View Full Version : Smoke free
Come on guys, I love you, but you gotta get off those things.
One of the reasons I quit was it was getting harder and harder to get up those steep grades. I tried to quit cold turkey on a week long hike one time and spent a miserable week thinking about nothing but how long before I could buy a pack cigarettes. I knew right then I had to get a grip. I finally did kick that smelly, dirty, nasty, dangerous, expensive, habbit a few years later and have been free for about 20 years.
Been there, done that, ain't never going back. So why are so many still smoking?
Drinking beer isn't allowed in my state if I don't smoke?
Heavy breathing is such a turn on?
In case I climb Everest, I want to already have own oxygen bottles?
I just love the way mouth tastes when I wake up in the morning?
It helps the farmers?
It helps corporate America?
I want to help with global warming?
I want to smell like the Marlboro Man?
I'm hooked and need help!!!
Here's one way. The next time you run out of smokes, check the time. Don't say I'm quitting. But, say I'm going to wait until the next half hour. If it's noon, just wait until 12:30. At 12:30 just tell yourself to wait another 30 minutes. This is so much easier than telling yourself you're never going to have another cigarette for the rest of your smoke shortened life. Repeat this for the next 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years. But mainly, just quit 30 minutes at a time. Worked for me. I'm told it takes about 3 days, to purge most of the nicotine from you system, that gives you something to build on.
Go for it. Good luck.
next time you feel like getting on your anti-smoking soapbox, wait until the next half hour before posting that message on whiteblaze. if it's noon, just wait until 12:30. at 12:30, tell yourself to wait another 30 minutes. go for it. good luck
corentin
06-01-2006, 16:04
Really ...quit trying to put us healthcare people out of business....I get so much amusement out of watching someone drown in his own lung secretions. Can't buy fun like that!
... that will probably get me in hot water:
Q. What should you do if your girlfriend starts smoking? (Scroll down for answer)
A. Slow down and use a lubricant.
My physician once checked my health and asked, “Do you prefer to live longer, or smoke more cigars? That's a decision you need to make.”
That didn’t do it. I rationalized my way around that.
Several months later, my employment took me to the VIP ward of a hospital with mixed patients. The cancer patients had all been smokers.
I worked midnights. The ambient sound level during the midnight shift is much less than during the other shifts. You could hear the cancer patients enduring their suffering from outside their muffled rooms. They screamed for days. I decided a lifetime happily smoking was not worth more than twenty minutes of that pain. We all appreciated their deaths.
I just stopped smoking.
I feel better now. I'll just kick my soap box back over to the corner.
Amigi'sLastStand
06-01-2006, 17:10
.... So why are so many still smoking?
Drinking beer isn't allowed in my state if I don't smoke?
Heavy breathing is such a turn on?
In case I climb Everest, I want to already have own oxygen bottles?
I just love the way mouth tastes when I wake up in the morning?
It helps the farmers?
It helps corporate America?
I want to help with global warming?
I want to smell like the Marlboro Man?
I'm hooked and need help!!!
All are correct, yep, especially #s 1 and 3.... except the last one. I can quit whenever I want. It's easy. Done it a thousand times.
Whoa!!! My apologies Mingo, soapbox so noted. Should of known that list of reasons would P*** somebody off. Thought it was cute at the time and might have been useful. Nothing cute about cigarettes I guess, in the woods or at home. Can't edit, and I'm not sure I would anyway, so if you can, ignore all that stuff about oxygen bottles and Everest.
BTW, some of the best people I know smoke; family, friends and a world class AT hiker or two.
I don't think we've met, but if you smoke, that wouldn't make me think more or less of you. But I believe, as do most smokers and non-smokers believe, you would be better off not smoking. Smoke 'em if you got 'em...and Good Luck!
Nightwalker
06-01-2006, 18:06
I quit smoking 4.5 years ago, and immediately gained a ton. I exchanged one health problem for another!
