I am not a smoker but having lived with my DH for 40+ years who was I know first hand how hard it is to quit. He died last summer from lung cancer at the age of 60. He used the e cig for awhile after his diagnosis but went back to smoking when he could towards the end. It is so terribly addictive. I am so glad you are trying to quit! Keep it up it is so worth it.

Never give up on trying to quit, I smoked for 29 yrs. and tried to quit many times, but it wasn't until my grandchildren came along that I really did it! My children, none of them, smoke and I didn't want to be the stinky grandma, so 17 yrs. ago I gave them up and now I wonder why i smoked as long as I did! My father and father-in-law also passed away from lung cancer and seeing them suffer was also a great incentive for quitting. Good luck!!

I smoked for 10 years and my surgeon boss kept telling me day after day what it was doing to my lungs - even bringing me pictures of lungs taken out at surgery! One day when I had jury duty and ran out of cigarettes, there were none for sale at the Courthouse - and I just never bought more. For the next 3 weeks, whenever I would really crave one I would get on my treadmill and walk as hard and fast as I could until all I wanted to do was breath deep. Finally, the wanting stopped and 6 months later, I smoked half a cigarette but other than that, none since 11-19-88.

thank you all for your encouragement & sharing your stories. i cant get on yt from home right now and my arthritis in my right hand is kicking my butt so very hard to type. just had to say thank you!

Hope you feel better!:)

You can DO IT . . . Just think of how many (minuites, hours, days, months and years) you will add to your life and be there for your children and your family.

Stock up on gum & candy. Never been a smoker but i hear it helps take the urge away.

Good luck ! :D

I bought an e-cig, called Green Smoke. I really need to plug it in, charge it and fire it up again. I was doing well using it and cut down to maybe 3 cigs a day and using that. I think I got too weak cartridges though and thats why Im not super stoked to try again, but I need to. Honestly I NEED TO!!!!

So, it's been over 2 1/2 days now. I have really weak moments sometimes but still no cig. :)

:cheer::cheer::cheer::clapsmile:clapsmile
Yay Terri!!! Keep up the good work :thumbup:

Congrats to you! :) Sometimes you have to take it a minute at a time...if you do that you will see that the actual craving is usually a very short one. When it comes along, just replace it with some kind of positive activity. It will go away! :)

Good job!!! just keep telling yourself "I am not smoking today" take it one day at a time.

Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone! It hasn't been easy since I can't get on YT at night from home - so I lost TWO addictions this week! lol

Keep it up - I quit after smoking 10 years and you can do it! I had two neighbors die of COPD and let me tell you, breathing as if through a twisted paper straw partially filled with liquid is no way to spend the last couple of years of your still young life. They both went far, far too early and I miss them dearly. You can't walk or do much of anything without fighting just to breathe through those terribly narrow and congested tubes coming from awful lungs. Going to the bathroom was a major activity for them each those last two years of life! It's a slow death. That is grim but it is the truth! Both were longtime smokers and their houses smelled like smoke and so did their cars. One smoked to the end(!) but the other one did stop a year before the disease took her. Please, please, please do not smoke!!! I stopped cold turnkey 11-19-88 and it was the best day because I did the best ever on my doctor's lung-capacity test. I set a record using that thing about two years ago!

What's sad, Jeanie, is knowing the stuff about the COPD and emphazema and still not being able to break the nicotine habbit. That's how strong it is!

You all (well, most) know about my niece who has Cystic Fibrosis. The girl is literally dying waiting on lungs.

My granny (my dad's mom) had emphazema. She died of something else but was connected to an oxygen tank for the last 10 years of her life.

I see/saw that and I still have not been able to come close to quitting - until now. I try not to put unrealistic expectations on myself but so far, I'm hanging in there.

It is so sad and I know about that habit from when I smoked but eventually, all of those pictures of black, diseased lungs and things got me so motivated I just never bought another pack of cigarettes and thought if I walk around the house screaming and beat my head on the wall, I'm not buying anymore cigarettes ever ever ever. If I die craving, I will stop this and not wind up sick and diseased because I had a habit and let IT run my life. I prepared for a horrible time and it wasn't. I prayed and asked God for help how to avoid cravings. I would get on that treadmill(which I just happened(?) to have bought 3 weeks before and was delivered to my home the DAY I quit smoking at the Courthouse!) and would walk off the jitters and breathe, breathe, breathe. I focused hard at work and started the next project instead of taking that smoke break and got up and went for a walk after lunch rather than having a smoke. Same after dinner. Driving was one of the times I smoked and that was hard but I would turn on Rock N Roll music and actually sip on an icy Diet Cola or chew mounds of Bubblegum as a pacifier as I'd drive to and from work. Soon my body gave up the urging and forgot about it. If you have made it this far, you can make it another day. Just get through the next 24 nicotine free. Go to a movie tonight and then another after if you have to. Shop and spend money or do whatever it takes to not ever pick up another of those nasty things and kick that drug from your body. Your mind and your body is stronger by far than is the craving, especially when you can get immersed in movies or running/walking and shopping shopping shopping and things that can keep your mind and body busy busy busy. Stay busy until you drop. Heck, it's only for a day - you can get through a day. And tomorrow, you can get through that.

That's so great!! I am going to have to kick Shelby-Dale off his treadmill and make him share with Mom.

Someone said to me "Don't quit quitting", those words stuck with me when the two times I fell off the wagon (for one evening). You will like not having your hair smell like cigarettes, your clothing looks cleaner and of course the benefits to your heart, lungs, throat, teeth, skin.

