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giving up Smoking - it's not for everyone
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I gave up smoking for 6 years and used to have nightmares that I'd had a relapse! Anyway, eventually I did and smoked again for a couple of years. I went to hell and back trying to give up - and so did my poor family. Anyway, I'm giving it another shot - cold turkey. So far, I'm not having a problem but I did only smoke again during an evening so was used to several hours without nicotine at a time.
However, whilst I'm happy with how I'm doing, I have looked at some websites and discovered the benefits of smoking (not that they're advertised as such). For example, Nicotine is a mild antidepressant, it acts as a laxative, speeds up your metabolism etc. So, do I spend the rest of my life depressed, constipated and fat just so that I don't get lung cancer? Some exciting life I'm going to have!
However, whilst I'm happy with how I'm doing, I have looked at some websites and discovered the benefits of smoking (not that they're advertised as such). For example, Nicotine is a mild antidepressant, it acts as a laxative, speeds up your metabolism etc. So, do I spend the rest of my life depressed, constipated and fat just so that I don't get lung cancer? Some exciting life I'm going to have!
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I think you may have a point there! I am on the "stop smoking" drug - Champix. It is fantastic for giving up smoking and wrecks any desire for a ciggie. I still miss me and my ciggie out together havin fun! My social life is not what it used to be and I feel I am ot quite as bubbly as I once was. As for the stop smokin drugs - they make you dream 24/7 and they are mental!!!
Well done for going cold turkey!
Well done for going cold turkey!
i gave up 3 years ago.. often dream i smoke again which is horrid. then i wake up and it's like phew....
Never ever want to smoke again. its stinks and costs too much money these days let alone bad for your health
Agree about the weight thing tho and going turkey the only way
Keep going scoobydooby, good luck
Never ever want to smoke again. its stinks and costs too much money these days let alone bad for your health
Agree about the weight thing tho and going turkey the only way
Keep going scoobydooby, good luck
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Scoobydooby,
By your reasoning I will live my life depressed, fat and constipated because I do not smoke??
What a silly thread.
You know in your heart of hearts that smoking is a filthy habit and will probably kill you. It is also expensive, anti-social and a bit chavvy.
Continue with the ceasation and remember smokers smell like tramps underwear.
By your reasoning I will live my life depressed, fat and constipated because I do not smoke??
What a silly thread.
You know in your heart of hearts that smoking is a filthy habit and will probably kill you. It is also expensive, anti-social and a bit chavvy.
Continue with the ceasation and remember smokers smell like tramps underwear.
Well.....As per your reasoning, I guess I should probably take it up a notch and start smoking crack or something...
I smoke, but I'm clinically depressed, and there's no denying that I'm fat. No constipation problem though!
Sooo....where does that leave me? Either I stop smoking and I just go and jump off a bridge cos things are bound to get worse...
OR I continue smoking, and on top of all that, I keep: being a family outcast, smelling like an ashtray after a night out, risking lowering my fertility, risking lung/mouth/throat cancer....
Mmmmmmh
I smoke, but I'm clinically depressed, and there's no denying that I'm fat. No constipation problem though!
Sooo....where does that leave me? Either I stop smoking and I just go and jump off a bridge cos things are bound to get worse...
OR I continue smoking, and on top of all that, I keep: being a family outcast, smelling like an ashtray after a night out, risking lowering my fertility, risking lung/mouth/throat cancer....
Mmmmmmh
I stopped smoking on 12th Nov 2007 after 47 years of regular smoking (including a 20 years where I smoked 50 a day). So far it has not been too bad and I plan to remain a non smoker. The fact that there is hardly anywhere you can smoke socially now is a great help. In the past I found it difficult when all around me were lighting up but that doesn't happen now.
I'm really enjoying the freedom that being a non smoker gives you - no stress about making sure I have cigarettes on me at all times!!
I'm really enjoying the freedom that being a non smoker gives you - no stress about making sure I have cigarettes on me at all times!!
