Turkey's Triumphs: Page 34

I quit smoking since 10/09/10, the day my dad died so suddenly by heart attack at age 61. I was 26. He left this world without any notice and somehow I felt angry and abandoned because he could have quit, he could have done something to stop from smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. The doctor said that his lungs were black and useless and that basically he committed suicide. I quit smoking since then because I don't want smoking to be my cause of death!

I will always remember the day that my dad died as the day that saved my life.

Thank you dad, I am thinking of you every second.

To all involved in your website: it will be almost 2 years since I have quit smoking. For 20+ years I smoked with many failed attempts at quitting.

Your information and help from your web site gave me the strength and knowledge to stay vigilant. I kept the mantra in my head "there is no good reason, there is no good reason", and it got me through.

During the first week or so I would pretend to smoke fake cigarettes (even flick the imaginary ash out of my car window, and light the imaginary smoke with a lighter) which seemed to help... but reminding myself of everything from your site really got me through. Sometimes I would just pull up the site and read it when I would get the urge.

Since quitting I have dreamed of smoking while sleeping, and have had cravings for cigarettes, but remembering "there is no good reason" keeps me solid.

Prior to quitting, my wife and I had been trying to get pregnant with our first child, with no success. Shortly after quitting we conceived our first child, and now have a beautiful son together. I really believe that it was the smoking preventing us from getting pregnant.

I see him and think to myself that, may be, I've afforded myself more time to be with my son and my wife. I think of my wife not having me around and having to raise my son on her own because of my smoking, and the notion horrifies me. Thank you for helping me get better, and hopefully giving me more time with my family. What you do is truly inspirational. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Brian Scott

Today is 400 days without tobacco and it amazes me I have not had one hard moment where I thought I would fail. Quitting was as easy as defining myself as someone who no longer smoked. During my 38 years of a pack and a half a day for 6 days a week I was never motivated to quit so I never tried. I never smoked on Sundays because Saturday nights were bar nights and included more than usual smoking. Maybe the ability to refrain one day a week made the transition to never smoking easy, I don't know. For the final 28 years my cigarette was Camel non filter. Everyone, no matter how hard your personal battle, just know that the way you will feel is so good and so foreign. Breath is full and throat clearing is a thing if the past.

Chris Anderson

I was talking with some smokers today, and it reminded me that I had never thanked you for your site and the wonderful motivation that it provided me when I decided to quit in 2007.

Thank you.

I had been a please forgive how horribly tardy I've been in getting your message shared on WhyQuit's Turkey's Triumphs page. I started substitute teaching full-time in August and am just now catching my breath and getting caught up. Congratulations on getting and staying clean and sincere thanks for caring, sharing and becoming part of the team. Together, just one brother or sister nicotine addict at a time, we can and are making a difference. Still only one rule, even for big quits like us ... none today, to never take another puff, dip, vape or chew! Breathe deep, hug hard, live long, John (Gold x15) John R. Polito Nicotine Cessation Educator Director WhyQuit.com 106 Aldrich Place Goose Creek, SC 29445 (843) 797-3234 john@whyquit.com smoker for about 35 years. I was smoking about a pack and a half a day in December, 2006, when I began to think, again, about quitting smoking. I had quit several times; 9 months being my most successful endeavor. That success had been through cutting my cigarettes smoked by 2 per day, starting from where I was at the time. I had also tried patches, which I found easy, but I didn’t want to wear patches for the rest of my life. I also tried step-filters; unsuccessfully and nicotine gum – nasty. This was before the days of the e-cigarette or I probably would have tried that too. E-cigarettes seem to make the users feel free to use them in times and places where they would not have used regular cigarettes; often leading to more of a nicotine addiction.

Anyway, I knew I was highly addicted to nicotine and any quit method that included nicotine didn't make sense to me. I needed to break that addiction. I was getting ready to turn 50 and did not want to be a 50 year old smoker. In those days, they had recently outlawed smoking just about everywhere and I hated feeling like a criminal relegated to some distant corner of my employers’ parking lot while I got my nicotine fix.

