Smoker / Non-Smoker

[mark3d]

for anyone who wants to quit now or in the future i must recommend this site:

http://groups.msn.com/FreedomFromTobaccoQuitSmokingNow/

there is heaps of info, dont need to join the discussions (although theres no reason not to either)

thank you Joel Spitzer!

(and also thanks to my wife for putting up with me during nicotine withdrawal - lol)

[mark3d]

yes lance it is addictive in the same way as opiates. no intention to preach but i find it fascinating. have learnt a fair bit from the joel spitzer site, as well as various psychology text books from my studies, and my own experience. others can skip the post if they want to.. but i figure some info never hurts.

nicotine is nearly chemically identical to a natural brain chemical (serotonin i believe). the brain loves it, so is happy to let you start smoking. over time the body regulates itself and produces less serotonin, as there appears to be some from an additional source. thus the physical dependency.

for opiates it works the same way - the body compensates for the external source by producing less natural opiates (it explains the reported physical pain during withdrawal).

the brain prioritises these chemicals above even basic needs like food.
in each case if the external supply stops.. the brain freaks out.

also the half life of nicotine is 15 minutes.. hence the constant cravings.. it also means that after 72 hours the molecules have been completely broken down; the peak craving time during withdrawal.

after 1-2 weeks the brain restores the balance of chemicals. any subsequent cravings are psychological, but thats the worst bit.

need to break all the pyschological triggers.. like having a cigarette with coffee or alcohol. those conditioned behaviours have been learnt over the length of time smoking, e.g. a pack a day for 10 years is over 100,000 cigarettes.. say 10% of them is with coffee, then that is a lot of psychological links to break.

about a year after quitting i watched star trek or something that i hadnt seen for a few years.. during the intro i reflexively got up for a cigarette like i always would have.. lol.

even now 3+ years later if i wait for a bus, and theres people smoking nearby.. i really want one. but the reality is my brain just wants a taste.. i would cough my guts up and not enjoy it.

[Hagar (Doug)]

Aren't you all lucky there are still some of us who smoke. You would all be paying 50%+ tax on everything including your chewing gum. Now there is a filthy habid. Sticky sh** on every seat and footpath in the country. Perhaps we should poll that. Then maybe we could poll smelly body odour and smelly farts. It is a shame that so many do gooders can make so much out of someones weaknesses, if we picked a subject like Euthenasia for the dying maybe you could all make some real sense of it but so far all the posts seem to have a couple of things in common. 1. Gee how good am I, I gave up smoking and 2. How bad are the smokers.

I enjoy my pack a day. I have no intentions of giving up. If you great self richeous people don't like it do the other.

I thought this was an Astronomy forum, not a self gratification forum.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Hagar

Aren't you all lucky there are still some of us who smoke. You would all be paying 50%+ tax on everything including your chewing gum. Now there is a filthy habid. Sticky sh** on every seat and footpath in the country. Perhaps we should poll that. Then maybe we could poll smelly body odour and smelly farts. It is a shame that so many do gooders can make so much out of someones weaknesses, if we picked a subject like Euthenasia for the dying maybe you could all make some real sense of it but so far all the posts seem to have a couple of things in common. 1. Gee how good am I, I gave up smoking and 2. How bad are the smokers.

I enjoy my pack a day. I have no intentions of giving up. If you great self richeous people don't like it do the other.

I thought this was an Astronomy forum, not a self gratification forum.

Doug, the fact that it costs millions of dollars in medical bills to the tax payer
negates your 50%+tax on everything.
I just hope you can see the light and give it up
I see that you have Hagar as your Avitar, I hope you are not as grumpy as you make yourself out to be.
Ron

[AUSMCMLXXXV]

i smoke about 6 packs a week atm. works out to about $59 a week. i buy the cheapest possible... and they acually taste like tobacco . . . not paint like some of the more pricey brands . but anyway...

smoked for about 7 years, im 22 now. ive attemped quiting several times. last time was for about 7 months. now been full time again for about 12 months. its hard to quit when you work with a bunch of people who smoke. bout 90% of the people i work directly with smoke. also love one when the scope is out, along with a beer which makes me want more smokes... hmmm

i also continuously get sick when i quit. last time i quit i had tonsillitus 4 times not to mention all the colds that i picked up constantly. immune systems shot i think

[KG8]

Originally Posted by Hagar

I thought this was an Astronomy forum, not a self gratification forum.

