My girl, Charlotte, says hi. (Actually, now that I look at this picture, she looks like she is pissed that she is getting her picture taken.)
And this is a picture of our next door neighbor, Sophie, a Golden. Charlotte is a people dog. She does not like other dogs. The only exceptions are this one and a neighbor’s Irish Setter.
I’m on day 10 of quitting smoking, and it sucks. But then, smoking sucks worse, so I will get through it. Went to a Christmas part last night where several people were smoking and managed! Wish me luck. I am sucking on Commit Lozenges like you wouldn’t believe. Fortunately for my wallet, my employer pays for them! I have an awesome employer. I am one of those few people who not only enjoys his job, but also the oppressive corporate overlords he works for!
UPDATE: DAMN!! A lot of you are ex-smokers. I didn’t realize I was in such good company!! Congrats to all of you!!
Svensker
You don’t need luck — you are not a smoker, so why would you smoke?
Seriously, that was the only attitude that worked for me and continued to work.
Repeat after me: I am not a smoker.
Keep it up. It is absolutely rewarding to quit — you won’t smell bad, your teeth will stay whiter, you won’t have to huddle in doorways to grab a smoke while your friends are having a great discussion inside, your wallet will be so much heavier, and you won’t be giving yourself diseases every time you inhale. And it’s so nice not to be controlled by that monkey on your back (a friend who was a heroin addict said that quitting smoking for her was harder than getting off junk).
Not being a smoker is a wonderful thing.
Rick
Congratulations. I smoked for 19 years and loved it; but smoking gave me an annual case of bronchitis or pneumonia, chronic migraine-grade headaches, and killed my dad (lung cancer.) I was (am?) a nicotine junkie, I LOVED the effects, especially with coffee. It was very, very hard to quit! It took 3 years altogether; I quit, started again, quit, started AGAIN, and then finally quit for good. I understand that this is a fairly common pattern, so if you by any chance do go back, you haven’t failed: TRY AGAIN. I haven’t had a smoke in 28 years and it’s one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
Dan Cohen
An excellent bumper sticker I saw recently:
"Proudly serving my corporate masters"
Michael D.
I AM A NON-SMOKER.
And I have an awesome dog.
Michael D.
@Svensker:
Do you know how much sense that makes?? It really does. I have not been a smoker for 10+ days (depending on when you are reading this)
It’s tough as shot though.
harlana pepper
Good luck, to you, Michael D! You have support, that is the most important thing. You will do fine.
harlana pepper
Btw, I know it’s not the quitting smoking thing, but you have obviously done something profoundly disappointing to Charlotte. Look at that mug! Go find out what it is and fix it now please!
Iowa housewife
I used to smoke and loved it. I quit one time and am so happy. I drank wine every time I really wanted to smoke. It was a lot of fun. Also remember each craving only lasts for 3 minutes, you can last that long. And don’t forget the wine..
Quitting was the hardest thing I have ever done.
Bill H
The new neighbor behind me moved in and, through the trees, I saw two dogs. Oh oh, barking issues. Then they came to the fence and I relaxed. Two goldens. No barking problems; maybe some licking problems. Goldens love everybody, including burglars.
I climb a flight of stairs with a pause in the middle to catch my breath because I’m functioning with more than 40% of both lungs as dead air space, due to emphysema caused by not stopping smoking soon enough. I also have had two heart procedures as a result of the strain put on my heart by the emphysema, and I still have occassional arrythmia.
I have not had bronchitis in years, though, nor pneumonia. I never have prolonged coughing jags. I don’t smell like a stale, dead campfire. My mouth doesn’t tase like a camel took a shit in it.
And if I hadn’t quit smoking in 1982 I would have been dead for at least ten years now, instead of making plans for twenty more. So, you go for it Michael.
AhabTRuler
I quit last year after 15 years, and I haven’t looked back.
I am a non-smoker and I love it.
Brett
Iowa housewife has it right – the craving doesn’t last. Eventually you get your sense of taste back, and then cigarettes aren’t appealing any more, and you wonder why you started in the first place.
