I quit

JamesHE · Post by **JamesHE** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:44 pm

smoking.

2 days ago.

I can't sleep.

Fuckoff.

I just turned 30 so I thought now's the time. When I start gaining weight I can just blame it on getting old.

So now when I start selling stuff on ebay I can say... "used only in my smoke free studio"

I'm tired of being tired. I already feel like I have more energy. But It's annoying like I have a hard on all the time, but a limp dick. And can't sleep now, space rock coming from the bar on the corner. If those hippies come out fighting in the streets tonite I'm going down there.... and steal all their smokes! Har HAr HAR!

must eat more chips ahoy.

jmiller · Post by **jmiller** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:37 am

You may get sick in a few days. Try to work through it. At least you won't feel withdrawls with a fever.

It will feel WAY better on the other side. You will be SHOCKED at how bad people who were just smoking smell. I mean, from several yards away, it still smells horrible. You'll have more energy and be more productive, eventually.

Take up a healthy hobby, like bike riding or something. I did, and it was a good decision. After a couple months of not buying cigarettes, you'll have saved enough for a decent bike. Here's something to think about- in December, I was riding my bike up Havenhurst to Mullholland Drive, and it's an absolutely BRUTAL ride up. I started huffing and puffing so hard, I could taste cigarettes in my phlegm. I hadn't had so much as a puff in NINE MONTHS

Pretty nasty!

Hang in there, it's worth it. Drink lots of tea. Take tea brakes instead of cig brakes. Yogi Tea has a flavor called "Green Tea Super Anti-Oxidant" and it's pretty soothing. Whatever you do, don't buy, bum, or even take one hit! It's worth it!

Dingo · Post by **Dingo** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:21 am

You're in the worst part right now. You'll feel a lot better in a couple of days. Hang in there.

FailedSitcom · Post by **FailedSitcom** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:57 am

Best of luck.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:37 am

What state are you in? My fiancee works for http://quitplan.com

Actually, check out http://quitnet.com , and maybe call them and they can refer you to resources in your state.

If you have help (counseling, nic replacement patches, etc.), you're 7 times more likely to quit.

Best of luck, and I hope it works out. We want you around. I've already lost 3 friends to smoking related deaths

Jeremy Garber · Post by **Jeremy Garber** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:40 am

Congrats on doing your lungs a favor! heh I quit smoking about 3 years ago, mainly because my wife became pregnant and I wanted her to quit as well. The hardest part is getting past the mental addiction, not the addiction to nicotine I think. You know, you are so used to having a smoke when you wake up, before you sleep, after you eat, after you smoke, etc etc... I would find myself smoking phantom cigarettes... really... I'd be putting my fingers to my mouth as if I had a cig in my hand, but there would be none. I still get nic cravings every once in a while, even 3 years later. I'm very glad I quit. No more pnemonia every winter. Yay!

And yes, once you truthfully quit, you will be wondering why you started in the first place after smelling other smokers. I still don't like to be in close quaters with them. And yes, you will gain weight because you will actually start eating food. lol Think of all the money you will save!

spankenstein · Post by **spankenstein** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:36 am

SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ wrote:Congrats on doing your lungs a favor! heh I quit smoking about 3 years ago, mainly because my wife became pregnant and I wanted her to quit as well. The hardest part is getting past the mental addiction, not the addiction to nicotine I think. You know, you are so used to having a smoke when you wake up, before you sleep, after you eat, after you smoke, etc etc... I would find myself smoking phantom cigarettes... really... I'd be putting my fingers to my mouth as if I had a cig in my hand, but there would be none. I still get nic cravings every once in a while, even 3 years later. I'm very glad I quit. No more pnemonia every winter. Yay!

And yes, once you truthfully quit, you will be wondering why you started in the first place after smelling other smokers. I still don't like to be in close quaters with them. And yes, you will gain weight because you will actually start eating food. lol Think of all the money you will save!

The phantom smokes are horrible and hilarious. They would wake me up in my sleep! I'd wake up and freak out thinking that I was smoking in bed. Luckily I was just drooling on my fingers. I'm just now (3 years later) feeling the complete weight effects. I'm up 30lbs over when I smoked.

