Quote:
Originally Posted by likeitalot
Did you do it 'cold-turkey'? Some 30 or so since I started and my old man died of lung cancer at 54. I should know better but that's how strong the addiction can be.
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Not exactly cold-turkey. I chewed nicorette gum for the first month or so. The first 2 weeks I chewed one whenever I wanted a cigarette. The second week I only chewed 3 times a day and slowly weaned myself off them until I was chewing 1 a day after dinner(it was a real treat too!). I still had hellish cravings and fits of rage after I stopped the nicorette gum. It's a bloody miracle I didn't smoke. When I stopped the nicorette gum, I started chewing sugarless gum in the same way and it really helped to chew the sugarless gum. Here I am 6 months later and I still carry sugarless gum wherever I go but I rarely chew it.
I tried Zaiban a couple years ago and couldn't sleep a wink while I was on the stuff and they didn't seem to reduce my cravings much. I used the patch a few years before that and found they were quite helpful but this time I didn't want to use them as I didn't want to be putting nicotine in my body 24 hours a day. This time I simply woke up one day and said to myself "You are gonna die too young if you keep smoking, do you wanna live or die?". I had about 6 cigarettes left and I smoked them until they were gone and then the fun began.
I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I think when he smoked there were no health warnings like there are today. I started smoking when I was 12 and I remember some adults chuckling like I was becoming a man. Now when I think back I'm horrified...going on drives in the family car with my mother chain smoking in the front seat...all the windows and doors closed in the house and my mom chain-smoking and us 3 kids breathing it in. A year ago we had a bit of a family reunion in Nova Scotia. My mother was there with her oxygen bottle(she needs it on constantly). My brother and sister and I all there smoking outside and I remember thinking "there is my mom at deaths door and I'm still puffing away like a madman!, what a twat I am".
I actually get angry when I see a young person smoking nowadays. When I was a kid everybody who was cool smoked and there were no health warnings but I really don't understand some teenager who knows how evil the ciggies are smoking in spite of them.
Perhaps I went on too much about this but I am well pleased with myself for getting off them right now.