The smoke topic 🚬

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These are some of my notes on smoke cessation.

Spelling them out here in hoping you all might have some to add.

I’ve heard that the human body can keep up with repairs so long as only 2 or 3 cigarettes are smoked daily. Basically and impossibly low number for someone who is strongly prone towards having a nicotine dependency. The person who said that was my first girlfriend’s father and he was a surgeon.

So over the last 36 hours I’ve had 2 cigarettes. The only issue is that I just bought a pack and that sets me up to either fall back in hard or demonstrate at least some self-control. My goal is to smoke only when I really can’t get them off my mind for about two solid hours.

Trying to stop smoking has been something I’ve been messing around with for a couple months if not longer. Now let me just say this, I don’t just smoke out of addiction, there is a lot about smoking I just straight up enjoy. I’m not going to go into those reasons, because they are just going to bog this down. It just adds that extra difficulty in when I am chemically free from the nicotine. 20 hours away from them or so, I still get strong draws to have the experience.

There are craving walls, and I now know cravings go beyond just the desire. Cravings cause ideation, impulsivity, obsession, and whole host of physical cues that indicate it is mandatory to smoke. I can resist most all of the small elements, but what sucks is when it really flat-lines and I’m at that new chemical sense of self I fall into total obsession to the point of anxiety. Slow onset just focus on cigarettes and total boredom otherwise.

I really do think it’ll pass if I spend more time in those states between cigarettes and let anything my mind dwell on anything that it fancies other than cigarettes.

It’s like falling in love with a totally different side of life. Cigarettes are too cheap and prevalent for me to really need to ever worry being without.

1st, 2nd, 3rd hours all have strong craving walls… 5th and 7th hour as well. 12 hours is the next. and then apparently 20-24 hours without nicotine and I just can’t stop thinking about them. By then I’ve already done all that I’m interested in doing for the day and I just fail to move onto something else.

I think it’s about heart and lung health. I am trying to make this as easy on myself in the long run, which is why tapering off might actually work. The more time my heart and lungs have to heal in between cigarettes, the more comfortable I’ll be when I go without them entirely.

I noticed a lot of it today. Fatigued lungs, the need to yawn, heart palpitations and sluggishness… a lot of strange crap, heart burn, losiness in the mind… after fight through that for 20 hours just to finally wind up to bored with life not to focus on cigs… I just fail each time to take it further.

The sad thing is that moderation can jack the brain up just as much as anything else. I can detox sometimes and it’s pleasant yet other times I detox and I’m frustrated as hell. The cycle between the two really effect my irritability in the long run.

I know myself though. I have to quit. I’ve never been all that happy with smoking aside from when the cig is right and it does wind up feeling good through and through.

Any advise would be nice. I go about 12 to 24 hours without smoking every week. I really think I just gotta work on not falling back into it as soon as I get the opportunity. Let myself smoke when I really just can’t get my mind off of it… relax while I’m doing it… enjoy it… and make sure by the end of it I’ve got some other interests cropping up.

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hey,

Loved the smokes. Affects nicotinic receptors in your head and 1/3 rd of the population is more susceptible than others. Saying that!

Smoked from 14 till I was 39 a pack a day at least. I too bought into that culture because I was seriously addicted. If I was out of nicotine I’d smoke butts through a bong…it really was a bit too much but I couldn’t help myself.

Tried that champix…and I didn’t finish the course…haven’t had a smoke since and that was like 8 years ago. There’s nothing good about it…it’s seductive in the extreme and it’s basically smoking poison…but it’s neurtransmitter triggered.

Give it up. Don’t emotionalise it. Don’t glorify it. Don’t justify it…just do it!

A friend who is way more healthy these days,

Rogueone.

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holy cool smoking joe the camels ghost…you smoked butts through a bong… that’s pretty hardcore…

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the tabacco left in the butts…I’d take it out and smoke it as a cone! Not my best work but nicotine ruled my waking life…never looked back with that champix!

Rogueone.

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well done sir…

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Thanks a whole lot man!

I know I’m one of those unfortunates, just like a few of my friends, who really do have a bad addiction to the stuff.

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I really needed to hear that.

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I need to quit too. Lotsa free time. Maybe if i focus on fitness and health, i could do the switch.

Good luck.

Today i have smoked 8 cigarettes and it is 7 pm

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I just took a good bike ride… I think it was a couple miles… gradual inclines.

Gotta rise above and do that when I’m twelve hours away from my last cigarette… really does change the mind up.

God I’m not really that lazy. I’m just horrible about maintaining a schedule or committing to anything.

Has been a good day already. Took one of my algorithms to the next level of insight and it’s been sitting stuck for months there… So I feel accomplished. Did more than I thought I’d do today, perhaps not as much as I’d like to do yet, but the day is young.

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I finally used nicotine gum to get off the cigs…it’s been almost eight months now…I am really happy.

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I’m nicotine free.

When I Ieave my apartment, I know I’m not accidentally leaving a burning cigarette behind.

When I was a smoker, I had to clean the glass around where I lived much more frequently. Now the windows stay clean a lot longer.

When I was just stopping smoking, I chewed on straws all the time. Other folks recommended I use cinnamon sticks and licorice sticks, but I didn’t stay too log on those treatments. But really, I was used to all the mouth stimulation, and straws filled some of that need for familiarity.

Jayster

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Have you tried nicotine replacement products like gum or the patch? I was able to quit using the gum. You have to use it according to the instructions that come with it. I have not had a cigarette in almost 14 years now. And I was really hooked. Sometimes it’s timing and how you are thinking about smoking. If you truly hate it like I did then you might want to try a replacement product to get past the cravings.

Zaphod

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I recently made a serious attempt at quitting, lasted 8 days on the gum alone, need to try again. I know it can be done, even by me. I quit cold turkey when I was 21, after 8 years of smoking, and stayed a non-smoker for three and a half years. Going back to it was one of the dumbest mistakes I ever made. I’ve been smoking over a pack a day.

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I will give this a try too. Just a couple hours and see if it can be stretched. I have nicotine gum with me.

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Try a nicotine replacement product. That got me through my worst cravings when I finally decided to quit. There are several different pruducts available. Gum. The patch and even some oral sprays…you don’t and should not make yourself miserable when trying to quit. It just makes it harder. I was seriously addicted for 30 years when I finally stopped. I have not smoked in 14 years now. I am glad now because here cigarettes have so much tax on them that a pack costs $14

Zaphod

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Sorry to have posted almost the same thing twice. I just don’t think that quiting should equal suffering.

Zaphod

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