Sorry

[Ed]

Thanks, Walker   The support I got from the folks here made a big difference, actually - kept my spirits up when I was feeling shitty.  Well done to you, too - you're doing even better than me and I haven't congratulated you yet!

A lot of people around me in real life didn't believe I could do it (I've always loved challenges like that, my whole life - I like to surprise people when they think they've got me pegged  ), and a lot of smokers I know are saying, "If you can do it, anybody can."  Which I take to mean they think they've got half a chance of quitting now, too, and that's good

[sharon]

   Way to go Blunt!   
It's great to hear someone has quit cold turkey and not danced off into the thickets crazy as a loon or killed somebody.  I love a good success story and I've seen three here...


maybe if I'd quit I wouldn't need the swift kick in the arse every mornin to jumpstart the ole lungs.    can't think of a single reason to keep smokin, either.  The one time I halfway tried I ended up lookin like this little bugger  all the time and I kept a migraine... one day I'll throw em down like I've threatened a million times.  Reading this thread has inspired me to give it another shot.

[Ed]

Thanks, Sharon   Good luck if you decide to give it a try, too.  I'd thoroughly recommend buying that Allen Carr book - I wouldn't have been able to quit without it.  Like you, I was like a  raving loon the last time I tried to stop.  People were ringing my wife asking if I was OK, because I was wandering around with a purple head, snapping at people while veins popped in my forehead.

After reading the book, I couldn't wait to stop smoking, and for the first time ever, I chucked everything away - tobacco, lighters, ash trays, the lot.  It still took a fair bit of willpower, but with knowing why I was feeling as I was, it made it so that I knew smoking again wouldn't make me feel any better.

Dunno about you, but I had got to the stage where I was wheezing, and I had this annoying little cough.  I was sick of having nicotine stains on my fingers and teeth.  Funnily enough, these were the first things to go after I quit.  It took about two or three days to stop coughing and lose the orange fingers.  I don't miss any of that crap.

[sharon]

Oh, yeah.  That nasty little cough I've had for a while.  And the damn wheeze only happens when I try to go to sleep and it annoys the hell outta me.  The orangey fingers I've kept at bay by soaking them in peroxide twice a week--kinda horrid ain't it?  Mum is dead-set against smoking but last time I tried to quit I had to drive her to the doctor in the middle of the day.  She hates swearing, too but here I was, screaming at some idiot who cut me off and made me hit the brakes harder than normal.  I didn't realize how bad it was until I heard a lighter strike, turned and me own mum was lighting up a cig!  I nearly wrecked because of the shock.  Coughing and gagging she handed it to me and said, "Smoke the damn thing, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack, you're just like my dad when he didn't have a smoke!"  We argued for a minute but with the fucking thing lit between me fingers it was really already over, eh?  Now she fusses all the time about me smokin but says not to go at it like before because she couldn't even stand me-- thanks mum.

My hubby smokes, too so it's gonna be tough to just dump the ashtrays without eatin the stubs.  I'll be sure to look for the book, thanks for recommending it   

Another reason for me to quit is the old ticker speedin up.  Heart rate used to be around 60 and now it's around 120 most evenings and I've been on meds to slow it down...I know it's the stress and the cigs (mostly the cigs).

Thanks again, Blunt

[Ed]

Yeah, funny you should mention heart rate - mine went from 96bpm at rest to 60 in a matter of days.  Similar to you, my wife was the one who put paid to my previous attempt to quit.  She went to the shops, came back with a pack of cigarettes and threw them into my lap, saying something like, "Smoke these, you miserable bastard."  She's never smoked.  Never even tried it.

Don't worry about your husband still smoking while you're trying to quit - if anything, having people around who smoked helped me.  Smelling smoke in the air helped satisfy the cravings, and anyway, you gradually come to see smokers as being caught in the trap you're free of.

Dan recommended the book to me, and Missy (Jan) said it helped her to quit, too.  The American version of the website is here - http://www.theeasywaytostopsmoking.com/ and I don't know if it's the same in the US, but the book was cheaper from his website than it was on the direct Amazon link, even though when you click the link on the website you end up on Amazon

Well worth the money - think it was $12 or $15.  Nothing, really.

[SharonBell]

CONGRATS, Blunt, on still being clean. It's a tough monkey to kill!

Sharon, you can do it. I smoked and wheezed and had asthma attacks in my 20's and finally got the message: "THIS IS STUPID!" Took me 3 tries, only cold turkey did it for me. Good luck! 

[Walker]

Sharon, if you're in the states and want a copy of the Alan Carr book then drop me a line with your addy and I'll mail you my copy-- it would be cool for the same book to cure two smokers. I'd be happy to donate it to the cause and it's pretty small so shipping would only be a few bucks.