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On Smoking

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Re: On Smoking

#81

Post by [deleted] »

1_player wrote: post #49
whereis wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I smoked for ten years. Took Chantix for a week about fifteen years ago, which increased the frequency and intensity of my suicidal ideations. I then quit for good, with help from the Carr book, about a year thereafter. Quitting was horrible, but it got better. Now, the thought of smoking a cigarette is repulsive. Zero cravings, and the smell is highly offensive now. There's no light switch. YMMV.

Telling yourself there is no light switch in you, that you are stronger or better equipped than others, is a dangerous way to eventual relapse. Though for your own sake I really hope I am wrong.

[deleted]

Re: On Smoking

#82

Post by TchoBeer »

mavhc wrote: post #52
dimmke wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I quit smoking back in 2016 and I don’t think of myself as a smoker at all anymore. I sometimes have to remind myself I used to smoke.

Why do people start smoking? Surely they know it's addictive, expensive, and bad for you

Alcohol is also addictive expensive and bad for you, and yet no one asks why anyone would drink alcohol

Re: On Smoking

#83

Post by yllorepap »

1_player wrote: post #54
TameAntelope wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience has been similar. I've smoked cigarettes probably ~12 times in my life, maybe up to 20 if you count cigars, but I've never felt like I need one or am in any way compelled to continue smoking on my own. Always, always while drinking. Maybe that helps isolate the context?

Sorry, I downvoted you, I hate when people think they're immune. They're one of the reason other people find themselves addicted to it. It's irresponsible and frankly immature. Smoking one or 100 cigarettes doesn't guarantee addiction, it's a Russian roulette. If you haven't heard BANG yet, doesn't mean there's no ammo in the chamber. You're not better or smarter than smokers. You just were more lucky.

I am immune, it’s easy. Just don’t smoke. I’ve probably smoked hundreds of cigarettes with beer with friends. I’d just never have one on my own. I’ve never had a drink on my own either. It’s obvious and easy.

Re: On Smoking

#84

Post by wnesensohn »

TameAntelope wrote: post #23
Scarbutt wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind I don't think that's true in general, at least not for me or many of my friends. We never got hooked. Please don't try though ;)

My experience has been similar. I've smoked cigarettes probably ~12 times in my life, maybe up to 20 if you count cigars, but I've never felt like I need one or am in any way compelled to continue smoking on my own. Always, always while drinking. Maybe that helps isolate the context?

Of course this is purely anecdotal, but I also smoke rarely when drinking, and only then. Some nights up to half a pack, sometimes just one or two, but only two to three times a year by now. Interestingly, I have no desire to smoke whatsoever when not drinking, not even a hint.

Something in my brain seems to be wired such that I'm repelled by the taste when it's not in the "right" setting. Even if I wanted, when I only had a beer or two I get so sick from it that I have to stop almost immediately.

It might be that I'm just super lucky, but I feel like there is more to it than that.

Re: On Smoking

#85

Post by snusthrowaway »

dageshi wrote: post #48
pengaru wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also worth noting nicotine has interesting "nootropic" properties. You don't really have to quit your addiction to quit smoking, and there can be some advantages to continuing if you can afford it in safer forms.

Nicotine seems to vary depending on the delivery mechanism. Cigar (not inhaled) do not seem to be addictive at all for most who use them, more of a hobby. I've used the little Swedish "packets" you slip under your top lip and those are like a habit that's hard to break while you have a supply, they become part of your daily routine but I've never had any withdrawal symptoms from them. Cigarettes by all accounts seem…

Conversely, I have never had any urge for cigarettes. Occasionally, I crave for cigars. Snus, however, I crave roughly daily despite stopping around 6 months ago. During lockdowns my nicotine use via snus got a bit out of hand -- at the peak I spent roughly a puck a day (so like 20x pouches of maybe 14mg nicotine a day). I usually stayed up two days straight and slept for the third. Once I woke up, I could not get out of the bed without one. Once I stopped using when I ran out, I had headaches which felt like they crushed my head and put the world spinning. This continued for maybe 3 days. After 3 months of discontinued use, I tried one of the stronger snus brands while intoxicated -- the ones I would not given a second thought while at my peaks -- I became so overwhelmed in a matter of a dozen seconds that I could not walk, and had to lie down and avoid puking on the spot.

And despite stopping, I now have this clear cavity on my right side of mouth with the gums clearly redacted. I only spent snus heavily for roughly three months (which probably masqueraded depression or lack of motivation), albeit, during that time almost at all times and occasionally with multiple pouches.

Overall, I have done coffee at great amounts, tried amphetamines and ephedrine, cannabis in most of its forms, some benzos, and self-medicated myself with alcohol, and I must say the physical withdrawals for me have been worst with nicotine, with only benzos taking the lead on the physiological toplist.

Re: On Smoking

#86

Post by deesep »

I started smoking when i went to study in China. Someone gifted me an expensive brand of cigarette, and I kept it hidden in a drawer for two weeks as I didn't smoke. One very cold day with no where to go and nothing to do, I took the pack out and lit one stick. My did it have a lovely scent. The heat it created inside me was also soothing. It took me about a week and half to finish the pack of 21 cigs. I couldn't afford to buy the same brand often but i had become addicted to smoking. I struggled with anxiety back then and smoking calmed my nerves. Within 1 year I was smoking 2 packs a day.