I don’t know what your financial situation is, but every time I thought of smoking again, I also imagined rolling up a dollar bill and burning it. Not so attractive on my salary.
Kilkee
Hey, I’m with you almost to the hour. I’m on Day 10 using Chantrix, which I find remarkably effective, and without any side effects. Only a very occasional craving, and not bone-shaking at all. HAVE to make this work, since I’ve been at the smoking thing, with minor interruptions, for about 30 years, so the odds of getting away with it much longer aren’t very good.
Mason
Michael,
I don’t want to be the one to rain on your parade… but you’re just prolonging the agony by taking those damn lozenges. In the end, you’re gonna have to quit those too and it is a much harder task than simply modifying your nicotine delivery method.
I wish you well. I quit smoking five years ago and I’ll *never* go back.
Eunoia
WOOF
AhabTRuler
@Kilkee: Chantix made me narcoleptic and caused me to have the most vivid and, sometimes, disturbing dreams. I use it for six – seven weeks and then stopped. Once I got past the window of physical craving, I was free and clear.
Since then, the only time I have really wanted a cigarette was the night of the election, waiting for the first returns.
dbrown
You guys and gals that have quit smoking show will power few ever have. Great work! Enjoy all the extra years of better life and extra money who have saved!
If you are a smoker and haven’t quit realize that it is the most difficult drug addiction known and don’t give up trying, even if just for a day.
Sean
3 1/2 years smoke free, and pretty damned pleased about it. Good luck – you will be soooo happy you did it.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
I’m just starting a new quit today – I did once before for a few months but went back on the goddamn cigs. Well done for 10+ days (and of course to all you commenters who kicked it completely).
South of I-10
@Kilkee: I am going to quit (again). I quit for 3 or 4 years and then started again. I am pathetic, hiding from the 4 year old because I don’t want her to know. I was looking at Chantix, but the listed side effects scare the hell out of me. What gets me is the weight gain. I am still carrying around the 10 lbs. I can no longer blame on the child, and if I start gaining, that will be my downfall. I know I felt better when I was not smoking.
Tim Fuller
It’s actually easier to quit heroin in the long term according to research I read long ago (and I believe it until shown otherwise).
If marijuana were more prevalent (and cost effective) I would definitely substitute it for the cigarettes, but that’s not (yet) socially acceptable. Marijuana was a gateway drug for me to cigarettes. I don’t want to harsh your mellow John, but I have stopped smoking for a couple years, and then returned. I never used the patches, etc. You either free yourself of the dependence on nicotine or you pay the pharmacy (many are uninsured) what you would have paid the tobacco store. You will lessen whatever damage the smoking part contributes by using patches, gum etc.
I’d like to live forever, and if quitting smoking and running marathons were able to make it so, then I’d jump on board.
Having just turned 51 in November, I am acutely aware of the frailty of life. When scanning the names of the dead in my 30 year high school reunion yearbook (Class of ’76), or just glancing over the obits in the newspaper. Plenty of people I have personally known, who are my age or younger, are no longer with us. My own mother died of an aortic aneurysm at the age of 37, just weeks after watching me graduate in the aforementioned year.
Such an "up front and personal" early brush with mortality, right at the dawn of my early adulthood, totally changed my outlook on life. It’s easy to identify how religions get their minions. Fear of death is a powerful recruiting tool when you’re promising ethereal inoculations. I’m not sure where my immunity from such tripe resulted, but I suspect the math and science focused education my mother forced upon me may be in play.
Good luck on your attempts.
Enjoy.
Sittin’ on the fence that’s a dangerous course
You might even catch a bullet from the peace keepin’ force.
Dire Straits
Cassidy the Racist White Man
I roll my own so I only pay $26 a month for smokes. I love tobbaco. I love the taste, the feel, the everything about it. Whether I’m smoking a cigar, my pipe, or a rolled American Spirit square, I’m enjoying one of my favorite hobbies.
tavella
Except that the lozenges won’t be killing his lungs. So better to wrestle with the transition from nicotine > no nicotine in a way where cutting down doesn’t involve smoking at all.
