Sunday November 18th 2001, I gave up smoking

You can do it too! This is my story of doubt and pain, anger and suffering.

I made it my success. Now you.

My new physician more or less ordered me to give up smoking

AAAARGH!!!!

Why this torture? What terrible wrongs had I done him in the past? Why do I have to feel so miserable? The pain, when does it stop? Why? Why? Why?

This was it: a cold turkey for Christmas!

So you are going to give up smoking. Fair enough, right?Not? You had your share of fun.

_{Now, are you going to sulk over this and let it spoil your life?}

But keep focussed

This page takes a peek at the lighter side of quitting
	Try to keep this in mind: life isn't over, it's only just begun!

The biggest shock when you quit smoking is finding out what fast food really tastes like.

Daniel finally has made up his mind: he's going to quit!

Give him a hand folks, the first step is always the hardest one

First of: nicotine is a hard drug. Yes it is. Nicotine creates a chemical dependency, so that the body develops a need for a certain level of nicotine at all times.
Hurray for the western world's double standards!
Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms:
Falling heart rate and blood pressure Eeeeeep! An... A.... Anx...	Anxiety attack! See former point. Need I say more?	Nausea That's right, nausea. Quitters aren't off for a quick sneaky smoke, they are studying the insides of toilet bowls	Irritability for craving That's why quitters got such strong mood swings. Be careful! Users in the 'off' position can easily become homicidal
Constipation Take note of the pained expression of a quitter Fact: nicotine gets the system going, it's dependent of it	Headaches Hence the bad moods. (sigh) and this while I suffer from headaches to begin with	Fatigue, drowsiness and insomnia So, while feeling exhausted and sleepy you cannot get to sleep. I Better have a drink.	Depression. Life sucks, but why me?
Shortened attention span Difficulty in concentrating	Restlessness I got to go do something, anything	What was the middle one?	Taste for sweets That's right, chubs: have another donut
One consolation: even though it's very unpleasant and stressful, it's temporary
Most withdrawal symptoms peak 48 hours after you quit and are completely gone in six months

Statistics:

After 1 year off cigarettes, the excess risk of heart disease caused by smoking is reduced by half. After 15 years of abstinence, the risk is similar to that of people who've never smoked

In 5 to 15 years, the risk of stroke for ex-smokers returns to the level of those who've never smoked

Male smokers who quit between ages 35 to 39 add an average of 5 years to their lives. Female quitters in this age group add 3 years

Putting it bluntly
I can still recall the first warnings on the cigarette boxes: Smoking can cause cancer or heart disease. OR, ladies and gentlemen, OR. No need to say they changed it after a while. I guess the government got afraid to get sued by somebody suffering from both
Lung diseases Wheez, wheez, cough, hack and choke	Heart disease Even a heartless smoker can die of heart failure	Blood vessel diseases Blood cell traffic jams in bottle necks like hair vessels	Other smoking related diseases

1.

Thou shall cleanse thy environment from all traces that may, might or will remind you of the foul, degrading, loathsome habit thou use to indulge
Be Gone! Tobacco!
Be Gone! Ashtray!
Be Gone! Lighters!
(well not the Zippos, they are way too attractive)

2.

Thou shall find new friends
Be Gone! Ye Olde clique!
(But they are so much more fun than the zealots!)
Be Gone! Smoking Section!
Welcome" Smell!
Welcome! Taste!
Welcome! Airfields!
Welcome! Intercontinental flight!
Welcome! Non-smoking significant other!

3.

Take care of thyself
For thy body is thy temple and in ye shall only be burned thy spoiled potatoes and thy candles (nay, donīt ye smoke the candles)

Exercise, Exorcise thyself by working out

Keep thy hands busy at all cost
Don't let them linger in vain lest they too easily wander off to a cigarette.
(Mmmmmmmmmmm. So goood!)
No! So wrong!

Throw yourself into your work, do stuff- anything to keep your hands busy
If thou runnest out of options thrust them in your pants, but keep them busy

Thy meal be prepared with more attention and thus tasted better

Admit and face thy weakspots, face thy vices and temptations!

Exorcise them.

4.

Don't nag others about it. But they should provide you support anyway.

5. Set goals. Reward yourself.
After one month
Six months
One year
Five years
But not with a cigarette, but with something special: a vacation, a wrist watch, anything special.

My reason to quit

Since last July I have been suffering from a clogged feeling in both of my ears. Sometimes the clogged feeling resulted in a nagging pain which even radiated down to my cheeks. That was novelty feeling, I can tell you, to have more than twenty simultaneously aching teeth. I went to my physician once again. He doctor gave me a solemn look. "Take heed, my brother," my physician finally said. (The man is pretty cool. He wears dreadlocks.) "Take heed, for the smoke particles aren't doing you any good. The cure takes longer. Not only that, letting infections slip into sloppiness can only lead to serious trouble." "You kind of caught me off balance, doctor," I replied. "I am aware of that. Still, it's much better for you anyway." My thoughts trailed off as he lectured me on all the things already I knew deep down inside, but always brushed them away as soon as some nagging anti smoker told me the very same facts in his/her - for zealots so characteristic - peevish tone. I even started to regard smoking a act of rebellion against oppression. Feh! "I still smoke the odd cigarette, every now and then," the man continued, "but it never fails to make me feel guilty." Did the man confess to me he liked pot? Or was I being mislead by his rasta looks? "You are suffering form some kind of sinusitis, and you have been suffering from it for the better of a year, I guess. That can happen without you noticing it, you know," he added. "So, what's the drill?" "The drill is that, unlike the pills I prescribed earlier, this time you continue taking the droplets (cortico steroids, so UCI, I am positive as hell!) no matter what." He was reproaching me now. Aborting that cure hadn't done me much good, I knew "Before you condemn me, your honor, I was taking my pills like a good boy was supposed to do. But you were aware of my holiday plans and you knew I was about to take on some serious road climbing with my racing bike. You should have prescribed me something else." There was a resentful note in my voice. The news had struck hard. "Almost nobody ever suffers from any side effects when taking this medicine. How could I know you would?" "It's you job to know. The list naming all the side effects spoke volumes. Literally." My hands started shaking. My good mood had vanished altogether. In my mind the first sign of withdrawal symptoms came into play. I needed a cigarette more than ever. "Ok, Rick, water under the bridge." "Watery shit, you mean, when you take this medicine into account." I started laughing. Yet, the fun in life seemed to have slipped away from between my fingers.