electric ciggarettes

bentwrench wrote: The craving never goes away completely. (sorry to not sugar coat quitting) It is a very insidious addiction that is second only to cocaine. A conscious decision to quit is the only way. Tapering off or substitution leads to addiction to other compounds. (don't do it)(multiple addictions) The worst is the first few days and gets notably easier after that.

maybe not for you … it has for me … totally … haven't had any desire for a smoke of any kind in several yrs now

and for me cocaine wasn't addictive at all … 'course what we were doing back in the day was A) pretty heavily stepped on… and B) was powder, not smoked/injected

fwiw, I've been told that meth is even harder to walk away from

Curmudgeon wrote: My dad quit cold turkey too January 16, 2010, the day he died of lung cancer.

I've never seen this message presented this way. How powerful is this? Wow! QUIT NOW!

Sorry about your dad.

It's the truth. He smoked right up to the time he laid his head down the last time.

Thanks for being an asswipe.

Curmudgeon wrote: Thanks for being an asswipe.

Who is that referring to?

Now, does anyone know how to talk to an idiot little brother about giving up chew or whatever the hell it is he's packing in his lip?

mtn wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: Thanks for being an asswipe.

Who is that referring to? Now, does anyone know how to talk to an idiot little brother about giving up chew or whatever the hell it is he's packing in his lip?

Option 1- beat his ass until he quits, multiple times if needed

option 2 - take him to a cancer hospital and show him what cancer of the mouth and jaw do to people, up close and personal

My Brother from another mother is at stage 4 inoperable lung cancer, I don't think he will last through the holidays.

I have been after him for years to quit smoking. A year ago they took out half of his left lung. As soon as he was out of the hospital he was smoking again, before the lung had a chance to heal...

Now the right lung is fully involved, he has to have supplemental O2 now to maintain what little functionality he has left. He is still smoking and does not have the energy to fight to give the Chemo he is going to start a chance to help him. I figure the chemo will do him in.

I am grateful I had the strength to quit 15 years ago! My lungs are fine, everything else is going to crap though... :^)

310guy's smartass comment. My dad was hooked on nicotine so bad that he kept making excuses, the damn cigs were his constant companion till he died.

Curmudgeon wrote: It's the truth. He smoked right up to the time he laid his head down the last time. Thanks for being an asswipe.

My sincere apologies to you as I didn't mean to come across as an asswipe - I was just stating this is a great way to encourage today's smokers to stop smoking. I have never heard a statement so powerful as yours and I was encouraged by it. Once again I apologize for the pain your family went through because of the cigs.

I guess it's kind of a sore subject with me for several reasons, not the least of which is he had been through a cancer scare about 30 years previously (which had a lot to do with why I quit). Yet after a short (2 year) period he started smoking again and continued right up to the day, almost the hour, that he died. He woke up coughing and spitting blood, basically bled out internally while the ambulance was on its way. Guess he couldn't sneak one more Marlboro in.

Lung cancer is inextricably linked to cigarette smoking. It's one of the few cancers which have a definite hard link to a behavior; another hard link cancer is basal cell carcinoma and skin melanomas which are inextricably linked to excessive exposure to sunlight. Ask my ex about that one. Most other cancers (such as my bladder cancer) don't seem to have hard links, although high levels of chlorine in water seem to have an effect on bladder cancer.

So yeah I get on people about smoking. It's a nasty expensive habit that can put someone in an early grave. It's not a pretty thing to die of; my dad was a big guy, 6'6" and about 235 pounds, when he died I swear he looked like a bundle of sticks with a nose. I still can't shake that image.

So for all of you out there who are slaves to a weed twisted in a piece of paper, don't wind up like my dad. Lose the excuses. Man/woman up. Sac up. Quit and QUIT NOW.

I still get flashbacks of my mother getting (healthy lung vs smokers lung) picture post cards from the American Cancer Society and her sitting my sisters and I down (1974) as she explains to my sister that just started smoking how it will ruin her lungs. I remember my sister laughing that it will never happen. Nobody was laughing at her funeral in 2005 when cancer took her.

Curmudgeon wrote: Most other cancers (such as my bladder cancer) don't seem to have hard links, although high levels of chlorine in water seem to have an effect on bladder cancer.

except maybe us diabetics … when they prescribe Actos to "help" with the diabetes … studies show a link of anywhere from 40% to 80% increased risk of bladder cancer … and yet one of my docs prescribed it for me …took it for a month, did the research… decided I'd take my chances with fighting the diabetes in other ways … haven't told the doc yet … should be fun

Yeah, there are so many different possible triggers it's difficult to keep track of them all. Most times the docs themselves have no idea, they are just winging it. The lung cancer and skin cancer are the ones which so far have enough data behind them to show a hard link. Oh, and lung cancer seems to also have a hard link to pot smoking for all you Mother Nature lovers out there... particularly if combined with tobacco.