I don't think it's a silly thread - thank you! As I've said, I'm happy with how I'm progressing and don't intend to give up giving up. My point for this thread is to say that I believe smoking can be beneficial to some people. Let me tell you a story....
My 75 year old Mum has suffered with depression for years, has been sectioned, attempted suicide numerous times. She si on so many prescribed drugs, I can't count them! and suffers with a serious skin condition (in later years) that stops her from being under any light (she has to have curtains drawn during the day). Due to her medication, she has to take laxatives, sleeping pills etc etc.....I'm sure you get the picture. Anyway, in more recent years, she's began to mellow a little and isn't quite so highly strung. She still sees a shrink often but has a GP also. 6 months ago, GP retired. On Mum's first visit to the new GP - after he looked at her history etc, guess what his first question was? You've guessed it....do you smoke? So bloody what....she lives alone, can't go out............
My 75 year old Mum has suffered with depression for years, has been sectioned, attempted suicide numerous times. She si on so many prescribed drugs, I can't count them! and suffers with a serious skin condition (in later years) that stops her from being under any light (she has to have curtains drawn during the day). Due to her medication, she has to take laxatives, sleeping pills etc etc.....I'm sure you get the picture. Anyway, in more recent years, she's began to mellow a little and isn't quite so highly strung. She still sees a shrink often but has a GP also. 6 months ago, GP retired. On Mum's first visit to the new GP - after he looked at her history etc, guess what his first question was? You've guessed it....do you smoke? So bloody what....she lives alone, can't go out............
It isn't easy to give up smoking and I really applaud you if you can do it. My husband has tried many times but he goes into an absolutely boiling rage and it makes my life hell. He has seen a doctor and the rages are due to the difference in chemicals in the brain when he stops. There is nothing they can do. They put him on Zyban and he became suicidal... they are now considering champix but he has reservations because of the side effects. He really wants to stop but stopping is horrific. I love the self righteous ones who talk about the dying and smelling, unfortunately for some people it ain't that easy, he really wishes he had never started but there isn't a way of breaking the hold that smoking has on him.
Well done scooby if you can do it.
Well done scooby if you can do it.
I am not being personal and can see your point re the 75 yr old. I am stating it is silly because to me, the point of the thread is in some way a hidden agenda to start smoking again. A justification in some way.
Smoking is the single most dangerous and life threatening thing you can possible do to your self without playing Russian Roulette.
I am far from medically qualified but you don't need a weatherman to tell you it is peeing down.
Likewise I do not understand the rudiments of depression. But from a commonsensical point of view I will probably be less depressed if I had a bit more money, better circulation, better cardio-vascular fittness, smelled better, had pinker fingers, had nicer clothes, had a house with white ceilings, did not have a morning cough, have a cancer-free heath check, free of heart disease, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc .
So my point is, any attempt to state smoking has benefits is and always will be silly.
Smoking is the single most dangerous and life threatening thing you can possible do to your self without playing Russian Roulette.
I am far from medically qualified but you don't need a weatherman to tell you it is peeing down.
Likewise I do not understand the rudiments of depression. But from a commonsensical point of view I will probably be less depressed if I had a bit more money, better circulation, better cardio-vascular fittness, smelled better, had pinker fingers, had nicer clothes, had a house with white ceilings, did not have a morning cough, have a cancer-free heath check, free of heart disease, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc .
So my point is, any attempt to state smoking has benefits is and always will be silly.
Thanks Bewlay - I take on board your comments.
However, can i just stress that for most people, chronic depression has nothing to do with lifestyle, health, money etc. it is often a chemical imbalance which all the luck in the world wouldn't fix. Worse still, it is sometimes a mental illness which (as in the case of my mother) requires lifelong medication. All too often, depression is used too lightly to describe someone who is feeling a little worse than down in the dumps. I agree that these cases can often be resolved with a healthier lifestyle - leaving the person with fresher clothes, nicer hair, cleaner ceilings etc. but you're obviously working on the assumption that these people smoke indoors, don't use sprays to freshen themselves up etc.