I remember one of the best feelings I had was going to the dentist the first time after I quit. I loved how my teeth felt and looked.

Keep going forward, I will be on the sidelines being your cheerleader.

That treadmill was likely the secret of my success. When I got off that thing after 45 minutes of huffing and puffing, the LAST thing my body craved was nicotine. It craved oxygen oxygen oxygen and water. When done walking, I would drink and drink and then go shower and usually lie down and go to sleep. Sometimes I would get bubblegum in my mouth and walk and chew and walk and blow bubbles and walk and walk and walk. It sure beats sitting around and feeling that craving. Oh, and pump up the music or watch TV while you are doing the walking to keep your mind busy.

I think my body finally told its nervous system to "SHUT UP with the NICOTINE cravings! Everytime you do that she works my butt off and I'm dog tired! No kidding, at home or after a meal if I thought "cigarette" my next action was "treadmill", even if I was at work. I'd take a potty break and go climb stairs instead. I think the Pavlov's dog response finally kicked in and my nervous sytem finally said "forrrrrrrr - get it" to nicotine. It was kinda like being zapped with electric current or hearing a terribly shocking sudden loud noise each time I thought of smoking - got zapped with 45 mins. of hard, hard work or climbing stairs! And I didn't get to pee that much so that hurt. On the treadmill, I would turn that thing up anytime a cigarette thought would flit into my mind until all I could think of was AIR. Air. Air. Finally the cigarette association was so bad to my system it stopped asking for a smoking session and let me be. The craving just stopped. One day, I realized it had been a long time since I had wanted a cigarette and as soon as that thought hit my mind, my body and brain groaned at the thought! But that time, it was a BAD thought. I didn't want one - I recoiled at the thought! My body said "No way no time no how" to that thought. That's how it changed for me. I hope it works that way for you. I'm convinced it was an answer to prayer. Rom. 8:28

Just wanted to update. On Friday night, lit a cigarette and smoked about 3 puffs off of it and put it out. It was NOT what I had been expecting. It was NOT good. lol

Other than those 3 puffs, I have been smoke free for a week and 3 days :)

Very good job, keep moving forward.

Woo hoo keep it up Terri:D

That's great that you're quitting and great you're at the point that it wasn't good, that helps :) My best friend of nearly 20 years died about a year ago, horribly and quickly, of small cell lung cancer. We'd been trying to get her to quit smoking for years and years, but she just wasn't interested :( My mom, on the other hand, quit a few years ago after 50 years of smoking!! She had a smoking-related health issue and decided to give it up. She did it by smoking fewer and fewer cigs per day for a while, getting on Wellbutrin and going to 0 cigarettes after about a week. A lot of people I know have quit using with Welbutrin, the cigarette taste is apparently more repulsive than satisfying when you're on it. I quit around 10 years ago after smoking on and off only for a few years, but it was VERY tough. I used the steps (I'm in recovery, so I mean the 12 steps) and every time I wanted to smoke, I'd take a walk. After the first couple of weeks, it got a lot better, but it was almost as tough to quit that as alcohol/pills (my previous "drugs of choice.").

So, it can be done and good for you that you're doing it now before there are drastic health consequences.:thumbup:

Yes, the older I have gotten (especially the last 2 or so years), the more issues I've noticed (a lot of sinus/allergy probs mostly) with my health. I was so excited when this particual e-cig came into my life with real success stories that I could see.

I will have to gradually step down on nicotine strength but I know I can do that. Right now, it is my safety net and is always in my hand lol

Keep on moving forward in a positive direction Terri....Proud of what you have accomplished so far...and with each day it just gets better.... :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Your doing great keep it up. Even if you end up cheating and have one just think of it as a little roadblock and go back to the ecigs. You can do it. Now if I would only take my own advice

Congrats. Well on your way :)

I quit about ten years ago, but then got hooked on the gum. The gum is slightly reinforcing because you can have it to regulate a mood, get tense, and have a piece of gum. About 2 years ago, I bought the patches and even with them I had a hard time quitting. I didn't use any gum or cigs with the patches, but I struggled, I was deeply addicted to nicotine. Your brain makes nicotine, and you have so many receptors, as you smoke, your receptors die and it takes more nicotine to feel normal because you have fewer receptors. I visualized my brain making more receptors! :D Drinking alcohol or coffee makes you have more nicotine urges, so quitting that might be helpful at first. The problem most people have is they think one won't make a difference and this often happens when they are out with friends and have a drink, so beware. I keep a box of patches here just in case and instead of a cigarette, I’ll have a patch. I’m am truly thankful to be off of nicotine.

I agree with the drinking alcohol, Nancy. I smoke a LOT more when I drink. I have made a vow not to drink for a long while (I don't drink much anyway so shouldn't be hard).

Those few puffs I had Friday were so strange. I was expecting a sensation of, yeah, this feeling is different and expected to get that light headed high you get when you don't smoke for a while. I didn't get that and I really didn't care for the taste. The ecig has a sweet taste to it..like I'm smoking speramint come LOL

I remember that happening to me when I hadn't smoked for a while, I never learned why the sweet taste, but I know it happened at least twice, it wasn't pleasant.

By the way, look up pictures to modivate you. Here's a picture of twins.

UMmm I just realized my typo and it looks really BADDD. lol

I meant speramint GUM :eek: :D