I just quit, but then I was doing things, umm that weren't too kosher in my youth, so when I kept "lookout" it was kind of shady to stand next to a car without smoking (that way it just looks like you are not gonna smoke in your car, instead of looking like something shady is going on.) And I still haven't stopped (smoking that is. )

Disclaimer - The statute of limitations is over, and I fully regret the dumb things I have done

Jesus, if you stop smoking, I will buy you a buttload of credits on top of what I win from Artisanals.

And good luck with it, Gen! My mother quit about 10 years ago I think, and if she can do it, you definitely can

Not quitting, don't wanna

I live with 3 smokers and my boyfriend is a smoker, I grew up with my mother smoking 40 or so a day and my grandparents doing about the same. I can't explain why my brothers and I don't smoke but we all find it disgusting.

Anyway, do people find looking at those pictures helps? In Australia now cigarette companies are forced to print disgusting pictures and statistics of what can happen to you through smoking. Anything from amputation, gangrene, mouth rot, lung cancer, etc. It hasn't seemed to turn off anyone I know, they're just desensitised to disgusting images now and are reminded of needing a cigarette when they see a rotting lung on the side of a bus.

-hug Gene- you can do it!

I've been a smoker since I was seventeen so that makes it...four years now? I usually averaged about 20 to 30 marlboro red 100s a day, throw a clove or two in there sometimes...now it's more like 1 to 10 since I've moved in with my non-smoking grandparents. There were a couple of times that I tried to quit...but there's a lot of habit to cigarettes besides the nicotine. I picked up chewing on toothpicks and would catch myself doing something like clicking a clicky pen over and over for hours on end, because I was used to having a cigarette in my mouth or in my hand. There was a very stressful three month period right after I moved out of my parents' house where I was up to about 60 cigarettes a day, literally chainsmoking and not a moment without a cigarette in my hand, alternating between reds and cloves, and it really does mess you up...I could only get about 4 hours of sleep a night from all of the nicotine, eating made me feel ill, and I was steadily guzzling water because I felt thirsty all the time. I'm proudly keeping my smoking greatly reduced now, but for those of you who've seen me going a bad day without a smoke...I like it, and you can't make me quit?

$6 per cigar? hrm... We sell Cigarettes here at roughly about 10-15 cents per stick.

I dont smoke though.

I'm sure this is NOT the "inspiration" Genevieve was looking for.

Cloves... omg.

I never tried cigarettes, don't intend to, but I admit cloves smell somewhat inviting. But maybe that's just compared to regular cigarettes, which smell positively foul.

Nope. Alcohol and/or coffee taste great to most adult palates (It is true that as we age, we become more receptive to bitter tastes). Smokers just tend to associate it with their filthy habit.

Inspriational true story:

Back when my mom and dad were dating my dad was a heavy smoker, and had been for a decade or so. Well she told him he could either get rid of the habit or get rid of her. He stoped smoking enabling me to be born X number of years later, I'm so grateful.

I do remember him hacking up gunky yellow stuff into the sink every few weeks for a few years, when I was a very little kid, his lungs clearing out some of the damage he did.

The health effects of stopping smoking start at about 15 minutes, and keep increasing to around 15 years, it's a wonderful thing.

I'm fairly sure it's more to deter first-timers than to get smokers to quit.

I'm not quite sure if this is intended, but it also incurs additional costs for the cigarette companies, meaning that cigarette costs will have to rise, thus people might have to reconsider smoking if it is going to cost them so much.


Inspirational thing:
Just imagine how much money you'd be saving from not buying cigerettes for life. Then imagine those money being converted into credits for your character.

It worked out at about 3 to 4 an hour.

..but I've known people on 60+.

Meh. Yet another sign that I'll never grow up.

Growing up leads to growing old, which in turns leads to dying. So don't be too bothered by it.

You're hardly a first. Don't take it too horribly, some people just never develop the taste for it.

First of all, good for you for trying to quit. It's hard. What you're doing is brave, and, if you succeed, you'll have a lot to be proud for.

I quit smoking this past August, after smoking for 14 years. I will say that it was the hardest thing I've done so far, but I am still proud of myself. It's been 7 months since my last cigarette, and I am determined to never go back to it again.

What helped me most, and maybe it will help you, (though every experience is different, I think) was to read the kind of facts that Wesmin posted. I read a LOT before I made the committment to quit. I read about how I would feel better, how I would be helping my body, how I would be decreasing my risk for so many different health issues, and focused mostly on the short term gains that I would experience.

