Half-Ass Quitters.

H

hitmeagaindude

New member
This rant was inspired by a personal experience with an acquaintance followed by quit-smoking commercial.

I fucking can't stand smokers. I'm not talking about your average "I definitely smoke" people, I mean the half-hearted quitter.
Now there are 2 types of quitters.
Those that say "You know what I'm going to quit smoking", and never pick up a cigarette again. I like these people. These are strong willed, committed people who deserve a big fucking piece of cake or a trip to a strip club of their choice.
Then you have your "I've been trying to quit for ten years" person. The fucking weak-willed jackass who smoke for a week, quits for 3 days, and starts right back up because they "need their fix" Like they can't handle reality without nicotine.

Now, just because they decided to quit, the weak-willed quitters I've mentioned get all bent out of shape and depressed any time something goes wrong. And then they take it out on you, the non-smoker. What the fuck? I hate that emotional roller-coaster bullshit. These types are the ones who due to nicotine withdrawals are setting themselves on fire because the copy machine has a paper jam. It's fucking ridiculous.

ASSHATS LIKE THAT RUIN EVERYONE'S DAY!
 
I'm starting to wonder where you guys find some of your friends... ;)

I quit on June 3 of 2008, cold turkey.

Since then I have taken one puff from a tobacco pipe, smoked half of a cigarette when I was fucked up, and I took a couple of puffs off of an expensive cigar. I didn't do any if this until a year had passed since I quit.

It did take me a few tries to quit. The longest I went without cigs was about six months, but eventually I would start smoking because I was partying and around other smokers. I finally figured out that I needed to go at least a year without any before I could really beat the addiction. I was right.

Every once and a while I'll be talking to a smoker and feel the urge, but it's more the action of smoking that I want than the nicotine it brings. That's pretty rare though.

The best thing about not being a smoker is that I'm no longer controlled by it.

No more worrying about having enough cigarretts to last through ________, no more getting stressed that because an event that I'm stuck at for 4 hours is no smoking.

No more five dollar a day habit that doesn't even give me a good buzz anyhow. Now it's about seven dollars a pack here. That means smoking would cost me over two hundered dollars a month now! Fuck all that. You can get full service from an asian bathhouse for less than that! ;)

I'd rather smoke bud and actually get a buzz. I do understand that occupational requirements make smoking bud a problem for some, and my heart goes out to those poor souls. :D
 
I quit three days ago after going from reg smokes to an ecig to nothing.

The ecig thread is interesting. Oh and as far as half ass quitters and what not the chemicals in a normal cigarette and the combination and the effects on the human brain are astounding. Have you actually done the research or have you in your wisdom just decided that these people are weak? If someone has been trying to quit for 10 years they need a support system not ridicule.

Or something.
 
There are people that can quit an addiction cold turkey. My grandpa did. He decided one day he didn't want to smoke anymore so he just didn't. Course, he took up some candy eating in it's place but he was a bean pole anyways. It was nice seeing some flesh on his bones.

Addiction isn't something to scoff at. It is a serious battle for some and it does take finding the right support system or method that helps them. I've never been a smoker but I was raised by them. I know exactly what it's like to be around a smoker who hasn't had their "fix" as you put it.

In the long run, I think it's just wonderful someone would chose to try to quit. We all have bad days from time to time so someone has had to put up with us when we were less than perfect. I think that's the least I can do in support of someone that is trying to quit smoking as well as find a way to encourage them.
 
I can't remember the date, or even the month that I quit, but I quit cold turkey in about March of this year, '09. I just decided I was done, and didn't buy any more tobacco or cigarettes. Bummed a couple from friends when hammered, but then quit that cuz they tasted gross.

I can't see myself going back to smoking.

And, it's all in the head. Seriously.
 
