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I started smoking the summer I graduated from high school and quit cold turkey in 1990 when my best friend died of lung cancer at age 49. Never had a craving, and I don't remember suffering in any way except from the loss of my dearest friend.
I had tried to quit earlier when I was approaching the age when you couldn't smoke and be on the pill. Quit for about 6 months then went to my company's annual convention (think stressful) and succumbed when they were giving away free samples of a new cigarette on a street corner in NYC. Quitting when my friend died was much easier.
Now that I see my dad suffering with heart problems and COPD, I'm so thankful that I was able to quit when I did.
Smoking is one of the WORST things you can do to yourself, and giving it up is one of the best things you can do for yourself (and others).
I went through something a few days ago - I felt like I was having the symptoms of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). It was absolutely a morbid few days since the 26th.
I was chewing (smokeless) tobacco - I had done it in college back in 2004 to about 2006 or so and stopped for almost 10 years.
But I was working for the MN Twins and I found a tin in the dugout and started up again, on and off, for the last couple years. I got sober a little over 5 months ago and didn't have a chew for 2 months, until I started chewing again out of boredom I guess.
Honestly I don't know if what I went through the last few days was a side effect of stopping chewing, but it was absolutely horrific. It doesn't make sense to me though as technically I had only been chewing the last few months.