JB 883

So you live alone and have quit smoking. Basically your life is yours to live as you see fit. Freedom. Plus, since you are not tied down to smoking anymore, that is even more freedom. "Ending it all" is not a good option. Most of us are luckier than we could even understand because of the things we DO have.

Welp, There goes my desire to perform auto-erotic activity for the evening.

Boo would be proud of that innuendo. oh my gyod... I'm done.

Something like this came up on another board I frequent. Here is the fact - even if you are using NRT, it is still better than smoking. Gums, patches, whatever... at least you are not roasting your lungs. As far as the guy at work or anyone putting you down, ask this - are they doing you any favors? They are not living your life. Even if you need NRT, just don't light up a smoke. I know from recent experience that it is not as pleasant as we imagine. I would also say if you DO smoke, maybe keep silent about it cause you know how people are, you screw up once and they act like you just personally handed Jared Fogel a license to run a day care. Think about this too - when someone relapses back to a habit or lifestyle, people say "you can only blame yourself". OK so when you quit smoking and next when you quit NRT the credit is al yours Yeah there is such a thing. I work with some brain dead idiot who keeps saying h is going to find another job yet there he is three days a week walking around with his nose buried in his cell phone. He is a "fake quitter". Now my nephew on the other hand, he has quit many jobs, had quit high school, quit trade school... he is a REAL quitter. HUUUUUU HU HU HU HU HU

First of all, when you get off the patches and nicotine completely for any amount of time, then you can talk crud about other peoples' relapses. Second, I could care less about "Fanfare". I imagine those who got the most upset and talked crap probably used other NRT stuff after their so-called "quits". Yeah I talk a lot of crap but I do not personally attack people who relapse. Funny how I am no where close to being part of the in-crowd of this board yet a few took interest when I posted about a relapse. And "a" hot dog? Just one? I would be picking up probably three or four. But then I am no vegan.

You know, I am thinking it was probably a bad idea to post about my little relapse. It seems you and a few others here have attacked and blown things out of proportion, like you are glad it happened. Like, "alright! an opportunity to pounce!" Funny thing is, there are three people on here who I would have expected backlash from but were either very polite or said nothing. All three of them I have not been nice to in the past and feel worse about that than anything. Also - I smoked 15 years and had quit long before anything crippling happened. So if 6 cigarettes over 3 days is a "full blown 5 alarm relapse" then what exactly is it when someone quickly relapses to a pack (or more) a day and stays smoking for months or years. For those (except Doreen) who ARE acting like it is your place to decide what I do, exactly why are you so upset about my small relapse? Are you assuming I am sitting here smoking right now or something?

What you mentioned though could help someone quit smoking. I mean they would be too busy scratching their heads trying to make heads or tails of it. Can't do that while smoking. Might ask - the first few smokes after the years quit, how did it feel? Was there a lot of guilt involved? Was it more like, "Screw it, I do what I want"? When "average" makes it's way into statistics, it offers only discouragement I think. If someone has tried once or twice, there would be that lingering thought, "I still have to try 5 more times..." I remember before my Oct 2017 quit, I had read and heard how nicotine is harder to quit than meth, crack, heroine, glue, Oxycontin, and porn combined. Of course seeing on TV over the years how they portrayed someone quitting any of those, they were flopping around like a fish and screaming. It makes one think, "what is it gonna be like to quit nicotine?" Not as bad as big pharm would have us think (they gotta sell gum and patches somehow) One week ago I bought a pack and over the next three days, I smoked six cigarettes. Saturday in the real early AM (like 2:00'ish?) I gave the pack to my room mate and had her crumble the rest. So what do I call those six? A relapse? Slip? Complete and utter disgraceful failure to mankind? 1) I quit after three days. The smoking experience was pretty nasty and I just haven't wanted it since. 2) I have no clue what the trigger was. Usually when I get a crave is when I get real happy or excited. Me and a couple acquaintances have this running joke about Nipsy Hustle's passing, maybe that did it. 3) I learned that smoking is nasty, well, was reminded. I try not to learn new things sine my brain is mostly filled to capacity at this point.