I've kept my smoking for the past two years a secret (because I was ashamed I'd started again). I smoked outside, in the evenings only and used mints to restore my breath. When I recently told my colleagues (who I spend 8 hours a day with sitting in an office) that I was giving up again, they had no idea that I'd lapsed. I'm NOT promoting smoking but I am saying that for SOME people, giving up is NOT the best option - there are many factors to be considered - not just the one's you've listed..............I just feel very lucky that I appear to be able to without any major consequences.
However, can i just stress that for most people, chronic depression has nothing to do with lifestyle, health, money etc. it is often a chemical imbalance which all the luck in the world wouldn't fix. Worse still, it is sometimes a mental illness which (as in the case of my mother) requires lifelong medication. All too often, depression is used too lightly to describe someone who is feeling a little worse than down in the dumps. I agree that these cases can often be resolved with a healthier lifestyle - leaving the person with fresher clothes, nicer hair, cleaner ceilings etc. but you're obviously working on the assumption that these people smoke indoors, don't use sprays to freshen themselves up etc.
I've kept my smoking for the past two years a secret (because I was ashamed I'd started again). I smoked outside, in the evenings only and used mints to restore my breath. When I recently told my colleagues (who I spend 8 hours a day with sitting in an office) that I was giving up again, they had no idea that I'd lapsed. I'm NOT promoting smoking but I am saying that for SOME people, giving up is NOT the best option - there are many factors to be considered - not just the one's you've listed..............I just feel very lucky that I appear to be able to without any major consequences.
My Mother was slim and healthy when she smoked but as soon as she packed it in she sufferered from breathing problems, caught any cold going ,and had congested lungs and so on. Her doctor ( a non smoker) actually told her that half her ailments were because of her now being a now non smoker ,and these ailments she would not have had if she had continued to smoke. So she started to smoke again and never had a chest cold or problems with her bowels and remained slim until the day she diesd (causes were not through a snoking illness)
My partners great uncle has never smoked and has just celebrated is 102nd birthday.
I agree with bewley, Although you have "given up" your statements are almost like your trying to justify smoking
Maybe because you are having a "stuff it I will have a fag" moment
My friends mom dies a very painful death from lung cancer caused by smoking, I gave up smoking 11 years ago, only when I was truly free of it that I could look at it for what it really is.
a dirty, smelly expensive habit that when exercised has people treating you like a leper, and In fact I had lost weight after giving up, I could also run without coughing my guts up and wheezing.
The attitude to smokers will only get worse not better so its worth looking at the benefits of giving up instead of lamenting on your crutch
I agree with bewley, Although you have "given up" your statements are almost like your trying to justify smoking
Maybe because you are having a "stuff it I will have a fag" moment
My friends mom dies a very painful death from lung cancer caused by smoking, I gave up smoking 11 years ago, only when I was truly free of it that I could look at it for what it really is.
a dirty, smelly expensive habit that when exercised has people treating you like a leper, and In fact I had lost weight after giving up, I could also run without coughing my guts up and wheezing.
The attitude to smokers will only get worse not better so its worth looking at the benefits of giving up instead of lamenting on your crutch
I realise I'm probably just feeling this way because I'm suffering from lack of nicotine and I promise I've no intention of giving up giving up - despite what I've said. I'm just conscious of the fact that some people may find it so much more difficult than me and I don't think smokers should be made to feel like lepers - especially if, like me, they only smoked in their own garden. Everyone talks about the effects of smoking (and we know they're bad) but everyone's now forgotten about the benefits (no matter how small) that were well known when smoking was popular. For example, midwives handed out cigarettes to women in labour! Extreme I know!
However, some people will always disagree with smoking just as some people have no sympathy for alcoholics and I accept that - I just wish they weren't given such a hard time if they can't quit.
I will stick with it though............and would wholeheartedly support anyone else who wanted to give up.
However, some people will always disagree with smoking just as some people have no sympathy for alcoholics and I accept that - I just wish they weren't given such a hard time if they can't quit.
I will stick with it though............and would wholeheartedly support anyone else who wanted to give up.
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