:)
Whoa!!! My apologies Mingo, soapbox so noted. Should of known that list of reasons would P*** somebody off.
not pissed off. just think it's a little pointless to preach at people about the evils of smoking. of course, smoking is stupid. personally, i only smoke when i hike.
littlelaurel59
06-01-2006, 22:39
At $2.75 a pack, smoking a pack a day adds up to $1003.75 a year. That would buy a lot of great gear. :-?
DawnTreader
06-01-2006, 23:36
2.75???
that is crazy cheap..
5.51 in Michigan
betic4lyf
06-02-2006, 01:37
Tobacco is Wacco
I quit smoking in October of 2000. Used the patch and it worked fantastically. Never even thought about a cig all day. After a week and a half, I forgot to put a patch on one day and still didn't think about a cig at all. Haven't smoked since and haven't had the craving to either. Everytime I see those poor schmucks huddled outside their work offices in the cold, smoking, I thank God I don't do that anymore.
IMO anyone who disses somebody who advocates quitting smoking is in extreme denial. It's got to be the filthiest, nastiest, most unappealing habit out there.
Oh, and if you do smoke, Research has just been revealed that shows that smoking pot does not lead to lung cancer, and that the thc in pot actually attacks foreign (cancer) cells. If you smoke cigs and pot simultaneously, the thc in pot helps counter the cancer causing agents in nicotine. Just an FWI.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0002491F-755F-1473-B55F83414B7F0000
Here's an article from scientific america.com
Not advocating pot use, just passing on info for those that indulge.
Two Speed
06-02-2006, 10:48
. . . that smoking pot does not lead to lung cancer, and that the thc in pot actually attacks foreign (cancer) cells. If you smoke cigs and pot simultaneously, the thc in pot helps counter the cancer causing agents in nicotine. Just an FWI.First, congrats on quitting.
However, just because pot doesn't cause cancer doesn't mean it's going to be good for your lungs. Emphasema (SP?) and loss of lung capacity is still an issue.
Still prefer the odor of reefer to tobacco any day, though.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
06-02-2006, 11:12
lilregmg - thanks for the post re: new use for cannibus. Here's an abstract of the study. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14570037&dopt=Abstract)
I quit smoking from 1979 - 1988. I quit (hopefully) for good in 1992. If I ever had any doubts about the decision, they were ended by watching my husband's uncle drown in his own secretion. After quitting, my overall health improved as did my endurance.
As others note, you can buy a lot of cool gear with the money saved.
Need incentive - Perhaps some of you could try quitting and putting the money you save in a jar. At $3 per pack -
A Feathered Friends nylon 3 season bag is only 115 packs away
A JRB No Sniveller or Nest is only 80 packs away
An MSR Titanium cookset is only 30 packs away
A Tarptent Rainbow is only 72 packs away
TN_Hiker
06-02-2006, 12:02
I quit smoking cold turkey on March 18th of this year. I have noticed increased lung capacity, increased sense of smell and taste. I have also noticed that my pants are getting snug----I must be retaining water or something..lol For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......
the goat
06-02-2006, 12:16
[quote=TN_Hiker]For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? [quote]
yes and no. i used to smoke between 1 and 2 packs/ day for 12 years. i quit 1 1/2 years ago, but i still gotta have a drag or two when i'm getting drunk. probably works out to a half dozens cigs/ year. i can deal with that.
Alligator
06-02-2006, 12:27
I quit smoking cold turkey on March 18th of this year. I have noticed increased lung capacity, increased sense of smell and taste. I have also noticed that my pants are getting snug----I must be retaining water or something..lol For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......I only smoke when I'm hiking and occasionally if I'm drinking and others are smoking around me (resistance breaks down). A rate would be like 1-2 cigs/wk. This is a compromise that works really well for me, going on over 10 years since being a regular smoker. I don't think it would work for 99% of regular smokers BTW. Being in the vicinity of cigarette smoke sets off some of my receptors, but it is totally manageable.
stoikurt
06-02-2006, 12:46
I used to be a heavy tobacco chewer and snuff dipper. In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer (Hodgkin's Disease). Though not necessarily related to tobacco it was enough of a wake-up call to me. I put it down that day and haven't had any since. I'm now cancer free for 5 years.
