupid that kids are starting now. Why? It is not attractive, and it smells disgusting! If anyone can seriously answer my question as to why they decided to smoke, I'd love to hear it.

Sheesh that's the million dollar question Starr

I started smoking when I started drinking in pubs (bars), I could easily pass for 18yrs when I was 14. Everyone I knew in my social circle smoked but I didn't begin smoking through peer pressure, if anything smoking seem natural, even to us as teenagers it was nothing special, just something everyone did.

My first cigarette was handed to me while I was having a conversation with friends, then of course it only polite to offer the cigarettes around the table when it's "your turn" so I bought a pack, the rest is history.........I've smoked from that night onwards

I think that one of the good things about the current time is that smoking is now seen as an unsociable activity...gone is the image of the "cool" or "rebelious" teen smoker, now they are considered "sad" and cliched

[Starr Polish]

Yes, but most of those mopey, 'rebellious' teenagers don't even know what the word 'cliche' means. There are plenty around where I live. You know the kind I'm talking about...the ones that talk about cutting themselves because their live is so bad, and that their parents hate them, blah-de-blah. Grr...don't they know that the majority if not all serious cutters don't usually FLAUNT THE FACT? GRRR!! This is why I'm suspicious of the huge number of 'depressed teens with online diaries'.

[Andúril]

Luthien Tinuviel:
i also do a variety of other things, but im usually careful unless it comes to pills, those i will pop w/o concern.

Without concern? Be careful -- I have a horror story (my [u]own[/i] horry story) which occured as a result of a "lack of concern". Needless to say I don't drop anymore.

Philia:
Anduril, do you think what you do, no matter how little or how inoften (er is that a word), infrequent you do it, has no consequences on your mental and physical health?

I am certain that it affects both. In fact, I am still mentally/physically affected by my new years party last year, enough to make me think twice about touching pills with a ten-foot pole.

The cocaine did nothing to me (probably very poor quality), but I am pretty certain that I won't be trying it again.

I only smoked weed a few times (at most six), and was never really impressed by it. Therefore, I don't smoke it anymore, nor do I desire to.

In any event, I'm okay with the way I am now (as opposed to how I would have been had I not experimented in the manner that I did).

More:
Speaking from someone who has done about everything, and regrets every bit of it, it is hard to quit...

The key is to not get into it.

More:
...and it is harder, once you quit, to get the trust back from the people you love.

That is, if you love anyone...

More:
Anduril, you may not hink you have a problem, but I didn't either.

I don't have a drug problem. If I have any problem, it's a sorry lack of a social life, incurred by not hanging out with friends that were into the scene.

[Andúril]

Oh, plus I've done shrooms, ephedrine, speed and roofies. Go me!

[Dunadan]

Coney! Welcome aboard. Enjoy your last weekend of tabs; I intend to.

I've tried nicotine replacement therapy several times before. It does work, in that it takes away the worst of the physical cravings, leaving you to concentrate on the psychological aspects.

However, last time I used the patches, I had real problems when I came off them. I was getting symptoms of anxiety and depression; couldn't sleep, couldn't concentrate, irrational thoughts, knot of acid in the stomach. I started smoking again and the symptoms vanished; I decided I'd rather smoke and be sane.

This year, going cold turkey, I had no such problems. Having said that, I'll probably use the gum to fend off the worst of the cravings.

My mental routine is mostly around recognising and embracing the craving. I try to think "here it comes", breath deeply, and it goes pretty quickly. Then that's one less craving you'll have before you've truly kicked it. There's no denying it, we will suffer, but we're Celts, it's in our nature to suffer.

More generally, actively look for positive feedback in your environment. Relish the stench smokers give off, and remind yourself that you don't smell like that. Give yourself a pat on the back every time you see a Stop Smoking ad.

Some people recommend avoiding the situations in which you used to smoke. I found that unhelpful, since it would mean having no social life. Better to go for a full-frontal assault. You'll soon find that you have more time for your mates and you have less crap to take with you when you go out.

Another suggestion is to smoke roll-ups in the run-up to stopping, since the tobacco is not doctored to enhance its addictiveness (see previous post). Silk Cut don't work.

Here's why I started smoking: I tried it and couldn't believe it was legal! I'd smoked dope before I tried fags (US readers please note: fags = cigarettes; cannabis does NOT lead to homosexuality), then someone gave me a roll-up. I got this beezer head rush and suddenly realised why people smoke.

It's also why anti-smoking and anti-drugs education doesn't work: they don't tell you that they are pleasurable and they don't tell you that nothing bad will happen to you in the short term. Should we be surprised that kids treat such "advice" with contempt?

