3 years and 18 minutes...

[skeeterbait8]

3 years ago and 18 minutes I lit up my last smoke! I hate to say it but dang it I'm so proud of me for doing it at last. I had smoked 2 packs a day for 37 years. I had tried before.... smoked like a freight train with the patch on. Took Chantix for just over a month and WOW! Oh I'll admit, I can get stressed and I feel like I could smoke one a mile long... at times I want one so bad I can almost start shaking. But I don't go there. Heck now they cost so much I'd have to choose between them and camping........ CAMPING wins!

[MtnGuy]

Congratulations on that accomplishment !!!!

I never smoked, but chewed for a number of years, and that is hard to give up, also. I still get a hankering for a chew now and then. But I have been clean since 1994, so I think I am good to go.

[bob34787]

gave them up 36 days ago, all it took was an NG tube and a few days in the hospital, when I got home I figured why start up again.

[Len & Cheri]

Congrats!!! It's been 5 years and 7 months since I quit. 2 packs a day for 29 years and I know if I ever smoke just one, I'll be a smoker again.

[SaskCampers]

Congrats to all who have quit. The DW and I quit on Good Friday 2002 and have never looked back.

[PrairieBoy]

Its been over 11 yrs for me after smoking for 20 yrs, since I was 15. I still get craving but have managed to stay away from them. I know that 1 smoke and I'd be back smoking full time. Congrats and keep it going.

[realebill]

that's a tough habit to kick ! congrats on kicking the habit. wife and I went to a hypnotist about 25 years ago to quit smoking and haven't looked back ! don't miss it a bit...especially at $4-6.00 a pack.

[jackhartjr]

In two days I will be 22 years quit, and have never lived better. Congratulations to all that have quit.
And for those wanting to, PM me at jackhartjr at aol.com I will be glad to tell you how to fight the two addictions concerning smoking. Yep, two, one the cigarette companies tie you too, the other is how to combat the nicotine leaching out of your bones the first week you quit.
Jack

[Oakman]

Congratulations, ending an addiction is really tough. I managed to quit (somehow) 28 years ago. For the first five years after quitting I would still have periodic dreams about smoking. I would wake up from those dreams disgusted with myself before I would realize that it was just a dream.

[onetonford]

In 1976 I quit when I got married never looked back and best thing I ever did by the way still married also and she has never seen me smoke!

[EdJunior]

Congratulations. I gave 'em up for good on September 11th, 1992, the day Hurricane Iniki blew through Hawaii. Just woke up one morning, and said I didn't need them anymore. That was it.

[F and E Damp]

I feel extremely fortunate that, as a teenager, everytime I inhaled, I threw up about 60 seconds later. I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and at 70, I can look back on an essentially tobacco-free life. It didn't help me avoid an angioplasty op three weeks ago!

[kernst52]

I smoked less than half a pack for quite a few years and then quit back in 1990 when I started developing a little cough that wouldn't go away. I wanted a cigarette for 7 months. Dang, those things are addicting.

Ken

[alageezer]

Three comments from above I agree with completely.
Smoked like a freight train.
Could smoke one now a mile long.
Only take one to be back.

All of those have applied to me for four years now. Just wish I could get the wife off them, but she fights me tooth and nail, so I gave up trying, wasn't worth the fighting.

[KyDan]

Hey Skeeter!!
Good for you!
Yeah, quitting was the hardest thing I've ever done.

My quit date was Dec 10, 1998.

I still dream I smoked every once in a while.
I wake up bummed until I realize it was only a dream!

I had a little computer program from the folks at silkquit that you
entered how many packs a day you smoked, what they cost and your
quit date.
It kept a running total of money saved
and how many cigarettes you haven't smoked and
life saved at 5 min per cigarette.

I got up to Thousands of dollars and months and months of
life saved before I stopped checking.

It's amazing how much time and money you can spend chained to
that addiction.

Good for all of us for quitting!

There's no such thing as "just one more"!!!

[MPI_Mallard]

Way to go to us all!! We called quits when we found our grandaughter was coming [i liked the idea of honerable number-one-son crankin' out a couple of boys but i gotta' admit our one and only pooter' is our lil' princess!]6 years ago and never looked back. The two things that helped me do it was;

1-Came to the startling realisation that i was addicted to cigarette smoking just like some filthy crack-head.
2-back in the late 80's those miserable criminals who produce them started adding ammonia to the tobacco so the nicotine would be absorbed into us at a faster rate thereby making us FAR MORE addicted to smoking just like some filthy crack-head.

Anyone who successfully kicks that miserable habit SHOULD be bloody proud of him/herself!!!!

now i step down from my soapbox

[skeeterbait8]

When I first quit I was still putting back the money that I would have spent. Every 5 days I'd put up $28 (this is before they went up).

So if I had kept it up. 365 days in a year means I would have bought a carton 73 times. 73 X $28 = $2044 a year. Times 3 years would have ment I had spent $6132! And that is at the prices I was giving before they went up!

[trudinator]

Congratulations to ALL of you for your great accomplishements. I''ve been married for 20+ years to an ex-smoker. I never saw him smoke at all, so that means he's been "clean" for over 20 years. i come from a long line of smokers - both of my parents smoked, my grandfather smoked, my five older siblings and their spouses smoked, etc. I smoked a handful of cigarettes in high school to "fit in," but I never really liked it. So I was fortunate to escape the addiction to, and the affinity for, cigarettes. I'm not so successful, however, to anything containing sugar.

[Dave_Monica]

I've been a non-smoker for 6 years now...can't imagine ever going back

A word for smokers thinking about quitting...whether you're a smoker or not is a normal question asked anymore when getting medical treatment. Doctors will use that bit of info when deciding where you are on any wait lists for knee/hip replacement, etc. Smoking doesn't necessarily have a bearing, but their rationale is that if you can't help yourself by quitting smoking, why should they help you with other medical issues.

Dave

[trudinator]

Originally Posted by Dave_Monica

I've been a non-smoker for 6 years now...can't imagine ever going back

A word for smokers thinking about quitting...whether you're a smoker or not is a normal question asked anymore when getting medical treatment. Doctors will use that bit of info when deciding where you are on any wait lists for knee/hip replacement, etc. Smoking doesn't necessarily have a bearing, but their rationale is that if you can't help yourself by quitting smoking, why should they help you with other medical issues.

Dave

My nephew is on a transplant list for a new pancreas and kidneys. But before they go any further, he has to quit smoking. I sure hope he has the willpower and fortitude. In his case, it IS life or death. One would think he would have thrown those things in the garbage a long time ago with his health issues, but he probably thought he needed them as a crutch to handle the stress.