Quitting smoking - need your support

[meta]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but I've been lurking here for a while, and it seems like you have a great community here.

I recently started Kyokushin, something that I wanted to do for years. I want to continue training for as long as I can. With this new goal in mind, I now feel motivated enough (for the first time) to quit smoking.

I've been a smoker for 7 years. I never noticed any adverse effects on my health until I started training. Kyokushin training is very demanding, and I often find myself out of breath, which is very frustrating and humiliating.

So yesterday I finally decided to quit. I read many useful articles (and forum posts) on quitting smoking, but I need others' support to help me overcome this habit. I can't really rely on the support of my friends, since many of them smoke. So I hope to find some support among fellow martial artists. I'll keep you posted on my progress, and I'd really appreciate any helpful advice.

Thanks a lot!

 

[davemitchel]

Good luck meta,

when your fingers start reaching for 'the pack', go the PC instead and reach for the forum. Lots of interesting things here to get your mind off the evil sticks ......

Dave

 

[Drac]

The BEST of luck meta...I quit for 2 years, did it cold turkey..I was weak and started up again...Don't be weak...

 

[HKphooey]

I used Charms Blow Pops! It worked and I have been smoke free for over 3 1/2 years. Denstist loved my new habit. Lol. Eventually I did not need the lollie pos.

Good luck with it! The place I noticed it the most, was swimming under water. Ask a child I could hold me breath for at least a 45-60 secs. As an adult smoker, I was lucky if I could hold my breath for 15 seconds. You will noticed a drastic channge in your "workout breathing"

 

[Drac]

I used Charms Blow Pops! It worked and I have been smoke free for over 3 1/2 years.

My brother purchase a pack of plastic straws and cut them down to cigarette size and carried then in an old pack..You never saw him without one in his mouth, and it worked ...

 

[Bigshadow]

Glad to have you posting instead of lurking! Good luck on quitting smoking! Your body will thank you later.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

I quit a couple of years ago, it's hard. You might want to look into zyban/wellbutrin. It really worked for me.

Jeff

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Good luck. This is a great thing to do for your health.

 

[hemi]

Meta,
My hats off too you, I wish you the best of luck on quitting. I have had a lot of people that quit tell me they used certs, or gum to help with the cravings. Stay strong and don’t let them beat you.

 

[arnisador]

Good luck! This will make a huge difference in your health.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but I've been lurking here for a while, and it seems like you have a great community here.

I recently started Kyokushin, something that I wanted to do for years. I want to continue training for as long as I can. With this new goal in mind, I now feel motivated enough (for the first time) to quit smoking.

I've been a smoker for 7 years. I never noticed any adverse effects on my health until I started training. Kyokushin training is very demanding, and I often find myself out of breath, which is very frustrating and humiliating.

So yesterday I finally decided to quit. I read many useful articles (and forum posts) on quitting smoking, but I need others' support to help me overcome this habit. I can't really rely on the support of my friends, since many of them smoke. So I hope to find some support among fellow martial artists. I'll keep you posted on my progress, and I'd really appreciate any helpful advice.

Thanks a lot!

First of all, welcome to Martial Talk.

Congratulations on your decision to quit smoking. It will be difficult but YOU CAN DO IT! I smoked for 10 years, was close to 2 packs a day when I finally quit almost 17 years ago. I had tried to quit unsuccessfully a couple times before finally succeeding with cold turkey. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Nicotine leaves your body in 3 days, after that, all your cravings are psychological. It would be a good idea to talk with your doctor too, as there are now treatments available which can increase your odds of success. (zyban/wellbutrin, like Jeff mentioned, works well for a lot of people, congrats to you Jeff )

Buy some hard candy and gum. Keep focused on your training. That will be a good motivator for you in quitting successfully.

Good luck and keep us posted! :asian:

 

[fireman00]

Good luck meta!

I quit 9 1/2 years ago when I started tae kwon do. I had to take the route of using a nicotine inhaler for 4 months followed by 3 months of nicorette gum then 2 years of wrigley's doublemint gum before I lost the craving for a smoke.

Stay away from your "triggers", learn to do deep diaphramatic breathing in stressful situations, drink lots of water, eat lots of crunchy stuff, and chew gum.

 

[meta]

I am simply overwhelmed by your support. Thanks to everyone who responded!

It's been 30 hours since my last cigarette, and yes, it's been tough. But every time I feel tempted to light up, I think about this forum and how embarrassing it would be to admit to you all that my quitting strategy didn't work.

when your fingers start reaching for 'the pack', go the PC instead and reach for the forum. Lots of interesting things here to get your mind off the evil sticks ......

Thanks, Dave! I also found it useful to do knuckle push-ups every time I get my cravings. Woke up this morning with very sore knuckles. Today I’m doing squats instead.

Lollipops also help...

