Quitting Smoking

Fortunately, the best thing I ever did was say no to my peers about smoking. But I’ve read that many smoke related cancers become less likely as the years go by with someone who has quit. At 43, imagine it being 20 years from now. You’ve been free of cigarettes for 20 years. Your chance of heart related problems and numerous cancers have now gone down, in some cases to that of a never smoker.

All you can do is your best. One day at a time. My mom smoked for 30+ years and I remember she sucked on mints..still remember the type..Crystal-Mint by Lifesavers I believe. Who knows whether they still make that? But the point is to substitute something, like lifesavers, gum, etc in addition to the patches or medication, whatever your doctor recommends.

Im sure if you keep us current on your success, we can encourage you with a figurative pat on the back, and going “atta girl!”.

Two sayings come to mind.

- There’s nothing to it, but to do it
- We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard

Good luck Jen!

A lot of the damage can be reversed actually. My mom has smoked since she was 14. She is in her 60's now with COPD and lung cancer. It's not worth it and you are still young enough to make a difference and reverse some of the damage. All the best.

Good luck, I'm sure you can do it. I've tried before and didn't succeed, but I'm trying to get myself in a place where I can try again. There is no harm at all (quite the opposite actually) in quitting now, regardless if you've smoked for 5 years or 25 years.

However, I don't necessarily agree with "continuing smoking will most likely gaurantee you lung cancer". Yes, smoking greatly increases risk, and we should absolutely still focus on quitting to mitigate that risk. But lung cancer is still very rare, and the numbers say that only roughly 10% of lifetime smokers will get lung cancer.

Again, I'm not saying you should continue smoking, and I'm sure you agree with me in saying: I don't want to risk being in that 10%. My point is simply that the doctor's advice was a bit much, in my opinion. Could've at least been worded more carefully. Then again, that may just be their way to stress the importance of quitting.

Please let us know how it's going. And if you don't mind, please share tips during your time quitting. I'm looking for all the advice I can get, for when I reach that point.

ThankfulJen said:

One of the things my gyno said to me was that getting a female gynecological c is rare but continuing smoking will most likely gaurantee me lung c.

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You sure they actually said it like that? Because it's wrong! Yes, your risk is increased, but you're still unlikely to get it. There's no guarantee about it, not even close. For example, my grandmother smoked all her life, and never got lung c.

But yes, that doesn't take anything away from what others have said. I'm not suggesting you should not try to stop.

Have you thought about switching to vaping? That's much easier than quitting, but has the same reduction in cancer risk. That's what I did.

Doug97 said:

Have you thought about switching to vaping? That's much easier than quitting, but has the same reduction in cancer risk. That's what I did.

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Is there any current hard science behind that? That's been a hot topic for a while, but I've not seen any concrete evidence.

ThankfulJen said:

Part of me says why quit now. I've smoked long enough that quitting won't make a difference.

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That part of you is objectively wrong. I have heard excellent things about this book: https://www.amazon.ca/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=quitting+smoking+easy&qid=1634704334&sr=8-1

Within the first month after you quit smoking, your lung function will improve, and this will increase circulation, too. Within nine months, the cilia begin to function normally and symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath become less frequent. Just take it one day at a time and try to keep busy on this journey to quitting. Some people gain weight after they quit because they eat more, either because they get bored or the food just taste so much better so be careful about that. Look at it this way if you do quit I guarantee you in 20 years you'll look back and say I'm so glad that I stopped smoking when I did. If you don't quit you'll probably end up wishing that you had. Either way I wish you the best good luck

My own father, who had heart problems, was told quit or you will be dead soon. He stopped there and then. Just like that. Never smoked again. He had been smoking from a very young age. Granted his heart problems got him come the end of the day. He was also a drinker and wouldn't even cut back on the drink. Was more the drinking and the heart problems that caused his death. But the way he was just able to stop smoking like that amazed me.

Can all be about will power. Imagine you were in hospital for a long spell. You would have no choice but not to smoke. That was me in 2019. It was out of my hands. And I had no trouble not amoking for the period of time I was in the hospital. In other words we can do when we have to. If you ended up in a situation were you could not smoke, you would simply just have to go with it. As it is we are at home with nobody to stop us smoking. That can be the hard part. I always said the worst thing for me as a teen was when I was told I could smoke in the house. Before that I had been smoking on the sly for years. Then the parents found out I smoked. They had no problems with it. Suddenly I could smoke indoors.

These days I don't smoke outdoors. Is kind of weird. Just I found that smoking outdoors never actually helped my anxiety. If anything it made it far worse. Took to having a smoke before I went out. Then I would head out. Do all that had to be done. Be home in a few hours. Have a smoke once home. I know that is still smoking. But again I showed myself I could go long periods outside the house without smoking. More finding something to occupy your mind / hands. I know if I am doing anything I will simply stick with what I am doing without the need to smoke. Yesterday was a busy day. It was only come about 7.30pm I copped I had not smoked in hours. Is another mind thing. The mind has something to do / focus on, we don't think about smokes. Because of the other things we have to do.

I recall back when smoking was banned from trains and buses and all shops here in Ireland. People were furious. Wondering how they would manage. That was a good few years ago now. People simply adjusted to the new situation. Then they banned smoking in pubs ( bars ). Again people got by. Because they had no choice. They had to adapt to the new norm. Again all in the mind.

bin_tenn said:

Is there any current hard science behind that? That's been a hot topic for a while, but I've not seen any concrete evidence.

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There's lots. From first-principle reasoning based on the fact that it's not the nicotine that causes genetic mutations, but the hundreds of different carcinogenic molecules that constitute tobacco tar, to this:


The whole point of the FDA is to review all of the scientific evidence before making any recommendation.

So yes, vaping carries a massively reduced risk of cancer compared to tobacco. Apart from the nicotine, the two substances being inhaled are completely different.

What I'm less sure about is the long-term effect of vaping on things like emphysema and COPD. Those conditions progress extremely slowly and I don't know if people have been vaping long enough for an effect to show up in the data.

There have been scare stories in the media about a rare but serious lung reaction in some vapers, but when you dig deeper you find it's related to vaping THC or menthol/mint flavours (which was already known to be extra dangerous - the UK banned menthol cigarettes quite a while ago). The media makes sure to obscure this fact of course. Science reporting in general is abysmal.

My dad quit cold turkey after his heart attack - obviously he had no choice, but one thing he always said was the best part was not being a slave to the cigarettes any more. Like he wasted so much time on needing to smoke, not even because he wanted to. It was very freeing to be in control of that. You can do it. The rewards are so great! It won't be easy, but you can!

ThankfulJen said:

Thank you all for your advice, recommendations, confidence. I am ready for this. I'm ready to be able to breathe again. To have a life not dependant on a cigarette to get me through. I need to pray. This is going to be hard!

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It will start to get easier for you when you get some time between you and your last cigarette just keep fighting the good fight you got this no problem!

You managed 4 weeks before. Can you aim for 5 weeks this time?

I’m proud of you for doing this. Just take one day at a time. Don’t think too far ahead. Maybe give yourself a Reward each week that you stick with it. You won’t be perfect and May have slip ups but keep going!

ThankfulJen said:

Thank you all for your advice, recommendations, confidence. I am ready for this. I'm ready to be able to breathe again. To have a life not dependant on a cigarette to get me through. I need to pray. This is going to be hard!

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Good luck!! You got this!!