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Archive through September 02, 2005

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Dec. ~ 2006 Feb.: Health Center: Who wants to quit smoking with me? (ARCHIVES): Archive through September 02, 2005 users admin

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Wendo
Member

08-07-2000

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 - 8:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wendo a private message Print Post    
Congrats Dana! I know it's a tough time but you're doing great.

Danas15146
Member

03-31-2004

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - 5:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Danas15146 a private message Print Post    
Just checking in - Day 50 Smokefree for me!!!! I am so proud of myself.

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - 7:58 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
And so you should be, Dana! Yay!!!!!!! You are doing great!5

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 - 10:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
That is terrific, DanaS!!!! I am really impressed. Congratulations!

Wendo
Member

08-07-2000

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 2:23 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wendo a private message Print Post    
One year and six months for me, yesterday. Woo hoo!

Congrats Dana!

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 8:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
Yay, Wendo!!! You really do have that monkey off your back!!!

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 10:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Yay Wendo!!!

Yep, Lumbele, agreed.

Wendo
Member

08-07-2000

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 - 6:22 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Wendo a private message Print Post    
Yeah, I think I do actually. The support here has been immeasurable. Thanks to all here!

Vixeninvegas
Member

10-07-2002

Monday, August 08, 2005 - 11:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vixeninvegas a private message Print Post    
Oh I was so glad to find this tread - I am so proud of you all that have quit. I knew it would be hard but no idea how hard. I have been a smoker for 30 years & went Saturday to get the cold laser treatment. I'm hitting my knees a ton & gritting my teeth but it sure is hard. I had a puff off a friends smoke Sunday and then beat the hell out of my self being disgusted with giving in but I'm over that & going to continue to try my bestest. My hat is sure off to those of you that go cold turkey.

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Monday, August 08, 2005 - 2:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
Congratulations, Vixen!
It's a tough decision to make, especially after 30 years. I know whereof I speak, it was 36 for me, and I thought I'd never make it longer than a couple of days. Yet here I am, just a few days over 9 months. Proof that quitting is doable. You'll hit a few rough patches here and there, but in time they get fewer and easier to wait out.
Hang tough, you can do it, too!!!

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, August 08, 2005 - 6:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Yay, Vixen!!!

You know what? You think you are a failure already for that one puff, but you are not. Because you have already done the single most important thing there is to do to become a non-smoker. And that is to decide to beat this addiction. And it IS an addiction, a damned strong, physical addiction, worse to beat than heroin, they say.

Oh, it is hard, it is VERY, very hard, but if you have one thing, you can beat it. And that one thing is a solid determination that YOU can beat IT, and not vice versa.

Maybe you could tell us what cold laser treatment is. I have never heard of it.

I used the patch, as did Lumbele, I believe. The patch works immediately to take away the nicotine withdrawal. Then you are just left with a sort of weepy, sad, empty feeling like your best friend has just died, but you are not suffering from the physical withdrawal.

To me, one of the keys was to get rid of the immediate physical withdrawal by using a substitute. I think Halfunit used lozenges and Fruitbat used gum. Or vice versa. It was rather comical. They were both quitting at once, and one liked lozenges but not gum, and one was the opposite, so they traded with each other.

Anyway, if you can find something that works for you, then it becomes a matter of you outlasting the addiction. If you have to live your life in 90 second increments, so be it. As I always told Fruitbat, all you have to do is endure, and you will eventually win. Every single time you beat back the urge, you have won one more battle. You keep winning battles, you eventually win the war.

So, Vixen, good luck. Try, try try your hardest, and come in here and post when you are almost tempted to break down. And you will win yet another battle.

Oh, and Congratulations, Lumbele!!

Edit: I was just thinking the other day how happy I am that I don't HAVE to smoke anymore, because when one is addicted, one does not choose to smoke, one HAS TO smoke. And I was also reflecting that we haven't had anybody quit here lately.

Vixeninvegas
Member

10-07-2002

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 9:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vixeninvegas a private message Print Post    
Lumbele & Juju - thanks so much for taking the time to add your experiences & thoughts. You both brought tears to my eyes.

Juju cold laser is this machine that supposedly releases endorphins which assist you in battling the negative effects of becoming a non smoker (anger, hopelessness, depression). They release something similar to a europhoric (sp?) feeling. I was told that the cold laser takes away 80% of the urge to smoke - I am on my own with the remaining 20%. There is no pain involved they put the laser on 26 different points of the body (ears, nose hands, wrists) and you leave there feeling kind of loopy & giggly. A gentleman I know was a smoker 52 years (2 to 3 packs a day) and it sure worked for him. Its $299 and well worth every penny if I can do it.

I'm surrounded by smokers at work (including the general manager) and that is where we bonded- out back over smokes. Its funny he is my biggest supporter. He keeps saying "how you doin" and "don't you dare give in". Really nice man.

You are right everytime I don't pick up one I win. I'm not drinking any caffine & trying to stay away from the local neighborhood pub till I have this more under control.

Thanks again for your kind words!

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 10:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
Smart move, Vixen. Steer clear of those trigger points where you would always light up without even thinking. Mind you, for me that was just about any and everything.LOL
Like Juju, I had never heard of this laser treatment. How long do the gigglies last? Is it just a one time thing or do you keep returning now and then for a refresher giggle?

Vixeninvegas
Member

10-07-2002

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 11:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vixeninvegas a private message Print Post    
Hehe Lumbele me too - worst at home watching TV or movies - I always smoked in the house because I live alone & it never bothered me as far as the smell - I'm way into air freasheners & candles, etc. so something was always simmering / burning.

