How about a real New Year Resolution?? Can I persuade you to, QUIT SMOKING?The anatomy of a former smoker.. or, Dead man coughing..
If you are a smoker, or have someone close to you that is entrapped by the addiction to tobacco, I have something to share with you. I am telling you this in hopes of persuading you to do whatever it takes to stop the damage that smoking is doing to your/their body and mind as quickly as possible..This is embarrassing but I don't care, what I feel is not as important as what it might do to help you quit smoking ASAP. I have just undergone my 4th medical surgery in the past year.. the 6th in the past 3 years. I can lay my health problems directly on my prolonged smoking habit. I was a 30 year chain-smoking, workaholic, that had shortness of breath, hypertension, hacking cough, sleep deprivation, rheumatoid arthritis, impotence, and severe periodontal disease. Each of those life altering, life threatening, chronic problems have both a direct as well as a indirect link to cigarette smoking.. Many of my maladies had the prospect of some recovery with lifelong dietary modifications, physical therapy and the endless use of potent drugs. However, many of those drugs created new problems and their own complications and disorders..
Although I did quit smoking more than 8 years ago, it was years after I knew I had severe problems that I refused to address..
When I did finally begin to face the problems, it was primarily as a reaction to the aforementioned ailments, and only as a last ditch effort to save myself a lifetime of additional debilitating, respiratory catastrophes..
I prolonged my life, and I thank God for that, but it was too damned close, and much too expensive..
Why would some smokers rather DIE than QUIT!
Why do people start smoking when there is such credible evidence that smoking cigarettes is harmful to ones health and with countless messages everywhere, decrying the long-term effects of using tobacco?An even better question is: what would bring an intelligent human to make a decision to start, or continue a ghastly, annoying, and expensive habit, that unquestionably causes damage to their delicate body parts, a habitual action that directly impacts the quality of their life, makes them sick, stink, causes their own friends, family, and strangers to shirk from their presence, and as a kicker, shortens their own miserable existence?
Sadly, eighty percent of smokers who quit do so without being in any program – and studies show that 95% of these self-reliant quitters fail, and go right back to smoking. It's the same rate of recidivism as with heroin. With a 95% chance of failure without a program, you may wish to consider getting some help this time around.
For those who have repeatedly failed at quitting in the past, it's comforting to learn that most smokers in fact fail several times before stopping successfully. Your past failures are not a lesson that you are unable to quit. Instead, they are part of the normal journey toward becoming a nonsmoker.
You need to get your resolve up, and try again. YOU CAN DO IT!
Get help -- lots of it. Get into a good program, or better yet, a combination of more than one. Call your local branch of the American Cancer Society, or the American Lung or Heart Associations. All have inexpensive and effective, mainstream programs.Other top of the line, physician endorsed methods: nicotine replacement and Zyban. The nicotine patch or gum are now available over-the-counter at any pharmacy. The anti-depressant Zyban and nicotine inhaler require a prescription.
The Schick-Shadel Treatment Centers offer aversion therapy -- self administering a mild electric shock from an ordinary 9 volt battery as one smokes a cigarette. They claim a 95% initial success rate, and 50% after a year. Buy a How to Quit Smoking Book, or a motivational cassette tape program in a bookstore, and listen to the tapes in your car. Every little bit helps!
There is ANOTHER WAY that worked for me..
Can someone quit without going crazy, or gaining new problems, such as weight gain etc.. As you can imagine from what I have been through, I know the horror stories in trying to kick the smoking habit. I tried to quit smoking every way imaginable without success and thought I would never rid myself of the scourge. I had my kids and friends constantly nagging me to stop, and I had just about given up, until a friend introduced me to Hypnosis. He swore by it, it worked for him and his wife, so I thought, why not!In just one evening, in less than an hour, I became a nonsmoker, and I never looked back, NEVER!
My mission here is to restore your faith in yourself. You CAN quit. Just look around and you will see hundreds of folks just like you that have already quit after they thought they couldn't. Even if you've failed several times in the past, understand that this is normal. You're not alone.
Carlo...I hope you don't mind if we bump some of your posts through the next couple of days....
Thank you!
MM - ping!
But, thanks for asking. :)
BTW I made the egg nog fudge recipe in your holiday recipes post...sort of.
I had to use semi-sweet baking squares, as I didn't have white chocolate; and I didn't have pecans, so used walnuts & pine nuts instead. Oh, and I doubled or so the amount of spices.
But it is a VERY good recipe, otherwise I couldn't make all those changes and still have it come out as good as it did! LOL
You don't have to. After many, many attempts, I finally, once and for all, quit a two pack day, 35 year, smoking habit. That was six years ago. But, unfortunately, not before I developed COPD. Every lung-full of tar and nicotine that I inhaled was my choice and I knew full well the chance I was taking, as I suspect does every smoker who reads this. None of the people who tried to get me to quit were successful. I quit when I couldn't breathe anymore.
