cigarettes??

Ok we all know smoking them is bad for us; just wondering what are your reasons for smoking/how long have you been, etc.
yeah a poll!
cheers

 

Hmmm...good question. Well, I started smoking at 12 and I guess my reasons were that all my friends were doing it and it was the "cool" thing to do. But then at about 14 I just stopped ( I was tired of being caught and grounded by my parents). Then I started again at 16 because this girl that used to drive me home from work smoked and I would just have the "social" ciggerette with her everyday which turned into buying a pack which turned into a pack a day by the time I was 18. And right now I am trying to stop...which is working in a weird way because I seem to be able to quit cold turkey for like a week at a time....then I just cant take it anymore and buy a pack which will last me a week since I smoke them sparingly.......then I quit for another week. This week I am going to try the patch and see how far that gets me.

 

Well, I am 32, been smoking steadily since I was 16. I did quit during both my pregnancies, but always found a way to justify starting again. I, too, am attempting to quit for good again. I tried Wellbutrin last year, I think it might have worked, but again, I justified, stress, smoking friends, eating, waking up...I have tons of "reasons" for smoking..I also tried the patch a few months ago, that just made me think about having a smoke more..I realize that it is my body tricking my mind into coming up with reasons to have a smoke. Lately, I have been looking at images on Google, that helps me decide not to have a smoke....but then...My mom and I are going to try together this time, this week. Any suggestions from ex-smokers would be greatly appreciated
still smokin' in PA...Jen

 

Is started smoking when I was 14, as a way to escape sadness... together with alcohol and some drugs, it was just another escape. It cought on...

I am now pretty much over it, only smoking 1-3 ciggs aday (better than the 2 packs a day I was smoking a year ago)... I am almost 18 right now, and probebly will be smoke free whenever I find the right girl. I cannot possibly, and could never quit for myself, when it comes to ciggs, I have to quit for someone else.

Yet now, do excuse me, I have a craving for a cigg

 

i've been smokin for a year and a half now, i started cuz of my dad, then it got worse cuz of my friends who all were smokin.... i used to hate smokin now it relaxes me soo much. after my boyfriend and i broke up i drowned my sorrows in drugs alcohol and ciggs LOL. its not as easy to quit as i used to think....but i still do it

 

yeah smoking is really relaxing to me as well. i find that i don't just light up thoughtlessly; i like to sit outside and smoke slowly; i like the ritual of smoking. because of this, i find i don't smoke very often, which i guess is good!


i used to be sooooo against smoking but now i can see why folks like to smoke...i figure i smoke so little, i probably breathe in more shite in my walks around town amongst all the CARS!

peace and love
christine

 

I have a four a day limit... But I've had to quit this month because I'm sick and I only have $8....it just isn't reasonalbe to spend $4 on a pack when Noah's father doesn't send shit for money and gas is almost $2 a gallon... so I just sit at home and hope a rich uncle dies or something...

 

ugh hell i'm sorry to hear about your $$$ situation. i hate that shit ($$$ that is!!!) yeah gas prices, holy cow. do you live in a place where its feasible to walk/bicycle/take public transport?

best of luck.........xscoutx

 

Not really...I guess I could, but my bike probably couldn't make it down the driveway without falling apart...and there are lots of crazy intersections and stuff around here. I'd also have to take the baby, which could be a disaster. It's easier to just give it up for a while. I wish I could walk to places....but the closest town is just far enough away that it's too much trouble. And it's so hilly here. OY.

 

maybe hearing what I did would help you...
I was a light-mod. smoker for 3yrs then a heavy-too heavy smoker for 5.
I was smoking 3 packs of unfiltered ciggarettes a day consistantly

anyway... I ended up with bronchitis(sp?) in 2002 and x-rays showed a troubling area of scar tissue from an apparent collapse.
doc gave me free wellbutrin and told me to take one a day for two weeks(while still smoking), then switch to two per day(abstaining as much as possible)... or I would have cancer soon.

I figured it wasn't worth the effort if I would start back again(like so many other times) so I did my level best to put it in my head that I would never again smoke.
like imagining the rest of my life never buying or touching them again type of idea so to steel me with resolve...

So the wellbutrin made the smoke taste like ass-hell-rot, I kept myself busy as much as possible(required lots of effort), and I smoked weed whenever I felt like: emergency crazy ahh ! (it didn't quite fill the space, but it definitly helped.) But then I started smoking weed all the time. Then I realized that ciggarettes were just like everything else, I was just trying to keep away this pervasive discomfort ( Not from anything in particular just all over and no reason for it kind of thing.) The longer I went, the less that feeling was there. The more time went by without it, the less agitated I would be at the thought of it. My friend (who was quitting at the same time) would admit smoking one, and I would think about how I could use that to smoke one myself, but then again I knew if I did, the pervasive discomfort would strengthen.

