Quitting

batch78

Last weekend I decided to quit smoking.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, my mother died unexpectadly of 'heart disease' in February, its not confirmed smoking was the cause but I'm sure it didn't help, she was only 51 and the most active person I know of her age, always working, never ill, properly liked being outside and active, gardening, walking, working, then bang, collapsed with chest pains, taken to hospital and dead 16 hours later after passing all the tests for 'heart attacks'.

I've smoked for 15 years, always bothered me slightly as I love cycling, but never thought it held me back from what I wanted, 60-70 mile rides at reasonable pace have been achieved!

So, back to my point, I've now quit, I'm coughing up crap, everything tastes wrong and I feel like utter rubbish, its been nearly a week, how long does it take till anything feels positive?

Does my taste recover or do I have to like things again?

How long till I can breath properly? I'm worse now than when I smoked!

BorisSpencer

Stick to it for 10 days/2 weeks. You're still clearing accumulated cr4p.

Mark_K

Yep took me 2-3 weeks before i stoped coughing up crap ect, But sooooooo glad i stoped its been nearly 2 years now and tbh the worst thing about giving up is that i didnt do it years ago ?
I gave up by reading Allan Carrs Book http://www.theeasywaytostopsmoking.com/

The wife bought me the book and nagged me to read it, i thought it would never work cos its all hokus pokus crap and i wasn't ready to give up !
I read the book to shut her up and on the last chapter it told me to smoke my last ciggy so i did !!!
2 years on i have never smoked another ciggy after 25 year 20+ aday habbit and i can trully say i dont miss it one bit and i certainly dont think of it as " giving up" because i haven't "given up" anything but i have gained LOADS
So good luck and trust me its worth it in the end !

nevinkeville

Yeh keep at it bud and put all the cash you used to spend on fags (because no matter how skint you were you would have always found money for ciggies) aside and buy bike bits. :P

Father Faff

Keep it up. It will take a while before you stop longing for a fag especially when things get stressful. I gave up when my son was born and then moved away from London and meeting friends in smokey pubs. You'll feel a lot better, your taste buds will get better and so will your sense of smell. You'll soon realise how bad you used to smell! In fact that's the only downside of not smoking, when you have to sit in a room with someone who is a smoker they just reek.

Barrie_G

I stopped smoking 5 years ago and at first put on weight, but this was due to a crap lifestyle/diet I sorted out both and now I'm the healtiest that I've ever been at the age of 45.

My mother who smoked since her late teens died last year at the age of 68 due to lung cancer. She spent the last three days of her life on 100% oxygen while still gasping for breath like a fish out of water, if this is how you'd like your family to see you in years to come then by all means start smoking again.

I think that anyone who want to stop smoking should take a walk around the cancer ward of their local hospital, as I don't think that there are many people who would continue smoking once they have seen first hand what the disease does to you.

mfin

Remember if you've given up you've given up, you've done it from the moment you made the decision so you can feel good about that so you're already not a smoker any more. Far better than '20 a day' people who try to kid themselves with the 'cutting down'.

Stick with it, feel good you've done it and you're only going to feel better so I think you deserve to feel really positive.

I swore I didn't feel any better for it when I gave up (30 a day) ...but the biking went from nearly impossible to loving it, I just couldn't have done the riding like I do before.

You'll notice something odd happens, you can have a note and a few quid coins on you and a few days later look in your pocket and you've still got it all, that's so different to spending £6 a day on a packet.

Maths is great, if you're 20 a day and sometimes an extra packet on weekends, plus all the times you pick up something else just cos your in the shop, like a paper or choc bar or drink you otherwise wouldn't have bought then you can easily buy a £2,500 bike every year instead and you'd be no worse off. Keep at it and reward yourself with some nice gear.

All the sh1t clears out, must make you glad you've quit when you feel all that sh1t coming out even though it ain't that nice at the time.

vitohttmf

In a month or so your sense of taste and smell will be revitalised and in the summer you will benifit on the hills and longer runs.......also you will realise how much smokers smell.. its worth it in the end.

Graydawg

Another vote of support mate - Keep it up! I've been stopped for 5 years - one of the best things I ever did!!

Saxo

It's definitely worth quitting - I quit last summer and I can tell my lungs have recovered quite a bit already.