Just ignore them Hagar. If the TV told them they should brush their teeth through their bums they would be walking around all day with... well you get the picture

[cahullian]

I used to be...and would'nt you know it all the males in my family die of emphysema(frokm my fathers side)...I only hope I take my lungs from my mothers side as that side of the family die of cancer in their 90's

Gazz

[Hagar (Doug)]

I can picture the tooth brush picture. Really most would not need to insert the tooth brush very far to clean their teeth. They will just have to stop talking through it long enough to clean them.

[KG8]

I've said here before, the only ones that really benefit from all the anti-smoking spin are the pharmacutical corporations. They make billions worldwide on the lies spun and their drugs combined with the criminal practices of the nuvo medical fraternity send millions to a premeture grave each year. If "they" were serious about healthy air they would insist catalitic converters were changed out every few years. But they don't, because that would hurt the auto industry and probably empty half the hospital beds in the country.

Here, have a look at what you won't see on channel 9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPI7zdGdqo4

[Jen]

im still a addicted to the things dam it
they go so well together with a few cans and a social gathering

[Ric]

That's the problem with the buggers Jen, a few stubbys and you don't even know you've lit up sometimes.

That morning coffee is another deadly one as well.

Cheers

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Ric

That's the problem with the buggers Jen, a few stubbys and you don't even know you've lit up sometimes.

That morning coffee is another deadly one as well.

Cheers

yeah i can imagine coffee too i dont drink that stuff but i can see that they compliment each other too so give up smoking does that mean i have to give up alcohol too arhhhhhhhh

[GrahamL]

Gave them up 20 years back .. and as such could never dump on anyone
for chooseing to smoke ..it is your choice .

my brother in law just was operated on for lung cancer and it will likely kill him in a few years sadly .. a work colleagues wife recently beat throat cancer only to now have constant outbreaks of localised cancers all
over her mouth and lips it has pretty much destroyed her life socially.

Both these people gave up in an instant when there life was put on the line
I sincerely hope anyone who chooses to give up the bungers gets all the help they need to beat em and succeed because they want to not because they have to .

[Amy]

I don't smoke but have in the past....mostly in the 70's when we were smoking all sorts of things. lol. Haven't done any kind of that stuff in decades.

I have worked in the medical field for over 20 years. Worked for Internal Medicine Doc's for 18 and now Critical Care Doc's.

We used to pass out this article to our patients that wanted to quit smoking. It's an old Ann Landers article about the BENEFITS OF QUITTING SMOKING. As you can see.....there are positive benefits felt immediately.

Here's the link:

http://no-smoking.org/april00/04-12-00-4.html

and here's what it says in case the link ever goes away:

Ann Landers, "Numbers Don't Lie," Quit Now [04/12-4]

Excerpts from NUMBERS DON'T LIE: QUIT SMOKING

By Ann Landers, Chicago Tribune [04/12/00]

Dear Ann Landers: My niece is trying to quit smoking, and is having a terrible time. I told her you once printed a letter describing what happens to the body after someone stops smoking. It made a strong impression on me, and I'm sure it did on many others too. Will you please print it again to encourage my niece to keep trying? She is discouraged, and ready to give up.
Dee Dee in Detroit
Dear Dee Dee: With pleasure. I was told after reading this column, many people did quit smoking. Here it is:
According to the American Cancer Society, as soon as you snuff out that last cigarette, your body will begin a series of physiological changes.
Within 20 minutes: Blood pressure, body temperature and pulse rate will drop to normal.
Within eight hours: Smoker's breath disappears. Carbon monoxide level in blood drops, and oxygen level rises to normal.
Within 24 hours: Chance of heart attack decreases.
Within 48 hours: Nerve endings start to regroup. Ability to taste and smell improves.
Within three days: Breathing is easier.
Within two to three months: Circulation improves. Walking becomes easier. Lung capacity increases up to 30 percent.
Within one to nine months: Sinus congestion and shortness of breath decrease. Cilia that sweep debris from your lungs grow back. Energy increases.
Within one year: Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a person who smokes.
Within two years: Heart attack risk drops to near normal.
Within five years: Lung cancer death rate for an average former pack-a-day smoker decreases by almost half. Stroke risk is reduced. Risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer is half that of a smoker.
Within 10 years: Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of a person who does not smoke. The pre-cancerous cells are replaced. Within 15 years: Risk of coronary heart disease is the same as a person who has never smoked.
___________________________________ __________________________

Realtors will tell you real quick not to smoke in your homes because it GREATLY increases the difficulty of selling your home.