Gray Lensman
I never smoked cigarettes but I did smoke a pipe for about 20 years, starting in college. I quit 30 years ago when I finally realized that everything in my life smelled like stale tobacco smoke, most importantly my wife’s hair, the new puppy and my car. I threw away a collection of expensive pipes, tobacco, humidors, lighters and pipe stands that night and I have never smoked since. Shame overcame my stupidity.
john b
that first dog looks like a floating head in that pic.
Krista
I quit about 6 years ago after a 10-year pack-a-day addiction. My husband’s grandmother (a long-time, heavy smoker) was dying, and we were all in the hospital with her. She was riddled with cancer by the end of it, and I couldn’t figure out which was worse: watching her die, or watching her husband and children having to watch her die. Right then and there I looked at my husband and realized that I never wanted to put him through that. I used the patch to help with the physical cravings, but as far as the mental addiction, that was it. I had that "click", and that was the end of that. I’ve only had one since (I was in Holland and quite drunk and everybody around me was smoking, so I had one.)
Good for you, Mike. Keep it up. It gets easier and easier as time goes on.
jprice vincenz
Iowa Housewife has it right: "I used to smoke and loved it. I quit one time and am so happy. I drank wine every time I really wanted to smoke. It was a lot of fun. Also remember each craving only lasts for 3 minutes, you can last that long. And don’t forget the wine."
Remember that you are kicking a chemical addiction, and don’t buy into the "clean life" some might advocate. This isn’t about moving west and joining a commune. You need an in-home, intervention-less, budget, and pain-free rehab. You’re trying to kick one crazy addiction, which, as mentioned earlier, if confined to home-rolled and infrequent organic tobacco would be far more "healthy," so to speak, than the shit that’s in commercial cigarettes. The "smoking" literally is what will kill you; the nicotine addiction and the tobacco themselves aren’t, again–alone and onto themselves–the worst kinds of addictions, health-wise, risk-wise.
Your only goal is kicking the chemical addiction to machine rolled commercial cigarettes. My method (and who cares if it’s socially acceptable since this is in-home and with supporting family/friends) is to stack Xanax (2-4 .25 MGs a day) on much smoked THC and avoid alcohol since so many smokers already supplement their nicotine addiction with the habit/addiction of alcohol. With my method, you’ve got some smoking so the manual fixation is fed. You’ve got a new, enjoyable buzz, and you’ll be surprised how you can essentially quit smoking over an XMas break or long weekend, and you’re feeling good about yourself and life in general.
If this is not enough wattage to successfully quit, I’d say substitute a mild dosage of Netherlands-version 1MG Rohypnol (i.e., roofies) if you’re a real nicotine addict–college campuses are the best places to easily score this; however, watch your intoxication-level: Ecstasy is overwhelming and you will only temporarily forget your nicotine addiction and pick it up as soon as the X wears off.
Add in Wellbutrin for a month beforehand if deep-burning physical nicotine addiction has always been more than you can endure. Quit Wellbutrin about six weeks after the worst cravings have departed your body.
You need to get over the hump, and then it’s all downhill (especially if you don’t watch your other addictions).
Price
JMN
I smoked for 33 years, it scares me just to say that. I never tried to quit until 7 months ago tomorrow. I used Chantix for 1 month, it worked but I had weird muscle twitches for months. I started taking large doses of a balanced B vitamin supplement but not sure if that is what stopped the twitching.
The hardest thing I ever did in my life. I think whatever you initially substitute will be what you crave later. In my case I chewed on tooth picks because I didn’t want to gain weight. Now when I want a cigarette, I pop in a tooth pick and I am better. For my public cravings I chew gum.
Cain
I find it interesting that the people I see smoke the most are women not men. I have rarely met men who smoke these days. Now it might be because I’m living in sunny oregon but I don’t recall seeing it in Indiana either.
It mostly seems to be young teen girls. But guys seems to not be that much into smoking. It’s probably because we’re no longer required to be macho and have to act like the Malboro Man. Female liberation has been liberating for us (me). :-)
cain
Cain
BTW Obama has fallen off the wagon for smoking during the campaign but is assuring us that he’s quit for good. Good for him.
link here.
cain
Church Lady
Michael, I wish you much success in your endeavor. I will be rooting for you.
