OK.... I have a q. I would like to hear from EX-smokers, people who have given up smoking, what noticable benefits occured FOR YOU when you stopped?


I have currently been smoke-free for 10 days. I started here and there at 11, was a regular smoker at 15 and apart from giving up (and not even wanting it anyway) during pregnancy I am now 28 and have been smoking ever since.

I have never been a very heavy smoker - averaging probably about 5 or 6 a day. More when having a few wines. And my two biggest trigger points are first thing in the morning with a coffee (espresso), and when something stressful happens (like opening the bills, lol - or stress from work, etc).

Over the last few months I have actually really started to dislike the taste and the effects (yucky taste in mouth, etc) and when I got the flu recently I decided to use it as the push I really needed to stop.

Now I am getting better and starting to feel on edge. I REALLY want to stop tho especially to be a good example to my 5yo who absolutely HATES me smoking.

Now I know this isn't Quitline (lol). I am adamant I do not want patches, lozenges, etc etc so PLEASE don't suggest that.

So far I am doing OK, but what I want to know is this: when you quit, did you have more energy? Did you feel better when you wake up in the mornings? Money wise? Etc

Please share your experiences.

Also - how was it staying on the wagon???

I developed nose hair lol !!! Food tastes sooooooooooooo much better ! Hangovers are no where near as bad

I love not having the stress that needing a smoke creates! I love not having to factor in smoking breaks anywhere. I love staying inside when it's freezing! Every now and then I have a dream that I'm smoking and I wake up soooo disappointed!! And then super relieved when I realise it's not true

I decided to put all the money I would usually spend each week on smoking into a kitty, then when I reached $300, I could spend it all on pampering myself, on nice perfume and lipstick etc (both of which are a hundred times better when you don't smoke!!!)

i dont know where i found the time to pop out and have a smoke!!
Definately don't get as sick anymore! always had chest infections
Had more money in my pocket although it was about 3 years ago and i know they have gone up heaps since!
Definately felt much better for it, eventually had more energy esp when walking didn't get puffed as easy

Well done for going 10 days already
Cravings definately do lesson, it does take a while though. Some days now esp with a drink socially i will sometimes wish i could have one, but would never go back! You just have to be strong.
You've gone 10 days now so you can do it

Not an ex smoker but well done you! Well done on making the decision to stop and well done for getting to 10 days.

Best of luck continuing

Kai Pai to you smokefree for 10 days is awesome and you are over the first hurdle!

I gave up smoking 10.5 years ago. Best thing I did for myself! I started when I was in highschool - properly around the age of 14 - 15. I stopped when I was pregant with dd #1 and started again after I finished breastfeeding her (so smokefree for around 21 months).

for me the benefits were: no more bad chest infections (this was the cataylst to stopping), I just felt more healthier really. I was worried I was going to die of a chest infection (or cancer) and leave dd #1 at a young age with no Mum - that scared the pants off me!

I found smoking was good for stress - but I dont believe now it was the smoking as such more the inhale/exhale motion - like your having a good puff of a fag!
Its not easy and willpower without a doubt comes into play. You have to really want to do it and be determined to make it. I didnt use any patches/gum nothing. I was a pack of 50gram tobacco smoker and that would of lasted 4 days. My dh smoked too but he gave up about 8 years ago.

Good on you for taking steps to stop, honestly get through the next few weeks and it will be so much easier. Now its been so long for me I cant stand the smell of smokes or it on people but like any addiction I know it would take a few puffs and I would be away again so no way would I do that.

Good luck and happy to help you in anyway, if you need support etc I dont mind giving you my cell phone number!

I gave up smoking and took up knitting. You can't knit and smoke (well, I can't at least) and it kept my mind off the fags. I'll just finish this row then think about it, nah, after this row etc.

I feel much better for it, it is such a waste of time, money and health, and the thought of smoking makes me want to vomit - nearly 20 years later (gawd, I feel farking old now LOL).

LOL Skattiemas at "developing nose hair".

Yeah I BET hangovers were not as bad - I shudder to think at how much shite I inhaled on some of those big nights on the turps back in the day.... :vomit:

Pub and drinking is not really something I do these days - which is good.

I know for me one the biggest thing that would cause me to go back is if I thought I COULDN'T have one if I wanted one so I have kept cigarettes in the house just in case and that calms me quite a lot.

Wow 50gm in 4 days chocoholicmama. Easy to fall into tho when you just start smoking as a matter of habit rather than really thinking about it. My brother is one who is either in there boot-and-all smoking constantly, or is completely smokefree - he swings wildly from one extreme to the other.