Still, Carlo, I do applaud your effort to educate people to the realities of nicotine addiction and the damage it causes. If your post causes just one person to try one more time, it might just be the last time they have to "try". That would be a good thing.
Happy New Year to you!
Thank you Carlo for sharing your story.
You're quite a guy.
==+
===
To All:
My mother was a smoker.
She is dead.
My father was a smoker.
He is dead.
My step-mother came home
from work and found my father
in the garage dead. She quit smoking
that day.
My step-mother was a smoker.
She is dead.
For all of you reading Carlo's story;
may I ask you to consider to quit
smoking -- NOW?!
Kicking a habit of any kind is not easy.
Prayer is powerful.
Why not look to God for assistance
as you quit your addiction?
Something to think about.
Happy New Year, Carlos. You've contributed so much joy, so much wisdom, so many memories and quite a few calories to those of us who read your threads avidly. My very best to you and yours in the coming year.
Leni
I quit five years ago, due to a health crisis as well. It wasn't related to the smoking, but I knew that my body didn't need anymore problems. I thought "what the heck am I doing to myself?"... I use the mint flavored Nicorette. It's expensive, but darn it, I'm worth it. Notice Don Imus chews the gum non stop! NO weight gain, and tons of energy.
For those who don't want to use the gum, it's best to have it on hand for times of tension.
My dear husband still smokes. I wish he would quit. He needs to.
Happy New Year, Carlo. YOU can do it. Your life depends on it :)
sw
Thanks for the ping Carlo!!!
Thanks for the ping.
I quit smoking 197 days ago and have been nicotine free 144 days. It wasn't easy but it was worth it. I was smoking almost 3 packs a day and coughing all night long. I also managed to quit with no weight gain, so if the fear of gaining weight is holding anyone back, know that not everyone gains weight when they quit.
I went to an Advanced Medical Stop Smoking Center. The treatment is based on a patented process using FDA approved medications to eliminate physical withdrawal symptoms. It worked well for me.
Carlo,
Thank you for your testimonial on quitting smoking. I'm going to show it to my husband. Every story of success is inspiration. His serious New Year's resolution is to quit smoking, and he'll do it because he wants to do it and he is determined, unlike his dad. I was reminded of his dad when you mentioned that some smokers had rather die than quit. It's true.
His dad smoked all of his life, since pre-teen, (non-filtered Camels). He ended up with emphysema, congestive heart failure, etc., and he refused to give up his "pleasure" with the revelation of symptoms that his health was suffering.
I remember one time, a couple years or so before he died, when he was hospitalized with pneumonia, and we thought he wouldn't make it. He was sick for a long time, and couldn't smoke during his time in the hospital, of course, so he had help "quitting", using the patch. The first thing he wanted to do when he got out of the hospital was smoke a cigarette! He was 74 years old, and he cried like a baby when the doctors told him he couldn't smoke anymore. His health was shot. He was going into the hospital periodically to have fluid drawn from around his heart, and he was stressing out over not being able to smoke! His doctor told him to go ahead and smoke, because the stress would kill him anyway. He died the next January at the age of 75. He didn't believe he could quit, and he didn't want to try. He felt that his quality of life was so diminished that he wouldn't live very long anyway, and he wanted to "enjoy" his cigarettes until the end. So very sad.
Thanks for the offer, but I quit 17 years ago, for the second time. I quit for 7 years the first time. This time its for good.
One hint that helped me was to know that a craving for a cigarette would leave in 10 minutes, whether you smoke or not. So, I just took it 10 minutes at a time. Glad I did.
Congratulations, I've had family members that never were able to kick the habit. My father was a five pack a day, chain smoker, who developed heart disease in his forties, had a massive heart attack at fory eight, still could not quit completely, and died at 51. The doctor attributed the severity and early on-set of his heart disease to his cigarette smoking.
Part of my retirement plan.
Without smoking I will have more years than money.
A lot more.
Cheers to you for quiting!
I was forced to quit five years ago. I too have COPD, discovered in 1999. I loved smoking, loved surrounding myself with fellow "outsiders" and hated bossy people who preached at me.
I liken this experience to being a 12 yr old who has free reign in Disneyland. As kids do, we run and play with wild abandon. There's no thought to "payment" for all that fun UNTIL the day one hits a brick wall. Someone gets in your face and says, "Ok. Party's over. PAY UP!"
If you have a death wish, if you think you'll continue to be bullet proof, ignore the warning. It's as simple as that.
And to all smokers who may read this: It's your call and I'll fight for your right to make your own decisions. It's tough, I know. Probably the toughest challenge you'll ever have to overcome. But it's the only way to live long enough to see your kids and grandkids mature.
Thanks for the ping carlo3b. Thanks for the thread paulat.
Happy New Year to ALL FReepers and ALL Lurkers.
Thanks for the pep talk Carlo. My state just banned smoking from almost anywhere you can think of, but that just makes me mad. I hope I quit before I HAVE to. I did quit once before, quite a few years ago. The first thing I wanted was a cigarette.......the minute I got out of the delivery room, and I've been smoking ever since. Happy New Year.