http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4993715Oh my.
But one's very happy it all worked out well.
Congratulations to the sparkling husband primitive.
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:19 AM
Original message
How I quit smoking ........
..... It has been two years since I had a heart attack and a month or two less since I quit smoking. In light of all the recent smoking threads, I thought I'd share my rather unusual quitting method. This worked for me. I have no idea if it will work for anyone else. But maybe it will.
My heart attack resulted in nothing more that the placing of five stents, the prescription of a boatload of meds, and instructions about changing my diet and lifestyle.
Like anyone else, I was a basket case, emotionally, in the days and weeks immediately following. But that also gave me the key to quitting smoking. I developed a totally irrational fear that, were I to run, or jump, or even walk heavily, the stents would fall out and lodge somewhere south of my knees. I pictured my insides in much the same way a cartoon would. Complete with imaginary cartoon graphics. This kept me pretty much in the fetal position on the couch for the better part of two weeks, chewing Klonopin for the extreme anxiety. (You don't know me, but this is completely out of character for me.)
Through all of this, I am getting up and going out ....... to SMOKE.
What the hell?????
My daughter-in-law, who is a cardiac recovery nurse who takes care of patients in the minutes and hours after they get out of cardiac surgery, was an angel and with me, literally, from the time she met Sparkly in the ER when I went to the hospital.
I asked her about the immediate effect of having a smoke. I had the sense that the rush we feel when we take that first drag had to be not all good.
That 'rush', it turns out, is the result of our arteries dilating. Less blood flow everywhere. the actual buzz comes from the arteries feeding the brain, but the heart gets the same sort of hit.
Reduced blood flow is precisely why I had my heart attack.
And I'm smoking again?
I'm a moron.
My mine went to work. I imagined my arteries as big, cartoon rubber hoses being held in many hands. As I take a drag, I imagine the hands squeezing off the flow in these arterial hoses, just like we squeeze off the flow in a hose in the summer time. SQUOOOOSSSSSHHHTTTT!! FUMP!!
No flow! "I'll make it" "I bet I live through this" "Oh My God I Am Going To Die" "My Blood Flow Has Stopped"
That same cartoon view of my innards.
In my head, that whole silly cartoon played out non stop. Of course I knew it was a cartoon. But I also knew my mind had constructed it as a visualization of the actual facts.
Soon enough, the idea of squeezed off arteries - cartoonish though it started - became my personal fear factor. Every rush of a new butt was proof it was real.
I lost my taste for them soon after.
I have been totally smoke free with no relapse and no desire to relapse, ever since. I still have cravings. They come out of nowhere. But they are easy to sublimate and last only seconds. And I haven't even had one of those for a few months now.
I had tried all the usual ways to quit.
None worked.
But my simple, clownish brain worked out its own way when faced with the need.
Smokers ...... I don't hate you and I would never, ever presume to condemn you. I know you won't quit until you decide that you want to quit. You'll get no cluck clucking judgments from me. But neither do I welcome you. Leave it outside. My world is so smoke free that I can't even stand the smell of it anymore. But that's me. Not you. I **really** do understand you. I was you for more than 50 years (I started smoking at age seven.) I understand and wish you nothing but the best.
Again, congratulations to the sparkling husband primitive--but who now's going to pay for 0bama's health program that just passed Congress?
Earth_First (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:24 AM
Response to Original message
1. I have set a quit-date of my 30th birthday next month...
I am going to try the Chantix method.
I'm so glad to hear that you've quit! Good luck!
Here's to better health for the both of us!
franksolich too doesn't want to be supportive of 0bama's health program, and so is quitting.....sometime. The trick is to quit at the "right time"--something to do with biorhythms or something like that.
The primitive formerly known as the "Vash the Stampede" primitive:
Nicholas D Wolfwood (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:27 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. Make sure it's covered by your insurance.
Otherwise you'll get sticker shock (the whole program costs more than a grand). I had that happy surprise a month and a half ago.
ejpoeta (593 posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:31 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. yep, we found that out when my husband went to get the script filled over $100 for a month, and NO coverage. so that ended that.
Whatttttt???????
The primitives bother getting healthy only if insurance or the taxpayer pays for it?
lunatica (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:57 AM
Response to Reply #3
14. Compare the sticker price to how much you spend on cigarettes
That should help if the price of a drug to quit smoking is high. Cigarettes are pretty expensive, and in today's economy if you can stop buying cigarettes that's another benefit economically.
Nicholas D Wolfwood (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 09:09 AM
Response to Reply #14
17. Well, frankly, I don't smoke that much.
2 packs per week, maximum. It's way, way, way cheaper for me to keep smoking. I can see, however, for many people it would be worth it regardless. Plus, you're not considering the difference between laying out the money up front and paying for it a little at a time. If you don't have the $400 upfront fee, it doesn't matter whether or not it's a long term investment.
Not trying to be critical of you, and I do indeed appreciate the nature of the post. I just wanted to say it's not quite that simple.
I'm sure it's more than two packages a week, maximum.
Pharaoh (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:31 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. Zyban really helped me
The nicorrette lozenges also were helpful at first,
Don't hesitate to ask for support earth_first!
Maybe we should have a stop smoking forum?
I would think the support might be good
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:33 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. We have such a DU group, but it moves very slowly. Here's the link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Oh my. franksolich just discovered a new forum on Skins's island.
After which the primitives discuss using pharmaceutical means to quit smoking.
