People who say "If I'd known the risk of smokign I wouldn't of started or given up"..

[TonsOfFun]

...are full of shit!

Did they not notice loss of breath, yellow teeth and hands straight away but then figured that was the worse that could happen?

I smoke occasionally but I know the risk. If I ever get a smoking related illness then you haver permission to shoot me if I said I would of given up if I knew the risk.


This message has been prompted by someone on TV who used to be a nurse and is going blind. So she knows the effect and should have a slight clue that smoking can kill cells that causes all sorts of shite :rolleyes:

[scotty]

I quit after a decade of smoking. When I started, I knew the risks, I just thought it was cool. Thats peer pressure for you, I guess.

Cold turkey is the only way to do it. Those nicotine patches, gum, inhalants etc dont work. They just give you nightmares. I don't know anyone who's quit using that crap.

[BionicEye]

damn i don't want to hear that. I've got the patch kit waiting for me - I'm on my last few cigarettes. When I'm done with them the patch is goin on.

I'm planning on cleaning out the whole place, throwing out ashtrays and eating carrot/celery stricks, the whole shabang. these godddamn patches better work!

[ChrisLove]

I used nicotine gum - these things are not the solution in themselves - it is almost all about will power but I find the gum or patches help during the really tough times. I probably would have managed to quit anyway on the attempt when I suceeded but the gum played its part.

The big thing for me (as I have said in another thread) was quitting drinking. I knew that when I drunk I smoked, I could not go to the pub and not smoke so I didnt go to the pub for about 4 months - it worked.

Going back to the topic of the thread, I dont think anyone who smokes really understands the risks otherwise you would never do it - you dont really understand how the addiction gets you and how it fucks up your breathing, gives you cancer , makes you stink/broke - you may know the numbers but noone accepts all that stuff will happen to them

[enree erzweglle]

Hindsight, it's easy to put those symptoms together and link things like breathlessness with smoking, but people from my parent's generation didn't realize that when they were young and, in some cases, a lot of them were told the contrary ("Camels: Athletes say… ``Camels don’t get your wind!''" link (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/tobacco_advertising/selling_tobacco_30s_40s.cfm)). By the time doctors began realizing the effects and started working on patients to understand those effects and do something about them, two generations were smoking, maybe habitually, or were at least affected by the smoking of others (the two generations being the original smokers--my parent's generation--and their kids--my generation).

Just like right now, you might not realize that <x> is a symptom of <y> overload, they didn't know it then either and by the time they did, it might have been too late for them and all of the people they affected or influenced with their smoking. When did we start realizing and telling people about the effects of second-hand smoking?

Also, knowing the risks of an activity doesn't always preclude people from participating in those activities. Just because your friend knows the dangers of smoking (and presumably still smokes) doesn't mean that she wants to or has the ability to stop. If only just knowing that something is bad for health was enough to motivate people to do the right thing, then we wouldn't see so many rampant health-related problems like alcoholism, diabetes, obesity. It's not that easy.

I have so much sympathy for people who have addictions and for the family and friends of those people. I also think it's easier for some people to give up addictions than it is for other people. (Sometimes you hear people on a soapbox preaching about how easy it was for them to give up drinking/smoking/overeating/whatever/ and they assume that because it was easy for them, it will be easy for other people as well. And then they conclude from that that people who aren't giving up their addictions are weak or lazy or <some other negative thing>. That's narrow-minded thinking.)

I'm grateful that I never started smoking, for example, so that I never had to go through what it takes to stop.

[Audielicious]

It's an extremely expensive habit. I've been smoking for ten years. I quit at the beginning of the year but once something stressful hits (i.e. my jobs, my bills...family problems) I start right up again. The tobacco industry is filthy rich for putting all of those chemicals into cigarettes. All of the ex-heroin junkies in mental wards are all cigarette smokers because it's the only thing they can do legally.

[Audielicious]

Cold turkey is the only way to do it. Those nicotine patches, gum, inhalants etc dont work. They just give you nightmares. I don't know anyone who's quit using that crap.

Cinnamon gum, water, and mint gum will also counteract wanting to smoke. So will green apples.

Yes, I'm saying all of this...and I bought a pack of Marlboro Menthols last night.
:o

Addictive fuckin' cancer sticks. :(

[Kid Presentable]

Cold Turkey and a strong will.

In another smoking thread I said that you have to want to quit. If you tell yourself you have to quit you've defeated yourself. Somebody likened it to blinking, it's not at all the same. If you don't want to quit smoking, you won't.

[abcdefz]

Hindsight, it's easy to put those symptoms together and link things like breathlessness with smoking, but people from my parent's generation didn't realize that when they were young and, in some cases, a lot of them were told the contrary ("Camels: Athletes say… ``Camels don’t get your wind!''" link (http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/tobacco_advertising/selling_tobacco_30s_40s.cfm)). By the time doctors began realizing the effects and started working on patients to understand those effects and do something about them, two generations were smoking, maybe habitually, or were at least affected by the smoking of others (the two generations being the original smokers--my parent's generation--and their kids--my generation).

Just like right now, you might not realize that <x> is a symptom of <y> overload, they didn't know it then either and by the time they did, it might have been too late for them and all of the people they affected or influenced with their smoking. When did we start realizing and telling people about the effects of second-hand smoking?

Also, knowing the risks of an activity doesn't always preclude people from participating in those activities. Just because your friend knows the dangers of smoking (and presumably still smokes) doesn't mean that she wants to or has the ability to stop. If only just knowing that something is bad for health was enough to motivate people to do the right thing, then we wouldn't see so many rampant health-related problems like alcoholism, diabetes, obesity. It's not that easy.