My brother purchase a pack of plastic straws and cut them down to cigarette size and carried then in an old pack..You never saw him without one in his mouth, and it worked ...

That's a great idea! I might try that. I use lollipop sticks (after the candy is gone) to trick my mind into thinking it's a cigarette. Helps tremendously

Nicotine leaves your body in 3 days, after that, all your cravings are psychological.

I will keep this in mind. I read somewhere that the third day is the hardest. That’s Thursday for me. Fortunately, I will have classes all morning and early afternoon, and a two-hour training session in the evening. That should keep me busy enough to keep my mind off smoking.

I think the most difficult thing is that I associate smoking with many pleasurable activities. Like going to my favorite coffee shop in my home town or having a cigarette after finishing a particularly difficult task...

 

[Lisa]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but I've been lurking here for a while, and it seems like you have a great community here.

I recently started Kyokushin, something that I wanted to do for years. I want to continue training for as long as I can. With this new goal in mind, I now feel motivated enough (for the first time) to quit smoking.

I've been a smoker for 7 years. I never noticed any adverse effects on my health until I started training. Kyokushin training is very demanding, and I often find myself out of breath, which is very frustrating and humiliating.

So yesterday I finally decided to quit. I read many useful articles (and forum posts) on quitting smoking, but I need others' support to help me overcome this habit. I can't really rely on the support of my friends, since many of them smoke. So I hope to find some support among fellow martial artists. I'll keep you posted on my progress, and I'd really appreciate any helpful advice.

Thanks a lot!

Meta,

All I can offer is my support and to tell you to never quit quitting. The benefits you will see from being a nonsmoker are tremendous and soon enough you will not know how you ever smoked.

On a personal note, my father is awaiting a quintuple bipass. He has smoked for 57 years and this along with a bad diet has damaged his heart immensely. He has been given no option but to quit. My Mom is showing her support by quitting with him. Don't get to his point where his quality of life is decreased. Quit now and enjoy all the years you have ahead of you.

 

[exile]

Meta---this is great advice you've gotten. I've never smoked, but I've had many friends who have and who quit successfully. Exile's point about the nicotine craving diminishing physiologically, but staying with you psychologically, is absolutely true---and something to watch out for: stress and anxiety seem to make people in early stages of quiting vulnerable to getting derailed. So, apparently, does alcohol---for a lot of people smoking and drinking in social situations go together. You could probably block those kinds of triggered temptations by working out in advance how you're going to handle them. Best of luck, you're already way healthier than you were 30 hours ago!

 

[Kacey]

Good luck to you - it sounds like you have the right attitude.

Something else to consider (just to add to Lisa's story): my mother smoked for about 30 years, as did her best friend. They tried to quit together several times, and finally tried hypnosis... which (sort of) worked. My mother finally quit for good when her friend died of lung cancer 3 months after the hypnosis; Hedy waited too long to quit that last time. Shortly after that, my grandmother (mother's mother) died of emphysema; she had been a 2-3 pack a day smoker for 60 years, and was the only one of her siblings to die before 95 - and she was 78. She was also the only one who smoked.

Some other things my mother said helped (and prevented weight loss) - she took up crocheting again. Having something to do with her hands, she said, helped keep her busy, and replaced having a cigarette in her hands. Crocheting may not be the activity for you, but there are lots of things - from sewing to crossword puzzles - that you can carry easily that will keep your hands busy.

 

[Ping898]

Good luck with quitting!!! I am not a smoker, but my mother is and she's struggled for a long time with it.

As for my advice, I would suggest doing a spring (fall) cleaning of your home, if your place is anything like my folks, the cigarette smell has seeped into everything and one way to help stop the cravings is to avoid the smells, plus after you are no longer around the smells you will find you because more sensitive to the smoke and less tolerant of it!

Aslo if you live in the US and have an employer that participates in the Health Care Flexible Spending Account where they take pre-tax dollars from your paycheck for medical expenses, you can get any of the stop smoking aids like the gum or the patches that you use reimbursed, reduces your taxable income. Check with your HR.

GOOD LUCK!!! and welcome to MT

 

[IcemanSK]

I have never smoked, but both of my parents did. My dad never did quit. He died of lung cancer 5 years ago. My mom just quit a few months ago. I know how hard it is. You've got a lot of good advice from folks here. All I can say is, I'm in your corner.

 

[donna]

Good luck with your efforts. found this little bit of information that was very interesting,

What Happens to Your body if you stop smoking Right now?

Wade | Prevention, Cancer, Your Body, Greatest Hits | Wednesday, July 19th, 2006

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
• In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
• In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
• In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
• In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
• In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
• In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
• In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
• In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
• In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke.
Reference:http://healthbolt.net/2006/07/19/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-stop-smoking-right-now/

 

[Hand Sword]

In the words of the Adam Sandler movies... "YOU CAN DO IT !!!"