I started smoking almost 35 years ago. I managed to quit once for two years, with the aid of accupuncture, but law school exams did me in, and I picked up the nasty habit once again. For the last ten years, I have made sporadic attempts to quit. My parents and my children constantly beg me to. My husband, unfortunately, also smokes, and shows absolutely no desire to quit. When someone else in the house is smoking, it definitely makes it more difficult.
I have tried just about every quit smoking aid available, but have problems with every single one. The Patch? Unfortunately, I’m alergic to adhesives. Nicotine gum? It makes me sick to my stomach. Chantix? I was exhausted 24 hours a day and the nausea was worse than morning sickness when pregnant. Even my father, never having smoked anything in his entire life, developing lung cancer did not do the trick. I wish there was some type of rehab one could go to, a la alcoholism.
I will set another quit date (probably January 1) and try, try again. Hopefully, the next time will be the one that sticks.
everywhere
I quit 32 years ago. I went to a hypnotist. Best thing I ever did for myself. Good luck and keep at it.
Lesley
The process of quitting sucks but the rewards are so great you must persevere.
I quit at 26 and used the following ‘tricks’ to help me:
I kept a pack in my desk drawer at home. Every time I had a craving (usually at night), I’d tell myself to wait a half hour and if I still wanted one I could have one. Then I’d wait another half hour. This mind game helped tremendously. In the first three months after quitting I smoked two cigarettes – and each of these literally left a bad taste in my mouth, spurring me on. Once I was past three months I no longer needed the reassurance of the pack and threw it out.
Another trick is deep breathing. Smokers inhale deeply, so inhale deeply whenever you have a craving.
I stopped doing activities that were associated with smoking. I stopped drinking, going to bars, gave up coffee, and crosswords.
Use gum, sweets, and other chewies to help you. You may gain weight but don’t worry about that, you can always lose it, and a little weight gain is far less harmful than cigarettes.
Start an exercise program.
If all of the above fail, visit a cancer ward. Seriously. (My mother died from oral cancer caused by smoking and there is no torture worse on the face of this planet than that.)
Tim Fuller
I’m having trouble keeping the Xanax lit. What am I doing wrong?
Enjoy.
Lesley
P.S.
Whenever someone tells you they know of a 95 year old who has been smoking forever without any effects, this is a big fat fucking lie. Smokers do not have "quality of life." They cough up massive amounts of phlegm, their lungs are congested (they couldn’t run to catch a bus if their lives depended on it); their skin is pallid and they have more wrinkles; their blood lacks nutrients and oxygen. They are at the greatest risk of having gum disease. Their breath stinks, they stink, they look like hell.
Smokers are drug addicts and cigarette companies are nothing but sophisticated dishonest ruthless drug dealers.
Also remember that every cigarette contains 4000 carcinogenic chemicals. Maybe a hundred years ago, cigarettes were pure tobacco but that’s all changed.
Cassidy the Racist White Man
Might as well give up sex and breathing also.
Strangely enough, when I was in my young 20’s, I smoked 2 packs a day, dipped a can every two days, and ran my 2 mile in less than 12-13 minutes. Now, I smoke less than half a pack a day of straight tobacco and I’m lucky to get under 16 min. Maybe it’s just age.
Cigarette companies are a business that provide a product people want. In this day and age, you cannot convince me anyone was "duped" into smoking.
Laura W
Charlotte looks so wistful. Mournful? Disappointed in you?
My dog is totally anti-social as well. Even as a puppy, interacting with "those other dogs" has never appealed. She tolerates, at most, when necessary. She will play with cats and kittens and seems to far prefer them to her own species. Like, er…me?
My smoker’s cred: started at 13 (in the house! with my mom’s permission/indifference!) Finally had my last last one at 30, after several periods in between of not smoking. I HATED SMOKING. I was NOT a smoker and I knew it, but still I persisted in trying to be a good one. I hated the taste, the hot, the smell, the smoke, the stomach ache it always gave me, how much it made me sweat under my arms.
