Smoking- start and stop
 My parents smoked heavily so luckily I hated it from day one. I never thought it was a good idea and never even tried it. My questions are; What made you start? And what made you quit? |
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| What made me start? I didn't start until I was 19 and at college. I just decided it would be fun to do, so I had my friend Victor teach me. He told me I would regret starting, but I didn't. I smoked an average of a pack a day for 30 years, and for the last 5, quit and started, quit and started. My final quit came about 3 years ago when I had heart palpations for 3 days. I thought I would die unless I quit smoking so I went to the cardiologist who said my palpations were due to stress. I told him I wanted to quit, so he prescribed Chantix. I quit for 2 years, started again for a few months, and quit again. I smoke here and there, but the last cig I smoked made me sick (and it was MY brand) so I think I'm officially quit. But I think about smoking every day. It's a decision I made, nobody forced me into it. So I hold no one accountable except myself. And I don't think that smokers are horrible people. Some of my best friends smoke. No doctor EVER ONCE told me to quit, or said I had any ill effects from smoking, until I saw the radiation oncologist last month. He said I have smokers' lungs. Basically my lungs have lost some of their elasticity and it takes a lot of air to fill my lungs. He said I won't die of the DCIS (broken boob) but will die of some lung ailment. He is the first physician who ever directly addressed my smoking and its consequences so directly. I consider myself a smoker who doesn't smoke. |
| That's very interesting theway you describe yourself as a "smoker who doesn't smoke"...I hope to be joining that list.. I started smoking believe it or not when I was about 28, going through a divorce. Hated smokers, hated smoke...was out with a friend fooling around with a cigarette in my hand faking I was smoking it and told her to light it. Puffed and coughed my brains out...Why did I continue to play that stupid game? because I thought I'd never smoke...But I did and within a month or two I was smoking a pack a day... In the process of quitting now. Started on Zyban. Used Chandix and was successful for a few months but stopped the drug and started smoking again...Why quit now? Because after watching my Mom, my best friend and now my cousing going through chemo, using oxygen and gasping for air, its time... |
Paula O. wrote: No doctor EVER ONCE told me to quit, or said I had any ill effects from smoking, until I saw the radiation oncologist last month. He said I have smokers' lungs. Basically my lungs have lost some of their elasticity and it takes a lot of air to fill my lungs. He said I won't die of the DCIS (broken boob) but will die of some lung ailment. He is the first physician who ever directly addressed my smoking and its consequences so directly. I consider myself a smoker who doesn't smoke. I do not know about other cities, but it seems a lot of health care professionals smoke here in Louisville including an oncologist I know. I can go to any hospital and watch the variouis medical people smoking out back at the picnic table. Little by little the medical campuses are becoming smoke-free, but we have many who still smoke. Just when it seems we have it licked, the youngsters begin smoking. Kentucky is home of the 3 vices: tobacco, gambling (race tracks), and liquor (bourbon) - actually there is nothing better than a mint julep! |
| As a former Louisvillian--the Kentucky vices have some longevity! I agree a good mint julep--nothing better! Especially when you are at the Kentucky Derby betting on the horses! |
| It's definitely true that many health professionals do not take very good care of themselves. I was amazed at the # of people in my husband's med school class who smoked. Just seemed against what they were learning. And I know my husband doesn't eat very well, which is also against medical advise. I don't understand today's kids smoking. Our neighbor has an 18 year old son and he had a party on Sat night and there was a bunch of smoking going on. It just seems so strange to me that in this day and age kids would start something like that. |
| I work in a hospital which has a no smoking policy so I've never seen anyone smoking. I have asked around though and several people say that doctors still smoke, which blows my mind. I also cannot believe when I see younger people (teens) smoking. But then again, I always denied that anything bad would happen to ME. Denial--just another thing I excel at.  |
| I am in an area where not only are the hospitals smoke free but there is no smoking is bars or any place food is served. it is so nice not to have to deal with smoke when we go out. it is still an issue when I travel to an area where smoking is still permitted in those areas. It has got to be tough trying to quit smoking and then be exposed to the situation when out. |
Paula O. wrote: I work in a hospital which has a no smoking policy so I've never seen anyone smoking. I have asked around though and several people say that doctors still smoke, which blows my mind. : Just so you know, doctors are people too. I smoke. Its an addiction. If you stay at it long enough it becomes not only an addiction but a habit. Both put together are very hard to break. I've quit twice, but the habit got me back. During the times that I was not smoking I dreamed about it. I know I will quit again someday. Someday when I don't panic about not being able to smoke again. When I won't dream about smoking. Probably when I'm dead.  |
| I quit 13 years ago. Yesterday morning I went to the bathroom, walked into the office, went to the side window to look out across my property and in my side vision the yellow school bus was going up the street and suddenly I had an urge for a cigarette. I sent a text message to my brother laughing about it. Caught me by surprise, came out of nowhere. I still get the urge to smoke once every 5 or 6 months or so. I have no desire to smoke at all. Thinking about actually smoking, the catch in my throat as I take a drag and inhale doesn't interest me at all. No desire. But just an "I want a cigarette" feeling. And it passes in well under a minute. My mom, who quit smoking while she was pregnant with me, told me that even after 30 years she still wanted to smoke. But the urges are very weak and very short lived. The first time I quit for real I was in my early 20s. I got past the withdrawal and was doing fine, still fighting the constant urges to smoke. Then I realized that "I could never have a cigarette again as long as I lived." Of course this immediately caused me to give up. A year or two later I had occasion to meet with a motivational salesman named Carl. I recounted that story to him and he said to me: "Ron," (because all motivational salespeople use your name a lot lest you forget it) "Ron, you were thinking about it all wrong. Instead of thinking you can never have another cigarette for as long as you live, you should be thinking that you never have to have another cigarette. They are no longer in control." The lightbulb went on for me. I said: "Carl, you're right! If I had thought of that then, I'd be a non smoker now." Some time later when I tried to quit again, sure enough at about six weeks while still fighting the good fight the same thoughts started to creep back into my mind. Remembering Carl's advice I simply smiled and changed my own thoughts. My mind is panicking! It is getting desperate! It knows that I NEVER HAVE TO HAVE another cigarette again, for as long as I live!! Woo hoo!!!!! It was 9 months before I went an entire day without thinking about having a cigarette. The next day when I realized that fact, I knew that I had done it. |
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