Smoking is frowned upon in Ghana, so upon my return there were few places I could smoke. One day while out and about I got really anxious about something and I needed a cig badly. I had to go some distance to get one, and even got a harder time finding a place to hide and smoke. I felt like I was committing the most heinous of crimes cause I had to take off my shirt to ensure the smell didn't stick on me. I didn't even enjoy the smoke because the quality wasn't that good, I smoked in a hurry and kept looking over my shoulder. I simply couldn't live like that anymore. So I quit after that day. The next time I tried to smoke again was 2 months later. I couldn't even finish a stick as it made me feel sick. I have disliked the smell of cigarettes ever since. And that was 7 years ago.

Re: On Smoking

#87

Post by Jimmc414 »

enneff wrote: post #72
unixhero wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit smoking, and it was very very hard. I don't agree with you that the addiction, need and nicotine + other triggers will remain with me until the end of time. Deprogramming is part of the process of quitting to smoke. I do now never want to smoke. It is not attractive to me as a way to relax or focus. I can stand in a tobacco section of an airport taxfree shop holding a 5 cartons in my hands with absolutely no d…

A big part of my process for quitting was associating smoking with feeling disgusting and sick instead of feeling relaxed (which was never true anyway). For me it was more like reprogramming than deprogramming. But in broad strokes my experience was similar to yours.

Same here. I started in my teens and eventually quit in my thirties. It was so difficult I'm still surprised I was actually able to finally quit. Each time I walked into the office in the morning and at lunch I had to walk through the gauntlet of smokers and the mantra I repeated to myself to resist was, "That is what death smells like" It didn't take that long (months) before I found that familiar sweet smell very distasteful.

Re: On Smoking

#88

Post by lwhi »

I'm still smoking at the moment.

I've quit for years and started again.

It's the push and pull .. the need and that satiation that I find so satisfying, and to a certain extent it's that rhythm I find ultimately attractive.

The slow build up of a hunger, before you end it with a delicious meal. The relaxing bath after a 30 mile hike. The 10 hour sleep after a stressful few days running on caffeine. The buzz of endorphins after breaking through the pain barrier on a run.

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a junky at heart. But I would like to stop smoking.

Re: On Smoking

#89

Post by rabidrat »

murat131 wrote: post #3

The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…

I was a half-pack-a-day smoker for about 10 years, quit several times (once for several months), and the only thing that "worked" ultimately was realizing that I simply could never have another cigarette. After the physical cravings subsided, I still had frequent longings for that wonderfully ubiquitous way to 'fix' my internal itchiness/discomfort, but I had made such a commitment that I would have literal nightmares in which I smoked a cigarette--and then woke up in a panic, similar to dreams where I found out I'd accidentally killed someone and was debating whether to turn myself in or go on the lam.

Then one evening about 10 years later I was at a festival wandering around and I had this desire in my brain for something, I didn't know what, and it was a few hours later that I realized the thing I really wanted was a cigarette. It was that night that I changed my internal conception of myself from "ex-smoker" to "non-smoker". I don't have cravings any more for cigarettes, though there is a certain pang, I guess I would call it "nostalgia", and maybe it includes "envy" of people who can smoke a cigarette/cigar socially at an event and then not think about it again for years. Occasionally I will have accidental contact with nicotine (like buying a joint on vacation and getting a weird taste while smoking it and realizing half-way through that it's actually a spliff), and for a few days or a week afterward the light switch is again visible in my mind--though I'm thankfully not tempted to flip it. I wonder in those times whether a never-smoker who has a cigar once does have the same cravings in the days after, but doesn't recognize them as such.

So at least for me, who admittedly was never a heavy smoker, it doesn't resonate that I will struggle with this addiction until I die. The only apparent lasting (mental) consequences are that I have to consciously refuse nicotine even when it would be a legitimately fun and interesting experience (like when I was offered some fancy snuff at a party which everyone else got to enjoy). And when I see someone smoking a cigarette I might get the nostalgia or envy I mentioned above. But when I get within smelling distance it's just foul and unappealing.

Best wishes for anyone who's thinking of or trying to quit.

Re: On Smoking

#90

Post by 1_player »

TameAntelope wrote: post #73
1_player wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I downvoted you, I hate when people think they're immune. They're one of the reason other people find themselves addicted to it. It's irresponsible and frankly immature. Smoking one or 100 cigarettes doesn't guarantee addiction, it's a Russian roulette. If you haven't heard BANG yet, doesn't mean there's no ammo in the chamber. You're not better or smarter than smokers. You just were more lucky.

I guess my only thought here is: how can someone like me talk about my experience if I'm going to get shouted down by someone like you? I was trying to share an anecdote to explain a potentially interesting alternative view, but I feel now that if I don't toe the orthodoxy line, I'm not allowed to participate. I don't think I'm immune, but I am certain I'm not addicted to nicotine despite having smoked dozens of time…

Good for you.

Sorry I don't have a better analogy, but it's like coming home from a tour in the military, and telling everybody "hey guys, war is perfectly safe, look at me I'm still alive!" — I'm really happy for you, but others are going to listen to your "story", follow your example, and have drastically worse results.

I think it's more interesting learning from those that went through hell, not the reckless lucky ones that managed to stay unscathed and think they're hot shit. Luck ain't a skill nor wisdom.

I know these are strong words for the matter at hand, but there must be an ex smoker or three that know exactly what I'm talking about.

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