I am so proud of getting to a year+ since stopping smoking.
Yes it took a heart attack and a triple heart bypass to give me the 'motivation'.
I cannot believe I have no cravings whatsoever, ending a whole day fast and not being bothered about not having a cigarette, simply astonishing to my old self! I was a 20/30 a day for 20years.
I did have a little help in the early days, Nicotinell patches did the job for me. What helped you to stop?
Regards
I just wanted to say many congratulations to you for achieving a year on giving up smoking. I stopped about 30 years ago, moving house was my reason. That together with I was fed up of my clothes smelling like an ashtray. I suppose I was a ‘social’ smoker, one or two a day., so I did it cold turkey. My other half gave up at the same time, he used patches. Either way I do think it is a great achievement to give up however we manage it. Well done you!
Well done 👍.
It's 7 years since I stopped smoking. I stopped the very day I was diagnosed with breast cancer, as I thought if they are going to take the time to treat me and also have radiotherapy, I have wasted their time if I carried on smoking.
I can honestly say I have never looked back since that day and had no cravings at all.
Lily
Good for you! Quitting smoking is a massive achievement and you should feel very proud of your achievement.
I quit smoking cigarettes over twenty years ago, about the time they banned smoking on planes. I was doing a lot of long haul flights with my job and it was clear something had to change. But what I did was switch from cigarettes to flight friendly nicotine lozenges...and promptly became addicted to them instead!
It was only after a bypass operation when I learnt that nicotine in any form can cause heart disease. Personally I found quitting nicotine lozenges harder than stopping smoking, but I'm happy to report that it's been three years now since I became totally nicotine free.
When I was in intensive care following my bypass, there was a guy who seemed really determined to get himself up and walking again. He and I used to encourage each other to push that bit harder and get ourselves mobile again. After a few days we were both ready for discharge and I congratulated him, he replied that his motivation was purely to get outside and have a cigarette!
I firmly believe we make our own choices in this life, so if someone decides to keep smoking after CABG surgery then that's their call. But there was a part of me felt he showed a massive disrespect towards the doctors and nurses who had worked so hard to give us a second chance at life.
Hello 
Well done and you are prove that you can stop but you have to want to or that little light bulb has to come on and say right that is enough
I had double pneumonia which took me in resuscitation and that is when I had my moment I am stopping and I did
Over a year later I had 3 heart attacks and a triple Bypass and was a little hacked of as I had stopped smoking over a year before but the damage maybe was already there who knows
I am really pleased for you and I hope you are doing really well since your op and continue to do so x
Hi DonMega I had tired stopping for years and would give up for maybe 3/6 months or more and celebrate by smoking and drinking which is absolute bonkers . I had a few minor heart attacks and a stent fitted and would occasionally smoke after a few pints . I then got cancer in my throat which then spread so decided thats it. With time the urge disappears I think as I stopped drinking also which is a total life changing experience
Fantastic that you’ve stopped. It took a heart attack for me also to stop I’m sorry to say. Haven’t had one single craving at all in 21 months and yes it astonishes me every time the subject comes up. The difference in my breathing is remarkable … my food tastes better ( some foods boy can I really taste them and not in a good way…. Milk chocolate …. Can’t eat it now). And … of course I cannot tolerate the smell of cigarette smoke. Well done to you though and all those who have given up !!! 🌹
I was a 40 to 60 a day smoker, but I was also very fit (quite amazingly) playing rugby until I was 45, doing competitive cycling at club level as well as lots of high energy walking. For me smoking was a tool of the trade for me where most of my customers smoked and on first seeing them on each visit I used to offer them a 'fag' and I used to judge how they took their first 'drag' to see how our meeting would go!!
Then I decided I ought to stop and tried all the nicoret gums and patches, they didn't work at all, I then tried acupuncture and that didn't work so I then tried hypnotherapy and that failed as well.
So eventually I took to chewing the ends of mathsticks whenever I wanted a 'fag' and gave all of my team the strictest of instruction to never offer me one, I also stopped smoking in the office and the result was amazing, not only did I stop, but I stopped without ever craving for yet another cancer stick and furthermore so did also at the very same time 6 other members of my staff!!
Quite frankly, the only way to stop smoking is to STOP.
Hi, I too stopped in May 2021. A call from GP that after 18 months of one swollen and one cold leg I had a blocked artery. When you are told smoking is a main cause it really changes something in your head. I did not want to die or lose my leg.
I stopped using patches then occassional use of the gum. It took almost the year for me to stop craving nicotine.
I am now proud and happy to not smoke.
The health benefits are obvious, but financially it is amazing and I no longer smell like an ashtray, strangely it is freeing too, I never have to plan my time around when or where I get a ciggie.
