drinking and smoking

[Duane]

I smoke and drink more now than before, mostly when I'm by myself not wanting to do it around people. This is not good for me and would like to quit.

Many say just quit I did, well I've tried just quitting and it doesn't work for me like that. Been smoking since around 12yrs old and now I'm 50yrs old. I know i need to quit to be healthier.

Duane you can do it I started smoking when I was 12 also I am 52 I stopped Aug 14th '06 cold turkey. The key is you have to want too..I am know a tootsie pop junkie but better them then smokes. Boxman55

Boxman, thanks, you are very right (The key is you have to want too.)

[keefer51]

I drank all my life i wasn't a heavy drinker till my last couple years in Nashville. I have smoked since i was 13. I am 51 now and still smoke. Having that first smoke after four hours in dialysis is the only thing i look forward to. I have been in and out of the hospital many times and always looked forward to that first smoke. Once when i was in the hospital on the renal floor there was a room where visitors could go and smoke. There were around 5 or 6 patients in there. A nurse comes in with her hands on her hips and told us we weren't aloud to be there. This one guy who was a renal patient looked at her and said; "What are you going to do tell us to go home?" It was priceless.

[tweetykiss]

I use to drink when I was a bartender but never when I was on duty....only off duty and then I would just be a social drinker......then for many years it was just occasional drinks on weekends but I gave that up when I decided that I will donate a kidney to my husband if his condition gets worse.....

I have been a smoker for a long time and I had to quit when I had bariatriic surgery and those were the worst days of my life and I only had put on more weight....then not long after the surgery I went back to smoking since I tend to get stressed.......my husband's nephrologist told me I need to quit since it can hurt the kidneys so I will quit if I need to donate even if it means weight gain......

[glitter]

Guys- I am 38. I smoked since 12. Three packs+ a day for the last 10 years. I quit cold turkey. and I said to myself- I will not let this make me mistreat anyone.and I bought a box of jawbreakers. Quit over one year.  you CAN do it, when your mind is made up to just put them down. NO-ONE in my life really thought I could quit.

you will know when your ready.

[LightLizard]

i quit smoking for nine years, and then, a few years ago i wanted to see if my willpower was as strong as it was when i quit, so i started smoking again. it isn't as strong. heehee

i don't buy the bad rap that tobacco has gotten and i don't believe that the incidence of lung cancer proves anything except that the practice of inhaling gasoline fumes is not healthy, not to mention the poisonous diet that most people survive on. there are far too many cases of cancer that do not involve smoking for me to believe the hype. we seem to have this need for a scapegoat of some kind, in our culture, a 'bad' guy to blame for the woes and sicknesses that science can't effect positively.

of course, i do believe in a certain degree of moderation and we north americans seem to over-do everything. i try to keep my smoking down to five to ten cigarretes a day.
it cleanses the spirit, as the natives say.

i used to drink more beer, as a musician, it was hard to get away from that influence. but now, i have really cut my beer consumption back to a few beers per month.
the thing i find amazing is that my doctors and nutritionist say that i am allowed 'two drinks per day.' which, to me, would make me an alchoholic!

i had one doctor fill out a report on me which read 'he's not much of a drinker...' i thought that was funny, like he thinks of it as some kind of character flaw that i don't drink as much as he does...

as for my smoking, since i've had x-rays and cat-scans, mri's and brain-scans til the cows came home, and the doctors tell me there is no sign of cancer or emphysemia,(?) i feel that my kidney condition will do me in, long before smoking will. and why deprive myself of a pleasure now, at this stage in my life, when so many pleasures have been taken from me?

i may quit smoking some time in the near future or not, but if i do, it will be for financial reasons, more than anything else.

love

~LL~

 

[tweetykiss]

LL,

You made a good point in your post.......yes I agree to some extent that smoking is a scapegoat since there have been many cases of lung cancer when that person nor did anyone in that family ever smoked nor worked in asbestos nor mines (Dana Reeve just to name one and who knows all the other unreported cases)......I get checked once a year on my lungs and they never even feel I need an Xray since upon a simply exam and then that oxygen thing they now use, I am just fine......

Now let's see about this second hand thing....I sometimes wonder how much proof there is on that.....is it just a few studies or were many non-smokers detected with symptoms of a smoker.......however I do feel the non-smokers have a right to object to smoking in front of them since it does not smell good to them and it is offensive to some......

But is it going too far as far as banning smoking in public even outside and raising the prices just to make us quit.  I admit I have questions on that.

[neonblue]

Well, I do smoke and I enjoy it and make no apologies to any one.I didn't really start steadily until about 5 years ago, but now I'm on dialysis I enjoy it even more because sometimes  my tastebuds can't taste a thing after dialysis Only menthol for me tho.If I had to smoke regular,I wouldn't bother.As  for drinking? Wine coolers every once in a while, love em !!!

[lruffner]

I know this is now an old topic, but I shall post to myself if need be...lol.

I am a super strong person mentally, but just not when it comes to smoking...ugh. I am really ashamed of myself that I let something control me like this, but it does. I don't consider myself so much of a smoker, as a drug addict....I believe there is a difference. It is the only vice that I have and it is the worst thing I could be doing. I am usually pretty tense/ high strung, so that makes it even more difficult to quit. I have tried all of the Rx remedies w/ no success. Maybe what I really need is a medical induced coma for a few months?? I know that I have to quit for at least 6 months before I can have a transplant, so why start back up if you can quit that long?? But of course when you think of FSGS & transplant= fat chance...all the more reason to freak out and smoke! Talk about a dog chasing his tail!!

When I quit for 2 weeks before, I was a complete basket case    I would literally break down and cry for no reason, try to sleep the cravings away, and had major anxiety attacks! That is hell in itself.

I guess I just need to  for being such a ...as my dad would say...a "candyass!"

Ok, I am done. Thanks 

[pelagia]

 

[idahospud]

I have a drink now and then . As for smoking I smoke a pack a day sins I was 13 . Here 2years ago I started to quit and do OK most of the time but a lot of friends and my husband still smock so I siled back every so often . But Ill keep trying to stop all to gether   Carol

[wrandym]

I never smoked cigarettes-maybe an occasional stoagie.  I have not had the time to think about drinking-but, in the summer I like a few beers with crabs...


mmm...crabs

[Budluv]

There was some discussion about what 420 means... I thought it was the police code for possession.  I was wrong.  No one is really sure.
here's a link if you are interested. 

http://www.concept420.com/what-is-420.htm