re: For those who quit smoking: How much did it improve your life?

i came to this board looking for personal stories of those that quit smoking/dipping, and how hard/easy it was too. some helpful information... if you're interested.

so here are my thoughts... it will be 6 months at the end of this month, and i've only smoked two cigarettes in that time, mainly out of curiousity, and the last one made me want to throw up. lol. i'm still not nicotine free, i'm currently still using the nicorette 2mg mini lozenges, and i'm down to about 3-4 a day. I honestly could probably quit them altogether, but i kind of enjoy them, and i can't imagine that 3-4 of them a day are all that bad for you, so i haven't quit those yet.

Money: I averaged it out, and i save about $64/month. I was about a half pack to 15 cigs a day smoker for the past 14 years or so. So i've saved about $400 dollars in 6 months when you subtract the cost of the nicorette lozenges (they aren't cheap, it costs me about $45/month) from the amount of cigarette savings. however, If you assumed 1 nicorette lozenge equalled 1 cigarette, the cost of cigarettes would be around $9 cheaper per month. lol.

Health: this is the one that kind of blows my mind, i've honestly not seen much of a difference at all after just about 6 months now. After the first two weeks of cutting down the amount i smoked to about half the normal level i noticed it was easier to breathe deeper, but since then i havent felt a significant improvement in my health. i have noticed that heart burn has gone way down, i used to take a couple of pepcid ac pills at least a few times a week, and now i've used maybe three in 6 months. and the other noticeable improvement has been when i wake up my breathing and throat feels better/less sensitive. i also hack up less phlegm throughout the day, though i never hacked up much to begin with. But generally and overall i don't FEEL much healthier. it's still the same pain in the arse to run three miles or so, or bike, as it was when i was smoking 15 cigs a day. lol. but there have been smaller improvements. oh, and another possible health benefit, i've gone through the winter months so far without getting a major cold. i have no idea if that's because i quit smoking or not, but usually by this point i've already had at least 1-2 major colds.

Cravings: this is where the lozenges have helped big time. as i state in the thread referenced above, i generally started all of this to see if those lozenges would be a good replacement for a cigarette when i needed one, but couldn't smoke due to my setting (on airplane/at airport, etc.) Turns out they really did work for me and curb my cravings. The hardest part was the mental tug-of-war i went through. Since i never really had a desire to quit I was constantly trying to make justifications in my head on why "just one would be ok" and other similar ideas. But I just stuck it out. I think my biggest physical cravings came in the first two weeks of no more smoking and using the lozenges, and that first week where i dropped down from the 4mg to the 2 mg lozenges. i also really want to smoke when i'm drinking, especially if i'm starting to get a buzz on. lol. so i've tried to stay away from that these last several months, or keep my drinking to a minimum. i wasn't a big drinker to begin with though.

6 months in now and it's just sort of gotten easier. there wasn't really a single moment, or week, where i noticed a decrease in cravings, but just a sort of gradual drop, or i've just developed new habits and the thought of smoking isnt front and center anymore in my head. my main cravings for a cig were when i woke up and had my first cup of coffee, and right after i ate any kind of meal...those cravings have pretty much completely gone away. there are still moments where i think to myself, it would be great to just smoke one cigarette, especially when i'm watching movies/tv shows where people are smoking a lot, or if i smell it. luckily none of my friends smoke. but my advice is to just stick with it. you can do it, i did it and i didn't really even want to. lol.