So I took it as an escape trip... I would trick myself into doing something I liked long enough to get to sleep at night. The longer I went the less the urge.
I had begun doing yoga and the breathing excersises made my lungs expel gunk and it felt good that it was out.
Anyway, I was also trying vegetarianism at the time and beginning yoga under an advanced solo practitioner...(so I guess big changes help)

I hope you can stick it out! You'll feel llike a brand-new person after!!
Plus the whole thing changed me because when you have to face yourself like that, you have to adjust your outlook so that you're not all like Aww I wish I had willpower. You must be a rock even when your feel less than solid. It's All In Your Head Babe!

Love & Unmatched Hope!!!
me.

P.S. anything short of a 180 is only turning your head. It's the jump that hurts, but ultimatly saves your ass from yourself!

 

im soon to be 20 and i started smoking when i was about 18 years old and really first started smoking a lot of pot. so i'd run low and then i'd have to smoke cigarettes just to adjust myself to feel right. then i just never really stopped. i've noticed what is the way that the rule "addicted" applies to myself and cigarettes: it is in reality that i always say im stopping, then i always say to myself "fuck it" and i just buy some another pack of camel lights (great cigarette co.) and repeat the process. i never really notice any craving feeling or whatever.

 

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"Take my advice. You'd be better of dead"​

 

Yeah, i really like camels too.

 

So I took it as an escape trip... I would trick myself into doing something I liked long enough to get to sleep at night. The longer I went the less the urge.
I had begun doing yoga and the breathing excersises made my lungs expel gunk and it felt good that it was out.
Anyway, I was also trying vegetarianism at the time and beginning yoga under an advanced solo practitioner...(so I guess big changes help)

P.S. anything short of a 180 is only turning your head. It's the jump that hurts, but ultimatly saves your ass from yourself![/QUOTE]

thanks for the story, I have done/am doing much of what you say,,,,and the rest I have considered..ie:changing my diet, other habits...
Some days, I stay in places where I cant smoke, that helps, and I have quit smoking in my truck at all, I keep candy in my ashtray...bad teeth are better than bad lungs...
I am bookmarking this reply to remind myself...thank you for your words of wisdom...
namaste,
Jeni

 

I started smoking at 14 and smoked for about 15 yrs (heavily-2&1/2pks/day). It was a bitch to quit, no kidding! People laughed at me all the time because I'd say I was quitting all the time, then I'd start again. But I did quit and I haven't had a cig for 11yrs. I tried the patch a bunch of times and I'd quit for awhile, but it never lasted. When I finally did it, it was cold turkey. It sucks for about 2 wks, then it gets easier. Sugerless gum and hard candy help alot. Oh, I also had to quit coffee when I quit cigs-couldn't do one without the other. That made it harder in the beginning, but easier in the long run. I switched to green tea instead. Anyway, I gained alot of weight. You have to watch that cause it happens even if you don't really eat much more-your metabolism changes when you stop smoking. Try to exercise. You CAN do it. Just keep trying. Good luck and I'll keep you in my prayers.

 

You had to quit coffee when you quit cigs?

 

Every time I drank coffee I wanted a smoke, I guess because I always had them together for so many years. So, yes, I had to quit them both. But it worked out okay . Maybe that's just me, though, and other people have one and not the other. Hey-you know people who don't even smoke who'll smoke when they get drunk?? I guess that's how I am with the coffee-it triggers the desire or something.

 

I smoke American Spirits in the yellow package...like I said, I have a 4 a day limit, give or take a couple, because I'm a nerd. I really only smoke when I go out and I'm around people, though. If I'm hanging out at home, I don't really get the urge to go out and have one, unless everyone is arguing and I need an excuse to go outside. And, for some reason, I don't feel right while I'm driving unless I have a cigarette....it's a weird complex where I have to do something with my hands, I guess, because I'm shy and codependant...

 

I started smoking when I was 16. Because my friends started. I quit last year when I had appendicitis. After I had my appendix out, I was petrified of coughing. Any little cough would feel like my stomach was ripping open. I was in the hospital for 2 days without cigs, so when I got out, I was afraid that if I had a cigarette, I might cough. So, it's been almost a year since I've quit, and it has been tough. I still get cravings, but I just try to distract myself.

 

i first started at 14. at those times i had a friend who was quite a heavy drinker and smoker (i know, at 14, it was pretty sad.), and whenever we'd get together we'd get hammered and she'd feed me cigarette after cigarette. then i would go a couple weeks without, because i didn't drink with her often. after a summer with her i was a full fledged smoker. when i was 15 i smoked about a pack a day, then cut it down when i started school this year, maintaining 1-3 cigarettes a day. now i'm 17 and summer's just beginning. right now i smoke 5 or so a day, more when i drink, less when i'm alone. i started because it was always around me and i saw nothing wrong with it, despite all those anti smoking ads and shit they tell you in school. it's a comfort to know i'm killing myself in a weird way, we're all dying anyways. the way i justify it is i strive for quality of life, not quanitity.