[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Aug-02 AT 04:34 PM (EST)]How many of our forum paricipants smoke cigarettes? Why, with all of the medical evidence pointing toward stroke, heart disease, throat, lung, an other related cancers, would you not make the most forceful effort in your life to become free of that pernicious addiction?

Just so you know, I smoked Camel, unfiltered, for 10 years before quitting. There was nothing so smooth as a Camel and a glass of Jack Daniels. I can still taste it. Yet I knew that is was an express lane to disease and death. I witnessed the death of a close friend at age 40 from lung cancer. It was more horrible than the worst horror movie you can think of. It was real life horror. With the help of my wife I stopped in 1978. It was the most singular hardship of my life until recently.

So, I guess the question of the day is for you smokers: Do you plan to quit, because it wrecks your health and will kill you, or do you just deny the medical evidence, and continue to smoke thinking you will be spared the pain of an agonizing debilited life and a painful death? Do you dream the "It won't happen to me syndome" or, do you just play ostrich? Maybe you plan to smoke for your entire life? Please be an adult and be honest with us, and yourselves. You may, or may not, be proud of it, but it does'nt mean you can't discuss it. It may be the first step to freedom.

I would welcome former smokers stories of how they quit for good. These may act as examples in courage to rid smokers of the most addicting substance I know of, including some drugs. I would welcome accounts of smokers who have tried to quit and have failed. I sincerely hope we can encourage one smoker to begin the first step in the detoxification process. I don't think all smokers want to continue to smoke, but they may be unaware which system is successful. I don't think we can save the world, but it would be a good forum to air our true feelings about this most pernicious habit leading to disease and certain awful death. Believe me, no one should have to contract cancer if they can prevent it!

 

I walked away from cigarettes two years ago "COLD TURKEY". I smoked for 25 yrs and i pretty much was tired of the weezing and shortness of breath as well as the yearly cost. Now i'm not all the way tobaco free yet i still chew a little from time to time but i'm working on getting away from that as well.It's been two years now and i feel a whole bunch better no more weezing or breathing problems and i have more energy as well.

Now if i can only lower my coffee intake ''






Wiz

An Equal Opportunity Truck Lover!

http://www.clubfte.com/users/thewiz427/index.html

 

I quit for three reasons -

1. Tired of the hacking and coughing especially in the morning
2. Wasn't going to help line the pockets of the lawyers filing suits against the tobacco companies any more.
3. Three months of Zyban only cost me $99.

Can't say I don't still want one but it'll be 2 years come Sept 6 since I had one. I think of it like the AA folks - I'm not going to smoke today....

 

I am a non smoker for the most part. Every once in a while (like once in a blue moon) I will have a cigar with some friends.


Gig'em

 

Don't we have a right to kill
ourselves as we see fit?? There
are too many people on this little
planet now.

Steve & the Rockette
'63 F100
'68 F100
'72 Capri 2L
'73 Capri 2.6L V6
'73 MG B GT 2.6L V6(Ford)
'98 Contour SVT 2.5L V6 (Mods)
'01 ZX2 (No Mods yet)

 

i smoke and when i started smoking i knew it wasnt good for me. i also like my meat RARE and i know that isnt good for me. i drink beer and also know that isnt good for me. i cross the street knowing that may not be good for me. i drive my truck, both work and personal, and that may not be good for me. i live my life knowing that this day could be my last.

we're not here for a long time.....we're here for a good time.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Aug-02 AT 08:12 PM (EST)]I smoke and wish I didn't but.......I'll let all you smoke haters have all the major metro areas from east to west and I'll keep my rural piece of real estate and do what I want when I want and as much as I want. I won't bother you in the city and stay the away from the countryside.

 

> i smoke and when i started smoking i knew it wasnt good for
>me. i also like my meat RARE and i know that isnt good for
>me. i drink beer and also know that isnt good for me. i
>cross the street knowing that may not be good for me. i
>drive my truck, both work and personal, and that may not be
>good for me. i live my life knowing that this day could be
>my last.
>
> we're not here for a long time.....we're here for a good
>time.


I don't smoke-- I quit several years ago but I agree completely with what you say. Here in AZ several cities have gone "non-smoking" as dictated by city law. The non smoker in me says "great! no more smoky restaurants". The business owner in my says "that's unfair to the patrons and the business owner!!" Several bars and restaurants have gone under because of this law.

Watch out- these laws are heading for a town near you!!

When on two wheels-
FXSTC
Mesa- AZ

2003, F-350, Lariat, V10, CC, LWB, Dark Shadow Grey, 6sp Manual, Non-ESOF FX4, 4.30, Camper Pkg, et. al.

 

>I walked away from cigarettes two years ago "COLD TURKEY". I
>smoked for 25 yrs and i pretty much was tired of the weezing
>and shortness of breath as well as the yearly cost.
>Now i'm not all the way tobaco free yet i still chew a
>little from time to time but i'm working on getting away
>from that as well

Hey Wiz, I can help ya kick the chew!!!
Swallow a big ol cud.....if that don't help ya stop, you're a tougher man than me. Course it might just kill ya or at least make you wish you were dead. I used to smoke and chew. I stopped chewing the day I swallowed my chew while cuttin firewood.

I stopped smoking the day they told my dad he had emphysema and that if he didn't stop smoking he wouldn't live another six months. He quit too. Watching him get progressively worse over the next ten years of his life.......struggling to get enough oxygen to his lungs with each breath.......is what kept me from ever starting back.

I believe like Icelander though........we're all gonna die of something. I'd never tell someone to do or not to do something. I just don't wanna go gasping for breath..........

