I have to quit smoking!

@manoja2k scary story, hopefully your kid's asthma improves.
After smoking for 15yrs I have quit cold turkey. It has been almost 1 yr since I've last smoked.
I have felt that getting pressurized doesn't work for any activity. I has to be a self motivated effort.
Some more reasons to quit -
  • 8 rs per stick !! 10 ciggs per day adds up to almost 30k wasted in a year.
  • Get a medical checkup done and look for LDL cholesterol levels. This is the bad type and smokers have very high counts. It improves once you quit.
  • Get your bone density and vitamin D levels tested. Smokers are prone to it's deficiency which can cause Osteoporosis, rickets, low bone density, etc.
  • Smoking builds up radioactive minerals in your lungs, some of them have half life of up to 25yrs, something to think about if you want to have kids.
  • Epigenetics. If you have kids in near future, most probably they will inherit the effects of your smoking.
  • Start some form of exercise. You will realize doing even average activities is difficult for you. This can improve only if you quit. Here are some you can test yourself with http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/assess-your-fitness-level.
  • Educate yourself. Smoking is nothing but an short induced high of serotonin. Do things not because they will distract you but which will make you happy. That will help towards quitting.
  • Not directly related to smoking but read Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddharth Mukherjee.
 
^ My son since then has no occurrence of asthma, not even wheezing or bronchitis. He is currently the member of his school's basketball team and active in many sports and games. Earlier if he caught cold then we were sure to endure his coughing for weeks after that. Now he hardly catches the cold. His pediatrician is sure that he no longer has the asthma.
Touch-wood.
After recent budgetary hike in the cost of cigarette sticks I thank God that I have left all this behind, else I would have become bankrupt.
 
I really hate these people who say that they need to quit smoking more than people who actually smoke.
Who told you to start in the first place ?
Either don't start or don't quit. Quitting a habit is like punishing yourself.
I am in the final year of engineering, never lit a cigarette myself, won't do ever in my life. It is an utter waste of money, time & health.
 
pauldmps said:
I really hate these people who say that they need to quit smoking more than people who actually smoke.
Who told you to start in the first place ?
Either don't start or don't quit. Quitting a habit is like punishing yourself.
I am in the final year of engineering, never lit a cigarette myself, won't do ever in my life. It is an utter waste of money, time & health.
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pauldmps said:
I really hate these people who say that they need to quit smoking more than people who actually smoke.
Who told you to start in the first place ?
Either don't start or don't quit. Quitting a habit is like punishing yourself.
I am in the final year of engineering, never lit a cigarette myself, won't do ever in my life. It is an utter waste of money, time & health.
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We all understood it is a vice.
 
i guess we tech geeks are less into these vices as we achieve our "high" through games, gadgets, movies, series. i also consider it an utter waste of time and money. my friend finally confessed to me that if he doesnt smoke for an extended period of time, he starts feeling light headed and his hands shake. so behind all this exterior of "smoking is cool" these people are actually addicts who are totally deep down scared of withdrawal symptoms if they started quitting
 
One more shocking news(for smokers) from my side. A close friend of mine, actually a chaddi buddy, has been detected with malignant cyst in his lungs!!!
Both of us started almost during the same period and In the past, I have several times requested him to stop smoking and get a thorough check-up as he had persistent coughing for weeks and before the cough stopped. He could not stop the habit. I am not confirming that there is a direct correlation but who knows.

srkmish said:
i guess we tech geeks are less into these vices as we achieve our "high" through games, gadgets, movies, series.
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Wrong.
In fact I have seen the hardcore geeks are more into all those, just to prove that they are geeks and hence need to be different. I have been or rather seen few hacker groups from close proximity in US as well as UK. Usual characteristics are:

smoke like a chimney
drink plenty of coke and beer
work during night
sustain on pizza, burgers and donuts
Hate GUIs and work on command lines
Maintain a filthy atmosphere (both at work and residence - though for many it is same)
Always get attracted to darker side like even if you have proper credentials to log into a site you would still use others and try to hack into it.

Of course there was a time when I was a fan of these and needless to say that in a single night sometimes we used to finish 10 to 12 packets (a group of 7 to 8 people) besides gorging on other crap.
 
This thread made me open the Wikipedia page on smoking. I had a misconception (as my smoker friends use to say) that it reduces tension.
To quote Wikipedia:
Smokers often report that cigarettes help relieve feelings of stress. However, the stress levels of adult smokers are slightly higher than those of nonsmokers. Adolescent smokers report increasing levels of stress as they develop regular patterns of smoking, and smoking cessation leads to reduced stress. Far from acting as an aid for mood control, nicotine dependency seems to exacerbate stress. This is confirmed in the daily mood patterns described by smokers, with normal moods during smoking and worsening moods between cigarettes. Thus, the apparent relaxant effect of smoking only reflects the reversal of the tension and irritability that develop during nicotine depletion. Dependent smokers need nicotine to remain feeling normal.
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God. Now I hate smoking more than ever.
 
