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• June 20, 2008 9:07 p.m.

  Hi everyone, Well tomorrow is my quit date. Wish me luck I'm going to need a lot of support. I have so much going in my life right now that I don't really think it's that good of a time to quit, but what the heck I'm still going to give it a try. Pray for me. Thanks Sheri

  - sheri

• June 20, 2008 5:04 p.m.

  To Kathy... Yes, I experienced the same feelings as you when I quit in January of this year.. that I had lost my best friend and got depressed over it. (I quit by using "Commit" lozenges, cherry flavor, which were recommended by my doctor.) I had gone to the doctor looking for a way to stop smoking and shortly after got the shock of my life when I wound up getting diagnosed with lung cancer.... I had no symptoms but my doctor and I agreed that I should have a CT Scan done because of my smoking history. Although part of one lung has since been removed and my prognosis is good having caught the cancer early, I still crave for a cigarette. However, after what I just went through, there is no way that I will smoke again. Over 30 years of smoking did this to me... it's a long time... some best friend, huh? ... and Yes, I still would like to light up but I'd have to be a bit crazy, wouldn't I? So gang, take it from me... You can STOP... just don't wait around to get bad news from your doctor. Good Luck to you all.

  - Gloria

• June 20, 2008 10:18 a.m.

  I have tried so many times to quit, always found an excuse to go back to smoking. I am trying again, smoke free for three days and it just seems to get harder. One thing that is helping is reading the comments from this blog. Thanks everyone for sharing your story.

  - Phyllis

• June 19, 2008 5:55 p.m.

  I had smoked for many years, I mean many! Coughing and choking finally got me to quit. I did quit for 10 years and then I was forced into a corner with severe chronic pain. There was nothing to stop the pain. Meds, tens, you name it, I tried it, and still do. Dumb as it sounds, I tried a cigarette remembering how it had really fogged up my thinking the first time I started smoking. It worked for awhile, and when the pain gets unbearable, I light up again. Ya, I smoke most of the time now. Quitting, sure, soon as I hit the grave!

  - Quinton/Illinois

• June 19, 2008 1:31 p.m.

  To Jean Anoka from MN- Unfortunately, even though smoke free for over 5 years I haven't stopped thinking about cigarettes. I think about them almost everyday in one way or another. When cigarettes are a part of your life for so long your memories are filled with them. When you picture yourself doing this or that, you see yourself with a cigarette in your hand. You associate that cigarette as part of you. When you get the feeling "something is missing" you realize the only thing that has changed is the presence of that cigarette. I have to remind myself that in instances like this, I am having a "rememberance" not a craving. I have been smoke-free long enough that my brain receptors aren't telling me I need a smoke due to the addiction, my mind is telling me I need a cigarette because all that I picture is me doing that task with a cigarette in my hand. I think about cigarettes everyday and I don't think that will ever go away. The good news is that now I can tell the difference between a craving or "need" for the body and a "rememberance" of the happy times associated with that cigarette. You always have to remember the situation never gets better if you smoke. Cigarettes don't change anything. The situation will never be resolved from the cigarette. If anything it will just "take me away" for a moment and make me feel worse after the fact. Stay strong Jean. It is not a loss, just a change. Start building memor

  - Jen from Pennsylvania

• June 19, 2008 1:04 p.m.

  I quit smoking after two days of starting the clinic at the VA

  - Frank Roberts

• June 18, 2008 5:27 p.m.

  I quit smoking 4-1-08 after 51 years of smoking. I used Chantix, and it has been much easier than I ever anticipated. I still have strong urges of wanting to smoke, but 99% of the time, I just get a sucker instead. I have occasionally had one cigarette - like may be 1 in a week or go 2 weeks with none. I had a few packs of cigarettes left on my "quit" day. I call them my security blankets, just in case I feel I absolutely have to have a cigarette. I believe the time will come when I can throw them away and I'll know that I have totally kicked the terrible addiction.

  - Judy

• June 18, 2008 5:10 p.m.