Smoking cessation products are more about making companies rich and not so much about helping people quit smoking. We have heard "I tried gums, patches, etc..." I do think though more nicotine is absorbed in the mouth than through the lungs. It seems to me then like nicotine gum would be more addictive than cigarettes.

I will erase it but not put anything simply because I do not need a thread showing up each month saying "Jet black is so many months quit"

I think mine dropped a little but nothing significant. I believe mine is now typically 140/90 and probably 145/90 when I smoked. Not sure exactly but it wasn't much. I think raised blood pressure is a short term effect of smoking. Depending on the source, it takes between 20 minutes and 24 hours for BP to drop. Of course they keep lowering the number of what is "safe" so they can sell more BP meds. That part has nothing to do with smoking and more about them pushing meds.

Now I am going to say it. I may get chewed out for this but I feel it is the truth - There ARE habits much worse than smoking. Like ohh, setting up cameras to look up skirts. I mean imagine trying to explain THAT one to the boss. Of course then the boss whispers, "hey umm, look, you didn't happen to record that did you?"

There will be easy times and also tough times trying to keep the quit. Just during those tough times, do not give in. I went through a recent "Slip" and the few cigarettes I did smoke, here is what it brings - frustration, dizziness, guilt, nasty taste, wondering if we just set off a pattern full force. I was thinking, "Maybe I can do one or two cigs a day" but we ALL know where that leads.

Few things - Awesome. I thought pretty much everyone here but Doreen hated me. Now as far as doing something besides smoking, I can recommend a few other habits (some bad) - Spending too much time on ebay, staying up all night and sleeping away the day (I work an evening shift), collecting LP's (hipsters are not the only ones who do that), cursing loudly at work when frustrated, eating way too much sugar, hitting the thrift stores to buy more BS one doesn't need, and most important - being a reason forums have moderators. There is something else I should mention - One of my co-workers is a chewer. Probably since he was a kid. Anyways, he had been quit for 3 1/2 years. I told him I had smoked, and he mentioned he picked up chewing again, like back in November. I said, "I need to stop, I do not want this habit". Then he said something horrifying! He said, "It is like the love of my life. I know it is bad for me, cancerous etc but I cannot quit, like I am married to the habit". Man, I have NO desire to be married again. Especially not to the nico-demon.

I guess it was Friday night/Saturday morning when I had my room mate destroy the remains of the pack. Weird but I haven't really wanted one since. Feeling my lungs burn when I smoked the last one kind of put a stop to THAT desire. One thing, I had someone on this board I had become good friends with (even if but e-mail pals) but she kept relapsing and ran into some kind of pretty serious health issues. Maybe the damage was already done, maybe if she had kept the quit, the problem would have lay dormant. It wasn't even lung related but supposedly was connected to smoking. I forgot to add earlier - when I was in the process of a relapse/slip/whatever, it was like some disgusting, dreadful chore to step out and smoke.

There is actually a simple explanation - Who the hell cares how much time someone else spends on a forum, the web, social media or whatever? If someone DOES know how much others are here, it is because they too live on this forum at least as much as someone else. So Jillar, there is no need to worry about what someone else thinks of how much you are here or not. Kick back and enjoy. The only person on here who has any sort of say about one's welcome is MQ since he owns the place.

Over three days, I smoked six of the cancer sticks. Each time, Something interesting happened - head rush, guilt, feeling sick, having horrid taste in mouth, being able to smell myself, thinking about how smoking is a fire hazard... So last night I gave the rest of the pack to my room mate and said, "crumble these". She has never experienced tobacco nor nicotine so nit like she would pick up the habit. I just decided that smoking wasn't worth the BS. The worst part is feeling guilty. I seldom feel guilt but damn, that was horrid. So if anyone else sees this and is thinking, "screw it, I want to smoke". It really is not worth it. It is kind of the same guilt you might feel if you got mad an broke something expensive.

