Quit smoking

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
WOW!  I never noticed this thread before and just ran across it.  I don't know if it will help me, but let me throw my new plight out there and maybe someones insight can convince me to do this.

A couple of months ago, my DW's employer started a new Wellness program associated with her medical benefits.  I have been on her insurance for many years due to the fact that her benefits were either equal to, or better than through my employer.  It was just easier to do everything through one insurance company.  As with many employers trying to accommodate the rising cost of health care and insurance premiums, the Wellness program was implemented.  In doing this, a requirement by the insurance company (BCBS) was to answer a battery of questions for them to determine your medical status and lifestyle.  If you were to refuse to go through this, you would automatically be put into the higher premium group.  I'm thinking extortion at this point.

I accommodated their requirements for pre-enrollment.  As a smoker, I am now required to be enrolled in their smoking cessation program.  If I were to refuse just the cessation program, I would be in the the higher premium group.  Luckily, my BMI is under 30.  Otherwise, I would also have to be enrolled in Weight Watchers also!  I am almost spitting extortion bullets by now!  Who the Hell are they to tell me how to live!!!  And then tell me if I don't conform, I will pay more!  I understand that question opens up a can of worms that could go on for days.  Not my point to make.  It's just that after 35+ years of enjoying a cigarette when I want one is suddenly hindered by some jackass on a bi-monthly phone call by my "nurse coach" trying to make me feel better about their attempt to better my life. 

This has been going on for a couple of months now.  I hate every phone call.  I know that smoking is bad for me.  I would also like to be able to use the money I spend on cigarettes on something else.  But, I am finding it very hard to justify the tactic BCBS is using to make them more profit.  And the only reason I am going through all of this by accomodating them is to prevent paying the higher premiums they hold over our heads.  I feel helpless.  I have been told I can't use the script type prescriptions due to the fact I drive a commercial motor vehicle for a living.  Something about the side effects associated with those drugs.  Over the counter stuff is expensive as heck, and I was never ready to quit in the first place.  I'm having a hard time with this.

I sure as heck don't want to gain back the 35 lbs. I have lost over the past 1 1/2 years by quiting smoking.  I don't have a sweet tooth, so snacking on candy instead of lighting up is out of the question.  Snacking on anything while driving isn't really a good idea anyway due to the fact I drive at night and need to focus on the road.  Not a gum chewer of any sort.  Winter is going to take it's toll on my smoking also.  Most of the roads I drive at night are country roads.  Now that Winter is upon us, while the respective county road commission's plow drivers decide to roll their happy union butts out of bed only about an hour before rush hour, I am out there puffing away trying to do my job all night long as the road conditions get worse until they finish their morning coffee and donuts.  Not a good time to try and quit smoking.

Ok.  That's my story.  Enough said.  I still smoke two packs a day.  I still tell my nurse coach "Good Luck" with convincing me.  I would LOVE to tell them about the extortion aspect of it all.  But I don't.  I realize they are just doing their job and they don't know me from Adam.  I'm still not ready to quit.  BUT, I would love to save the money spent on smokes and I know it would only do my good healthwise. 

Is there hope for me? 
 
    You are exactly correct, no amout of outside force will entice you to quit.  What it takes is an internal decision that you need to do it.  I can tell you that is the only way that both DW & I quit.  But in the end, the ability to go for a walk without wheezing or coughing, or walk up a moderate or steep hill without stopping to catch your breath all make it well worth while.  As for weight gain, it isn't the candy, it is that everything just tastes so much better.
    We are almost exactly seven years now, and we found the prescribed Chanpix (Canadian spelling of Chantix in US).  It is a 3 month commitment, but it sure worked for us, as well as our SIL who quit at the same time.
    So, forget about the new insurance plans, just think about how much it means to you and how much it will add to your life style and length.

Ed
 
>Denmark...I know the feeling, the taxpayers thought it would be a good idea to do the same thing to the county employees. Funny though, when the shoe was put on their foot they revolted and called it unfair. 

Work on the smoking first, it's easier to loose the weight than to stop smoking. As long as you are smoking the Doc's will blame everything on that. I stopped after my heart attack in 2000 and they are still blaming that.