Well Done, it is a fantastic achievement, I was also a 20 to 30 a day smoker.
I now face a very long wait on NHS for an angioplasty.
Divorce! 😂 I bought my own house and got it decorated from top to bottom I sat down lit a cig and then thought about the money I had just spent when all it would take would be a few months of smoking and it would need done again I stubbed it out and after 38 years that was it. What I didn't know at the time was that 13 years later I would need a transplant due to a faulty gene I dread to think what might have happened if I hadn't stopped there and then, all went well with the transplant. Char
Dear DonMega
Well done, small words to describe a massive effort on your part.
Like you I smoked and really enjoyed it, loved the whole lighter, packet of fags thing and in my day, the social side. “Pass us the ashtray love”
Every time {which wasn’t that often} I had to see someone medical there was always this bloody question “did I smoke” followed quickly by “did I drink” this used to really annoy me as I would have gone in about my toes or something else that to me [wrong] was not in anyway connected.
Then I started reading about what smoking was doing/could be doing or already had done to my body and all its complicated workings.
There was and still is a lot of information out there and now it can’t be hidden by the powerful tobacco lobby as it could in my day.
Health and smoking is one of the most studied medical subjects in the world, and the sad reason for that is because that knowledge forms the base to many libel cases.
The plus side is that it has been proven without any doubt {very rare} that smoking harms, full stop regardless if we had a granny that smoke a pipe etc and lived till she was 110 !
Take care
I collapsed in China and gave up drink and smoking following advice. Immediately. Didn't help I had a heart attack a month later. But never missed the alcohol or the smoking. Did it cold turkey. 10 years now.
OMG that's fantastic. Well done. I couldn't tolerate any of the things you sick or eat; they crucified my stomach so it was patches for me but sadly they didn't help that hand to mouth habit. Tried vaping but couldn't find one I liked. I had the stop smoking nurse from the GP helping me too. I now end up holding one, lit but not smoking it just for that something to do with my hands. I've taken up hobbies that keep my hands busy. I work with my GP but still struggling.
I went cold turkey back in 2003. I had just moved into my new house back in Wales and decided not to smoke indoors. I found myself standing outside (freezing) in my dressing gown, with a glass of wine and a ciggie and thought to myself 'what the heck are you doing' I stopped then and there. I know I was lucky to be able to do that but have never wanted a cigarette since.
I started smoking when I was about 8, my dad used to smoke 100 Senior Service a day so the odd ones never went amiss. Eventully after many stop/start episodes I stopped in 2006 - 9 years after HA & 7 years after CABG. Even then I had gone to support my wife who had to have stents in her legs. We went to see a hypnotist - she went first and still continues to smoke & vape today. I came out and drove round with an open packet of cigs on the front seat until I eventually threw them out the window & have never smoked since. We have more rows about her smoking as I cannot stand the smell now.
Downside is I have never been away from the GP Surgery since - thyroid & diabetes to name but 2. Of course it could be that the smoking masked the symptoms. Don't regret stopping at all as never have missed it.
Congratulations! I too quit smoking a year last February after CABGx3. I was feeling like something was terribly wrong and had one last smoke before calling for an ambulance. Somehow, I knew that was my last cigarette one way or another. I have cravings here and there, but since I want to live a bit longer, I will never smoke again. I'm surprised as I smoked for over 50 years.
I gave up about 10 years ago using a vape. I went from 20 a day to 0 right away. The vape was great. I used it really for about 3 - 4 years, though i took to mixing my own e-juice. i lowered the nicotine content down to 0 and was on that for quite a while, one holiday i forgot to take it, havent used it since.
Well done, DonMega! I stopped 3 years 9mths ago, 3 months after my HA. Just got to the end of the pack and didn't buy any more. No real cravings at all, but the HA had left me scared of my own shadow, so giving up smoking was something that needed to be done. It took a couple of years (and a pandemic) to get my confidence fully back.
I also had a HA a year ago and instantly stopped smoking. Since then I have not once been asked if I smoke. Weird as before if you so much as stubbed a toe I was asked if I smoke. Lol
Hello I am not a smoker, never have been but your stories of giving up smoking are inspiring, my habit is sugar and salt. Just as bad as they too cause health issues and have Got me where I am today. So how better or worse than cigarettes? This takes nothing away from your major success, but outcome is the same. Whether cigarettes or fatty sugary salty food - still lead to heart disease. Still disrespectful to those helping me, to continue to give into those cravings. Thank you for eye opener. (NB little treat here and there don’t work for me so need to go for cold turkey, I can’t be trusted 🤪)
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