Shared stories

Got a triple bypass on March 13, 2019 and was send home 6 days later. The first thing that was on my mind when I got home was to have nice fresh cup of coffee and a smoke. Having said that after the first night puff, a coughing fit occurred and made things for me very painful, feeling my chest and staples ready to pop open. It was easy to put that cigarette down while I was hugging my chest to keep everything in place. Addiction is not an easy monster to conquer but I will do it.....eventually.

I am a 30 y/o female who has been smoking since the age of 16. I also suffered to alcohol and drug addiction for 15 years before I decided to get help. I went to a recovery centre for 10 days and I am currently 5 months clean and sober. Unfortunately, my smoking habit got a lot worse. I decided to quit smoking recently because it was controlling my life, destroying my appearance and making me feel icky and ill. Quitting the cigs have been a lot harder for me than booze. I hope there comes a day where I don’t think about it. Patience and persistence I guess.

I used to steal smokes to my parents when I was 6 years old. My buddy and I would smoke them in our fort, pretty sure we did not inhale. Started smoking in grade 9 , 14 years old. I remember us saying we would quit if smoke ever got to a dollar a pack. I think we were paying about 75 cents a pack then. Smoked for 25 years and quit on new years eve 2000. My wife had quit a couple years earlier, we had tried many times to quit over the years and never succeeded. I had tied using the patch and ended up going cold turkey when I was finally successful . Both of my parents passed away to cancer in 2009 , they had smoked their whole lives. My wife of 30 years was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010. She passed away in 2011. My girlfriend is a smoker and I started to light her smokes for her just so I could get in a puff. Didn't take long before I was asking for a puff. And not much longer before I was fully addicted again. I have tried to quit many times over the last few years. I did not want my kids to know that I had started smoking , they had a real hard time loosing their mom to cancer. My boss did not know I smoked. I hid to smoke , didn' t want people to know I was a smoker. I was ashamed of my addiction. I looked at it as a weakness. I tried using the gum, patches, mister and vapour unit. I was not able to quit using any of those methods. I finally quit on nov 10 of this past year cold turkey. it has been tough but so worth it. thanks to everyone on this site for their support and encouragement. thank you

Hi Everyone. I have managed my quit since the 15th of this month 2018. I wanted to quit plus I couldn't breath properly before I quit. I have not coughed up much at all. I know I am going to join a gym when my holidays are over. I am happy to socialize without that nagging feeling that I need a smoke. I look forward to return home and be still tobacco free. I am using the patch by itself and it actually works when you are ready to quit, it takes the edge off. I realize now what I could of done years ago with quitting is to just say I have had enough of tobacco and all it's horrible addictive properties. Allan Carr was right, we just don't feed the little nicotine monster so the big nicotine monster does not keep us hooked. I have tried to quit 100s of times, this time I do not have any desire to smoke tobacco or any other tobacco product.I hope this reaches someones heart and mind so they too don't give up on themselves. Thank you and have a tobacco free time.

Hello everyone,this is my first attempt at quitting smoking in 37 years.I actually quit on June 26th 2018.7 days ago. I am so tired of smelling like an ashtray.Such a stink,dirty habit.Now I can smell better then ever,tastebuds came back stronger too.Looking forward to seeing how much money I save to not smoking close to 2 packs a day.Only had one craving 2nd day of quitting but distracted myself and the craving went away.I started out with the Nicorette gum but no longer feel the need to chew one.Good luck to all of those that are this path of cleaner living and healthier lungs....We got this.1 day at a time,stay strong. :)

Well this is my second time quitting smoking and I found it hard. Dealing with my childhood traumas is one of the hardest things a man can do. I recently got certified in LIFESKILLS COACH TRAINING. A very intense course, it started me smoking again. I'm dealing with my traumas and manage to put the smokes down again. I will continue to go forward without the smokes...

I had just started a new job after not working for six months due to a back injury . The night before my second shift, I fell and fractured my foot and ankle . There went my job. I started to think about the cost of smoking , not just the money but health as well. Since I am not working I can't afford to smoke. So I am 20 days smoke free. I am using the patch and when cravings are strong , I use an inhaler. One cartridge lasts me three days so I am not too dependent on it. Still better than a cigarette !

