Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Nine days since my last cigarette, and I believe I've just about got it beat.

I'm picking my GLW up from the airport tomorrow, I'm just glad she wasn't here while I was going through the worst of the withdrawals, and somehow the dog was smart enough to keep out of my way.

However real happy she’s coming home, at least I might get a healthy meal again as I just did not feel like cooking and have been existing mostly on wheatbix, frozen pies and baked beans. Even though the dog and I scoffed down a roast chook between us for tea last night.

Well done. You've toughed out the hardest time.

Yep and now focus on the future Greyhound.

Foo

You have done very well. Stick with, it's easy to let your guard down.

Semar wrote:Well done. You've toughed out the hardest time.

Not for me. I think I've given up smoking now. I give myself the occasional leave pass, but smoked only 3 packets last year ( all bought when pissed). That's close enough for me.

However, I had been trying to give up since my first child was born 10 years ago. I must have gone cold turkey over 30 times in that period. Staying off - that was the hard part for me. Props to all those who succeed the first time.


I still love smoking, but something has finally changed in me head and I don't seem to need it as a coping mechanism any more ( which I think was the main thing that drove me to the cigs). I still can't get drunk without massive cravings. So as an unPlanned side effect - I pretty much stopped drinking years before I gave up the gaspers. No green (gave that the fIck easy enough when my son was born). Bugger all grog ( still the occasional bender). No cigs. Never felt better.

Lessons I learnt:

If you fall off the wagon, the stopping gets much easier each time.

Work out why you smoke, and find other ways to meet those needs.

Reward yourself.

Just over four weeks now since my last cigarette and while it was getting easier........ unfortunately the last few days have been real tough.

Thought I was going good doing a bit of work on the indoor trainer ......... but I’m now off the bike again with blood in the urine and back on the pain relief.

I’m trying hard to be cheerful but that bloody black dog is sitting in my lap again.

We're with you Tom, hang in there...

greyhoundtom wrote:Just over four weeks now since my last cigarette and while it was getting easier........ unfortunately the last few days have been real tough.

Thought I was going good doing a bit of work on the indoor trainer ......... but I’m now off the bike again with blood in the urine and back on the pain relief.

I’m trying hard to be cheerful but that bloody black dog is sitting in my lap again.

Um have I forgotten something here Tom and you know that we are here for you, to keep the Dog on the leash, don't you!

Foo

Damn! Stand strong Tom, we're coming to chase that damn mutt away.

Shaun

Thanks guys you don’t know how much it means to me.

I hope your doctor knows about that dog. The mongrel can be dealt with it a few ways and they keep getting better.

Still, you've made such a great investment in your future, keep strong. After three years, my lungs feel great.

Thread resurrection time..... i've been thinking about this thread for a few weeks but have been hesitant until now. 37 days today. Cold turkey which surprised the living hell out of me. Finally got to the point where I realised enough was enough. My 'I'll quit when...' excuses had all been and gone, included the big one (becoming a parent). GLW and I have had a couple of attempts this year of varying success. Never ended up trying the smokenders program I mentioned earlier though. Bought a new car recently for GLW that was a little more family friendly and newer, purchase & running costs were easily justified if we both quit smoking. The Monday morning we were supposed to stop GLW said theres no point kidding ourselves, we are both going to smoke and hide it from each other so im just going to go get some, do you want a pack? That was enough for me, I cracked it (at the situation, not her). Havent had a smoke since. First few days were torture (for me and those around me. lucky I have an office to myself and can close the door ). Now the only time I really get the urge is post ride believe it or not.

GLW is still on them but I can easily sit there and watch her outside and not be bothered (we never smoked inside thankfully, that probably would have ended badly). Whilst obviously I wish she had made it as well, she is making a lot of lifestyle changes at the moment (we both are) and is doing fantastically well in other areas so overall im still stoked for her. It will come eventually (I hope), I daresay she is smoking considerably less anyway given she's on her pat malone at home now.

I went the other way from non-smoking to cycling.

One day I just came across vaping or e-cigarettes. Now I'd read about them before but never done anything about it but this time found there was a reputable dealer selling them down here locally, sent him an email and was having a coffee with him in the hour and walked away with kit. Haven't had a smoke since ( over a year ago) For those of you who don't know an e-cigarette contains glycerin, flavour and nicotine. Yes I'm still taking in nicotine, but unlike the 4000+ chemicals you find in cigarette smoke ( 70 which are known to be carcenogenic), I'm effectively just taking in water vapour. I've also dropped my nicotine ratio from 1.8% to 0.2% and I'm about to go to 0%, easy to do if you mix your own ejuices.

I'd previously tried all the other NRT methods like patches and gum as well as hypnotism, cold turkey (not the meat ), Zyban........ My belief is that vaping covers the chemical nictotine addiction, but also the physical hand/mouth movement and even the inhale/exhale ritual.

Now I'll admit that there's been no long term studies on the effect of vaping but I'm pretty sure it's better than the known effects and chemicals from smoking

After 6 months I was walking frequently and then decided to get a new bike ( my first for probably about 20 years) to go easier on my old knees.

Still no smoking, still vaping but now biking

Mixing your own ejuices just sounds wrong

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4

Good to see that the smokes are continuing to lose!

Nearly four years and I still dream of having an 'occasional smoke' - though I haven't had a puff. It's a sneaky addiction.

Im a 30 year pack a day smoker.
During a medical check up, my doctor suggested I go on cholesterol lowering drugs or give up the gaspers. I really didn't have the desire to quit but the idea of taking cholesterol lowing drugs for life put me off. I told him I'd prefer to quit smoking & he got me started on"Champix". Without consciously trying to cut down, after a few weeks my smoking frequency decreased. I also bought my first bicycle since dad bought me one in my teens. I think that was a good move because gasping for air while riding helped me to appreciate the effect that the durries had on my lung capacity & this helped me to stick with the program.
3 or so years later, I'm still between smokes, once an addict, always an addict, that's me, I still like the smell of smoke & I probably always will.
That's my story of how I went about not smoking without too much desire to do so & it's worked for me so far. The champix does have side effects like weird dreams for some folks or feeling stoned, but I only got a queasy feeling in the stomach after taking the pill, so I had to time it with food. On a positive note, saving $20 a day by not smoking was financially a very good move.