:sun :banana
I quit smoking cold turkey on March 18th of this year. I have noticed increased lung capacity, increased sense of smell and taste. I have also noticed that my pants are getting snug----I must be retaining water or something..lol For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......
I surprisingly have never had to fight off the urge for a cigarette since the day I put on the patch. It really does amaze me. There have been a couple of times in the past 6 years where I'd be driving, and I'd reach over to the passenger seat to grab my cigs. The first time this happened was about 3 yrs after I quit. I thought 'what on earth am I doing?' and just laughed at myself.
Nightwalker
06-02-2006, 15:43
For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good?
Not for me. It comes and goes, but I remember enough to ignore it.
I smoked weed for awhile for my headaches, but it has its own issues. Now I'm just an overeater.
As to that: I might can lose weight, but I can't self-heal cancer!
Mother's Finest
06-02-2006, 16:29
SMOKE TO GET HIGH, NOT TO DIE.....
peace
MF
Walkingdude
06-02-2006, 17:23
Stay on that soapbox. I've never smoked and never will. However, I sometimes have to work around people who smoke. The smoke and stench of it make me sick.
....For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......
I quit 35 years ago after a friend was diagnosed with throat cancer and kept on smoking. I wanted to see if it was possible.
The urge to smoke lasted for three years and then disappeared. I can't stand the smell of tobacco now.
The dumbest thing I've ever done was to addict myself to a product sold by companies willing to lie, and deliberately kill people for profits. I broke the addiction by reminding myself each time the urge came on of who would benefit from any sign of weakness.
Weary
Ramble~On
06-03-2006, 05:24
I don't smoke.
I was once a complete cigarette smoking fiend...I was a heavy smoker, did it for years. There was always a little voice in the back of my head saying "this is bad for you" "you should quit" I went for years telling myself "I'm gonna quit" Weeks, months and years went by...I kept smoking.
Finally, the constant hacking and coughing along with the realization that cigarettes controlled me led me to try to quit.
When you "try" to quit you've already set the stage for your next cigarette it's only a matter of time and bingo...you're smoking again...
So...I didn't "try" to quit the next time...I quit.
So any smokers out there that are thinking about doing it...more power to you.... If I would have realized how great it is being able to breathe, smell and taste I would have quit long ago.
I have a great feeling of victory.
What still amazes me is that when I was a smoker the smell of cigarettes didn't seem strong to me and I didn't mind being in a room or around other people smoking. As my sense of smell returned to that of a "normal" non smoker I came to realize how absolutely right all those non smokers were that I offended with my noxious fumes. I also came to realize that even hours after I had smoked a cigarette and I was walking around anybody near me could smell the smoke on me and ........it stinks, I smelled horrible !
There is no question and no doubt in my mind that I would never smoke another cigarette. WHY SMOKE ? I feel so much better, I have energy I didn't used to have, I am able to smell things that as a smoker I couldn't smell or was unable to appreciate, I can taste food. My clothes, house, car, truck and all the stuff around me doesn't reek of smoke.....
This thread rocks...I'm happy its here and it's hike related to me as I now am able to smell the woods and appreciate the smells of the seasons, taste the food, and can hike uphill without gasping for air....I enjoy everything more as a non smoker...
I quit smokin' 29 years ago and it still looks attractive to me on occasion. I sometimes weaken and give in but only have a puff or two then it all comes back to why I quit.
Lone Wolf
06-03-2006, 11:57
I never smoked in my life. Smart enuf to know how very stupid it is. No sympathy for smokers.
For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......
It took about 3 or 4 years before it totally went away for me. An odd thing though, I used to have this recurring dream that I'd accidentally smoked a cigarette and would have start all over again kicking the habbit (Only main-line smokers would understand this). Definitely a nightmare. That took a few years to shake.
First of all, "Thanks" for the dialog on this subject.