Heck everywhere I go I notice people puffing away in this town LOL - not sure if its just me or if that happens to everyone when the make the attempt to stop. LMAO the thoughts that pass thru my head quickly crack me up. Makes me wonder how closley nicotine & sanity are linked LOL J/K!

The laser thing is said to last 2 weeks and you can go back once for another treatment at no additional cost. There are no guarantees.



Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 4:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
Nope, Vixen you are not going nuts - yet. In a world that is supposedly going more and more smoke-free, there are dang many smokers left, and I didn't notice them 9 months ago either.
Now they stick out like sore thumbs. As I have mentioned here before, I pass these smokers in front of stores, office buildings and restaurants (my town is smoke-free). My first reaction now to the smell of smoke is "Ick!", then comes that crazy thought: "Wonder if they'd give me one if I asked?" Next I give myself a mental kick in the hiney and keep walkin'.LOL
For a long time I also needed the lion share of my concentration to deal with the cravings, psyching myself out and keeping busy. Suddenly, multi-tasking went the way of the dodo bird. Not entirely sure that can be attributed to quitting or if it's menopause, old age or laziness, but I *really* noticed it around that time. In any case I now do one thing at a time, do it well, then move onto the next thing, as the old fella said.LOL
Do and use whatever works for you, no matter how silly it may sound.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Tuesday, August 09, 2005 - 11:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
I think everybody goes through the thing of noticing other people (those lucky dogs) who still "get" to smoke while poor, poor you is so deprived. That is a natural reaction, and it is part of the seductive addiction of the drug. Once you get free of it, you will later come to feel sorry for those poor, poor people who "have" to huddle out there in the cold, or the sweltering heat, feeding their addiction.

And one day, you probably will not even see them at all because you are a non-smoker. They are irrelevant.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, August 29, 2005 - 6:29 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Got this in my email today and thought I'd share . . .


Source: Ivanhoe.com
Reported August 31, 2005



New Drug Helps Smokers Quit


FARMINGTON, Conn. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Nicotine patches, gum, or cold turkey. For a long time, those have been among the few options for smokers who desperately want to kick the habit. But that's all about to change.

Diana Smith breathes easier these days, which is a big change for the former pack-a-day smoker. "I got to the point where I couldn't breathe," she says. "I just couldn't breathe anymore -- down the driveway and down the stairs, up the stairs, I was out of breath."

So, Smith signed up for a new trial testing a drug called Varenicline. The drug weans smokers off tobacco by attaching to a specific receptor in the brain. Researchers say the drug activates and blocks nicotine's chemical reactions.

"It sort of evens you out. You don't get necessarily the sort of highs of smoking, but you don't get the cravings and the withdrawal," says Cheryl Oncken, M.D., an internal medicine physician at University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington.

The only side effect appears to be mild nausea. About 50 percent of people in one study were able to quit. Dr. Oncken says, "The other interesting thing that we found, we had a study that was 12 weeks, and the quit rates seemed to improve as the study went on, and that's unusual for smoking cessation studies."

It's exciting news, but researchers caution that Varenicline is no magic bullet for smokers, who still need some old-fashioned willpower to kick the habit.

Varenicline is still early in research trials and probably won't go before the FDA until 2006. An interesting footnote: The scientist who invented the drug is a former two and a half pack-a-day smoker whose own father died of a smoking related disease.


If you would like more information, please contact:

Jane Shaskan
Office of Communications
University of Connecticut Health Center
263 Farmington Ave.
Farmington, CT 06030
(860) 679-4777
shaskan@nso.uchc.edu


Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, August 29, 2005 - 7:54 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Very interesting, HP.

Kristylovesbb
Member

09-14-2000

Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 10:01 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kristylovesbb a private message Print Post    
Guess what?????? My husband has now decided to try to quit smoking!!!!!!! He asked if I would post in here to see if anyone knows where you can get your best price for the patches. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

Lumbele
Member

07-12-2002

Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 10:19 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Lumbele a private message Print Post    
Don't know about your neck of the woods, Kristy, but around here my pharmacy and Walmart were about the same. Keep an eye on your Walmart though, they have occasional specials.

Congratulations, Mr.Kristy!!!


BTW, the prices for the different strength patches are about the same, so when he gets to the 7mg patches, he can cut the 14mg ones in half. Works just as well.

Tashakinz
Member

11-13-2002

Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 10:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tashakinz a private message Print Post    
If you have prescription insurance coverage talk to your doctor. I found a "transdermal nicotine delivery system" that was covered. I believe the manufacturer was Schien (sp). I got a 30 day supply for the price of one co-pay.

Kristylovesbb
Member

09-14-2000

Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 11:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kristylovesbb a private message Print Post    
Thanks you guys, I just called dh and told him to call his doctor and get prescription.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Friday, September 02, 2005 - 11:01 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Yay Kristyhubby!!! Wishing him the best of luck and success. Tell him he can come in here and post any time he is getting a particularly strong urge. By the time he is done typing, often the urge has passed.

Kristylovesbb
Member

09-14-2000

Friday, September 02, 2005 - 2:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kristylovesbb a private message Print Post    
I sure will Juju. I hope he can do it, he has tried many many times. He is quitting because the price for cigs is going up 35cents per pack.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Friday, September 02, 2005 - 10:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Hey, whatever works! He should start putting away the money he would spend on smokes, and save it for something he would really like, like a red Corvette. :-)

Danas!! You still out there? How are you doing?