A_M_Swallow
Regular
Lots of luck JoeDM with giving up the weed.
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Season Two DVDs
- Thread starter ElScorcho
- Start date
hypatia
Regular
Good luck with it, Joe. I have been free of cigs for about two years or so now. Just remember that the withdraw will not last forever.
I think after about a week it's about over. In about 3 weeks you'll hardly even remember how horrible it was. I used the gum, because I tended to smoke a lot and then not much over the hours of the day. The patch is better for people who smoke fairly regularly IIRC.
Anyhow, best of luck with it. You'll feel so much better once your lungs clear out. That stage can take awhile, but you'll notice improvements pretty quickly if you exercise.
You can imagine how much fun being a swimmer was when I had a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
I think after about a week it's about over. In about 3 weeks you'll hardly even remember how horrible it was. I used the gum, because I tended to smoke a lot and then not much over the hours of the day. The patch is better for people who smoke fairly regularly IIRC.
Anyhow, best of luck with it. You'll feel so much better once your lungs clear out. That stage can take awhile, but you'll notice improvements pretty quickly if you exercise.
You can imagine how much fun being a swimmer was when I had a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit. /forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
crofootski
Regular
I hope you do it, Joe. I quit cold turkey back in '83 and can't tell you how happy I am that cigs are no longer part of my life. I didn't really have physical cravings when I quit, but I sure missed the heck out of it; didn't have anything to do with my hands! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Ninja_Squirrel
Regular
Good luck with quitting smoking, Joe (I didn't know you were a smoker).
My biggest problem with smoking (other than the health concerns, of course) is not even the smoke itself, but how much the smell of smoke lingers on everything it touches. Unfortunately, most of my friends smoke, and all it takes is about 30 minutes around them for the smell of smoke to get on me.
If I'm around smokers for several hours, the smell gets into my clothes, skin, and hair. When I get home, I reak of it. I have to change all my clothes, wash my face and arms, and run water through my hair. Sometimes I'll just go ahead and take a full shower, and the smell still doesn't completely go away. Even when wearing jeans and a shirt-tail tucked in, I've even had smoke smell get all the way into my underwear (don't ask me how I know). I graduated from high school in 1993, and all my high school yearbooks still smell like smoke because my parents used to smoke in the house when I was in high school.
I think smokers don't realize how much smoke makes themselves, other people, or things around them stink. They're probably immune to the smell since they intentionally take it into their body all the time. If someone tells them it sticks, they probably don't believe it or just don't care. Maybe that's even part of the addiction--that it makes you oblivious and/or apathetic of the after-effects of smoke (and I'm not even talking about the health effects, although you'd think that would be enough to keep people from starting in the first place).
Again, good luck quitting, Joe. I always look forward to your posts; I respect how well you express your opinions and enjoy all your industry knowledge and behind-the-scenes info. You're a good guy, and you deserve to do this good thing for yourself and those around you. Whether it's patches, pure willpower, or a combination, I hope it works for you.
Hope something works for my dad too. Mom said he's going to try (again) to quit. She didn't quit until a near heart attack landed her in the hospital for several days about seven years ago. My parents' ex-neighbor is finally trying to quit too, but it took her trouble breathing and about 10 days in the hospital with a bronchial virus before she finally decided she'd try to quit. Please, don't wait until a health problem "forces" you to quit.
My biggest problem with smoking (other than the health concerns, of course) is not even the smoke itself, but how much the smell of smoke lingers on everything it touches. Unfortunately, most of my friends smoke, and all it takes is about 30 minutes around them for the smell of smoke to get on me.
If I'm around smokers for several hours, the smell gets into my clothes, skin, and hair. When I get home, I reak of it. I have to change all my clothes, wash my face and arms, and run water through my hair. Sometimes I'll just go ahead and take a full shower, and the smell still doesn't completely go away. Even when wearing jeans and a shirt-tail tucked in, I've even had smoke smell get all the way into my underwear (don't ask me how I know). I graduated from high school in 1993, and all my high school yearbooks still smell like smoke because my parents used to smoke in the house when I was in high school.
I think smokers don't realize how much smoke makes themselves, other people, or things around them stink. They're probably immune to the smell since they intentionally take it into their body all the time. If someone tells them it sticks, they probably don't believe it or just don't care. Maybe that's even part of the addiction--that it makes you oblivious and/or apathetic of the after-effects of smoke (and I'm not even talking about the health effects, although you'd think that would be enough to keep people from starting in the first place).
Again, good luck quitting, Joe. I always look forward to your posts; I respect how well you express your opinions and enjoy all your industry knowledge and behind-the-scenes info. You're a good guy, and you deserve to do this good thing for yourself and those around you. Whether it's patches, pure willpower, or a combination, I hope it works for you.
