My dad smoked for 30 years. He quit almost four years ago cold turkey. He’s now battling oral cancer. If the cancer doesn’t kill him, the treatment might. Radiation, chemo and surgery is not fun. Watching it happen before your eyes is even worse.
my grandfather died of cancer of the esphogus (sp?) lifelong smoker…
My Grandma smoked for a long time when she was younger, but she quit smoking many years ago.
She was one of the most active ladies I knew. She taught ceramics and porcelain classes in her basement, made high-end porcelain dolls, sold Mary Kay, did lots of custom stitching work, and was on the go about every hour of the day.
… until a few years ago. All of a sudden, she just slowed way down. Now she has to take hits of oxygen several times per day. The doctors say her smoking finally caught up with her.
My psych professor said quitting smoking is just a matter of viewing it as punishment instead of reward. Pretty simple, but if you research you’ll know why it’s punishment. If you’re gonna quit stay away from bars and parties for a while because that’s usually where people pick it up again.
I quit about a year ago, shortly after he said that. One of the best decisions of my life.
There are many ways to quit. The patch, the gum, medications, or cold turkey. But before anyone goes through with any of the above they must commit and want to quit and quit for your self, not for anyone else. If you don’t want to quit, no matter what you do, you won’t. The patch works well as long as you do it properly. You should check with your MD before starting anything b/c the patch can increase your blood pressure greatly.
Everyone is different. I have had patients who smoked 3 packs a day for 20-30 years and then just one day decided to quit. And I have had patients who had to go on the patch to stop smoking those last few.
[quote]buffy wrote:
There are many ways to quit. The patch, the gum, medications, or cold turkey. But before anyone goes through with any of the above they must commit and want to quit and quit for your self, not for anyone else. If you don’t want to quit, no matter what you do, you won’t.[/quote]
This is one of the most fundamental rules of self-change. You have to do it for yourself, because you want it. You can’t do it because someone else wants you to or someone suggested it was a good idea.
Until you want it for your reasons, the change is going to be temporary and superficial.
I just quit 20 days ago, and I notice a HUGE difference. It’s a funny thing lifting heavy weights now, because my muscles actually give out before my lungs do. I can lift so much heavier, and recover so much faster.
Quiting was probably the single best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I’ve also discovered this thing called cardio. It’s a bit weird at first, but it’s kind of cool.
Need4speed is right too, you can’t do it for anyone but yourself. Mentally prepare yourself. Keep talking about how discussting it is, and how you are so glad that you don’t smoke. You’ll get there.
Good luck.
P.S. I smoked for about 13 years, and I haven’t had a single craving in the last 20 days. Addiction is in your head. Be Strong!
For the detox phase I had an accupuncture treatment. It calmed me down for a few days. Worked very nicely.
I picked up again though after about a year. No fault of the accupuncture. I got stressed out and reached out for a chemical coping mechanism. Bad Move. It’s been about two years and I still haven’t kicked it. I’m now seriously considering another treatment. The first time I quit I put on 10lbs and maintained the same body composition, my lifting went through the roof and my endurance skyrocketted.
Man, I realy have to quit.
[quote]GathCity wrote:
I just quit 20 days ago, and I notice a HUGE difference. It’s a funny thing lifting heavy weights now, because my muscles actually give out before my lungs do. I can lift so much heavier, and recover so much faster.
Quiting was probably the single best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I’ve also discovered this thing called cardio. It’s a bit weird at first, but it’s kind of cool.
Need4speed is right too, you can’t do it for anyone but yourself. Mentally prepare yourself. Keep talking about how discussting it is, and how you are so glad that you don’t smoke. You’ll get there.
Good luck.
P.S. I smoked for about 13 years, and I haven’t had a single craving in the last 20 days. Addiction is in your head. Be Strong![/quote]
Very cool-congratulations. Hope your progress takes off!
You are making it harder than it has to be. Go buy the patch and eat your ass off and lift. That’s what I was able to do. You can do it.