I have so much sympathy for people who have addictions and for the family and friends of those people. I also think it's easier for some people to give up addictions than it is for other people. (Sometimes you hear people on a soapbox preaching about how easy it was for them to give up drinking/smoking/overeating/whatever/ and they assume that because it was easy for them, it will be easy for other people as well. And then they conclude from that that people who aren't giving up their addictions are weak or lazy or <some other negative thing>. That's narrow-minded thinking.)

I'm grateful that I never started smoking, for example, so that I never had to go through what it takes to stop.




I hear ya, but I really think the "we didn't know it was dangerous!" hue and cry is pretty disingenuous. Look at those old cigarette ads... why would they trot out athletes and doctors for testimony if they weren't trying to counter the notion that smoking was somehow unhealthy?

As a guy who's pretty seriously addicted to just about anything, I just have to say I have almost no tolerance for users crying because their drug of choice worked. TONS of sympathy for the addict in pain in whatever form, but when the addiction manifests itself in lying, manipulation, or blatant stupidity, I suggest the user go collect himself a bit before coming back to dampen my shoulder.

[Audielicious]

Cold Turkey and a strong will.

In another smoking thread I said that you have to want to quit. If you tell yourself you have to quit you've defeated yourself. Somebody likened it to blinking, it's not at all the same. If you don't want to quit smoking, you won't.
Yeah. You have to have it set in your mind that you want to quit because it's definitely mind over matter. I remember when I tried to quit 5 years ago. THAT was hell. I'd wake up with the usual "smoker's cough" and immediately think "Ooh. Time for my morning smoke". If you convince yourself that you no longer need the cigarettes...the urge for them will go away.

[Kid Presentable]

Yeah. You have to have it set in your mind that you want to quit because it's definitely mind over matter. I remember when I tried to quit 5 years ago. THAT was hell. I'd wake up with the usual "smoker's cough" and immediately think "Ooh. Time for my morning smoke". If you convince yourself that you no longer need the cigarettes...the urge for them will go away.

exactly. It's a simple matter of self-control. When you want to quit, and don't begrudge the fact, you'll be fine.

Brush your teeth when you need a smoke, and use mouthwash. Instead of drinkin O.J, drink Grapefruit Juice. Get your mouth used to distinctly clean, crisp tastes, wash the shit off yo tongue.

Fuck, I smoked for 10 years.

[ms.peachy]

Well, getting knocked up's been a pretty effective cessation method for me.

Of course, the side effects are pretty intense.

[teat]

Well, getting knocked up's been a pretty effective cessation method for me.

Of course, the side effects are pretty intense.


We'll have to talk.

[enree erzweglle]

I hear ya, but I really think the "we didn't know it was dangerous!" hue and cry is pretty disingenuous. Look at those old cigarette ads... why would they trot out athletes and doctors for testimony if they weren't trying to counter the notion that smoking was somehow unhealthy?
But we do that today wrt exercise and overall health. When we display those healthy, trim bodies, are we saying that underneath it all, exercise is bad for us? If so, then I'm in a shitload of trouble.

I think people believed what they were told--the notion of a conspiracy was probably so foreign to most people when smoking was vogue/recommended.

I don't think my parents started to smoke because they thought it would increase their health. I just don't think they realized that it would be as bad for them as it was. Once they realized that, they stopped.

I don't know, I still sympathize. But it's sometimes not easy. Especially when the addiction does the things you say (makes them lie and become manipulative).

[Kid Presentable]

What always surprised me was exactly how many celebrities you could eventually link to smoking.

Not through movies, but stolen images of them on a night out. It made them seem so cool. I was amazed at how many famous folk turned out to be smokers.

When I started, it seemed like everybody did it. 11 years old. (n)

Nowadays, you gotta quit to look cool.

[abcdefz]

But we do that today wrt exercise and overall health. When we display those healthy, trim bodies, are we saying that underneath it all, exercise is bad for us? If so, then I'm in a shitload of trouble.




....I don't understand your meaning.

My point is that, in the old cigarette ads, doctors and athletes were used as spokespeople, and the ads were pretty literally saying "This Health-Authority Figure sez OUR cigarettes aren't as bad for you as THERES are." So in would take a real dolt to not figure out -- from the old ads if not from the effects of the habit itself -- that smoking was unhealthy.

I mean, heck... we're talking about ingesting smoke into a body which is designed, in part, to keep foreign molecules OUT. :rolleyes:

[Kid Presentable]

....I don't understand your meaning.

My point is that, in the old cigarette ads, doctors and athletes were used as spokespeople, and the ads were pretty literally saying "This Health-Authority Figure sez OUR cigarettes aren't as bad for you as THERES are." So in would take a real dolt to not figure out -- from the old ads if not from the effects of the habit itself -- that smoking was unhealthy.

I mean, heck... we're talking about ingesting smoke into a body which is designed, in part, to keep foreign molecules OUT. :rolleyes:

In the future, our one-eyed successors will think the internet was a dumb idea...

[TonsOfFun]

I'm not against smoking starting this thread because what is more dangerous is doing fuck all exersise, eating fatty foods, drinking alcohol and smoking often.

You can have one vice but no more than two in my opinion! Mine are smoking and drinking - the worse two :D maybe

[enree erzweglle]

....I don't understand your meaning.

That's because I was responding to something that you didn't say. I misread your first note.

Aside: someone once told me that when they see :rolleyes: it means that the writer is saying, "You're an idiot." I don't think it's always meant in that way, but ever since that person said that, that's often the first reaction I have when I see it. It often puts me off and then I have to think of something that's yellow :) or green :D.