  Thought I would share how I stopped smoking hoping it can be beneficial to some of you. After a couple of failed attempts at going "cold turkey" my doctor reminded me that nicotine is addictive and it causes much less shock for the body when smoking is stopped gradually. I chose a target date, and on that date I smoked my normal number of cigarettes. Two days later, I reduced the number of cigarettes by one. I continued to reduce the number by one cigarette every other day. I counted out my cigarettes each morning to make sure I didn't cheat. At the end of 45 days I had one cigarette to smoke. I had my co-workers take a picture of me smoking my last cigarette and I still have the picture. I haven't smoked since then and that was 19 years ago. Give it a try. It might work for you! I really hope so. It's a great feeling to kick a bad and dangerous habit.

  - Brenda

• June 18, 2008 3:30 p.m.

  Quit smoking! STEP A - "dispose" 1. Pickup remaining pack. 2. Make sure smokes are in it. 3. Get rid of it - throw it away. 4. Do not hide it for later use. 5. Make sure there are no traces of smokes in your property, car, etc. STEP B - "avoid" 1. Do not buy any more smokes. 2. Go to cancer websites and enjoy pictures of rotting flesh and missing face and body parts due to rotting flesh caused by smoking. 3. Do not bum smokes off of the others. 4. Do not pickup old cigarette butts and try to smoke those. 5. When in company with other smokers tell them that you quit and refuse any offers to smoke. STEP C - "clean" 1. Get some Lysol or Clorox surface cleaner and some strong odor eliminators and clean your house spotless several times. 2. Make sure your house smells like bleach for a while and make sure you do whatever it takes to get rid of the cigarette smells. 3. Same story for your car if you have one, make sure to get some OXY carpet cleaner and scrub the heck out of inside. Spray the strongest odor eliminator in it if you can find one, i mean several cans of it all at once. Get out of the car and close the doors so enterior gets to absorb the chemicals and not your longs. Get rid of that smoke smell. 4. Get some good candles and make sure you burn them in every room anytime you are inside the house. STEP D "stop smoking" 1. Read STEP B and do what it says.

  - Andrey

• June 18, 2008 1:23 p.m.

  I strongly recommend Chantix, it is the only hope for a 40 year smoker like me. A year ago I ended up in the hospital with a MI (myocardial infraction), my right coronary artery was 100% blocked. This led to further exams and they discovered both of my carotid arteries were 90% blocked. After 2 horrifying carotid endarterectomies I was finding it easy, with Chantix, to not smoke. Now that a year has passed I find it more difficult. Stress and stressful events are your worst enemy, and who can avoid them in this day and age. Commercials ragging on about quitting smoking are as suggestive as smoking commercials used to be. I wish they would ban them from TV also. And Jen from Philadelphia, sure glad to see you've quit thinking about cigarettes! It never goes away.

  - Jean Anoka, MN

• June 18, 2008 12:37 p.m.

  To Kathy - God only opened the door for you, it's up to you to go through. Your love of self and faith in that you are loved will smother your depression and anxiousness. Besides I for one am thinking you can do it. THINK POSITIVELY.

  - Phill

• June 18, 2008 10:05 a.m.

  6 months ago, an xray revealed a nodule on my rib cage. Before hearing the results of the 2nd xray, I told God that if this one passed me by, I would give up smoking. I was elated upon hearing the nodule was no longer visible! I have gone from over a pack to 8 or less a day. I have prayed to have the desire to smoke go away and it's really helped a lot. This is one of the most difficult times in my life and yet I'm managing. However,I do feel quite depressed and anxious. Does anyone else experience that? I can't find any information that speaks to that issue. I feel like I've lost a best friend.

  - Kathy

• June 18, 2008 6:37 a.m.

  After smoking 1 1/2 packs a day for almost 35 years, and trying many methods of quitting (patch, chantrix, etc) I can't believe how easy it was to quit smoking. A friend recommended a book to me; I purchased and read the book the following day and have been a non-smoker now for 10 months. I gave the book to my son-in-law, and he is now a non-smoker. I hate to sound like an advertisement, but that $11 was the best money I ever spent. And the savings... over $2000 saved so far at today's prices, not to mention future savings, etc. Like most people, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to socialize without a cigarette in my hand; or take a long drive in a car w/out smoking, etc. But that's just not the case. Oh, sorry... the book that saved my life is "The easy way to stop smoking" by Allen Carr. After reading just twenty pages of this book, my cigarettes were in the trash can. At least half a dozen friends and family members are now non-smokers because of this book. So pick it up today and enjoy the years you have left on this earth as a non-smoker... I am.

  - Dave

• June 18, 2008 4:48 a.m.