I believe the AT community and AT hikers are the best. At the risk of getting on that "soap box" I will say this; I enjoy hiking much better not smoking. I can breath better, I can taste better, I can smell better, everything is just better and I don't have to worry about keeping my smokes dry or running out or smashing them in my pack or having them handy or burning a hole in my sleeping bag or tent or jacket or anything else. I think everyone would enjoy it more not smoking. And, I think the long term health risks are just too big to ignore, despite what Phillip Morris says. I want to still be hiking when I'm 80 and with my older than me friends.
But, what the hey, if you smoke I'll still hike with you. On average, I'd rather have a smoking AT hiker as a friend as a non-smoking anybody else.
Remember what coach said, "No smoking and no girls!!!"
Well, he was right about the smoking anyway.
Amigi'sLastStand
06-03-2006, 17:22
Hike your own hike.
Blissful
06-03-2006, 21:58
I never smoked in my life. Smart enuf to know how very stupid it is. No sympathy for smokers.
What's the difference between that and drinking? ha ha :D
Only say that as I've had relatives with liver disease from drinking too much. And I used to drink like a fish many years ago, 'til I found out how stupid it made me. Couldn't think.
corentin
06-04-2006, 00:10
The difference is that drinkers die an even more horrible death. You can pain medicate a lung cancer patient to tolerable pain levels. Alcoholics are basically completely screwed. I freaking hate trying to do pain control on an ETOH 'er. Easier just to do some high velocity lead therapy for 'em.
TN Hiker,
You ask (Post #17), “(D)oes the urge (to resume smoking) ever go away for good?”
For about a year, I CRAVED to resume smoking. The next two years, I envied the satisfaction I knew smokers were receiving, but knew I’d be unpardonably stupid to resume. After that, I’m glad I quit smoking, and have alternating feelings of pity and contempt for people who smoke; there have been too many converging studies indicating the serious health problems posed by smoking.
Corentin,
You advise (Post #32), “You can pain medicate a lung cancer patient to tolerable pain levels.”
New pain medication must have been developed.
At the time I quit smoking, only so much pain medication could be dosed. As long as you died before you went beyond the effectiveness of maximum medication, great! If you lived longer than that, you were on your own for all the pain beyond the maximum dosage level.
corentin
06-04-2006, 10:41
New pain medication must have been developed.
Hospices have taken things a long way . Morphine has no dose cap that I know of, methadone is an awesome pain management drug, there are a lot of complementary drugs. There is a lot more known about pain meds and the way they work. Where I worked the policy was pain control within 24 hours. Lung CA is not particularly more difficult to control pain for then most other cancers from what I saw. Somewhat trickier do to the fast/slow suffocation effect of not being able to breathe but still reasonably manageable for comfort.
domnokmis
06-04-2006, 10:57
For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? .Yes, but....
After quitting for five years and no longer having a urge to smoke, I light a friend's cigarette to test my smoke detector. Took a drag. Tasted awful. Bummed a cigarette the next day, tasted damn good. Bummed cigarettes for a couple days until co-workers complained, so I bought a pack. Tried to quit after that pack. Couldn't. Tried hard to quit. Was a hunded times harder to quit the second time. Quit with each pack I finished, I tried to stop but could never make it stick. Finally, after eight years, I managed to quit again. Don't know what the magic was that made that one time work out of thousands of attempts. I do know that I will never chance putting a cigarette in my mouth again.
I do not have an urge to smoke, and now have a heathy fear of the power of nicotine.
Yes, but....
After quitting for five years and no longer having a urge to smoke, I light a friend's cigarette to test my smoke detector. Took a drag. Tasted awful. Bummed a cigarette the next day, tasted damn good. Bummed cigarettes for a couple days until co-workers complained, so I bought a pack. Tried to quit after that pack. Couldn't. Tried hard to quit. Was a hunded times harder to quit the second time. Quit with each pack I finished, I tried to stop but could never make it stick. Finally, after eight years, I managed to quit again. Don't know what the magic was that made that one time work out of thousands of attempts. I do know that I will never chance putting a cigarette in my mouth again.
I do not have an urge to smoke, and now have a heathy fear of the power of nicotine.
