Breaking the Smoking Habit
Posted: Saturday, January 02, 2010
by WhiteGyr
The author of the article has been a life long smoker from Europe. After immigrating to the US, and being diagnosed with asthma, nearing her middle age, she was trying to quit smoking almost on daily basis, but all of the attempts miserably failed. Nicotine gum and patches didn't work for her, so she consulted her physician, who enrolled her in the program and prescribed medications, but that didn't work either. What she discovered was that a drastic change of routine worked best in her case. Somewhat humorous approach to a very serious issue suggests that everybody needs to find what works best for them, as popular "one size fits all" approach never makes everybody happy.
I was 13 when I got hooked on cigarettes well enough to start budgeting part of my daily allowance for cigarettes. Mind you, I wasn't an outcast, a straight A student, from a well-to-do academic family, I was actually trying to fit in. At that point, and even many years later, trying to quit smoking was not even in the back of my mind. It will take me 30 more years to get to that point.
Writer by profession, smoking was very much a part of my daily routine. It was exactly like it used to be in the old black and white movies - me, the typewriter, and the big ashtray with the cigarette butts piled up high. Soon after I moved to the US, the problems with my smoking ensued. They were not only of social nature any more; they became a health concern as well. Not only did I move to the Bay Area, California, which was the undisputed leader in the witch hunt on smokers, I was diagnosed with asthma.
I can say from that moment on, 15 years ago, I wasn't exactly smoking only, I was trying to quit smoking on a daily basis. There was already a drastic change in place for me - I couldn't smoke at my workplace any more and I had to time my smoking habits according to the office schedule. It was harder at home since my partner, an American, was a smoker too. The first thing we decided to do, in order to at least curb our smoking was to agree not to smoke at the house, and rather step outside every time we can not resist the urge to light up.
That didn't work at all, because, alas, it's California, the weather is pleasant year around, so we both ended up only sleeping in the house, while living, eating, having friends over on the back yard patio. It's amazing with how much yard work you can come up - our post stamp sized back yard became more like a jungle with heirloom tomatoes, tea roses, sweet peas and citrus trees.
Then we decided to try the nicotine gum and patches. We spent a small fortune on the whole program and tried to stick to the regiment, the best we could. I cheated on the journal part of it, as I always hated journals. I chewed and patched religiously, but it didn't do a thing for me. I upped the dose, but still nothing. To make things worse, it worked for my partner, so my frustration was gaining the momentum. And sure enough in a couple of days I was doing it all: chewing, patching, and smoking.
It turned out I was allergic to the adhesive on the patches and on the top of everything else I had a horrible looking, itching, and oozing skin rash. Trying to quit smoking again, my partner and I went to see our doctor at Kaiser, a former smoker herself. She looked into our respective health histories, sent as both to Kaiser's support group, and put us on Wellbutrin. Due to our busy schedules we skipped the support group right away, and Wellbutrin was fantastic for losing weight, but didn't do much for dropping the cigarette for either one of us.
I was ready to put a definite stop on trying to quit smoking, once and forever. So what, I'll look like those horrible corpses on California's anti smoking commercials, I'll die a horrible death, but at least I will not be miserable every day of my time on the Earth.
Then the disaster struck, after 10 years of what was the ideal marriage, my partner wanted the divorce. I was totally lost. This was the relationship because of which I have left my country, my friends and family, and more than successful career, and it was now all over, just like that. In the middle of the divorce turmoil, selling the house on the crashed and burnt out housing market, splitting the assets, as they call it, heavily depressed and out of my mind, I had a moment of bliss.
Let's turn this horrific experience into something positive - trying to quit smoking will at least keep my mind occupied with something else. They say that nicotine addiction is worse than heroine addiction and that once you start quitting your whole life is disrupted. But due to the ugly divorce my life was disrupted already, how much pain could breaking the smoking chain bring, if I am already hurting beyond belief?
Two years later, with a new lease on life, I'm proud to say - I haven't had a cigarette since. I know it very well: once an addict, always an addict and I had my share of night sweats, nightmares, unstoppable shivers, uncontrollable crying. But I can always say it was caused by my divorce drama, not nicotine. Every now and then, during the lunch break in the financial district, I stop by somebody smoking in front of their office building. Second hand smoke still smells so good, but I have made up my mind for good. If I ever put the cigarette in my mouth again, it's not the nicotine that will kill me - I wouldn't be able to survive trying to quit smoking all over again.
Millard Hiner , the owner and operator of WhiteGyr dot com lives
in Pierce, Idaho and has been computer programming for over thirty years now
and has used Fortran, BasicV, C++, RPG II and Prime's CPL. He calls himself a
Web Developer or Web Development Manager (for this work and he does both) but
he answers the emails sent to whitegyr at gmail.com. He is editor and publisher of noxobmp dot com and author of many articles
about behavioral modification products has a collection of these on his new
website Odor Control which includes information and
articles about Smoking.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)I smoked for close to 40 years, I never thought I'd ever quit, but its been almost 8 years now I haven't had a cigarette. I went cold turkey and today I never even get the urge to smoke at all.Hi David - I quit ten year ago, the hardest thing I ever did but also the most rewarding.
A fantastic insight into the terrible addiction to tobacco. If one had the choice this article might convince someone never to start smoking.
I've never known anybody who has been successful quitting smoking with those patches or gums. It's just like any other addiction- all in the mind- we have to decide we're going to do it and want to, or else it will not work. congratulations on your success! Hope it lasts forever. - Ella
Thanks for the read and comment Ella. I have a good friend in Austin - he was the second policeman to reach the tower shooter.
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