  OK....it is time for me to get this "quitting" thing over with. I am almost 55 years old and have been smoking since I was 19. I HATE IT!! I'm so addicted that I smoke two packs a day - mostly because of boredom and a social need to join in with everyone else. You see, my entire family smokes and the garage in our house is the gathering place to smoke and talk and laugh. When I have tried to quit in the past, I find myself sitting alone in the livingroom because I can't quit and be around it, too. I have set a quit date - July 18th because it is my 55th birthday and I can't think of a better gift I can give to myself than this. I have tried all the nicotine replacement products and found myself smoking at the same time I'm using them. I have tried to cut back but that seems to be impossibe for me. Sooo...I have decided to go cold turkey and make everyone around me miserable because I'm going thru major withdrawal. Question: Does anyone have a solution for the alone feelings I will have? I feel like it will be the hardest part because I enjoy my families company when they are visiting. Talk about carma .... this forum seems to have come along at the perfect time for me! Plan to hear alot from me as I go for this huge change in my life!

  - gammawbecky

• June 18, 2008 4:22 a.m.

  I had to quit smoking because I was facing a possible bone fusion. So I did, it has been 1 year now. The problem now is that I have gained 25 lbs that I cannot get rid of because I cannot exercise now because of my medical problems. Up to this day the Doctors do not know what is wrong with me and I have difficulty walking. I am on pain medication which don't help much. So how can I loose weight if I cannot excercise. I feel like I am carrying an elephant on my shoulders and it is bearing down on my hips. I walk with a walker for now. I am glad that I stopped smoking but sometimes I wonder if I was better off without all that extra weight.

  - Patricia

• June 17, 2008 10:12 p.m.

  To Tina from June 11th post: If I have done my math correctly, you should be on day 20. I hope you have not given in to the urges. It does get easier, I promise. Eventually you will feel so proud of yourself and healthier. Take walks and/or listen to music to ease stress and do chew on straws or just play with them in your hand. It's not only your mouth that needs to be kept busy, so do your hands. If you are irritable, so what? That will not last forever...just go be by yourself. You should be over the physical part and the rest is psychological. The urges soon won't last as long (drink water or tomato juice) and much more time will lapse between them. Do I still want a cigarette after being smoke free for 10 years? I guess I wish they weren't lethal so I could have one, but I don't really have urges...I actually am scared to death of them...I know if I have one, it's all over for me. My co-worker, and very good friend, was just diagnosed with stage 3A non small cell lung cancer - he's around 45 and has a wife and two young children. Look that up here in Mayoclinic.com...you don't want that. I wish you and all other success - it IS so worth what you are going through...you'll know that real soon and remember, you CANNOT have one. NJ

  - NJ from Texas

• June 17, 2008 7:30 p.m.

  Ms Kern, I wish the best of luck to you on your new Tobacco Blog. My name is Lori Palermo from Goudsboro, PA. On 26 Dec. 2003 I lost my dad after a 13 year battle with COPD/Emphysema. My dad was a smoker. Since that time, I have become very involved in lung disease work and smokefree living. In June 2006 on Fathers Day, I launched my own website In Memory of My Dad. I am now an Advocate For Lung Disease Awareness & Smokefree Living. I have a "Family Sharing" page on my website which consists of websites and blogs by patients, caregivers and family members. I would be very interested in adding your blog to this page on my site. I feel it would be very helpful to the many people who visit my website. Thank you for your time, Lori Palermo loveyourlungs@yahoo.com www.loveyourlungsbreatheforlife.com

  - Lori Palermo

• June 17, 2008 6:01 p.m.

  I am so happy to have found this blog. I quit smoking for 6 months on Chantix and started again one night while drinking. ARGH! It was the longest I had quit since I started smoking 21 years ago. Chantix is wonderful! Once you decide not to smoke any ONE day, you will realize that the urges are SO much less than with most anything else. BUT if you don't take just ONE day to not smoke, you'll not know how easy Chantix makes it. I'm one to talk. I was ready to go get a cig before reading everyone's posts and I thank every single person who took the time to write. It kept me from going to get that cig and my moment of craving has passed. I know how first hand how addicting cigarettes are. It is a horrible, horrible addiction!!! I started smoking at 15 yrs and lost my father at 59 to lung cancer and my mother 7 years later at 62 to lung cancer and I STILL smoked. Talk about feeling crappy about yourself! And then you tell yourself that it's probably too late for yourself anyway. Even if you quit, that is how you will die. Maybe. But do you want the cigarettes to have a hold on you all your life? No - take back your control. It is SO HARD to do, but it CAN BE done. One day at a time, one day at a time.... Good luck to everyone trying to break free of the habit. Very best of luck!