Cigarettes carry a terrible, terrible drug. A few seem able to quit easily. Most go through years of turmoil, failure and horrible deaths. The puzzle is how anyone could go through life earning a living by promoting cigarette use and profiting from cigarette use, and lieing about the addictiveness of cigarettes, while deliberately increasing the addictive powers of their product.
What monstrous evils humans are capable of!
Weary
Lone Wolf
06-04-2006, 14:29
Why blame the tobacco companies? If you're dumb enough to buy something that you know is poison, then suffer and don't bitch.
Why blame the tobacco companies? If you're dumb enough to buy something that you know is poison, then suffer and don't bitch.
I don't know wolf, that doesn't go far enough for me. I can't help but blame the tobacco companies. They know what they're peddling is highly addictive, will seriously affect quality of life and will most likely over a long period of time kill you one way or another. But not before you spend a boat load of money with them. Everyone's done something dumb at one time or another, tobbacco companies count on it and encourage it.
Amazingly the Courts have mandated that they put up those crappy little ads on TV telling everyone to call for all the dangers of smoking. The government and the tobacco industry just want you to know what you're getting into, or "might" be getting into before you decide to try this product. Yea, right. What a load of Bull*****!!! Ain't nobody under 35 going to call that number. Ain't nobody over 35 going to start smoking. They lock up crack dealers, what's the difference.
corentin
06-05-2006, 10:03
Sure, shut down the tobacco industry..then hit the alcohol industry because they help Americans do even more damage then cigarettes...then hit fast food industry because we obviously can't handle that. make sure our cars can't go to fast because that kills/maims thousands yearly....how far you want to go in making other people responsible for your stupid choices? is there seriously anyone in the free world over the age of 8 who doesn't know how bad smoking is for your body? I don't like what the tobacco industry does or the marketing the booze industry does but I sure as heck don't want anybody telling me I can't do what I please with my own body.
....I sure as heck don't want anybody telling me I can't do what I please with my own body.
I'll go along with that -- providing that when you get sick from doing what you please you don't ask for my taxes to cure you or to make your last days of agony less painful.
corentin
06-05-2006, 10:21
I'll go along with that -- providing that when you get sick from doing what you please you don't ask for my taxes to cure you or to make your last days of agony less painful.
Yah, last time I told someone that though they told me I lacked compassion. Seems most people feel they have the right to be stupid and that others should pay for it.
Ten years ago next month, I was struggling with a too-heavy pack up the AT toward Humpback Mt. in Central VA (former route). It was 98 degrees, probably 100% humidity. When I came to I was on the ground bleeding. Don't know if I'd been down 30 seconds, five minutes, or half an hour. Scared the shiyat out of me.
I so wanted to hike the AT, over a period of years, and that day the light bulb went on. Bottom line: I could hike the AT, or I could smoke. Not both. Every other attempt to quit my three-pack-a-day habit had failed--including all the assistances like gum, hypnosis, patches, and I even took the Red Cross stop-smoking course. None worked for me. In addition to being in not the greatest physical shape, I knew all the years of heavy smoking was a barrier to hiking the AT.
That day I hobbled back down to the parking lot, threw away my cigarettes, and drove home. Locked myself in my room, didn't answer the door or go out for four days. Didn't even bother showering or getting dressed. At the end of four days, the worst of the agony was over--I had kicked the most severe cravings cold turkey. It wasn't easy.
For about two more months I still wanted to smoke, for sure, but the nagging craving had passed. It was replaced with another nagging craving--to hike all of the AT. The latter craving won.
Over the years I've seen lots of long distance hikers who smoke cigarettes and other substances. Some took up or renewed the habit on the Trail. I just don't get it, or understand how they do it. Guess it's part of hiking your own hike. I couldn't do it, and am sure I'm better off that the AT was the catalyst that helped me finally quit. Within a few months of quitting cigarettes my general health started to improve, and I was able to tackle the AT with renewed confidence.
I'm going to do Humpback (now a blue-blaze from the parking lot) as a kind of commemoration July 22.