The biggest reason? Quality of life. We all know this. I don't smoke so it's easy for me to say. But I've seen a 36 year old die of lung cancer. Why a 90 year old smoker can die without having gotten cancer and then you see the 36 year old die....or see a woman die of cancer that didn't smoke but lived in a house full of smokers...(another example just with the Docs I've worked for)..hereditary factors come into play, too.

Biggest reason is to me to wanna see my loved ones quit is simply because I want them in my life for as long as possible. Purely selfish motives. lol.
Since I work in the medical field......I come across handy articles like this alll the time. Hope it helps and there are so many wonderful options out there to make it easier for a smoker to quit these days. So what if you get a little help? The end result is worth it. GOOD LUCK to all those trying.

[Kevnool (Kev)]

Never ever had the urge to try a durrie.
I,m Proud of it now, back in the 70s everyone said it was cool ,so that made me uncool at the time and now its swinging about the other way.........with science how does one win,with the exeption of astronomy which is way cool............Cheers Kev....

[AdrianF (Adrian)]

Gave up smoking in 1991. It was a choice of text book for Uni or packet of smokes. Uni won and I havent looked back since. Cant even stand to be around a smoker now.

Adrian

[leon]

This thread has nothing to do with my choice to give it up tomorrow (Sunday) I have been considering it for many months, truly I have

I did some sums, as we do, and I figured at 7.50 dollars a day, by the time I'm 60, which is 2 years away, I can do two things, save my health, and also buy something very nice for my astronomy interests.

What can one buy for $5475.00 f......

Leon

[TrevorW]

I gave up smoking gradually and it worked a treat for me besides I'm to tight with money to waste $10 on a packet of cigarettes when in my hay day I was a packet a day man.

Now I will have an occassional cigar maybe once or twice a year but I don't get the graving back to smart (or tight assed) for that now.

My biggest gripe is how inconsiderate smokers can be, I use trains to go to work and people still insist on smoking on the platform even though it's now banned.

Personally now I would have no quarms if smoking in any public place became a fineable offence.

I look at young kids these days smoking even after all the paraphonalia concerning the porblems with it which we didn't have as children and wonder how stupid they are.

[Ian Robinson]

Tried one puff once when I was about 14 and absolutely hated it and decided straight away that only idiots smoke.
I let my mates know that in no uncertain terms and lost some firiends who "liked" smoking .... can't have been very good mates afterall so no loss.

I still hold this view , I am 51 now .

I refuse to allow anyone to smoke in my wife's or my presence and do get very cranky and outspoken about people who insist on smoking near me , and am not shy about demanding they put their cancer stick out or bugger off , even when fishing.

My father-in-law smokes and I refuse to let him inside my home or to light up on my premises - no loss - I've never liked him and the feeling is mutual.

All my sisters smoked and , all but one of them have since given this ugly , filfy and toxic hablit up , the same rule applies to my smoking sister (she accepts that and goes down the backyard when she visits to have her fix. Her husband is a different story - wont take the hint and so I have to tell him to go outside if he looks like he wants to light up .

[reddiablo (Andrew)]

I gave up smoking 13 years ago and luckily I only smoked for 7 years.

It was easily the hardest thing I ever did and I cannot believe my wife put up with my habit for so long. The smell, taste and cost of smokes as a reformed smoker are unbelievable.

Overall I believe, each to his own, but not in my car or house ever again.

I went cold turkey and found the first 3 months to be the hardest with the cravings completely gone at 6 months.

The difficult part was the way any mates who did smoke, would sabotage your efforts by offering you a smoke even though you were trying to quit. They would say things like "Go on, you know you want one". IMO it was their way of making themselves feel better by thinking, if you fail to quit, then they aren't weak because they have failed to quit.

When I realised this I would say to them, "Right now is the time for me to quit. Your time to quit will come when you are ready and not a moment sooner. With the high price of smokes I appreciate you offering me one but I would rather you save you money, don't offer me one again and smoke them yourself, you did pay for them"

They usually didn't offer me any more, but with the guys who just couldn't take a hint I had to say something a little more blunt like, "You know I'm trying to quit, don't offer me a smoke, I don't need one and I don't need you trying to make me start back on them"

I believe if you could make a pill, that anyone who smoked could take, and from that point on never have or want another smoke again, you would find 99.9% of smokers would take it in an instant.

The Asian world is where the majority of smoking related deaths will be in the future. In Lombok Indonesia last month I saw 4 year old kids having a smoke.

Thats a sight I don't want to see again.

It's right up there with those idiots who smoke with their kids in the car.