Quitting Smoking

retsio

Senior
Feb 18, 2003
304
775
93
Before my heart attack my BP was horrendous, Cholestrol was 296, no exercise, diet was Philly cheesesteaks and Italian sandwiches, business pressure was extreme putting a new company together and smoking 2 and a half packs per day.
My cardiologist said as he operated - you decide - Live or Die...... I changed my diet, stopped smoking cold turkey, finished the company and listened to my Doctors.

That was May 14, 1999 - today I'm hangin' in - with heart meds, 6 heart ops with 4 stents, and beat Cancer with 28 radiation sessions.

Take care of yourself for the ones you love - after so many years, the body hurts but live the best you can.
 
Jan 8, 2016
210
277
63
Hardest damn thing ever. Trying to get this done though. Day 4. Cold Turkey. Now I wish I tried Chantix
If it could help my dad use to keep a toothpick in his mouth. And he kept a full carton of Winston on top of the fridge that he never smoked after he quit. He loved smoking and he never smoked after he quit. He also quit drinking a few years after that. He drank ginger ale to help with that. Miss him a lot.
 

Roar814

Junior
Nov 18, 2025
169
275
63
Good luck, it's a pain but worth it! I'm not sure how well it works for cigs, but I used cytisine tablets to get off of nicotine pouches (I was using a ton of 15-20mg pouches per day). It's a nicotinic receptor agonist from Eastern Europe so it partially removes some of the cravings, to a manageable extent IMO. You do a cycle of tablets (take one every 2.5 hours for X days, then every 5 hours for X days, etc until 0) which lasts around a month.

Not sure why the Amazon link won't embed/show up, but you can Google around for cytisine/Desmoxan/Tabex. Can be hard to find as it's foreign but like I said worked for me.
 
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G3624

Junior
Feb 18, 2014
444
352
63
I had to just decide. I was in a hospital, on oxygen, had to do exercises to reinflate my lung after falling and brake seven ribs along my backbone on one side. Had a tube in to the chest cavity for when I was doing lung inflation exercises, so the air in my chest cavity would escape, when I did my exercises. Just said I'm done. That was it, just quit.
 

Gitzit

Redshirt
Dec 20, 2014
19
31
13
Everybody has the best stop smoking device in their home. When you want a cig just take your pillow and hold it up to your face and try and breath through it, that's what your life will be like when you get older,. That is what my dad said when he was suffocating to death from a lifetime of smoking 2 packs of winstons every day.

I quit smoking at 38 when I watched him die from them. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I ever did. I've read where it's as hard to quit nicotine as other hard drugs like heroin or cocaine etc, You can do it though, but you have to be a tuff f'er , and not a *****. It will be you against the nicotine beast that lives inside you. Everyday you must do battle with him, and you will win the war against the beast.it will just take time, a long time. Every day when you lay down to sleep you can say you won the battle that day with the beast but tomorrow will be a new battle you have to fight. Thats the little game I made of it to win the nicotine war within me.

I did use chantex, I couldn't take the full dose as it messed me up and would cut the pill in half.

Good luck!
 

Pa_Catamount

Redshirt
Jul 26, 2001
8
8
3
Stick with it! Everyone is different but I was a 3 pack a day guy. Cold turkey quitter and about a week later I felt like a new man. Cough was gone, felt like I had more energy, and never looked back. Strange thing though, it took me about a year to not to reach in my shirt pocket to grab my pack out of my shirt pocket when talking to people. Looking back, I now think that was one of the easiest things I've ever done. Good luck!
 

LionJim

Heisman
Oct 12, 2021
15,010
20,850
113
Everybody has the best stop smoking device in their home. When you want a cig just take your pillow and hold it up to your face and try and breath through it, that's what your life will be like when you get older,. That is what my dad said when he was suffocating to death from a lifetime of smoking 2 packs of winstons every day.

I quit smoking at 38 when I watched him die from them. Quitting smoking was the hardest thing I ever did. I've read where it's as hard to quit nicotine as other hard drugs like heroin or cocaine etc, You can do it though, but you have to be a tuff f'er , and not a *****. It will be you against the nicotine beast that lives inside you. Everyday you must do battle with him, and you will win the war against the beast.it will just take time, a long time. Every day when you lay down to sleep you can say you won the battle that day with the beast but tomorrow will be a new battle you have to fight. Thats the little game I made of it to win the nicotine war within me.

I did use chantex, I couldn't take the full dose as it messed me up and would cut the pill in half.

Good luck!
You’re an inspiration.
 
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Warlerski

Junior
Jun 23, 2016
158
206
43
Hardest damn thing ever. Trying to get this done though. Day 4. Cold Turkey. Now I wish I tried Chantix
I smoked for 30 years and quit 25 years ago. Haven't had a single cigarette in those 25 years. I used Zyban to help. It is doable, but you cannot give up. It also takes most people more than 1 try. Hang in there and good luck. It can be done.
 

Big_O

All-Conference
Jun 28, 2001
1,539
2,512
113
Quitting smoking is supposed to be harder than quitting heroin. One of my college roommates at Penn State smoked and I tried to get him to quit in coliege back in the late 70’s. I told him if kept on smoking he would die from lung cancer. He just couldn’t break the habit and only a couple of years after retiring my prediction unfortunately became true. The last time I saw him was at my daughter’s wedding and he was uncharacteristically quiet. I was told later he had developed COPD (emphysema) and was embarrassed to tell anyone about it. A couple years later he passed away from lung cancer, only about 3 months after he was diagnosed.

So I encourage you to follow through with your quitting the habit and the get surveillance lung CT scans in the future since you are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer. A small lung nodule can later turn into cancer, although a lot of nodules are benign, most are granulomas. That’s why follow up is important - just my two cents worth.
 

PSU Mike

All-American
Jul 28, 2001
4,296
7,547
113
Sorry to see this thread (but glad you’re seeking some support!) as a reminder that smoking is still a thing. I recall dreading going out in my Boystown/Wrigleyville neighborhood for a quick weeknight meal or drink knowing that those clothes would need washed after only 1-2 hours. Ironically I packed up and moved to Seattle Jan 1, 2008, the exact day Chicago’s smoking ban went into effect (Seattle had been a few years ahead on that). I don’t miss the days of asking for a non-smoking section in a restaurant only to know the smoke was going to drift into it anyway.

(If I can find the right cue point maybe I’ll share Carlin’s routine about airlines where he asks about the pooping in the aisle section of the plane.)
 

Chumboshifko1

All-Conference
Oct 15, 2025
1,819
1,622
113
A shot of really cheap whiskey, and a smoke. The next day, you'll wish you never saw a cigarette.

One after another.