...I sure as heck don't want anybody telling me I can't do what I please with my own body.
I agree with that, but I wouldn't greive much if the government put the tobacco companies out of business.
I think it's time Bush routed these evil doers out, "They hate Freedom. They're Freedom haters. Uhhhhhhhhhhh....I......We.......Ahhhhhhhhhh.....An d we're gonna do sumpin' 'bout that. We need to smoke 'em over there so we don't have to smoke 'em over here. Then we gonna do sumpin' 'bout all this lite beer stuff that's hapnin' in A-marry-ca. Not rite for our kids to be drinkin' this stuff...ain't that rite Condi?"
Anyway, I hope a few hikers get off these things because of this thread. Probably a long shot, but you never know. Like Domnokmis said, "Don't know what the magic was that made that one time work out of thousands of attempts." Maybe this will help.
For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good?
I quit about 35 years ago after smoking since age 12. I just all of a sudden said "I'm not going to smoke anymore" and I didn't. Never again. Not one. And I never did have any craving for a cigarette. Not once. Maybe I was just lucky. I didn't gain weight like some do. I didn't notice any great improvement in breathing or anything else, I was very active and in good physical condition at that age. Still am at this age.
Why blame the tobacco companies? If you're dumb enough to buy something that you know is poison, then suffer and don't bitch.
How true. If you get careless and wreck your car and get hurt do you blame the auto maker, or is the blame on your own dumb-ass driving?
Um, does anyone wonder why trail angels don't offer cigarettes for the taking when doing trail magic at road crossings?
I agree with that, but I wouldn't greive much if the government put the tobacco companies out of business.
One thing to remember is that lots and lots of tobacco farmers are dependent on government subsidies (meaning, welfare). The feds have been propping up prices since the great depression. I suspect lots of these farmers are decent folks who run family operations, and I would favor them getting some help in switching to less lethal crops.
I love how the feds can sue tobacco companies for killing people with cigarettes, while simultaneously paying (with our $$$) those who grow the active ingredient.
Amigi'sLastStand
06-05-2006, 21:34
I'll go along with that -- providing that when you get sick from doing what you please you don't ask for my taxes to cure you or to make your last days of agony less painful.
Dont need em. I pay 3.25 in tax on each pack. Since I'm paying and you arent, please dont use any of the trauma centers that are open because of the cig tax. And you must pay full price for ambulance rides, not the reduced price they now charge because of the tax. It's only for us smokers. :cool:
Skidsteer
06-05-2006, 21:53
I'll go along with that -- providing that when you get sick from doing what you please you don't ask for my taxes to cure you or to make your last days of agony less painful.
Sounds like an equitable solution, Weary.
You don't have to pay for smokers' healthcare and I don't have to pay for abortions. Now all we gotta do is get the Feds to agree. :rolleyes:
the following from krewzer struck a chord with me.
"...An odd thing though, I used to have this recurring dream that I'd accidentally smoked a cigarette and would have start all over again kicking the habbit..."
the last time I quit, '94, I never really had an urge to go back, I'd done it so many times partway, that I realized that once smoke by the campfire was enough to put me back into the habit.
BUT
I still have an occassional dream that I'm awake, in bed, smoking, and going to sleep, and afraid I'll start the bed on fire. Ya know, it really ruins my night's sleep.
Dont need em. I pay 3.25 in tax on each pack. Since I'm paying and you arent, please dont use any of the trauma centers that are open because of the cig tax. And you must pay full price for ambulance rides, not the reduced price they now charge because of the tax. It's only for us smokers. :cool:
Nah. That's too complicated. It's better to think of taxes as taxes. The hell with where they came from. I like my formula better. K.I.S.S.
Weary
Here in Wa state, packs of smokes are over $5 now. We have most likely the highest taxes on smokes of anywhere in the US. We also have some oretty strict smoking laws-that we, the citizens passed (we can do citizen sponsored initiaves here). No smoking in bars, and anywhere public. Woo-hoo!!