  - S. Alexander

• June 17, 2008 5:12 p.m.

  I am 74 yrs. old and started smoking when I was in High school. I tried a couple of times to quit and no luck and then my Dr. found a nodule on my left lung and I have now been a non smoker since the end of Jan. 2008 the nodule was no-cancerous but I have to follow up every 6 months with a cat scan. I also have multiple myeloma whic I have had for 13 yrs,. I am doing pretty good with that . Mary

  - mmaslo5972@comcast.net

• June 17, 2008 4:53 p.m.

  In my attempts at smoking cessation I found that I had to learn to manage my stress better. I found a web site which helped me tremendously with stress-www.haplecrone.com--Put stress in the search engine on his home page and see hundreds of excellent articles on stress.

  - Bruce

• June 17, 2008 4:43 p.m.

  I am 67 years old and have smoked since I was 18. I have read many of the posts here and see myself in lots of them. No other way to set off the relaxation response, have bought them one pack at a time for 20 years in the hopes that each pack would be the last, have tried patches but unfortunately am allergic to adhesive, can't seem to tap into that "Higher Power", and on and on the list could go. What I need is a rehab center for nicotine addicts--where I can be alone and not be able to run out and buy a pack!! Are there such places?

  - Judith

• June 17, 2008 4:08 p.m.

  first I would like to start out that my wife and I have been smokefree for 3 years now. I am 45 and she is 34 both of us smoked from the time we were 17 and 18 yo. When I decided to quit from a 3 pack a day, we talked and realized that both of us would have to quit to make it work. She at the time was a 4 pack a day smoker. The funny thing was and thought it would never work was we went to a hypnotist and it worked. We have not touched another one since. I would love to say now since we have quit and controlled our weight we both feel great and not a day goes by that we don't thank ourselves that we did it. At least for both of our kids sake and soon our grandchildren sake. Hope that every smoker could give it a try, I just don't like sounding like a preacher but it maybe we can help at least one person try and succeed.

  - wayne

• June 16, 2008 8:49 p.m.

  I got fed up with cigarettes controlling my life. Driving to Kwik Trip at midnight so I'd have one for the morning upon awakening, and feeling lightheaded while smoking outside in below zero weather. I decided I was to be in control, not the stupid cigarettes. I was being selfish after having smoked for about 18 years. It wasn't about only me any longer. I had personal responsibility to be a healthy wife for my husband and a healthy mother for my children! Enrolling in a smoking cessation program where I was held accountable and got support was just as important for quitting as the stepdown patches I wore for 3 months. I picked Spring for a quitting time to keep busy outside doing yard work, gardening, etc. I made a support baggie filled with straws cut to exact length of a cigarette, cinnamon gum, hard candies, suckers, and toothpicks. Was never without that baggie! Held the straw while driving. A 5-10 min. walk took the place of a cigarette after meals. TELL YOURSELF THERE'S NO CHOICE. IT'S NOT OPTIONAL TO QUIT OR NOT. HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO DON'T SMOKE AT LEAST FOR 6 MO. PICTURE YOURSELF LYING IN A COFFIN WITH YOUR LOVED ONES CRYING OVER YOU AT A FUNERAL HOME. SAD THOUGHT ISN'T IT?

  - Former Addict

• June 16, 2008 8:09 p.m.

  I have now been smoke free for 7 weeks. I have smoked for 40 years and have tried to quite for many many years...never making it past 3 days. It is the hardest thing i have ever done. I tried hypnosis and it didnt work for me....I also have tried many smoking aids without success. I was diagosed with bladder cancer a year ago...and still battled to quit. Now, 7 weeks under my belt, I think I can do it. I wish everyone luck.

  - J.Olson

• June 16, 2008 4:57 a.m.

  I was given Chantix at the Mayo last August [after i have tried all known ways to quitt my 50 sigarettes a day for 47 years] and this time i succeeded to give up.Allmost 10 months now.Still miss it but very rarely.

  - G.Psillakis,Cyprus