Lot's of luck, you can make it.  Later..Will
 
Denmarc, I'm not a fan of insurance companies but, extortion is pretty strong.  If someone has a few drunk driving charges, they're going to pay a higher insurance premium on their vehicles.  Worse, as an over the road truck driver, if you are convicted of driving under the influence, you're most likely going to be looking for a new profession. 

For some, all that is needed to quit smoking is the proper motivation.  For me it was my son.  I didn't want to smoke around him as he was growing up.  That was 30 years ago.  My father wasn't so lucky.  His motivation was lung cancer.  He smoked for 40 years until his diagnosis.  Then he quit and never had another cigarette.  Unfortunately, he only had to fight the urge for six months. 

I know some smokers gain weight when they quit.  I didn't.  But in the past two years, I've gained maybe 20 lbs.  I attribute that to getting older, not exercising enough and too much wine.  My brother quit 4 years ago.  Now he has a $45.00 a month nicorette gum habit. 

I don't have a solution for you.  You'll have to figure that one out for yourself.  But you're an RVer.  You're working so most likely you're looking forward to RVing in retirement.  Make sure you can.  It's a blast.  :)   
 
When I started this thread I had no idea it would go on this long!  March 10th will be a year since quitting!  While I will never smoke again, I have gained plenty of weight, now that's the new challenge.  It's unbelievable how fast the weight came, I'm not fitting in anything I was wearing last March, that's for sure.  Hopefully by the 1yr mark I've got that weight off, we will see.
 
Denmarc,

I realized yrs ago after several attempts to quit smoking that you have to be ready to quit.  I was ready this time and it is still hard after 6 1/2 months.  Several things contributed to my quitting for good this time, Insurance wellness programs ( yes me too), not being able to smoke at work anymore, not being able to smoke anywhere anymore without being looked at like a criminal, not smoking around the kids and grandkids, and smelling like a cigarette all the time.  You really start feeling like a loner when you smoke because it's not acceptable anymore so you stay at home.

Health wise I feel really good right now and have not used an inhaler since a week after quitting.  I guess you could say I have saved my insurance company several hundred dollars on inhalers so they may have a point.  :-\

It's going to be harder for you since you work alone and can smoke whenever you want.  I keep telling myself that over a million people have quit smoking and I know that I have to be stronger then some of those people.

Find your reason and hang in there but it has to be more than the money.  The money saved is just the icing on the cake.
 
All great replies!  Maybe I need a better reason to quit, like Roadhappy mentioned.  Maybe I'm a confrontational type of person.  I kind of figured that anyways based on some previous threads in the past.  One that speaks their mind.  Which would explain the excuses I spewed to the nurse coach.  :-\

Here is where I stand:
I like to smoke.  Smoking helps get me through the night while working.  But, I know I should quit for myself and my family.  The motivation just isn't there.  I told my nurse coach that I was shooting for New Years to put the damn things down.  I am already doubting myself to accomplish that promise.

I know the money savings is a bit of a trivial thing.  But right now, that is the best I can come up with.  The anger towards the insurance companies is fueling the rebellion.  I am trying to come up with more concrete things to base my reasons for quiting on.  And then build upon that.  I'm working on it. 
 
denmarc said:
All great replies!  Maybe I need a better reason to quit, like Roadhappy mentioned.  Maybe I'm a confrontational type of person.  I kind of figured that anyways based on some previous threads in the past.  One that speaks their mind.  Which would explain the excuses I spewed to the nurse coach.  :-\

Here is where I stand:
I like to smoke.  Smoking helps get me through the night while working.  But, I know I should quit for myself and my family.  The motivation just isn't there.  I told my nurse coach that I was shooting for New Years to put the damn things down.  I am already doubting myself to accomplish that promise.

I know the money savings is a bit of a trivial thing.  But right now, that is the best I can come up with.  The anger towards the insurance companies is fueling the rebellion.  I am trying to come up with more concrete things to base my reasons for quiting on.  And then build upon that.  I'm working on it.