After being smoke-free for three months, I started smoking again. My new quit date is May 3rd, 2018 and hope to succeed this time.

I am 63 and have pretty much been smoking steady since I was about 15. I have quit a few times over the years, but the longest I was smoke-free was for 2 1/2 years. I started again after this about 5 years ago and quit again once for about a year. I have always loved smoking ever since I started but what I was really hating about my life was that I was so dependent on things around my smoking habit and I felt like a derelict everywhere I went as not nearly as many people smoke these days and you pretty much have to hide yourself away to do it. I know I am not getting any younger and if I don't do it now, well, who knows. So far I've been lucky and other than smoking I have looked after my health fairly well. At any rate, this time I really am doing it for myself, no one else. I think that is the key for me! And....I go minute by minute, day by day and if I really feel that I just want to run out the door to the gas station and buy cigarettes, I just say to myself... breathe, relax, do something else and then I forget. I have a drink of water, I chew my gum, I go for walks and I just keep as active as possible. Walking is something that I really enjoy so getting out there, breathing in the ocean air and getting the vitamin D is huge for me. Now I have passed the 28 day mark and am feeling much less anxious and depressed and am just looking forward to what lies ahead of me. Also, I just bought myself a few new clothes online that will come in the mail... like a present... one of these days. I rarely shop and I live on small island so that is a big treat for me! I know there will always be the urge to smoke especially during stressful times, but I feel confident that I can beat this. XXX'ing my fingers and taking a deep breath! Karen

i started smoking again after 2-4 years of not smoking. the reason why i started smoking because i was doing my life story in a course im taking. it allows me to deal with all my childhood traumas i expierenced when i was young. Now that Im dealing with my issues i can now put the smokes down once n for all...

Hello everybody, I am sharing my story with you as per Quit Now's encouragement. I used to smoke 15 to 20 cigarettes per day for 34 years. I had to smoke but hated it most of the time for all the typical reasons. Attempted to quit many times in the past, but those attempts never lasted more than a couple of days each time. This time around I used Quit Now + Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking" together. I found this book just 3 weeks before I quit. Worked for me perfectly this time. Have not had a smoke since January 1, 2018. Didn't even apply any patches at all which I did obtain to London Drugs just a week before my Quit Day. Cravings were only strong for the first few days. No desire to pick up another cigarette again for the rest of my life. Can't even stand the smell of cigarettes now when I walk past smokers. The Easy Way really worked for me. My lungs can finally take in the right amount of air they are supposed to when I go for my runs. No coughing at all during or after runs anymore. Feel great waking up in the mornings. Feel awesome to be a non-smoker: what a normal me should have been for the past 34 years had I not picked up that first cigarette when I was just 14. Thank you Quit Now, my Quit Coach Alexandra, and Allen Carr's amazing book.

Well, it’s been 1 month for me and I’m so very proud of myself. I’m using the nicotine patch and occasionally I chew a lozenge. My biggest craving is with my 1st cup of coffee, so I find having a lozenge really helps. My next hurdle is mid-afternoon and again a lozenge. The benefits have far outweighed my cravings. I can take wonderful deep breaths, I can walk without my legs having pain and my cat and clothes smell so much better. After being a smoker for 58 years I am committed to never lighting up again. Next hurdle, 2 months. I can do it, I can do it, I’ve got this one!!!

Well, I’m on day 30 of being smoke-free. What a great feeling it is. So far I’m very proud of my accomplishment but I know I still have a long way to go. I can breathe better and am able to walk my dogs without my legs getting weak and wobbly. The third week was my most challenging, but I toughed it out. I know if I can do it after 58 years of smoking anyone can conquer it . Remember, mind over matter. Hang in there!!

I want to quit ,so badly and I do not want to give up !!I am doing it with CHAMPIX! I have stopped once before ,for about a year that was 30 years ago.I know I can do it ,but I also feel scared???funny, NOTHING TO FEAR ,ITIS ONLY A POSITIVE THING! I will write more later ,as I not in the mood !

