My Last Cigarette!

[-Jrabbit]

(ex-)Winston, you rock, dude.
Congrats!

...and stay strong.

[Japher]

you rock Winston and are an inspiration for me.

I am using the patch, meant for 10 cig a day people, and I was a pack a day.

I cheat everyday, but am down to 3 cigs a day instead of 20+... Though I find that I am smoking out of habit instead of out of craving.

[pchang]

If you can't do 0, less is still good.

[Winston]

Japher, glad to hear you're still fighting the beast and haven't given up. Like pchang says, at least you're minimizing it, and I would think that as the days go by, you should start seeing some of the benefits to your body from not torturing it with the smoke like you used to.

I think you will eventually have to come to a point where you should give up the cigarettes completely - maybe combining with a shift to the bigger dose patches. And if you have the chance to do so, taking some days off from work or studies when you drop the cigarettes for good, to avoid some of the daily situations associated with smoking. That helped me a lot, I could just eat, lie down or go for a walk when I wanted, and I avoided a lot of temting situations that way.

But still every cigarette that you don't smoke is a small victory in itself, and I think it's impressive that you've managed to cut down that far already.

I'll keep thinking of you, my own troubles are not over yet, and it always helps to think you're not alone in this.

[Japher]

Actually, I generally smoke when I am bored. So, I think days when I am super busy (like the past 3 days) would be best to go without a single one... Or even trying to go all day without one or even the patch. I don't think I will go up in doses as it will make it harder for me to get off the patch... Still the patch is costing me $15/week whereas smoking costs me $35/week.

[Spiffor]

Good luck Winston

Show us you can win over chemicals through sheer force of will

[Japher]

Pekka, Winston? Update.

I haven't had a cig in 2 weeks now, and have been off the patch for 1 week. Ignored the instructions. Still craving one, but it ain't that bad.

[Monk]

Personally, I stopped for a week, then I had a very stressful time at work and jumped right back in

But the war is not lost yet, I tell ya.

[Japher]

I've been fighting with the wife more, as she is 3 weeks without a smoke. We are on edge a lot. In the good times I tell her it will get better, she agrees that a lot of our fighting right now is because of the stress.

[Pekka]

Japher, I falled Good for you though!

You know, I'm determined to do it. I'll start again. I don't have any cigarettes now but I don't buy any tomorrow either. Or at least I try not to . I smoked my last one couple of hours ago. NEW START! This time I'll make it!

[-Jrabbit]

Pekka

[Japher]

Go for it Pekka, it's tough, but I feel much better now for having stopped, at least physically. I need to find another way to take care of my stress.

[Arrian]

I've been cutting down for a while now. Last year, I moved to only allowing smoking Friday night/Saturday and a maximum of 10 on each day, for a total of 1 pack per week.

This year, it was further reduced to 5 per day, so 1/2 pack a week.

I've cheated more this year, especially lately. Not so much smoking during the week, but rather going over the sipulated 5/day on the days I'm allowed to smoke.

I think this coming year is going to be awful. The only remaining step is to quit. Yet next year will be rather stressful, what with planning for our wedding really picking up steam (wedding in Sept '05). Sigh.

-Arrian, who still likes to smoke

[Japher]

I've tried the cutting back, and I've tried the allotment thingy... never worked. Get married and then quit, don't put yourself through that.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I'm bad. I don't have cigarettes when I'm sober. When I'm drunk, I go through almost a whole pack (and since I'm rushing a fraternity [the stage before pledging], that's been quite often)