Well, if it's any help, I kinda went through the same thing you did.  I quit on September 11th, 1992.  I started smoking for the same reasons...rebellious.  Parents (Stepdad and Mom) smoked like chimneys, but I couldn't??  And they punished me to no end for smoking.  In the end, I still smoked.  Then I got married and had kids.  My wife doesn't and has never smoked, though her mother did.  I never smoked at home, except occassionally outside away from the wife and kids.  Then the military started cracking down on smoking.  And again the rebellious me kicked in.  Who are they to tell me to stop smoking.  In the end, I tried to quit a couple of times, for my family.  Cigarettes were still relatively cheap then, so money was not a factor.  And I only smoked around a pack to a pack and a half a week anyway.  But for me, it finally came down to "I was ready".  I just woke up one morning, and said "I am ready to quit".  I had one cigarette on the way to work that day, the last in a pack.  I had one more cigarette after that, 4 days later, during the eye of Hurricane Iniki (in Hawaii).  I have not smoked since. 

It really does come to the point that you have to be ready.  I can understand the rebellious feelings you are going through, and if you can set those aside and maybe think of the other reasons (money is certainly one...$45.00 for a carton of cigarettes...YIKES!).  But the kids and wife and other family as well.

I will throw one more thing out there.  My Mom died from smoking.  She was a 3 pack a day smoker, and her daily excercise amounted to getting up off the couch to fetch the remote control so she could change the channel to Wheel of Fortune.  She had her first heart failure in 2006, followed by a triple bypass.  They were not going to do the bypass unless she agreed to quit smoking.  They did the bypass and she did quit (made a little easier by me taking all her cigarettes, ash trays, lighters, matches, everything).  But it was really too late.  She was on oxygen from then on, had two more heart failures before the last one finally took her in 2008.  The worst part of that whole ordeal was seeing her in the ER or ICU everytime.  And her final weeks in a nursing home.  I won't go into details, but it was not a good time for me and my family.  My youngest brother was the last one in our family to quit smoking, and though it took him another year after Mom passed away, he did quit.  And Mom was his motivation.
 
The money savings isn't really a 'trivial' thing. If you're smoking 2 packs a day, you could make a car payment on what you'd save by quitting. You could take a cruise. You could eat out at a fancy restaurant weekly. You could remodel your house, buy new furniture, get a 70" TV. You could donate to your favorite charity. Just a thought.

Wendy
 
Wendy said:
The money savings isn't really a 'trivial' thing. If you're smoking 2 packs a day, you could make a car payment on what you'd save by quitting. You could take a cruise. You could eat out at a fancy restaurant weekly. You could remodel your house, buy new furniture, get a 70" TV. You could donate to your favorite charity. Just a thought.

Wendy

That's very true nowadays Wendy.  But when I quit, through the military, I could still get generic cigarettes for .50 a pack ($5.00 a carton).  And since I was only smoking one to two packs a week (at most), money was not a motivation for me.  If someone today is smoking even one pack a day, that's 3 cartons a month.  $45.00 X 3 = $135.00 a month.  It should certainly be a motivation now.
 
My Mom died from smoking.  She was a 3 pack a day smoker, and her daily excercise amounted to getting up off the couch to fetch the remote control so she could change the channel to Wheel of Fortune.  She had her first heart failure in 2006, followed by a triple bypass.  They were not going to do the bypass unless she agreed to quit smoking.  They did the bypass and she did quit (made a little easier by me taking all her cigarettes, ash trays, lighters, matches, everything).  But it was really too late.  She was on oxygen from then on, had two more heart failures before the last one finally took her in 2008.  The worst part of that whole ordeal was seeing her in the ER or ICU everytime.  And her final weeks in a nursing home.  I won't go into details, but it was not a good time for me and my family.  My youngest brother was the last one in our family to quit smoking, and though it took him another year after Mom passed away, he did quit.  And Mom was his motivation.

Family and how much a smoker cares for them might be far more of a motivation than money.  We watched both my dad and my mother-in-law die long, slow deaths from smoking-related causes.  I'll never forget my father-in-law saying "Why wouldn't she listen to the doctors?  Now I'm left all alone when we could have had so many more good years together."  My mother lived another 38 years after Daddy died at 56.  Perhaps wanting your wife to have your companionship into old age and seeing your children and/or grandchildren grow up will help motivate you to stop.