I don't know how one can not stop. I for one smoke, when I want, there was a time I used to smoke a pack every day (pack of 10, not 20), now it's 2 or 3 per week, but there was time I didn't smoke for as long as three months straight. Some people say once you start smoking, you won't be able to stop, I still don't know why, and how!

About asthma, I have seasonal type of asthma, it happens in early December, just before the winter season, and recovers around early March. It gives me trouble twice or thrice a week, only when I am lying down in bed that is, at night. Everyone knows smoking is terribly bad for health, and especially for asthma, but for whatever weird reasons, when I did smoke and smoked heavily I had FAR less trouble with asthma, now when I half-quit it I have more problem, ah, whatever.

Smoking is dangerous, simply horrible for health, and I can not be more pleased if Indian government bans cigarettes altogether, I hate smoking, period, but I equally hate those people, those half gay half women type who lectures, "hey don't smoke, don't drink, you know I have not smoked ever you know", like smoking or drinking is some type of criminal offense.
 
ithehappy said:
Smoking is dangerous, simply horrible for health, and I can not be more pleased if Indian government bans cigarettes altogether, I hate smoking, period, but I equally hate those people, those half gay half women type who lectures, "hey don't smoke, don't drink, you know I have not smoked ever you know", like smoking or drinking is some type of criminal offense.
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It is unfortunate the way you describe people who made better choices than you and tried to advice you the same. Smoking is not a criminal offence, nobody said so, but insulting anyone who gave you good advice is not right. And if you hate people who advised you not to smoke, why did you quit ?
One side you want the govt. to ban smoking (which I think is a bad for our economy) but ignore a good advice. It seems like you are one of those guys who need to be babysitted by the govt. because you cannot heed to people's advice.
 
ithehappy said:
Smoking is dangerous, simply horrible for health, and I can not be more pleased if Indian government bans cigarettes altogether, I hate smoking, period, but I equally hate those people, those half gay half women type who lectures, "hey don't smoke, don't drink, you know I have not smoked ever you know", like smoking or drinking is some type of criminal offense.
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I don't understand what has gender got to do with it? Is it that only women and gay people can lecture about good things and practice good habits, whereas 'studs' are supposed to break the law and do all things bad.
I am really confused because it appears to me, from the above statement, that you are still in your teens. (because this is what I had in my mind then - non-smokers are sissies. What's life w/o smoking and drinking)
And if you are really sure that you have absolute control over your smoking then it is good for you. But the fact is I am yet to come across a person who is a smoker for more than a year and is able to control his/her smoke count as per his/her will.
 
manoja2k said:
Is it that only women and gay people can lecture about good things and practice good habits
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It sounds bad, but yeah. Good habit? What's the definition of that?

manoja2k said:
And if you are really sure that you have absolute control over your smoking then it is good for you.
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I know right?
manoja2k said:
But the fact is I am yet to come across a person who is a smoker for more than a year and is able to control his/her smoke count as per his/her will.
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That's your problem, or of the persons you know, why would I give a damn about that?
Try to get the the point.
 
pauldmps said:
It is unfortunate the way you describe people who made better choices than you and tried to advice you the same.
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Good advice? So the people who don't smoke/drink, are good people?
pauldmps said:
Smoking is not a criminal offence, nobody said so, but insulting anyone who gave you good advice is not right. And if you hate people who advised you not to smoke, why did you quit ?
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I quit because some part of my brain said so, not because some idiots told me!
pauldmps said:
One side you want the govt. to ban smoking (which I think is a bad for our economy) but ignore a good advice. It seems like you are one of those guys who need to be babysitted by the govt. because you cannot heed to people's advice.
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As I said, I don't give a damn about peoples advice and it's you who need to be 'babysitted' (try to use proper English next time) because you think that banning cigarette is bad for economy. ROFL.
 
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I think I cannot win an argument with the above guy.
srkmish said:
i wonder how smokers would budget their finances if a cigaratte started costing 20 rs
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They will. That's what addiction means. I have seen people selling their belongings, wife's jewelry, child's school fees, etc. to pay for their drinking habits. I have plenty of friends who indulge in smoking/drinking by borrowing money from others when it exceeds their monthly budget.
Just yesterday, one of them came asking for 1.5k for some emergency.
 
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