Yep, I am a dumb ass. I gave in. I never posted in SOS because I am not good at asking for help until the shit has actually hit the fan. Maybe it was because of a particularly long week at work. Maybe it was the weather. Some new neighbors moved in who happen to pretty much live on the front porch. I hate people, so that means hoping to not be bothered when I have to do yard work in the front. I am sure I could come up with a good excuse. Anyways Tuesday the 23rd, I had been having some serious craves for a week straight. Nothing real big triggered it, just came out of nowhere. So I bought a pack of my favorite smokes and have smoked three of them, one a day. A few puffs here and there, like my final days of smoking before my last quit. It helps that I do not carry my cigarettes when out and about or at work. What was I thinking? - "OK, why am I depriving myself of something I enjoyed?" My craves over the last week before Tuesday were roughly as bad as the first three days of quitting. So, how can craves return full force after several months or over a year? Yeah I had craves as bad before but it was still when I was pumped about quitting. After smoking again, I felt relaxed but really stupid, maybe the same feeling as if you lost your temper for a second and smashed one of your car windows just out of anger. Then you think, "Well, that was dumb, I broke it, couldn't control it..." I guess the answer is to throw away the pack and "just not smoke". Apparently it is not that easy. Hell no it ain't. I need and want to stay quit for me. I do not want to end up like some of the stories I have read here where it takes some horrible medical problem before I quit. I want to do this while I am ahead. I do not care so much what "society" thinks of my smoking. I want to lay off for ME. I though by now, I had this. Like craves were a thing of the past. But I guess not. When the hell then do they vanish? Two years? Ten? Never? At least now I understand how someone can quit for years and then go back. So, when I do put them back down, does that mean another "hell week"? What should I expect?

Stick close to this board. Though this place is pretty small, the most active members are here quite a bit. Even if it is over the web, you won't have any shortage of company or people to talk with.

Nicotine free gum would be a good idea, just don't chew sugar-free, THAT would be torture.

You know there is all this talk about how the body recovers in stages from smoking (probably from drugs and drinking too) but the downside of the body's recovery system is that once we retire from our strength or endurance routines, our bodies seem to lose strength and endurance pretty quick also. Wow, that machine looks like it delivers nothing but grave news.

How do they do a lung test exactly? I know smoking is rough but it seems an athlete, even one who smokes, would have better than average lung capacity.

Not sure how this will go over - - Thinking about how some people DO quit smoking cigarettes but move on to other chemical addictions (but of course they are not "addicted") They might use other peoples' mistakes to justify their own behavior.

What brand were they? Good job on not smoking. I think if it had been me, I likely would have given in depending on the brand. Just hope the universe doesn't decide to test you during a particularly weak time. The weak moments come and go. Oh that would be hilarious. You see a thread pop up on here, "Someone put a pack of cigarettes in my mailbox".

Well, ha ha, this is going to seem laughable but check this out. I have a hard time saying this with a straight face but what if he wanted to go down that road for something goofy like oh, living longer, living better, saving money, not smelling like an ash tray. I know those are asinine reasons to quit smoking but oh heck why not? Maybe when people don't quit smoking, they would rather risk the road of getting some horrible smoking ailment. Sure it is worse than quitting but hey, at least someone gets to smoke their cigarettes.

A few things really caused me to quit. One being the fact that I could not laugh like a jack-ass when I found something comical. I would try to laugh and end up nearly choking. I would try to sleep but had to cough a certain way so my breath would quit rattling. I got pissed off at the cigarettes. But yeah, when I realized I was getting better, it was the first night in 15 years I fell asleep with NO rattle noises. It was also when I could laugh loud and obnoxiously again without coughing. You know thing that isn't discussed much but when I did smoke, I felt pretty guilty. I would buy something nice, maybe a new outfit, or whatever. The thought I often had was, "How long til cigarette smoke ruins this?"