I am now one of those horribly insufferable ex-smokers. Thanks to my super-sharp sense of smell, I know if a distant neighbor has lit up outside if I have my windows open. I can smell it trapped in the hair, clothing and breath of anyone I get near. Makes me nauseous. I spend a lot of time recoiling here in NC, as you might guess. I grimace when I see people smoking, the whole look of it is that distasteful to me now.
My mom’s dad died of horrible emphysema…dragging his oxygen tank to the kitchen table to puff on his Camel non-filters. I spent my childhood listening to him spend half of his life hacking up phlegm in the bathroom. I couldn’t believe he never choked to death in there.
My dad died of inoperable lung cancer 4 months after diagnosis, after decades of smoking, although he finally gave them up for several years before dying.
I am shocked that my mom is still alive and apparently healthy at 70 as she started at 19 and only just really quit two years ago? I never thought she’d even try, or find it a worthy endeavor. Her face is badly wrinkled.
Go Michael, Go.
maxbaer (not the original)
I quit about 15 years ago. I used the patches which were prescription then and came in three levels of nicotine. You work your way down and taper off. They work well except that you absolutely should not smoke while using them because of the stroke risk. They do satisfy the physical craving.
I believe you need to find a psychological reason as well. I told myself that I wanted to live long enough to enjoy retirement, and then put my cigarette savings each month into a mutual fund. The fund did pretty shitty, but quitting the cigs was worth it.
Good luck to you, Michael.
DrDave
I quit smoking in 1986. For the first 6 months, I regularly had nightmares that I had a cigarette and would have to start quitting all over again. They eventually went away.
You run competitively. Imagine how much better that will be without having your lungs clogged up by all that nasty shit.
Best of luck to you. You CAN do it.
AhabTRuler
I am an indifferent ex-smoker. I don’t mind when my friends smoke, or smoking sections. However, now that I am one I will never again enter:
1. Any smoking car on any European train (if they still have them. Even Europe has been adopting anti-smoking policies)
2. The smoking room at Dulles Airport.
low-tech cyclist
I’ve never been a smoker, but I know from my friends’ struggles that quitting isn’t easy or fun. Good luck!
neil
Hang in there! It’s worth it.
I quit at age 35 (13 years ago) and I’m so glad I did. It took me six attempts – but I was pretty proud of myself for seeing it through.
You love to cook, right? After about six / eight weeks – food suddenly tastes better. Something to look forward to.
Good luck.
A.Political
I haven’t quit yet, I like it…good for you though, just don’t laud it over us smokers ;)
Delia
I’ve never smoked, so I can’t help in the empathy department, but I can wish you good luck.
Do it for Charlotte.
Jackie
Smoked for 20 years. Quit cold turkey and stayed quit for 15 years now. Here’s the weird thing. I smoke in my dreams, and it is so real that I wake up thinking, "Hey, I could smoke just a little bit, no problem." Some part of my brain is still trying to seduce me.
Comrade Nikolita
My parents both smoked when they were younger, but stopped once they started dating. My grandma smoked for 20 years and quit cold turkey, but she died 5 years ago at age 79 (after getting some sort of a heart bypass the previous year) and I’m willing to bet smoking for so long took away some of her lifespan.
I have never smoked and never plan to. I’ve seen enough pictures and seen enough effects of smoking to know it’s not for me.
But, I’m happy for you with your goal of quitting smoking. Congratulations and keep it up John! :) As others have said, you’ll enjoy life so much more once you’re past it.
Gus
I quit 6 years ago after smoking for about 17 years. Cold turkey’s the only way to go. I have no secrets for you, just will yourself not to smoke. It’s fucking hard for the first couple months, it would be easy to slip for the first couple years, but it’s so worth it.
Mako
Ahch. If you quit smoking you have to give up beer, and then, is life really worth living?
What do Commit Lozenges taste like? Are they as yummy as that nicorette gum? That stuff tastes like chewing a cigarette butt. And feet.
harlana pepper
I smoke to punish myself.
