Asymmetrical Information

Thanks for the boost!

Knowing how long your mom smoked gives me incentive. How'd she do it?

Zyban, hypnosis, the patch, and a program.

But as someone who quit I can tell you that the only thing that makes it or breaks it is this: you will quit on the day that you want to quit more than you want to smoke. If you quit before then, you'll go back to it. So the trick is to make yourself want to quit.

It's too bad that smoking is one of those vices that are difficult for many to keep from becoming excessive. I never liked cigarettes at all, but a good cigar can be great. When they became trendy for a while, I kinda stopped indulging , since the demand seemed to have sent the prices of good ones through the roof. I'm not cheap when it comes to sensual pleasure, but 15 bucks for a stogie was where the pleasure curve intersected with the stinginess curve, so I have not had many fine tobacco products from the Caribbean lately. I remember them fondly, however.

Congrats. It's been about five years for me, although I have smoked three cigarettes since quitting, one of which made me throw up.

I honestly believe that a hundred years from now, smoking will probably be as popular again as it was 40 years ago. Because by then we'll probably be able to fix all its health consequences -- at least the major ones -- fairly cheaply.

I envy those future people, because I loved cigarettes, and loved smoking. But I won't go back, and am infinitely glad I quit. I'm noticeably healthier since quitting. And you have a lot to be proud of--quitting is frikkin' tough.

Watching the president tonight, I was so tense, I could have probably used a cigarette. Nothing for us Nervous Nellies to do but wait and worry and pray.

As a tobacco teetotaler, here's overdue welcome to the club.

Surrounded by smokers as various stages of my growth, nicotine separation has been one of the most excrutiating sights to witness. All the same, determination can never be underestimated. A friend of mine had smoked like a chimney since high school and, tired of breathlessness and ashtray cologne, declared his intention to quit: cold turkey. As he proceeded to light up every day up to zero hour, my expectations remained low.

But he stopped, and stayed "stopped." Started running and lifting; hasn't looked back. Willpower. As he said it, "I was simply tired of smoking." Come to think of it, he's pulled away from caffeine, too. Too rich for my blood. ;-)

"you will quit on the day that you want to quit more than you want to smoke."

Thanks to the warnings of my grandfather, who began smoking at age 11, I have never smoked a thing. But I actually do miss the smoky in the air at ballgames and such now that smoking is more frowned upon (although I think it is trending back up). I have a number of friends who like to gather outside on warm (or even chilly) evenings and smoke a few, and I join them as a second-hand smoker, but that's it.

I quoted Jane at the top because it's true: My grandfather finally took his own advice and quit smoking, cold turkey, when he was 80. He wanted to quit more than he wanted to smoke. Much to my grandmother's chagrin, he took to humming little tunes instead. But he lived to be 94.

I quit smoking rather easily, but I was only an outdoors smoker (and in car I guess)... Now, though, I'm wondering what kind of toxic damage all my Diet Cokes I'm more addicted to than anything else are doing to me... What did people drink with a meal before Diet Cokes were discovered...? (Diet Cokes are too good to have been invented, surely.) Did they drink water? Yeck. Milk? For KIDS maybe. Beer? Gross. Wine? You can't actually drink that. You can only sip that. Coffee? I've never understood the coffee thing. Makes me ill. There really IS nothing to drink with lunch or dinner other than Diet Coke. Cold Diet Coke. Will there be warnings on them in twenty years? "Diet Cokes have been found to make people sit in chairs and inundate themselves with various shallow media and waste large portions of their lives in endless, static, repetitive, fitful, vain fantasies and daydreaming."

"you will quit on the day that you want to quit more than you want to smoke."

Yup, that's pretty much how I did it. Two days before the 4th of July, 1997, I had to catch a plane for the most important business meeting of my life (at the time) and because of the proximity of the holiday I had to park in a remote lot and run to catch the shuttle bus. I left my cigarettes in the car and ran back to get them, then ran back to catch the shuttle bus. I made it but I never smoked a cigarette again.

When you're 24 and you almost black out after a short run, something's got to change. That was all it took for me after being a chain-smoker since the first day I got to college when I was 18. For my dad it was the doctor saying he'd be dead in 5 years if he didn't stop -- so he quit that very instant. He carried around the remaining two cigarettes and a lighter for the next year but never touched them again.

All this talk of smoking. I'm going to go have a cigarette.

My wife quit (using Zyban) because I hated smoking and because she was planning on having children with me and refused to expose them to cigarette smoke. The future children were probably the best incentive.

I have a grandmother who tried to quit, but the doctor told her to go back to smoking a little because the withdrawal was killing her.

And I'd like to second the Diet Coke comment. I used to love Coke, but have converted to Diet (now regular is too sweet). I can also second the symptoms. :) I have never been able to like coffee, either.

Bolie IV

Congrats, short stuff... s'been just over eight and a half years since I quit, and now it seems strange to me that I ever smoked (which I did from ages fourteen to twenty eight). I've only had two close calls since... once, a year after I quit, having come home to a severely flooded basement and watching my last carton of Marlboro Lights floating past me, and once a few minutes after rolling my car off the road; the dear lady who picked me up had a smoke going, but she put it out before I could say "gimme that".

I'm now at the point where I can enjoy the occasional cigar without worrying about getting re-hooked, and drink my first cup of coffee without my brain cells screaming out that they're missing some important chemicals and would I take care of that right away please and thank you?

Good on everyone for quitting. It's been six months for me (used the patch and an amazing holiday in Laos) ... one thing I've noticed though, is that while I felt really fantastic for the first time in years in the first few months after I quit, I'm now experiencing diminishing returns on the "I feel great" front that's so important to defying temptation. It's almost getting to the point where I'm physically forgetting how crap I felt all the time on the smokes, which is probably a dangerous thing. Aarrrgh.

Damon: This is the critical period. This is a good time to take up a repetitive aerobic sport, such as joining a basketball league, which will punish you mightily if you light up. Believe me, in two years, your lungs will thank you.

Future (and present) children are a very good reason to stop smoking. My brother, sister, and I all had respiratory problems until we grew up and left home. My dad smoked around us all the time. This was before anyone ever heard of "second-hand smoke". He's apologized repeatedly since then.

Interestingly, my dad quit smoking a few years ago - gained a few pounds - developed type II diabetes as a result - and then started smoking again. My mom is less than thrilled.

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