JamesHE · Post by **JamesHE** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:57 am

Thanks for the support. I'm hanging in there. I'm amazed I got through work yesterday. I'm a carpenter that works alone for the most part, and taking a smoke break was an hourly thing, or even me at the saw with a smoke in my mouth. Or a belt sander in my hand - that's a fun one! I've been doing drywall repair the last few work days, which drives me nuts, and was almost chain smoking last friday. I took some time yesterday and demolished a bathroom. Commercial space. I could smell the urine soaked linolium as I ripped it up. Awful.

Thanks for the links kayagum. I'm trying this on my own at this point. Like Sleepy bright eyes says, the mental part is the tough part. So far so good, I'm sort of enjoying the feeling a bit. I live in Richmond VA Home of Phillip Morris. I swear most everybody smokes here. I'll probably avoid going out drinking for a while.

The tile guy lit one up on the third floor and I smelled it all the way down on the first floor yesterday. Luckily it didn't smell good to me.

My lungs feel heavy today. Wonder what joyous things I'll hack up.

r0ck1r0ck2 · Post by **r0ck1r0ck2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:09 am

spit em at the hippies?

seriously when you get freaked out go for a run...at least an hour..
think of it as training for the apocalypse..

jebjerome · Post by **jebjerome** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:45 pm

I got hypnotized a few years ago. It worked.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:02 am

Take it from me, an ex-3pack-a-dayer, when the tile guy's smokes smell bad after you ain't had one, you're done smokin for good, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
When I quit you didn't get a smoke break, you just smoked while you workd.
It's the "smoke break" that makes it sooo hard.
That and the habit of smokin with a beer, after a meal, in the morning, before nighty night, in groups of drunk friends, yada yada yada.
No more 'o'that fer you. Yer Done!
You RAAAAAWWWWWK!!

JamesHE · Post by **JamesHE** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:44 am

I made it through day 3. NOw on day 4!

I made the most god awful beautiful guitar noises last night. I hooked just about every pedal I could find around the studio and plugged it in. 2 MXR Blue boxes feeding the same amp is sick sick. And a bass balls in front of that, Memory man, Electric Mistress, Dano temolo, all looped with a DL4. Good mayhem. That was a good release. Stayed up too late, NOw I'm going into work late (working your own schedule is a curse and a blessing!) which means I'll be working late. This days going to be tough, just like yesterday. If I can make it through 7-eleven and get a drink without buying a pack of smokes on my way to work today, that'll be a good start.

It's amazing I'm so used to smoking after I eat that I'm feeling a shortness of breath shortly after eating. Weird.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:43 pm

Hey James, good work. Hang in there. Its only going to get worst but you'll have nice reminders WHY! while on the way, like what Jmiller said about your sense of smell coming back... you'll smell it and wonder WTF!! C-attle went non smoking in bars/clubs about 3 months ago, and its nice actually. I quit back in October, at 31 and i started smoking at 14. the last 7 years i've had a Bali Shag habit, not smoking during the day but still rolling and burning a pack of 40-60 rollies a week and still riding 20 miles or more a day for my commute. I finally started to feel it, deep down inside, feel it hanging out and getting in the way, almost freaking out i had to quit. No problem, until the 4-5 whiskey... i'm not ready to give up drinking yet, even though i should be dead over and over again for my drinking. I think since October i've had maybe 20 cigs and it always pisses me off cause i do it out of drunk habit. I smell it on my hand and in my dreads for days, and cough it up for a day or two, i'm like "wtf" all of this for some addiction i started at 14 cause i was a stupid fucking insecure kid and wanted to be cool. I don't think people should be persecuted for smoking, but its nice to get that addiction off my back. HOWEVER! since quitting for some reasons, my bike riding has decreased substantially. so of course i've been drinking more beer, getting more aggro and gaining weight. I'm gonna get back on the bike cause my mental health is going south and gaining 20 lbs in 4 months is fucked up.

and look, i've rambled cause i've been smoking something greener. oops.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:45 pm

oh and, i used to check mixes while smoking out in the garage since my studio in in the ajoining basement, now i just pace and drink my coffee, beer, wine, whatever and tell myself to stop pacing.

jmiller · Post by **jmiller** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:05 am

So... how's it going?

Remember- once you've passed day 3, the nicotine has cleared your system (or so I've been told). If you start again, that's three days you could have been smoking that are completely wasted. So if you've done 3, you might as well do 4, then 5, etc. If you give up now, all those days you were miserable were for nothing. Get yourself a bike.

I did it and I'm on day 345!!! Almost a year, cold turkey!

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