URGENT BREAKING NEWS FROM BLAS!

[blas]

Oh I've heard of lots of interesting ways to quit.

My French teacher in high school said she smoked every cigarette she had until she made herself sick, and she never wanted to smoke again.

If I slip up, I think I'll try that method. Usually when something makes me sick, I never go for it again.

[csquared]

That is not a method I would recommend. Although it does beat the method my mother used.

Three day in the hospital with an upper respiratory infection. When she got out, she lit one up. It hurt so bad like her lungs where on fire. Never smoked again.

Keep it up!

[cinema guy]

My dad quit smoking when he started to get pains in his chest. He just threw his pipe and tobacco in the dustbin. No-one else in the family noticed.

[Mikkel]

My dad quit smoking when he started to get pains in his chest. He just threw his pipe and tobacco in the dustbin. No-one else in the family noticed.

A discreet smoker.
When did you find out? Did he tell or did someone notice the fresher air at last?

[blas]

Ya'll may hate me....but I have been living a lie for a couple of days.

Being put in my old department at work with no friends who are non-smokers, the urge got to be really heavy again. One of my coworkers smokes those e-ciggs, and he recommended going to a tobacco store and buying myself a kit and seeing if that satisfies me without lighting up real cigarettes again.

E-ciggs come in many forms, but it's just liquid nicotine and all that you exhale is water vapor. The one I bought looks just like a real cigarette (a bit longer and a little heavier, obviously) and comes with filters that you replace when they run out of juice. It runs on a battery, so it has to be charged, like a cell phone.

So I did waste some of my "saved" money, but I don't really consider it "cheating" because it's just the same as wearing a nicotine patch or chewing nicotine gum. But instead of that, it's almost as if you are smoking again, so you still have the hand to mouth movement that you're used to, and you get the same effect without the smell and all of the harsh chemicals in real cigarettes.

I'm not proud of breaking the chain, but at least it isn't a real cigarette, and the ones I have have less than half of the nicotine that's in real cigarettes. And unlike real cigarettes, you don't puff puff puff on them. E-ciggs are meant to be puffed just a couple of times in a few minutes, and you're supposed to leave sufficient time in between your "sessions" so that you don't make yourself sick or buzzed. They aren't sold as or meant to be smoking cessation devices, but a lot of people who use them no longer smoke real cigarettes, so they've gotten accustomed to not smelling like smoke or tasting that awful smell.

Nicotine is an addictive poison, but I consider this a better alternative than lighting back up and promising myself that this is the "last" pack, "last one", "maybe just one more".

I am really sorry if I let anyone down

[protege]

*hugs*

Eh, stuff happens. At least you're sticking with it. Also, you might want to try lollipops or gum.

[blas]

I've always been a gum freak, but for a different reason. Gum is more a food substitute for me when I can't eat or snack (like if I'm at work and break isn't for another hour or if I'm in the car and can't stop anywhere soon). Although gum was always big for me after I smoked because it would cover that nasty breath.

I can't have lollipops at work. That's where the cravings started again. I was fine at home.

[Mikkel]

If it satisfies your cravings and if you can taper that off too, it's better than starting up again.
You'll still get most of the benefits of stopping smoking. Remember, though, that it is addictive and that you should stop before you reach the point of just having exchanged one addiction for another.
I have seen that happening with the patches.

[blas]

I couldn't use patches because they gave me rashes and some really weird dreams (ok, so I forgot to take it off). Not to mention I still smoked while wearing one yeah, that didn't last long.

The gum made me sick to my stomach. Literally. I might as well have been chewing snuff, the way you are supposed to "chew" it is to park it in your cheeks the same way you chew snuff.

Chantix....we won't go there. That stuff needs to be taken off the market and people should be able to sue over side effects from that stuff. I honestly believe it's safer to smoke than to take Chantix and not sleep because of bad dreams, flip the hell out on people and eventually lose it to the point of doing something terrible, or end up killing yourself.

[Greenday]

I know a few people who were able to quit with the e-cigarettes. Other than the nicotine, from what I recall, there's nothing bad about them.

[Ree]

Ya'll may hate me....but I have been living a lie for a couple of days.

<snip>

I am really sorry if I let anyone down

Nobody hates you or thinks less of you.
You are harder on yourself than we are.

Quitting is not easy.
You're right that it's an addiction that has a powerful hold on you.

Japanese Proverb: "Fall seven times, stand up eight."

The important thing is to not tell yourself, "Oh well, I gave in to the fake cigs, so I might as well just go ahead and smoke."

I think we've all heard those cliche stories of successful people who had tons of failure before they hit success, so I don't need to repeat them.

You can do this, blas.

[csquared]

If it helps you step down, then it helps. Keep heading in the right direction. That is the important part.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I may be misunderstanding, but those e-cigarettes may just be nicotine without the chemicals and other stuff that causes the health problems associated with smoking.

So assuming that, I would hardly say blas is cheating.

[blas]

Thanks for your kind words and continued support, guys.

[MaggieTheCat]

Quitting cold turkey is rather difficult, from what I understand, so use stepping stones if you have to. Even though you spent some of your money, it's still a lot less than you'd spend on actual cigarettes, right?