[Sween]

well i was a party and was offred smack (herion) i refused my mate would not no matter how much i told him. Now hes near deaths door and been disowned by his family . Ive moved away theres little i can do to help i offred that he comes here and ill cold turkey him........sod it i think ill just drag him up here.

ive done a few lines of coke in my life but it allways leaves me wanting more (i see this as a very bad sign) LSD gave me a weird ass trip so i just lefty that one well alone.

Did a few E's at gatecrasher which was crap had to keep buying water and its sh** expensive there

[mirrille]

So what would it take to convince a young person to not experiment? What would you change about current antidrug/anti-smoking campaigns to make them more effective?

[galadriel88]

Well I can tell you what I think is definitely wrong with the ads geared towards teens - they're stupid! I'm sorry, but seeing a poster that says "Tobacco is whacko if you're a teen" is not gonna keep me from smoking. I'm gonna laugh at it becuase a)The rhyming thing just doesn't speak to me; b) The drawing looks like it could be done by a 5 year old; and c) So smoking is only bad for teens? It's suddenly healthy when you turn 21? C'mon, gimme a break! I like some of those "truth" commercials, and also did anybody see that one that was aired a few years ago with the woman who has this really raspy voice and talks about how she's addicted to cigarettes, and then she brings one up and has to smoke it through a hole in her neck b/c of all the surgeries she's had to have? Wow, that one was really good!

[Dunadan]

Originally posted by mirrille
So what would it take to convince a young person to not experiment? What would you change about current antidrug/anti-smoking campaigns to make them more effective?

I don't really know. But a good start would be to ban all advertising and sponsorship, ban packs of 10 (these are designed to make it easy for kids and ex-smokers), ban all displays (under the counter only). As far as advertising goes, role models might work better.

Two days and counting...

[Sween]

saying dont do this and that is just stupid. i think the ads we have here at the moment are more along the lines they show people doing stuff which is a bit naughty trying to pull or shock (eg getting tattos and pretending to be in a wheelchair to pull) and its stuff like does take risks or does shock then as a plus doesnt smoke.

thats a much better image to put across. we smoke a fag once in our life and some like it but me personally just makes me feel sick in the morning.

its allabout strengh of character i think

[Claenoic]

Never smoke. Never will smoke. Never will have the urging to.

All of my uncles smoked at one time or another and 5 of them quit. My youngest uncle (who happens to be the craziest one ) quit a few months ago. Before that he pretended to quit and stuck his cigarette under the couch whenever someone was looking. My aunt and mom found out and proceeded to empty him of his stash. Since then, he's gotten nicer. And he doesn't smell like an ashtray.

DARE??? I'm not sure if that had a lot of effect on me... except for the time that they brought two dissected lungs, one healthy and one icky. That made me banish any notion of smoking from my head.

That commercial with the woman who had to breath through a cut in her throat was very good. I especially like those TRUTH commercials. They work better than "Tobacco is Foul".

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Claenoic
That commercial with the woman who had to breath through a cut in her throat was very good. I especially like those TRUTH commercials. They work better than "Tobacco is Foul".

Yeah the woman smoking through her throat is a good one. There is a new one I saw here - it shows a teenage girl and then speeds up the aging process caused by smoking. That one is good too.

I think the more graphic the commercials are - if they really show the damage smoking causes - gets the message across. Before, the anti-smoking commercials were just "don't do it because we say so" or they just have some stupid slogan that everyone made fun of. Seeing a person with half their mouth missing from cancer gets the point across (not that a lot of peole accept the fact that it can happen to them - but it's better than the stupid slogans).

[mirrille]

I don't know what DARE is. Maybe it's an American program that we don't get here?
Anyways, my class is organizing this thing where we get to go around to local schools and talk to students and encourage them not to smoke. I think it would be cool to volunteer, so I signed up. Now, I was never tempted to try smoking...probably a combination of me knowing the risks and heavy discouragement in my home environment. So I don't really understand the mentality of people who do start smoking, which might make me a less effective presenter.
So far, I'm hearing:
lots of gruesome pictures is good
lay off the slogans

Anything else?

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by mirrille
I don't know what DARE is. Maybe it's an American program that we don't get here?

This is what D.A.R.E. is.

This year 36 million school children around the world--26 million in the U.S.--will benefit from D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), the highly acclaimed program that gives kids the skills they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in nearly 80 percent of our nation's school districts and in more than 54 countries around the world. D.A.R.E. is a police officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade how to resist peer pressure and live productive drug and violence-free lives.

Actually I think NJ has found it to be less successful than they claim. I know they're planning on revamping the program here and some schools are abandoning it all together.

[entss89]

ummm i would but how could i give that up? he he

[Coney]

I stopped about 2 hours ago

So far everthing is cool............tomorrow I'll be posting on here sobbing like a baby