Smoking - do you or don't you?

[BuzZz]

No, I haven't seen Saving Grace yet. I should probably find and watch it, I could use a laugh right about now..... a hoot would go down pretty well too.....

[Loonette]

What exactly does it feel like to be craving a smoke?

Having never smoked, I honestly do not know what the body (or the brain) is feeling that you get so depserate for a smoke.

What are your symptoms?

FOR ME... it felt as if there would be less pain in gouging out my eye balls. It felt as if I couldn't release my clenched teeth to save my life. I felt that if one more thing was spoken in my direction, I might commit murder! I would cry and get the shakes every time I quit smoking. I would become paranoid and edgy beyond belief. Couldn't even drive to the store for fear I might run some ill-mannered driver off the road. Quite sad...

For me quitting was probably the hardest thing I've had to endure. I grew up with smokers, rode in cars with smokers - everyone in my family smoked. It was as normal to me as their heavy drinking was! When I was 9, I would sneak long butts out of the car ashtray and mess around with puffing on those. I started smoking (regularly) at the age of 13. At 15, I no longer hid the fact that I smoked, and started buying my own cigarettes with my lawn-cutting and baby sitting money. By the age of 20, I probably EASILY smoked around 2 packs per day. I couldn't start the car, polish my nails, eat a meal, whatever without having a cigarette. I did quit a couple of times along the way - for some reason not smoking during my pregnancies was easy. But as soon as my babies had weaned from the breast, I was right back at it. Almost as if it was my reward!!

When my kids were little, I smoked only about one pack a day (I know - not a good number, but less than two packs!!). "Scan" and I had long given up smoking indoors, so in order to have a smoke, we would take turns leaving the house to "take a walk - get some fresh air". Fresh air!! Ha! But the kids aren't stupid, and I was tired of being a hypocrite. I decided that I either had to quit smoking or quit lying to my kids. So I quit - I was 33 years old.

It's been just over 7 years now, and I don't miss it a bit. And I'm happy that Ohio placed a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. There are few choices for dining in our town, and we would take the kids to this one particular restaurant for lunch, but eventually had to stop. My CHILDREN were coming home smelling like ashtrays - disgusting!! Business has not slowed at all for the bars/restaurants (after all, if everyone has the ban, it's not like people can go anywhere else that somehow allows smoking). People still enjoy a night at the bar - but the smoke stays outdoors.

I never stand in judgment of a smoker's need to smoke. I've been there and know better. But, having been a smoker that abstained from indoor smoking, I have no sympathy for the smoker who cries foul because they have to endure a slight inconvenience. It's small beans compared to what a passive smoker must endure. And I swear to god above, my stomach churns every time I see a car roll by, windows up, mom & dad puffing away with little ones in the back seat.

Anyway... I think it's human nature to turn to something for comfort and/or escape. We also tend to turn to things that help us belong. The problem with cigarettes is how terribly addictive they are. Even if you want to quit, it's darn near impossible. (But it is possible...) It wasn't easy for me to quit by any means. I've known people who can smoke at a party and then not touch a cigarette for a year. I want to kill those people. The fact that it was so hard for me, and that I have stayed away for 7 years, is all the reason to never venture down that road again.

Cheers,
Loonette

[blues2cruise]

Loonette, thank you for that description. I would never have guessed that it felt that awful.

It has actually become illegal here for people to smoke in their cars while children are present. I don't think it gets enforced though, because people still do it.

Bravo for quitting and staying quit.

[mazer]

I never smoked, never wanted to. Both of my parents smoked, both stopped. I have known many people who have quit, many of them my family members. I know a couple of people who are so addicted to them that they are unable to quit. One friend has spent hundreds of dollars in her quest to quit. I know the current cocktail of chemicals especially the nicotine are highly addictive. Ten times more addictive than rx in fact. It must be a horrible addiction to have, knowing they cause so much damage for such little stimulation. One of my friends sister died prematurely from the effects of smoking, and even while battling the diseases caused by smoking while hospitalized, she still smoked, until it killed her. Another person I know picked up the habit late in life, smoked a couple of years lightly, and got cancer of the throat. He talks through a voice box manufactured for him.

[blues2cruise]

mazer....thanks for posting in.
I find it amazing that with all the evidence about how bad smoking is for a person, that people are still choosing to start.
The young people especially.....somehow the message is not getting through to them that smoking is not glamorous....
I so do not understand someone wanting to start later in life. Sad for your friend.

[Skier]

And there's plenty of folks who get lung cancer without ever smoking in their lives. And smokers who die of other causes well before smoking-related illness gets to them.

For what it's worth, pipe smokers live longer than non-smokers. I smoke for my health.

[byidesign]

My father smoked for 50 yrs, had a heart attack ,at age 63{he smoked
pall mall's, and chesterfield's} before filters....... between 2-3 packs
a day....the doc told him to quit, or the're wouldn't be a next time.
when I brought him home , he went to his desk, and took out 3 cartons,
and threw them in the garbage, and said "that's the end of that"..
and walked away...he passed away last year, at 97, and that, because of a bad fall.. Some can do it, my wife took years to quit,
and smoke drives her crazy. Me I lived with it for 37 yrs. and I
don't smoke..Both of my kids don't smoke .But with teenagers,
it's like alcohol ,tell them it's "bad" and they will go try it.
My mom told me to "stay off those dangerous motorcycles"..
and now,45 yrs.later.....well.........sorry ma..........I enjoy it
too much!!!!!

[blues2cruise]

My mom told me to "stay off those dangerous motorcycles"..
and now,45 yrs.later.....well.........sorry ma..........I enjoy it
too much!!!!!

[JC Viper]

Stories from a lot of Veterans from WW II and Vietnam stated that cigarettes got them through stressful moments. Relatives tell me that poor people in china would share a cigarette to help their hunger. It seems smoking has some good points.

I have smoked for a bit once I turned 18 just for the hell of it but then I just didn't feel like doing it anymore. It's been almost 2 years now the last time I had a smoke. No cravings, nothing. The same goes for alcohol, I'd enjoy a nice soda instead. Damn you clean body!!

[blues2cruise]

Damn you clean body!!

Revel in it. Rejoice in it. Celebrate it. It will more than likely give you a decent quality of life in later years.