I started smoking at 13 or so. I was never a heavy smoker till college, when I became a 2 pack a dayer. Sure I was rail thin, but I coughed oh, about 10 months of the year.
After college, I did slow down, to 1 pack a day. It didn't help that my friends all smoked.
Then one day when I was 23 I woke up in the morning. And the first thought in my mind was "I am pregnant". I sat in denial for a couple days. Then I went and had a pregnancy test done. As I walked out of the Dr's office I lit up a cigarette, and sat on the sidewalk. I smoked it, then I went and threw the pack away.
At 33, I have not smoked a single cigarette again. I was 5 weeks pregnant when I quit. I gave birth to my son about 5 weeks early, and he weighed just over 5 lbs. He had no eyebrows or eyelashes when he was born. My Dr remarked that had I kept smoking most likely my health issues would have been many times worse-and chances are my son would not have made it. He came early as my placenta was out of oxgyen. The smoking would have caused a stillborn.
Having a child showed me that smoking was one of the stupidest things people can do. It changed me so much that it changed who I had for friends. I had friends that demanded that I let them smoke in my car-with my preemie infant in the car! I think not!
I am a major soapboxer about smoking. #1, you stink. #2, your breath is nasty. #3, your house is nasty if you smoke inside. #4 if you smoke in a vehicle or house and you have kids with you , you are too immature to have kids. #5 if you are a female and you smoke, it is doubly cheezy. smoking only cheapens you, and ages you :(
TIDE-HSV
06-08-2006, 02:11
thing is a common occurrence with long-time smokers. I quit cigarettes when the Surgeon General's report came out in '64, but I smoked a pipe for ten more years. I was commuting on a bicycle and decided to quit the pipe to see if it would help my wind - it didn't, because I had tapered off to one pipeload or so per day. However, the nightly nightmares of having "blown it" and resumed smoking continued for about five years - and I hadn't had a cigarette in ten years when I quit the pipe. The dreams tapered off gradually over a period of about ten years, but, during the day, I hadn't the slightest urge to smoke. For the record, Krewzer and I are friends...
Welcome to White Blaze my old Friend............also for the record, TIDE-HSV and I did the Stecoahs together many years ago. I was smoking, he wasn't. He sang, cracked jokes and chatted up every mountain from the Nantahala to Fontana Dam (yes, even up Cheoah Bald and out of Stecoah Gap), I huffed, puffed and wheezzed most of the way. Glad to be off the those things. It didn't improve my singing, but the chit-chat got a whole lot better.
TIDE-HSV
06-08-2006, 10:10
I couldn't even get him to join me in the hundred-yard detour to the Gap overlook... :)
blindeye
06-08-2006, 21:49
i woke up one morning 5 years ago and just stopped smoking. i was 45 when i quit and i smoked for 30 years. the last 5 years or so i smoked i was up to 3 packs a day!!! yikes. never went back and it is the best thing i ever did. also i live in massachusetts a pack is up to $5.50 ON AVERAGE GLAD I QUIT FOR THAT REASON ALONE
TIDE-HSV
06-08-2006, 22:27
when I quit the cigarettes, I was living in NYC in Greenwich Village and attending NYU (1964). The Surgeon General's report had come out a couple of days before and I woke up one AM knowing I had quit - no conscious decision to do so. I fooled around with cigars and found out that it didn't work with a wife and a one-year old, cooped up in a two room apt on the 16th floor. I smoked a pipe for another ten years, as I posted above...
irritable_badger
06-09-2006, 14:23
Three packs a day and average 17 MPD (when not zeroed). I can't see that smoking really impacts my hiking as hiking really isn't really a breathing intensive activity (compared to running or biking). The only complaint I have about smoking on the trail is having to get into town all the time to get more. I'm hiking with a carton but they seem to go really fast, especially considering 60% of the people who see you sitting down smoking will ask you for one.
I can take em or leave em. They're fun around a campfire or with booze (or what have you) on special occasions. Making it illegal is stupid. BTW...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html
Three packs a day and average 17 MPD (when not zeroed). I can't see that smoking really impacts my hiking....