I found your site in December, 2006, and spent some time each evening reading everything posted there. I knew that the key to successfully quitting was getting motivated and your site did that for me in spades. I set my quit date my son's birthday, January 8th, 2007. I planned to drink a lot of fluids to help flush the nicotine out of my system as quickly as possible and I warned my family and friends that things might get ugly for a little while. One major obstacle I knew I would face was the fact that my husband was a 2 pack a day smoker who had no such inclinations about quitting. I had to make sure that I knew, going in, that this was about me and it was not about him or anything he did or didn’t decide to do. I was going to quit. Period.

And I did. And things did get a little ugly for a little while. But I made it through the first week. And every day after that got a little easier.

And then the unthinkable happened.

My little sister, my best friend, who I talked with everyday, had a massive heart attack and died at the age of 43, on February 2, 2007.

And I wanted a cigarette. I remembered something I read on your site, about how that cigarette wasn't going to change anything. It wouldn't bring her back. And it wasn't a fitting tribute to her. Everyone in my family was watching me, hoping I wouldn’t, but halfway expecting I would. But I didn't.

It has now been over 7 and a half years. I don't miss it anymore. I rarely even think about it. But I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the motivation that your site provided for me.

Kimberley D.

Thanks for your book and lessons. I am one year today! Gold! And only 1 beer for the entire year as well! $7000 saved on cigs, 20445 cigs not smoked and 71 days of life saved. Not to mention I have cycled 5oookm this year and lost 43 pounds! I was smoking over 50 butts a day and 3 to 4 tall boys a day as well.

Shon

Well I can't say the web site made me quit (I had to do that on my own), but it didn't hurt. I was 46 years old and I was a 2 packs a day "no matter what" smoker. I was getting to the point where I could hardly make it up a flight of steps without having to stop to catch my breath. Well from the time that I got up until the time I fell asleep I had a cigarette in my hand, or it sure seemed that way.

A couple of days before Valentine's day I starting researching (not that I really thought I could do it) when I came across you web site. After reading the stories, I made the decision this time was for real. So on Valentine's day 2011 (I picked this day to make it easy to remember), well, without telling anyone (in case I failed) I did it. As I come up on the 4 year mark I try to look back and figure out why this time it worked. I really can't answer my own question. I can only say (and I do), if I can do it anyone can.

Terre

The last time I wrote on this page was at number 416 on the 12/18/11. I predicted, then, that I, although not being able to 'look into the future', was quite sure that I would never take another puff again.

So here we are 5 years and one day after my initial last puff, and boy am I glad to be able to tell you all that I am still free of nicotine and foes.

Please be all encouraged to do the right thing.

Being scared is fine, being anxious is okay, being worried is not a problem. IT WILL STOP! Just do not let your brain trick you, remind yourself why you want to be free and DO it! All the best folks, from sunny Scotland

Marc

Yesterday was 1 year!! Thank you WhyQuit forum I couldn't have done it without your help!!

Marilyn Owsley Allen

I have been quit for 1 Year, 7 hours, 7 minutes and 39 seconds (365 days). I have saved $2,465.74 by not smoking 10,958 cigarettes. I have saved 1 Month, 1 Week, 1 hour and 10 minutes of my life. My Quit Date: 9/25/2013 4:10 PM

Heather Damewood

I have now been one year stop smoking cold turkey. I had stopped smoking before for a year and a half, cold turkey but one stressful day I went back to smoking again for a few years.

One day I was rushed into hospital where I stayed for a week. I was too ill to smoke. However as I was ready to be discharged I could easily leave and light up. I walk out of the hospital and saw a man, mid thirties, skinny, looking very ill with a hospital gown on with blood down it. He was holding on to his portable drip with one hand and puffing a cigarette in the other. I thought how pathetic, I was controlled by the cigarette.

I spent £50 a week on fags, for what? Bad breathe, yellow teeth, a constant cough? Then, I decided I would not smoke today. Every Friday I would take the fifty pound I would have spent on fags and buy myself something. My advice to anyone stopping smoking cold turkey is take one day at a time. Remember after a few days there is no nicotine in your body, but your brain wants that feeling and will try to manipulate to into smoking. Think of the money you have gained. If you have a really bad craving it won't last, distract yourself. I don't know why but liquorice really helps.

I know if I have 1 ciggy I will be a smoker again. Now 1 year on, I don't really think about smoking. I don't crave it. At the beginning it feel like it is a battle to end the day without giving in. I have won the war and so can you. I smoked for 20 years. I've wasted so much money. This website really help me when I nearly gave in. Thanks.

Dina