Yeah I think the inhale/exhale thing is what I am missing. I feel like I need to bounce a tennis ball on the ground really hard instead or something.

I did exactly that as well. I kept a packet that still had a few smokes left in it. In my head it was that I still had some tobacco rolled but wasnt going to have it. I had the packet for ages before I threw it out. It was my security blanket.

Nothing wrong with using a pen or whatever it inhale/exhale with - try if it you feel you still need to do it.

I gave up when I was 20, started puffing at 13, ending up on a packet a day for at least 2 years prior to quitting. I use to get a lingering bad cough after colds when I smoked, like a couple of months, so that stopped. My heart stopped beating so fast when I walked up stairs and I do remember being able to race up stairs again (I was working in a hotel in London, so did a bit of that). But don't forget the unnoticeable benefits (at this stage), like reducing your risk of smoking related illnesses.

I substituted with cups of tea, told myself if I succumbed to a ciggie after having gone without, then that would waste those efforts. Just be determined.

Staying off the wagon I would say... watch out for a few months down the track when your defenses may have dropped and you forget how important it is to give up. Chances are the urge isn't that strong, but that time got me the first time I gave up. The urge may take a long time to fully depart, but it weakens and you get stronger all the time. Just always be on your guard.

What about getting DS to write something about you not smoking/quitting and put it on the fridge?

Good luck and well done on making the decision. If anyone can do it, you certainly can, if you put your mind to it.

I've never been a smoker, but wanna wish you the best of luck, I think anyone who can kick an addiction is really admirable!

Thanks CM. Good idea with the pen. LOL. Someone mentioned an electronic cigarette - now what the fuq is that??? I don't even want to know.

The other motivation I have is that I want to do something that is going to require about $30-$40 a week and if I stop buying cigarettes it will actually cost me nothing, ikywim. And I LIKE the idea of killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

I just kept saying to myself that it was never going to get as hard as this as the urge was only gong to lessen. I love that I don't need to leave places to have a sneaky smoke, I love that after a smoke I don't walk into a room and wonder how badly I stink (because you do) I love that I'm not controlled my something so stupid. I love not smoking and am so proud of myself even three years down the track I still get a buzz to say I'm a non smoker.

That's a good idea!!! I will do that. It will probably make me feel sooo guilty.

He said to me the other day "Mum puff puff choke choke GROSS I HATE your smoking but if you smoke when I grow up I am going to smoke just like you" and I realised I really don't want him to smoke anything!!! So why do it myself!!

There was a guy on the radio the other week talking about smoking, wish I could remember his name. He said smoking acting as a stress reliever can be all about the body needing nicotine and relieving that need, so it seems like it has relaxed you, but really it created the stress in the first place. Said other reassuring things too, about how if you continue to not smoke, you return to a level of risk (for stroke, heart attack, etc) and life expectancy as those who have never smoked.

Goat - 3 years that is AWESOME. AWESOME.

Ugh, it can be so hard. I gave up 4 years ago, and haven't regretted it since.

I totally get the whole breathing in and out thing, that is actually quite relaxing. I had a period of very high stress a wee while ago, and I actually bought some papers and smoked some herbs (not the illegal kind!) because I needed that.

Meditation would do the same thin, or even taking a coffee and going outside to drink it.

Good on you for getting to 10 days, with most things, it gets easier, and one thing I found that helped me was having someone say "no, you don'[t really want to" I needed that external reassurance that I was doing ok.

Mrs Tinbum - wow 4 years go you. What motivated you to quit?

And LOL to the smoking some herbs - what sort if you don't mind me asking? Like dried parsley crumbled up? Was it nice?

Mate well done - that's fantastic!!

As you know I'm still a casual smoker - no smokes at all about 25 days a month, have an occasional one or 2 in an average week but can smoke a pack in a night at a party.

The cravings are actually really short lived for me - maybe 30-60 seconds? I find if I cam get through that minute I'll be alright until it strikes again days or weeks later. The answer for me to get my smoking under control (I used to be a 20 a day tailor made smoker), was not having them in the house, but telling myself that I could have one occasionally if I really wanted to. But my way doesn't suit everyone - I find smoking strongly habitual, but the addiction part of it is minimal for me.

Hope you find your way through - there is huge satisfaction to be gained by controlling something that once controlled you

I hated the way I smelt, and that I *had* to have a cigarette, and I was trying to hide it from DP (and failing spectacularly).

It was NY day and I just decided, well, I've finished my pack, I'm just not buying another (being sick and hungover would have helped with that).

I smoked white sage, dried and crumbled and it was farking foul! LOL