Wow! 3 packs a day?
Or, appx 16 hours of being awake to smoke/ 3 packs a day=about a pack every 5.333 hours.
or...
960 minutes (appx.) of awake time/ 60 cigarettes a day= about 1 cigarette every 16 minutes.
Is that about right?
Man! If you didn't have to stop and light up, there's no telling how far you could go in a day.
About the bums, I suggest the "tough love" thing. At $3.50 a pack, you've got an appx. $3800 a year habit without any help from your friends. Tell 'em to get a job...or give it up if they can't afford them.
this reminds me of an article i read recently by mark twain...he was defending his privilage to smoke by saying that in all, smokers or not, we all live to be about the same age.
smoking in moderation is probably not neccessarily bad for you at all, just about everything you intake is only good for you in moderation (even too much water can ruin your kidneys).
whoever said 3 packs a day and 17 miles didn't do maine or new hampshire at that rate, :D .
....About the bums, I suggest the "tough love" thing. At $3.50 a pack, you've got an appx. $3800 a year habit without any help from your friends. Tell 'em to get a job...or give it up if they can't afford them.
I never plan on smoking...it just happens when I'm around other people doing it. I just try to provide whatever I can in return...things usually work out equitably....
.....smoking in moderation is probably not neccessarily bad for you at all, just about everything you intake is only good for you in moderation ....
Based on the sum of the medical and scientific evidence over the decades, that probably ranks among the most nonsensical statements ever made on White Blaze.
Based on the sum of the medical and scientific evidence over the decades, that probably ranks among the most nonsensical statements ever made on White Blaze.
weary, is milk good for you?
stoned bear
06-10-2006, 20:28
well they say 3rd times a charm, I woke up on a sunday morning looked at my pack of smokes and threw them in the trash. Cold turkey was the cheepest and easyest that I quite. first time was the patch 2nd was a little blue pill called Zyban and well 3rd times a charm
If you don't buy them, you can't smoke them. Worked for me. Plus, every time I thought about a cig I'd drink a bottle of water. After three days, I never thought about them again and I was well hydrated.
Shadow Walking
06-16-2006, 12:15
I quit smoking cold turkey on March 18th of this year. I have noticed increased lung capacity, increased sense of smell and taste. I have also noticed that my pants are getting snug----I must be retaining water or something..lol For you ex-smokers does the urge ever go away for good? The urges are fewer and shorter, but refusing to slip this time. According to the tobacco executives smoking is not addictive---so glad it isn't or I would be serious trouble......
I quit 3 years ago and I still have a STRONG urge to smoke at least once a month. I don't drink or am around anyone who smokes, but it is still there. The only reason I don't start again is for my daughter and wife. Just reading these posts makes me want one again, just one drag mind ya. :D
I admire all of you that smoke!!!!
You all have "True Grit" to face head-on the fact that smoking causes lung cancer.
"The DUKE" John Wayne died of lung cancer. He smoked heavily!!!!!
John Wayne had "True Grit"
Zelph :banana
dreamhiker
06-16-2006, 15:55
I have made many atempts to stop smoking I am working on quiting again soon. It seems the more I hike the more I want to quite. When I am hiking I have no desire to smoke and just about forget that I do smoke and then monday rolls around and back to work and back to smoking most of the time its the only way that most of the #@$@ that I must deal with daily are able to survive the day.
DreamHiker
Time To Fly 97
06-16-2006, 17:09
Smoking is beneficial because it increases lung capacity if used conservatively. 8 )
TTF
Smoking is beneficial because it increases lung capacity if used conservatively. 8 )
TTF
Yeah, it's how I condition myself for high elevation...
Alligator
06-16-2006, 18:19
Yeah, it's how I condition myself for high elevation...That was good.
Are you sure? Where is your information?
Alligator
06-16-2006, 21:39
Are you sure? Where is your information?What, that Bfitz is a stoner? It's a little hard to miss.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=33655&highlight=smoke#post33655
Be careful following the white blazes.
Pry open my third eye! It's bloodshot!