Ron

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Aug-02 AT 09:51 PM (EST)]AMEN! To Mick460

 

I quit about 6 years ago. I wasn't 30 yet (barely) and I got a bad infection in my lungs that the docs couldn't knock out. Finally, the doctor told me my lungs had developed a sensitivity to tobacco and if I didn't stop I'd end up drowning in my own mucus in my sleep.

I walked out of his office, smoked one last cigarette, promptly drove to the drug-store and filled out a prescription for the patch. Haven't had a cigarette since.

I smoke a cigar now and then (sometimes I smoke 2-3 in a week, sometimes I'll go months without one). It hasn't caused me any problems, infections, sniffles, etc., but then again, I don't smoke them in enclosed spaces and I certainly don't inhale them. Usually I'll smoke them when I go to a truck show, camping, or if I'm working a lot of hours.

I'm okay with this occasional vice (besides fattening foods!). I figure with not drinking a drop of alcohol since I was seventeen that I've got to do at least do one bad thing!

 

>Hey Wiz, I can help ya kick the chew!!!
>Swallow a big ol cud.....if that don't help ya stop, you're
>a tougher man than me. Course it might just kill ya or at
>least make you wish you were dead. I used to smoke and
>chew. I stopped chewing the day I swallowed my chew while
>cuttin firewood.

Actually i did once a few years ago and i quit for 6 months then i had a brain fart and started again. My wife tolerates it but i think shes got something up her sleeve after reading your post ron

>I believe like Icelander though........we're all gonna die
>of something. I'd never tell someone to do or not to do
>something.

Me neither!......Hey icelander rare is'nt good enough for me it has to still be kickin on the plate.






Wiz

An Equal Opportunity Truck Lover!

http://www.clubfte.com/users/thewiz427/index.html

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-Aug-02 AT 11:29 PM (EST)]>I smoke a cigar now and then (sometimes I smoke 2-3 in a
>week, sometimes I'll go months without one). It hasn't
>caused me any problems, infections, sniffles, etc., but then
>again, I don't smoke them in enclosed spaces and I certainly
>don't inhale them. Usually I'll smoke them when I go to a
>truck show, camping, or if I'm working a lot of hours.



i see......so cancer of the mouth, gums or maybe the throat is ok, but youll be damned if its in your lungs. good thinking.

i love the whole disease angle from the anti-smoking folks. well,i dont smoke but i chew......or i smoke a cigar but " i certainly dont inhale them". REALLY? and how do you think that either of those things wont cause some kind of cancer? oh wait....i know, the arguement is that cigarette smoke affects those around the smoker. ok, suppose i drive an electric car and your V8 powerd 78 bronco is pumping exhaust in my window while sitting next to you in traffic......how is that ANY different?


anybody here want to be forced by the government to drive electric cars?

 

I smoke. I smoke a pack a day. Kind of heavy, as it seems. I started smoking at 9 or 10. I was a bad boy, a baddd boy. I've been smoking for about 15 years.

I also smoke cigars, maybe at least once a week. I really like my cigarettes or cigars with beer and/or whiskey.

I have aboustely no plans to quit. I don't care what it will, would, did to me. I really don't. I'll keep smoking until I find a reason to stop.

I also can go days and weeks without a smoke without a problem at all. I have sereval times.

I don't believe all the hype about being hard to quit, and such. It's how determined you are. I can go on a day without a puff and don't even care.

Hmm, I think I'll stop now.

 

Hi Brien,
Here is my very honest answer to your question.
I started smoking when I was 13. I am soon to turn 39 (November), and I admit.......I am totally hooked, hook line and sinker!
I have never been addicted to anything at all in my life, but I am when it comes to cigarettes. It's frustrating! I don't know how I let it happen to me, but it did.
They say the addiction is both mental and physical.
Here are some examples of what I experience when I am "trapped" in a non-smoking environment, and can't light up (such as an airplane trip):
I get a very bad taste in my mouth, and feel as though I have very bad breath. Now, I know it's really the other way around, but I guess that's the "mind screwing with you" part of the addiction. I also feel as though my body is deprived of something. My lungs feel funny because they miss the kick, my taste buds miss the tobacco flavor, and I guess unknowingly, my body misses the drug.
I know this probably sounds really crazy to you, but what's even crazier is that it sounds crazy to me as well! I know this, and I still can't stop.
It gets even crazier! Last year, I was diagnosed with emphysema, and they found two nodules in my lungs. They wanted to biopsy and remove one whole lobe! Fortunately, they monitored them with CT scans instead. So far, no change in size (Thank God). The doc says If they start to grow in the future, they will have re-visit the biopsy deal.
That scare made me quit. I made it a whole 32 days, and then lit up one day without thinking because I was agrivated at something. I know, stupid right?
I know I have to quit again and soon! It is just a lot easier said than done when you are totally addicted. You would think that knowing all the health risks, the price of cigarettes, having emphysema, and a really close call would smarten me up.
I must tell you that I'm really embarrased about my smoking situation. I've always took pride in considering myself to be a sensible person with a lot of common sense. Then I wonder how sensible could I be if I continue smoking knowing all that I know? It makes no sense at all. Damn cigarettes!

I also must thank you! For as many friends & family members who have "nagged" me to quit, Sitting here and reading my OWN words has really affected me in a big way tonight. I know I have to quit A.S.A.P., but I am probably going to need some "proffesional" help on this one.
I'm not just blowing smoke your way here, I really mean it, and I am really going to to it! Wish me luck.