This will be my 4th attempt. I smoke about half a pack a day. I have strong thoughts about quitting that consume my thoughts. I crave to quit smoking just as much as I crave to smoke! So I told myself January 2nd is the day! I started the patch. I still find myself smoking, just not AS MUCH as I was before. I find with me I don't "crave" as much as it has become a "habit" of going out on my work breaks, or just needing that minute or two to myself to decompress. I also am hugely afraid of gaining weight when I finally manage to quit. I have taken steps to ensure I am eating healthy snacks rather then junk food but its definitely still a work in progress. All I wanna do is quit but it is very hard.

Hi everyone......Just want to share my story. This Jan 21/2018 will be a year since I quit. No relapses, but still have the cravings occasionally. I lost my two best friends, one to cancer 2 years ago and one just 2 weeks ago to C.O.P.D. When I got sick last year and was outside freezing in the winter, with a cold, trying to smoke. It was finally enough, I was having trouble laying down and not wheezing, without having a cold... and here I was battling the weather my health and my sanity to have a couple of drags. And my dear friend I just lost, who could barely get air in was smoking too.......and I thought "NO way, I'm not doing this anymore" She sounded so terrible, I didn't want that to be me in the future. It was one of the most challenging things I've ever done, but with the nicorette inhaler I was able to get through the worst of it and now it's going to be a year soon. I can breathe!!! No more wheezing, or coughing like I used to. I can inhale deep , big breaths now. That was the first and most noticable payoff to quitting. I'm still getting used to calling myself a non-smoker , but I like the sound of it. I also thank the BC gov. for offering the cessation program, without the free product , I don't know it I would have made it. I never, ever thought I would or could quit, and I have , so don't give up, just keep on trying.

My husband and I both quit just under 10 months ago and together with the exception of one relapse we have stayed smoke free, the withdrawal was horrible at times and even now the muscle and joint pain I have daily is bad but the coughing is gone, my lungs are clearing I'm feeling better that way and I will not start again though there are times I miss it if I am being honest. I am very grateful to have stopped and now understand how bad I must have smelled to a non smoker. Financially it's not that noticible just gets absorbed into daily cost. I do see why so many start again, the pain you might go through that I am experiencing is horrible but I did that to myself for 34 years

Oh! How I have tried to quit smoking. I have set my quit date 3 times. When I got the e-mail saying I had been smoke-free for 3 weeks, I got really depressed. But I am determined and tomorrow is the day. I want to wake up and not have to make coffee, then go outside to the balcony and "bond" with a cigarette. It has become a ritual I enjoy so much, to relax, take a few moments to myself, be outside. But recently an addictions doctor wrote that addiction is not so much a chemical imbalance as it is a relationship of bonding with the addictive substance. We have friends who smoke, we go to places where we can smoke ( fewer and fewer there are), and we see fun or freedom in a cigarette. But I have started going to the gym and making lists of things I would like to buy if I wasn't buying cigarettes, so I am seriously hoping to "break the bond" cigarettes have on me, and say good-bye tomorrow to that smoking habit.

Hey Everyone, I thought it might be time to tell my story. I was experiencing wheezing when I would go to bed each night that became so annoying and the fact that B.C. was banning Menthol cigarettes on Oct., 2nd I decided I would quit. I have never liked regular cigarettes so I really had no choice. I don't want to be walking around some day with oxygen or have chronic COPD. I've been smoking for 47 years so this is no easy feat and I did have a couple of slips but I don't want to go back to tobacco running my life. The mornings are still tough but as soon as I apply the patch and get the kettle going I manage to get past the urge that isn't as acute as in the beginning. I read now and or do a crossword to wake up and that helps. I also believe that God is helping me and that is comforting. I can't even recall how many times I have quit., once for 10 months, 8 months, 1 day LOL the thing is don't give up trying because deep down no one really enjoys being a slave to any drug. I wish you all the best. Debi