On the money side, think about this.  We all pay higher medical insurance premiums because of our/your bad habits.  One of my mother-in-law's month-long stays in ICU cost over $100,000.  Medicare paid it and all our Medicare premiums are going up.  Just something to think about.

ArdraF
 
denmarc said:
...
  I told my nurse coach that I was shooting for New Years to put the damn things down.  I am already doubting myself to accomplish that promise.
...

Don't doubt it -- that's self defeating. Just tell yourself you'll do it, then become a NON-smoker, not an EX-smoker.

When I quit four years ago, I planned it for a few weeks. Finally, with the last carton on hand, I managed to time it so that I finished almost the last cigarette at bed time, then threw the pack away, and told myself repeatedly -- "I am a non-smoker." The next day I told myself that, too. I managed to change my frame of mind from smoker, to ex-smoker to non-smoker in short order. Note that I had no more on hand, by design.

I, too, was still enjoying smoking, but noticed very small things such as getting out of breath a little easier, and my throat was a little drier and scratchier on occasion, and a few other things that finally decided me to try it (it had been almost 40 years since I'd last tried). That next November morning after quitting the craving wasn't real bad, and by the time a couple of weeks had gone by I had only occasional craving.

Perhaps it helped that I'm rarely around smokers these days, but it's been a lot easier these last four years than I'd expected, and now I rarely think about it. If it does come to mind I try to think of something else.

Good luck...
 
denmarc said:
All great replies!  Maybe I need a better reason to quit, like Roadhappy mentioned.  Maybe I'm a confrontational type of person.  I kind of figured that anyways based on some previous threads in the past.  One that speaks their mind.  Which would explain the excuses I spewed to the nurse coach.  :-\

Here is where I stand:
I like to smoke.  Smoking helps get me through the night while working.  But, I know I should quit for myself and my family.  The motivation just isn't there.  I told my nurse coach that I was shooting for New Years to put the damn things down.  I am already doubting myself to accomplish that promise.

I know the money savings is a bit of a trivial thing.  But right now, that is the best I can come up with.  The anger towards the insurance companies is fueling the rebellion.  I am trying to come up with more concrete things to base my reasons for quiting on.  And then build upon that.  I'm working on it. 

Allow me to give some advice.

Quit rationalizing and thinking about it -- that is just an avoidance device.  Just DO it!

Step 1:  Quit. Stub out the last butt of your life.

Step 2:  Throw out all the cigarettes in your house.  Enlist the family in tossing all the ash trays*, lighters, and other smoking paraphernalia in your house, car, garage.  They should destroy cigarettes, cigarettes scatter or flush away tobacco. 

Step 3:  Since smoking has strong elements of oral gratification, pick a substitute like hard candies, chewing gum, or even toothpicks to suck on.  Strong flavored hard candies seem particularly effective in the effort.  Myself, I used clove flavored Life Savers.  (Google the term). 

Step 4:  During the early stages, avoid socializing with smokers to the greatest extent possible.  When there is no choice, move up wind and as far away as possible.  Remember pressing matters elsewhere as soon as you can.  If you are invited to a smoked-filled social event -- quickly acquire a case of social influenza and beg off.

Step 5:  Your home is a nonsmoking area.  Pass the word.  Exile degenerate nicotine addicts (ie smokers) to the patio or backyard when you must have them over. 

Step 6:  Coffee is good, even decaf.  It tastes bitter and sipping it is a good displacement activity.  Keeps the fingers and mouth occupied and helps the getting thru the night.

Step 7:  Let it be known that you are a recovering addict.  Do not worry about being kidded by your friends.  If they kid you about saving your life, they are not your friends.
 
The whole process can be a complete bitch.  But hang in and get 'er done.  Take consolation in that if you suceed and quit the weed forever, you will not have to go thru the damn thing ever again.  It will take about 6 months to a year to get completely clear, but within a few months you will discover that the stench of second hand smoke and tobacco stench has become utterly repellant.  That is when you know that you are making it

Good luck. 

Carl L  -- 3 packs a day but quit in 1965 and am still around at 76 - as of today.


________________________________________

*Souvenir ash trays and carved meerschaum pipes:  Pack all these treasures into a box, and store the box with a relative or friend for  6-12 months.  Get them back when you know that you are over hump and are no longer a degenerate nicotine addict.   
 