I loved smoking. Heck, I still love smoking. Negative reinforcement never helped me at all. But when I focused on the good things I was doing for myself, I found the strength to say no for another hour. Remember, Gen, it's easier to focus on what you can do successfully, rather than dwelling on the mountain in front of you. Focus on one step, not the entire climb. My first few days were hour to hour, and every hour was a victory.

It's hard to believe while in the middle of dealing with your body's protests, but those hourly victories will turn into victorious days, and before you know it, you'll have conquered all those situations that you associate with smoking and take back the control you handed over to those little sticks of tobacco.

I know you can do it. If you want to vent, I'm happy to listen and cheer you on!

Monday I diagnosed a 37yo guy with lung cancer - he has 3 children under 7 and has been smoking a pack a day since he was 16.

Tomorrow (Friday) i will do a COPD clinic where I will see a dozen or so people who feel pleased when they can walk 20m without stopping (using their oxygen).
Some of them still smoke. Many are in their 50's or early 60's but look like they are in their 80's and 90's.

Last week I did a bronchoscopy on a 46yo lady who had aspiration pneumonia - because she had a massive stroke a 4 months ago leaving her completely paralysed on her right side and unable to speak or understand any kind of communication. That at least stopped her smoking.

Lots of people who keep smoking justify it by "well i don't care if I die".
The problem with that argument is smoking can leave you with a miserable existance for a decade or more before it finally gets you.

Just don't smoke.

I wish you all the best in stopping smoking. While nictoine patches and wellbutrin/xyban can help with the physiological addiction to nicotine, its the psychological addiction that is hardest hurdle. In my experience almost everyone who stops smoking has tried several times before they succeed, and they succeed because one day they simply decide to stop and they stick to it. Most will still pick up a cigarette (or want to pick one up) for years and years after they stop - but before they light it they make the conscious choice not to. Its a hard thing to stick to, but the rewards are definitely there in the long term.


Good luck!

Oh neat, a doctor plays Lusternia.

Ialie is also a doctor, from what I've heard. She prescribes rainbows!

EDIT: But on a more serious note, good luck Gene. I've never smoked tobacco, but I smoked marijuana in my teenage years. Thankfully, I didn't get addicted and I threw it away after I sobered up and saw how my ex-friends acted. In any case, good luck! Feel free to vent at Tael if you need a punching bag, apparently Serenwilde already labels him as the punching bag.

although I smoked for three years, I wasn't a heavy smoker. I think I averaged a pack a week. Though I usually had at least one extra pack of generic cigarettes on me at any given time, if I was hanging out with other smokers and ran into the inevitable 'cigarette bum'

Been smoking since I was roughly 12-13 to 26, one packet a day average the last years. I just decided to give up (laws in my country were put in place that would make me go out of the building to smoke and I am too lazy for that) on the 1st of 2006 and so far so good. Didn't have much of a withdrawal and didn't need any pill, but if you feel you need help go to the doctor.

From memory my piece of advice based on what I did, try not thinking about tobacco or talking about it, if you feel like smoking go doing something to keep you busy and tell everybody you're giving up so people don't say you're bitchy for no reason. Also remove any lighter from your entourage and don't keep those last smokes in the drawer just in case. Try not to stuff yourself with food just to have something in your mouth and don't trade the addiction to tobacco for addiction to sweets. Drink a lot of water the first two weeks you'll be coughing up all those nasties in your lungs, I found out it helped me reduce the coughing or at least it didn't have such bad sounds. Have patience. Much patience. If you end up smoking a ciggarrete don't think "OMG I failed, I cannot give up I am smoking again give me another smoke", think of it as missing a day in the gym. You go next day, right? so you just don't smoke anything else and keep on giving up. After the first month or so you'll be feeling much better. Change the habits that make your smoke (if you always smoke after having a coffee try drinking tea for a bit or not going to the same restaurant or drinking the coffee in a place you cannot smoke). Myself I drank a lot of herbs teas with lime team because it relaxed me, but that was just me. Also, think of the extra money you'll be saving as a nice side effect

In my case after the coughing ended and I started smelling how ugly smoke smells I decided I would keep without smoking because I wasn't going over all of it again (I know, it's terribly frivolous I am more worried of stinking and coughing like a sick dog than of dieing of cancer, but well...). I hope you can find something useful from all those garbage I posted and manage to get rid of smokes, best of luck!.