Pharaoh (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:27 AM
Response to Original message
2. Good for you Stinky!
I will be 4 months quit on feb 12th.
It has been a long struggle, I had quit for over a year and slid back again.
I don't appreciate the 20 pounds I've put on , but I too was facing death.
Fear is a great motivator
Fear's a wonderful motivator, especially fear of supporting 0bama's health program.
Le Taz Hot (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:43 AM
Response to Original message
8. It took an upper respiratory infection to make me finally quit smoking. I'm an asthmatic AND I had an URI AND I was still trying to smoke. I say trying because I would take one drag and cough for 5 minutes. I had it all worked out. While I was coughing, I would put out the cigarette so I wouldn't waste any. When the coughing fit was over, I'd light up and the whole cycle would start all over again. I mean, really, can it get any more insane?
At one point I ran out of cigarettes and I thought, "Well, I can go get a new carton OR I can go get the patch." I chose the patch and, for me, it worked like a charm. About 6 months later I had to get a 'script for some Wellbutrin because my cravings, out of nowhere, were like I was on Day 2 of a quit-smoking campaign and I was doing it cold turkey. Weird. But the Wellbutrin did what it was supposed to do and I remain smoke-free 5 years later. I smoked for 35 years.
One more thing: I tried to quit smoking probably 20 times, maybe more. But all it took was ONE time to succeed. So smokers, if you've tried in the past and failed, just keep trying. Use whatever method works for you. The OP found his/her method, I found mine and you can find yours. Try EVERYTHING but please, keep trying.
eilen (900 posts) Fri Feb-06-09 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
9. Great post, good for you!
just a little quibble. When you smoke, your blood vessels don't dilate (dilate means to get larger), instead, they constrict. Constricted = get narrower. But you had the right idea after that. That raises your blood pressure which can cause some damage to the vessels in addition to not providing enough or as much oxygen to the cells of your organs (including your brain). The brain gets served first, that's the body's rule. It is not unusual for the legs to hurt when walking due to the damage in the blood vessels from this and the cyclic or chronic oxygen starvation to the nerves.
My parents were both heavy smokers, my mother still is and she can't get across the room with out getting out of breath. My dad had vessel disease and stents placed in his heart too but it was the lung cancer that got him. Out of the three of us kids, only my brother smokes still.
Some people are very fixed and find it extremely difficult to change, their personalities are not flexible, it is just not part of their character. I do not fault them for not being able to quit, I feel sorry for them because it is like being in a prison. Smoking is so addictive and there is no good detox and recovery program for it like there is for other drugs. It is legal and the states feed off it for funding which I find morally indefensible, especially as the funds are not used to help smokers recover.
I have taken care of lots of cancer patients and a large number do not quit smoking. Times of great stress and anxiety are not always the most optimum time.
Anyway, I wanted again to congratulate you. I quit in my 20's and it resulted in a similar response to the smell of cigarette smoke-- I became very hypersensitive to it and it turned my stomach.
Kalyke (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 09:01 AM
Response to Original message
16. I don't want to quit because it's even harder for me to lose weight.
Men can seem to quit without gaining much weight, but women balloon up like, well, a zeppelin when they do.
I have had two large children, two C-sections and now am battling to loose skin/fat collected around my stomach and chest from these children (and I know it was from that - even my doctors have told me). I can't lose a pound. I can go on a diet, strict, for a month and not lose one ounce. I've had thyroid checks, diabetes checks - everything.
But, if I quit smoking - as I've done before (with both pregnancies and once on my own before returning) I always gain weight that I can never take off.
I'm not horrendously overweight now, but I would be if I quit. Therefore, for me, it's six one way and half a dozen the other. Either die from a lung disease or die from obesity. Sigh.
Uh-huh.
franksolich's issue is that smoking is a great stress reliever, a great mellower.
A smoking franksolich is a nice guy, one of the nicest guys one can hope to meet.
A non-smoking franksolich can be a real bitch.
Stinky The Clown (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 09:10 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. I have a similar issue, actually ......
That part remains unresolved.
My doc wants me at 190. He's okay with 200. I'm at 208 and have been for over a year and can't lose that last 8 pounds.
Wow.
My "picture" of the sparkling husband primitive's always been that of a scrawny hen-pecked thinning-hair little guy, not a 200-pound behemoth.
Perhaps it would help if the sparkling husband primitive quit dining out at fancy restaurants, and quit cooking fancy foods in his own kitchen, sticking with only the basics?
The sparkling husband primitive, being a Democrat, liberal, 0bamaite, and primitive, surely feels care and compassion for all those in the world starving, and it should be an easy matter of adjusting his conscience to feel guilty about his fine dining.
lunatica (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 09:15 AM
Response to Reply #16
19. I get what you're talking about but your priorities are skewed
Being thin is not that all important, all consuming, or all anything. Take a good look at people in your life around you who are overweight by your standards. Are they less human? Less deserving of the right to pursue happiness? Are they un-American? Are they less decent? If you hate them for being fat, or overweight then you are as prejudiced as if you hate people for being black or aliens or gay.
Smoking to stay thin is really bad for you on all levels.
The primitive once known as the "Texas Explorer" primitive:
Subdivisions (1000+ posts) Fri Feb-06-09 09:16 AM
Response to Original message
20. Here's how I quit:
I decided, upon a compendium of the evidence that cigarettes are bad for one's health and a growing personal disgust with them, to set them down. For good.
That was a single day some 12 years ago and I never looked back.
We'll see.