Plus think of the money you'll save - the money I would have spent on cigs over 2 months has just bought me my nice shiny MTB

Th3 Firestarter

I too am a former smoker. I totally agree with evrything said above. I feel so much better for it and I know that my riding has improved too (no more getting out of breath riding easy stuff).

steveo450

Keep at it. I have quit in the past and returned. My most recent attempt was a new years resolution on 2008. A year 3 months on and I havent felt the urge to go back. The birth of my daughter was a big help and I would say that my love for MTB'ing is definately helping to keep me off them. Not to mention the cost / smell and anti social image they now have.

sniper68

So, back to my point, I've now quit, I'm coughing up crap, everything tastes wrong and I feel like utter rubbish, its been nearly a week, how long does it take till anything feels positive?

You'll actually notice after a few weeks that food will taste different,because you're actually tasting the food!I stopped 8 years ago(40-60 a day)i hadn't realised how much fags altered the way food tastes.Best thing i ever did.

thekickingmule

Yep, I agree with everything people have said. Your sense of smell/taste will be different, but definitely in a good way. When you next stand next to someone that smokes, you'll smell it instantly, just remember that that's what you used to be like!
I quit after my Dad went into hospital over Christmas (second year in a row :roll: ) and came out with COPD, now he's registered disabled and is coughin up crap every few minutes. It''s enough to put anyone off really.
Also, sorry to hear about your Mum.

batch78

Cheers for the support guys.

First time I've ever been to a pub and not gone for a fag on Saturday night, that felt good.

And your all correct, smokers stink!!! :shock:

ratty2k

Another former smoker- 25-30 a day habit... Actually, if you REALLY made your mind up its pretty straight forward- I'd packed in quite a few times and then when you REALLY mean ikt, it happens...
Another little thing I found useful was this meter, it automatically lists how many fags you haven't smoked, how much money you saved- how many days extra you'll live. Quite eye opening if you are honest! Well worth it- if you sroll down, you'll see the donate button... Just below that is a free download. It is safe to do so and I'm not trying anything on- nor am I affiliated with Silkquit, but it is VERY good. And can help if you have the odd little craving.
http://www.silkquit.org/stop-smoking/quit-meter.aspx
I also bought one of those hand gyro things- one it helps strengthen muscles in yer arm, wrist grip strength etc, but alos it gives yer hand sommat to do for five mins and the craving passes. Either that o bash one out, but thats frowned upon in public!

GT Destroyer

well done batch - good luck with it and I hope you see it through.

When I stopped I was able to do it by imagining that cigs didn't exist, I just put them out of my mind altogether, very hard to do when you are addicted to them but I'm sure that with the right amount of will power you can do it.

Rabbit171

Stick with it!

I gave up 6 years ago now and I've never looked back

The worst thing is you know how much sense to knock it on the head, but for the first week or so that doesn't make it any easier. I found that after the first 4 days it eased right off and then it was just changing my day to day habits.

My wife didn't realise I had given up until nearly a week after I stopped! I didn't say anything because every time I'd tried previously I got grilled every day as to whether I'd had a smoke or not!

As I said before, stick with it - it definitely gets easier every day you don't smoke!

batch78

Well nearly two weeks gone and feeling good, your right it gets so much easier after the first few days.

My wife didn't realise I had given up until nearly a week after I stopped! I didn't say anything because every time I'd tried previously I got grilled every day as to whether I'd had a smoke or not!

Too true, there's people I work with who still don't know, although another colleague is still lapping up the praise after quitting about 2 months ago!

GT, thats pretty much how I did it too, none of this poncing about with gums, inhalers or patches for us real men.

Hows the beer reduction programme going?

BorisSpencer

Nice one fella.

GT Destroyer

batch78 wrote:

Well nearly two weeks gone and feeling good, your right it gets so much easier after the first few days.

My wife didn't realise I had given up until nearly a week after I stopped! I didn't say anything because every time I'd tried previously I got grilled every day as to whether I'd had a smoke or not!

Too true, there's people I work with who still don't know, although another colleague is still lapping up the praise after quitting about 2 months ago!

GT, thats pretty much how I did it too, none of this poncing about with gums, inhalers or patches for us real men.

Hows the beer reduction programme going?

I've relapsed with reducing beer! Not a huge stepback but I am a bit disappointed to say how well I did back in Jan/Feb. I am planning another month off in April, I might need to go through some physical tests in Mid-May if all goes to plan, so I need to start thinking about stopping altogether for at least the month of April.

Kepp it up with the smoking too - Sooner or later you'll find it completely strange how people put this round white thing in their mouth and suck smoke in through it, it just doesn't make sense to me any more!!

Stu T

Well done!!!

Quitting tomorrow