Hope something works for my dad too. Mom said he's going to try (again) to quit. She didn't quit until a near heart attack landed her in the hospital for several days about seven years ago. My parents' ex-neighbor is finally trying to quit too, but it took her trouble breathing and about 10 days in the hospital with a bronchial virus before she finally decided she'd try to quit. Please, don't wait until a health problem "forces" you to quit.
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
It isn't so much that they're "immune" to it, or used to it, as that smoking actually does damage the sense of smell. So they simply and literally do not smell the odors that you find offensive. It is a bit like being color-blind.
I noticed after about four or five days without cigarettes (cool days when I kept the windows open as much as possible precisely to air things out) that I could smell a tabacco scent in my home office that I've never noticed before - as I certainly did notice the stale-smoke odor the room when I left it and returned to it while happily puffing away and checking the want ads or this board. But after I left the windows open for an hour or two, the room would smell fine to me. Now I notice the smoke smell immediately upon entering it even though there hasn't been a cigarette in it for seven days. (And the ashtrays were removed and the wastepaper basket scrubbed out, as well as the windows being opened frequently, in the time since.)
Regards,
Joe
Jade Jaguar
Regular
I have some things that belonged to my Mother in the attic. She was a three pack a day smoker who died in 1991. The things in the attic still smell. Good luck, Joe. Sounds like you're doing well. A friend of mine who had smoked for over 30 years quit cold turkey. She took Zyban, and said she actually didn't crave a cigarette! Only smoker I ever heard say that. I was by my Mom's side when she died of esophageal cancer, from smoking. When she died, her lungs collapsed, and a black fluid poured out of her mouth. I wish I had filmed it to show to kids who take up smoking. She had been delerious, and without food and water due to the esophageal blockage for over a week before she died. Even in her delerium, she still went through the motions ol lighting and smoking a cigarette, without the cigarette.
Lyta
Moderator
I never knew you smoked Joe. How long have you been smoking? A friend of mine just quit after smoking for at least 20 years (I think that is what she said) and told me was one of the best things she has ever done for herself. Plus, there was all the money she saved which allowed her to buy a new car. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
If you have been smoking a long time, it might take you a while to get rid of the smell. I would get the carpets, furnature and walls cleaned (or painted) if you can.
PS: I agree with Recoil to chop up this thread about smoking and move it to off-topic since every time I come in here, I expect to read about the Season Two DVDs. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
If you have been smoking a long time, it might take you a while to get rid of the smell. I would get the carpets, furnature and walls cleaned (or painted) if you can.
PS: I agree with Recoil to chop up this thread about smoking and move it to off-topic since every time I come in here, I expect to read about the Season Two DVDs. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Waitaminnit. If she took Zyban, she did not quit "cold turkey". /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Cold turkey means no aids of any kind.
Sorry to hear about your mom. That must have been horrible.
Regards,
Joe
KoshN
Super Moderator
Clean the walls and then paint, because paint does not want to stick to walls or ceilings where somebody's smoked for a long time. The tar is kind of like kitchen grease, and the paint won't take.
I moved into a cubicle at work there the previous occupant had been a heavy smoker. The cubicle was yellow. I had to scrub it off to find the beige underneath. The ceiling tiles above were also yellowed, but only above this one cube. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Jade Jaguar
Regular
Yeah, I guess you're right. By cold turkey, I just meant no tapering off, just no more cigarettes period. Yes, my Mom's death was pretty awful, thanks.
I think everyone suggesting you clean and paint your walls must have forgotten you moved, didn't you? So they haven't had that long to accumulate smoke residue in your new place. Just washing curtains, and carpet shampooing should get rid of most of it. The inside of my Mom's car was thoroughly coated with tobacco scum, everything was actually golden brown. When she died, she had a tennant who was behind in the rent by about a grand. I told her that if she would clean the car out thoroughly, so no residue remained, I would forgive the debt. She and several of her friends spent a long day doing it, but the car was then fresh and clean. It would have been very hard to sell before the cleaning, so she added more than $1,000 value to it.
I think everyone suggesting you clean and paint your walls must have forgotten you moved, didn't you? So they haven't had that long to accumulate smoke residue in your new place. Just washing curtains, and carpet shampooing should get rid of most of it. The inside of my Mom's car was thoroughly coated with tobacco scum, everything was actually golden brown. When she died, she had a tennant who was behind in the rent by about a grand. I told her that if she would clean the car out thoroughly, so no residue remained, I would forgive the debt. She and several of her friends spent a long day doing it, but the car was then fresh and clean. It would have been very hard to sell before the cleaning, so she added more than $1,000 value to it.
