I quit smoking cigarettes and so can you! Join The Great American Smokeout Challenge!

[Better Believe It]

Like you, I believed some years ago that I'd never be able to kick the habit. I was wrong. I just had to get serious and decide to quit. And I did with the help of the "patch". It worked for me and it might work for you. Give it a try .... that or perhaps nicotine gum.




Accept the Great American
Smokeout Challenge

Quitting smoking is not easy, but it can be done. To have the best chance of quitting successfully, you need to know what you're up against, what your options are, and where to go for help.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/greatamericans/Smokeout.asp

[applegrove]

1. I quit using Chantix/Champix. It worked great for me. Come on you guys. Give it a try.

[Better Believe It]

2. If you don't try you have nothing to lose but your life. Think about that and your loved ones.

[Violet_Crumble]

22. Same here. And that's after nothing else had worked for me...

I'm feeling heaps healthier now and there's no way I'm ever going to smoke again....

[applegrove]

24. I know. I'm never going to smoke again either. I feel sorry for people who do smoke rather

than feeling envious of them (which I used to in all my other quits). Chantix really separated smoking from the pleasure centre in my brain. I wish more people could tolerate it though.

[izzybeans]

3. I used to imagine how life without cigarettes would be. It wasn't pretty. Then I quit. And life is

grand. I haven't had a headache in several years. At least not like the one's I had when smoking.

[Touchdown]

4. Do we have to wear the ribbon?

[Speck Tater]

5. I quit an average of 3 times a year for 46 years. That's 138 failed attempts.

But I kept trying until I finally succeeded. Now, after 9 months smoke free, I don't even think of cigarettes anymore, and I know for sure I'll never smoke again.

BUT, you probably DON'T want to use my method. I had to be the designated driver to take my best friend to her chemo treatments and radiation therapy for lung cancer. That really drove home the simple fact that lung cancer CAN AND DOES happen, even to really nice people. And possibly even to me. I haven't smoked since her diagnosis. (She's in remission now.)

[Better Believe It]

7. I hope you friend fully recovers and glad to hear you kicked the nicotine drug.

Millions of long-time smokers have quit and most of them at one time thought they'd never be able to quit.

[applegrove]

9. Glad to hear she is doing okay.

[Xipe Totec]

6. I'm past the 25 year mark w/o cigarrettes

From two packs a day for ten years to zip, zero, nada.

Not on my first try; it took over ten attempts to finally quit for good.

It is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.

Kudos to anybody who has been smoke free for more than a week!

[applegrove]

10. 25 years. I can't wait until I hit that benchmark.

[kwassa]

13. I also quit smoking in 1984.

2.5 packs a day for 14 years. Marlboros.
.
best thing I ever did for myself.

besides, they were getting way too expensive at $.90 a pack ...

[K8-EEE]

I quit Jan 2 1985!

I'm right behind you OH MY GOD I AM SO GLAD I QUIT WHEN I WAS YOUNG!! Saved myself a lot of damage.

[pmorlan1]

8. The Great American Fatty Foods Challenge

I hear they are going to start a Great American Fatty Foods challenge to try to keep people from eating unhealthy foods. I gave up cheeseburgers. It wasn't easy but if I can do it you can do it too.

Sorry but it seems like every other time I come here there is some thread telling people about the evils of smoking and how we can or should quit. It's really starting to remind me of those people that harass women at abortion clinics. You know, the ones who try to get strangers to live like they want them to live instead of how they choose to live.

[Better Believe It]

12. This is not a "harassment" post. Just hope a few smokers who want to quit read it and the link.

"Sorry but it seems like every other time I come here there is some thread telling people about the evils of smoking and how we can or should quit. It's really starting to remind me of those people that harass women at abortion clinics."

There is one big difference. You didn't have to click on and read this thread.

[kwassa]

15. we should do a Fatty Foods Challenge

not a bad idea at all. Smoking, however, affects the people around the smoker, fatty food does not.

your abortion clinic analogy is out to lunch, though.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. K&R!

[dflprincess]

14. I've always wondered about the timing of the "Smoke Out"

A week before Thanksgiving. A mere week before you're thrown together with your family and you're going through nicotine withdrawal? Sounds like a recipe for murder - or at least failure to quit.

I quit (thanks to Chantix) over 2 years ago but no where near the holidays. Timing is everything.

[safeinOhio]

16. I jumped the gun

and stopped on Oct 10 this year. This time it was easy after 45 years of trying. It got so every time I smoked one I'd cough and my chest would hurt. I mean really hurt. I could stop for a day and after 2 smokes it would come back. I was not looking forward to my doctor visit on the 26th. What a relief when she said my lungs and heart where fine. That scare did it for me. Now if I can bottle and sell it, what ever happened, I could be rich.

[Alameda]

23. Great and good luck! I woke up on July 4th & couldn't breath...

It was horrible and I felt so damned stupid for all the cigarettes I'd smoked up to then. I realized I had weakened my lungs myself. I used a steamer, herbs (mullein in particular)ate many cough drops (found Ricola best).....I have not smoked since the fouth of July and I hope I never smoke again.

It's great to not have that damned millstone around my neck. It isn't necessary to plot my course so as to be able to smoke. I don't have to try to figure out things to cover the smell. Now I realize just how pervasive the smoke actually is. I was visiting someone who was on the second floor when all of a sudden the smell of someone smoking came in the room. People who smoke don't realize just how the smoke drifts.

[Voice for Peace]

17. I'll k&r this one

I quit cold turkey but whatever it takes, it's such a great thing to be a nonsmoker.

It feels really good, the freedom to breathe without fear and guilt. Sure it's a little hard to break the habit but it's very doable and the benefits are so many.

This method is very good: http://www.cognitivequitting.com/

[FreeState]

18. Smoke free 5 years as of yesterday :) n/t

[K8-EEE]

19. Best thing I ever did for myself. Cigs are like having a best friend who

is plotting to kill you. And everything smells so much better without them!

[Luciferous]

20. K&R I quit cold turkey almost 3 years ago :)

[TheDebbieDee]

21. I quit May 17, 2003....I used hypnosis and think I everyone

should consider using hypnosis before all the expensive substitute patches, pills, etc.

[susanr516]

25. Smoke free since March 2, 2009

I used the lozenges.

[invictus]

26. K&R!

[Blue-Jay]

27. I quit about an hour ago.

I'll probably quit again later.

[Better Believe It]

30. Keep trying! Stretch it out to two hours and get the patch!

[Life Long Dem]

28. Lozenges here...

I tried gum but I never really was a gum chewer so I didn't like the gum. The patch just sat there on my arm and never took my mind off having a smoke. The lozenges had a nicotine taste to it and when I needed a smoke I would just take a lozenge.

Then you need to quit the lozenges. But you do have the added thought that this addiction won't kill you like smoking will. It's probably four years now since I quit smoking.

Have Fun! :)

[Tracer]

29. Watch out if you use Chantix.

http://www.chantix.com/side-effects-safety-info.aspx

My daughter went on Chantix and became depressed, weepy, moody and generally miserable. She went to her doctor, who ridiculously prescribed Zoloft for her symptoms.

When I found out about that, I insisted that she quit both drugs.

She did, and within two weeks was back to her normal self.