Screamin' Demon
Don’t kid yourself. The first three years are the hardest. It will take that long for the psychological addiction to fade away. After that, you’re home free. I smoked for 25 years, and quit nine years ago. I still occasionally smoke in my dreams. One dream was so vivid I woke up feeling miserable because I actually believed I really had started again.
That’s exactly what I thought too, and that’s why I used the Nicoderm patch.
tinat
I have my nicotine patches ready…and about 18 cigarettes left to finish, so sue me I’m frugal, I’ll be quitting sometime Thursday.
I quit once 15 years ago then started again a year ago when some overseas friends came to visit and we smoked and drank like we did when we were young…dumb move.
I have kept my smoking to no more then 6 a day, and some days much less so you’d think this would be easy but I’m unemployed now so it’s too damned easy to take a smoke break.
Anyone have ideas on what to substitute that’s cheap and won’t add extra pounds to my hips, LOL
good luck to ya’ll who’ve already stepped off the ledge ;)
Mac from Oregon
My doctor tells me I quit 4 years ago, I’ll take his word for it. 2 packs a day for 20 years. Stop counting how long its been since your last smoke, that does no good at all. All it does is make you realize how much you miss it. You don’t brag how long its been since you had sex ( I’m guessing) so don’t brag on time not spent doing this nasty thing.
I quit cold turkey with a delaying tactic. I told myself that I could smoke in five minutes, and then in five minutes, five more. Every smoker can wait five minutes for the next smoke, like flying and then getting outside of the airport, or at the grocery store, or church (if you do that sort of thing), or whatever the point is that five minutes is easy. You eventually kind of forget about the next five minutes and then the first five. You will never get over the craving, that is just something that is gonna be there forever, but it does get easier to resist the temptation to smoke.
I still find myself thinking at times that it would be nice to have a smoke, but then I shake myself and tell myself to wait five minutes…
tom
I quit cigarettes in 1966. I didn’t carry too much of a monkey as I just threw them away and had only a couple momentary barroom relapses. But I kept up with cigars and pipes for twenty more years and when I was in the bush and couldn’t smoke because of the fire hazzard I chewed Levi Garrett. Finally in 1986 I got tired of the bad taste everything had, the smoke smell that wafted around with me, and holes burnt in my clothes so I just threw all of that away. Cold turkey. Being smoke free for over twenty years I have become a much better cook because now food tastes GREAT! But, I’m on a perpetual weight kampf and dreading the day my cholesterol and sugar creep up on me. No problems after 63 years so far, though.
I did a good thing, right?
sbjules
I don’t even dream I’m smoking any more. It’s refreshing.
M & Ms helped me as did keeping very busy.
Kilkee
AhabTRuler/South of I-10. I do find that the Chantrix has made my dreams slightly more vivid and memorable, but I haven’t had any nightmares, per se. Prior to using I tended not to remember my dreams at all, so this is an interesting curiosity for me. As for I-10’s narcolepsy, I have something of the opposite: I find that I sleep very soundly for about 5 hours (compared to my pre-Chantrix 7 or so), then wake up and sleep fitfully for the next few hours. It’s not ideal but I can deal with it. No evidence so far of weight gain, but I think I could trade that for better lung capacity, if need be. Like Ahab, I’ve been hiding the smoking from most friends and family, no doubt without success. It’s a wierd sort of "don’t ask, don’t tell" arrangement that strikes me as maddeningly stupid.
My bigger (if irrational) worry is that (like Laura W’s story) I’ll quit the damn things then be diagnosed with cancer 6 months later. I know it sounds crazy but I’ve heard so many anecdotes of that sort I wonder if there’s something to it. Or did they quit because, at some level, they kne wthey were already sick?
tinybitpsychic
I tried acupuncture and hypnosis to quit. I live in a small apartment in NYC and when my tiny dog was diagnosed with heart disease I finally quit. I will forever think I caused his heart disease. Keep it up for Charlotte and everyone else in your life. If you slip up, try again. The first three weeks are the hardest. Happy New Year!!!