I’ve been smoking (now vaping) for around an embarrassing 30 years. I’m 47. I’m mostly, almost solely worried and having trouble with this one issue. I quit with two pregnancies but started after both. It has a massive hold. My father smoked and I have comforting memories of him when I smell smoke. So yeah. I’m in deep. I want this life saving surgery so bad and I’m just wondering if anyone else had this problem and what steps they took. Thank you for any help!
I'd rather smoke cigarettes than eat food, so I guess it's fair to say we're in the same boat. I've been able to quit many times, once for 5 years, once for 10 years, and then went back to the habit. However, I will literally only smoke one or two cigarettes a day. Without cigarettes, I always feel an addictive pull that comes on huge like a stressor, and that makes me want a cigarette more.
I don't sweat it because, as I said, I literally never smoke than 3 a day, if I smoke at all. But I do have a regular prescription for sedatives, specifically for the purpose of staying calm and not smoke. It's funny because I don't feel like a smoker. It reminds me of my grandpa sitting in his chair after supper with his pipe. And in my lifetime, that's been a common way for people to consume tobacco. It wasn't really until my generation that a broad base of people really got hooked, and you may not know that in the 1950s and 1960s, tobacco companies started including addictive additives in their tobacco, so people got hooked on that even more than tobacco.
Because I WANT to smoke, I don't want to give myself a reason to give up cigarettes. That's why it doesn't bother me to smoke just one, two or three a day. I look forward to them like meals, and I don't tense up in between because I know a cigarette is coming.
That said, in the last several years I've been very aware of how tar sticks to the structure of the lungs. It might not give me cancer, but when I am smoking at my present age, I can't do anything I like to do, like go hiking. So if the weather is good, I won't smoke at all.
The last pack I bought was almost 3 weeks ago and I just finished it a few days ago. I'm really aware that I must limit my intake or give it up entirely.
I'm given to understand that vaping is much worse for you than smoking, even if what you vape is a pure tobacco extract. I choose to believe that's true, because I don't want to deliberately, excessively abuse my body.
The American Cancer Society has a lot of free, helpful tools for people who want to quit. I also believe in self-hypnosis, and you might be able to find a self-hypnosis tape or CD at the library to test out and see if you can quit. I do remember quitting a few times and going through hell. But it's really a head game for me. I can deal with that. I hate being controlled by my thoughts.