If you never paid any attention to any advice in your life, please pay attention to Carl L's post.  Especially this:


Quit rationalizing and thinking about it -- that is just an avoidance device. Just DO it!

He summarized what I had been thinking ever since first reading your message.  I quit in 1989 after 30 years smoking on my own and 20 years breathing parents' smoke.
Said all those statements you have been making about "freedom" and "my rights".  Looking back on those statement, never felt so absolutely stupid in my life!

Man up.  Do it.  You'll never regret it.

Margi





 
I too liked Carl's message but, as someone said, a person will change when they're good and ready, and not before. As a recovering (nicotine) addict, I respectfully suggest that all the well-meaning messages of "encouragement" will, at best, be ignored, and may even have the opposite effect from what was intended.

I started smoking while still in grammar school, and continued for a number of years. My parents first found out after I started work, and my Dad's only advice was "as long as you smoke, you won't have any money in your pocket". This was when I still lived in the UK, where taxes on cigarettes were astronomically high. Dad was right. Today, 88% of the retail price (in the UK) is tax.

I first gave up smoking in the 60's and, 6 months later, I accepted a cigarette from a well-meaning cousin. It made me ill, but the second one made me less ill, and soon I was smoking 5/day, 10/day, and it wasn't long before it was 50/day. That continued until the late 70's. I smoked in bed until I woke up to a cigarette burning my chest. After that, I'd smoke my last cigarette of the day before going upstairs, and first thing in the morning I couldn't wait to get downstairs and light up.

I woke up one Saturday morning to "that (awful) taste", and decided on the spot to skip the first cigarette, and continued to fight the strong addiction for several days, then weeks and months. It's been approx 34 years since the last one, but there are still times when I consciously fight the urge to light up. The really vulnerable times are/were after a meal and after a cocktail. I'm continually reminded of the old UK saying "a pint (of beer) in one hand, and a cigarette in the other".

As an aside, dental hygiene care was non-existent when/where I grew up, and I recall being the only kid to take a toothbrush to school for use after the school lunch. When we first came to California, several years after my last cigarette, my first dental hygiene appointment here released some nicotine trapped in/under plaque. That drove me crazy for several weeks, and I really had to fight hard to ignore it. The next dental hygiene appointment released more plaque and nicotine that was missed during the prior cleaning; Again, I had to fight it for several weeks.

Remember those tobacco execs who, under oath, said "nicotine is not addictive"? They LIED!

Edit: Fixed a few typos and added a few minor clarifications.
 
Any of ya'll (smokers) reading these posts think it's not worth it????  Dead wrong (pun intended) it's fantastic!  No more laying in bed and thinking the congestion and chest clearing cough is 'normal'... The past 9 mos has really been awesome, huge difference in breathing easy!  It is truly amazing how fast breathing clears, if you (smokers) do not believe it, just give it a try for a few weeks and see for yourself.  Last week a guy came up to me at work, he remembered me from the smokers area outside of work last year... Asked how it was going (he knew without asking I had quit) I told him it was great, just plain smart move.  He's giving it a go now, when ever I pass him in the halls I give him a thumbs up!  I'm at over 9mos now, feeling great.  The smell of smokers in the elevators is .... well, 'nasty'... I smile with personal satisfaction now....  No more nasty.
 
Good for you Jim. You set a good example and it's always easy to get inspiration from someone who's doing it 'now' rather than those of us who did it a hundred years ago. Keep it up.

Wendy
 
Well I started the evil habit at four years old. No use in trying to quit.  In fact this thread has caused some stress and I am fixing to go fire one up. Thanks.  Now back in the good old days in the oil patch heard of a fella who could put half a pack of Beech Nut chewing tobaccy in each cheek..half a can of Copenhagen under his bottom lip..drink a beer and smoke a cigarette all at once. Now Paducah Patty could do this too..and she was a girl.
 
I don't know what to say.  After reading Carl, Tom, and Jim's reply, as well as the rest of them, I'm at a loss for words. 
I really don't have an excuse, do I?
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
131,670
Posts
1,382,720
Members
137,455
Latest member
MtnRV
Back
Top Bottom