Lung cancer has a hard link to anything that introduces a foreign body into the lungs, tar from nicotine and pot, asbestos, welding gasses and grinding wood or metals

That's not even mentioning copd, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia

Curmudgeon wrote: Yeah, there are so many different possible triggers it's difficult to keep track of them all. Most times the docs themselves have no idea, they are just winging it. The lung cancer and skin cancer are the ones which so far have enough data behind them to show a hard link. Oh, and lung cancer seems to also have a hard link to pot smoking for all you Mother Nature lovers out there... particularly if combined with tobacco.

agree… but the Actos link is so strong that several European countries have stopped the sale of it

but I totally agree with you about the smoking

the addiction thing just amazes me... I never understood the need for a drugs... if I can push through I prefer to go without basic pain meds (asprin/motrin etc) which makes it even more difficult for me to understand... I do know my father-in-law had a heart attach and multiple stints put in... a year later he went back to smoking... every time my in-laws walk by I gag a little from the stench and roll my eyes at the "drug addicts".

I know the doctors believed my grandpas death was partly due to smoking... also know that my several pack a day aunt talked about quiting... as I recall she said she'd quit a few times but said not a day went by she didn't long for one, I think it had more to do with harassment from her kids than anything... then one day she decided she wanted to actually quit... talked to a Dr and they gave her something, think the last 10 years of her life she didn't smoke again and said she didn't even want one... so I guess my take away was it's a lot easier to quit if YOU are the one that decides to quit... being quilted into it only seems to go so far.

Glad I clicked and read through the thread.

After smoking 10 years I quit when I met my wife. Lasted about 3 years without smoking but to be fair I cheated occasionally. Like if I was out with friends for drinks I would bum one. Last winter after a few drinks I was jonesin and I bought a pack. Its been off and on since then and my wife is also not pleased. Currently smoking the same rate I was before...about 2 packs a week.

I need to stop and get into the mentality that its not cool to have one even if its just once in a while. Slippery slope.

My buddy switched to an ecig when his daughter was born. Its odorless. I tried it...not my thing.

what's the alcoholics mantra ? one drink is too many, and a thousand aren't enough … same with cigarettes … I'm either a smoker or I'm not … there's no way I can just have one

wbjones wrote: what's the alcoholics mantra ? one drink is too many, and a thousand aren't enough … same with cigarettes … I'm either a smoker or I'm not … there's no way I can just have one

See, that's something I don't understand. I never had a problem with alcohol, and I used to drink A LOT. Like 300-400 dollar bar tabs just for myself 2 or 3 times a week. And when I wasn't "out" drinking I would sit at home in my chair and kill a bottle of 1800 did that probably 3 or 4 times a week. One day after a couple years I just stopped drinking like that. No fussing or anything just moved right into having 1 or a couple of drinks occasionally. Smokes are a whole different story and harder would be a severe understatement.

I get the sense that there's a lot more that's going on here than just needing am alternative to smoking. I've read a lot of your threads and you read a lot like myself. What's eatin' you boss?

mndsm wrote: I get the sense that there's a lot more that's going on here than just needing am alternative to smoking. I've read a lot of your threads and you read a lot like myself. What's eatin' you boss?

Scary thing is, I was thinking that to myself earlier reading some of your responses we seem to have real similarities

You won't quit until you truly want to. I smoked for nearly 15 years. I said I wanted to quit for at least half of that, but didn't actually do it until it was more than just a slogan. When I had finally decided it was really time, I just quit. Not cold turkey, but over the course of maybe 6 months I went from nearly a pack a day, then to 10 per day, then 5, etc... Haven't been a smoker in 17 years now.

Maybe people won't agree with me, but all the drugs, patches, alternatives, etc...aren't worth a hill of beans if you're not 100% committed to quitting.

Curmudgeon You probably have better info than I have, but #1 contributing factor to bladder is smoking. #2 is exposure to chemicals (like cleaning car parts, painting car parts and applying experimental pesticides for years. At least that is what I was told.

I just got my first basal cell carcinoma cut off my ear. Yup we know what causes that.

Yeah, they asked me about exposure to toluene and benzene and of course I've been exposed to both through my work. Smoking is a big contributor/trigger to many types of cancer, just due to the vast number of weird compounds inhaled. Quitting (as I did so long ago) drastically lowers the risk as time goes on and the body excretes these compounds. Typically five years after quitting the average ex-smoker's incidence of cancers is not much higher than those who never smoked.

At least BCC can be caught early and removed pretty easily, glad they got yours. My ex had one removed from the side of her nose, that's probably the worst place you can have one. Lucky for her the dermatologist saw it and had it checked out; if those things grow deep (shiver).

I had a pre cancer on my right forearm a few years ago, scaly patch that wouldn't heal. The doc looked me over pretty good, saw no other spots and so far this doc hasn't seen any either. Whew.

We went off track from the initial questions so I'll start there and circle back around.

E-cigs are vaping. No diffierence, they just package it up to make it easier for you with an e-cig. A good vape shop will set up up with equipment that will put the e-cigs to shame, I think you can get up to 24 or even 36mg of nicotine in a proper juice. That being said you'll also find out no amount of nicotine is going to fix that "hit" you are missing. There's more to your regular smokes than nicotine and that's what you are missing.

As far as what everyone else says about quitting, I agree, quit. I also agree it has to be something you WANT to do. And not want to do because you know smoking is bad for you, and not want to do because pompous shiny happy people treat you like a 2nd class citizen, but because you really want to quit. I've smoked for almost 30 years, I quit a few times for everyone else's reasons and it never stuck. I quit 5 months ago because I was ready to quit and Im fine with it. Beating the chemical habit is easy, beating the routine is hard. You can and will do it when you are ready.