Exactly. The body follows the mind. That is a basic precept that athletes like me are taught. If you tell yourself you can do without smoking, then you can do without smoking.
 
http://student.biology.arizona.edu/honors96/group7/default.html

Within this article, experts, such as the U.S. Surgeon General, report that smokers experience three classic signs of addiction: 1) they become dependent; 2) they want to quit but cannot; 3) they become tolerant, although a plateau is reached. Smokers, however, must take large doses to reach that plateau (1).

...In this article, Brautbur reports that nicotine causes arousal while building up a tolerance. As one smokes more cigarettes, one accumulates more and more nicotine in the body; resulting in a greater level of tolerance. Simply, as a person smokes more and more, the brain develops a certain level at which nicotine is required so that the brain can continue receiving pleasure. Because this level becomes increasing large as more nicotine is introduced, it becomes more difficult to satisfy the brain. Thus, many smokers experience withdrawal symptoms (1). ...

Both articles reported that nicotine has been shown to increase cerebral glucose metabolism. Dr. Brautbur reports that when rats developed a heightened brain metabolic activity after they received increased doses of nicotine. This heightened brain activity was an increase in cerebral glucose uptake. According to Dr. Brautbur, changes in brain energy utilization have been observed in association with drugs, such as cocaine (1). In Dr. Benowitz's article, regions with increased cerebral glucose metabolism also had high-affinity nicotine binding (2).

...In an experiment performed in England, the effects of nicotine were related to that of amphetamines and cocaine. Both amphetamines and cocaine release dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and increase locomotor activity. According to this report, recent studies have shown that nicotine induces the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This present study only confirmed that a systematic injection of nicotine can increase extracellular levels of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens of rats. Not only that, nicotine also increased locomotor activity and head-bobbing behavior (3)...

I think that any drug that causes a build up of receptors in the human brain should never be treated as lightly as "Oh you can just get over it."
 
Oh man Brett is one of those. He's been telling me he's going to/wants to quit smoking for quite a while now. He'll quit for a couple of days, be a really big serious DICKHEAD for those few days without nicotine, then he'll cave in and smoke. Then I have to repeat that process of dealing with him being a total dick for a few days whie he tries, and fails, to quit. Again.
 
Shooter, have you ever been addicted to nicotine? No? Shut the fuck up.

Some people have really serious withdrawal symptoms when they try to quit. Sure, there is an aspect of willpower, but it's not that simple for everyone. I have quit cold turkey and gone a year and a half without a single cigarette, and then ended up falling back into my pack a day habit. It's a never ending struggle once you make up your mind to quit, and it's hard to stay committed, especially during those first two weeks when your body and mind are not working properly.
 
You do not have anywhere near as much control over your mind as you seem to want to think. Addiction can bypass the centers of brain that we use for conscious choice by subconsciously associating behaviors with reward responses (dopamine, endorphin, serotonin etc release). Nicotine increases release of all three (and probably more)... withdrawal has the exact opposite effect. Basically, an addict will compulsively seek these actions so they get reward responses from their brain. (Just as some athletes compulsively seek "runner's high".) So, an addict may have enough will power to quit initially, but still succumb at a later time of "weakness" (although this is a poor word for it) due to their brain working in a fundamentally different way, and being deprived of these "feel good" chemicals. It's not always an issue of will power.

Furthermore, we can will ourselves to do a lot of things we don't want to, but self-motivation is at best a gross characterization when we're talking about chemicals that change how the brain works.
 
Actually my dear friend, I smoked about a pack a day for about three years. I quit cold turkey and have never went back to smoking.

Everyone I'm not trying to sound like I am all-knowing on this subject.

I do have a question for those who tried to quit, failed or succeeded. Why did you try to quit?

The reason I ask is because I think I have a hypothesis. The difference between successfully quitting and failing may be the existence of a purpose for which you are quitting. If you have no purpose, then you will fail whether it be in those first two weeks(Which IS definitely hell), or even a good while later. Having a purpose would definitely help your commitment I think.



EDIT:Actually, that can only be part of it. I'm thinking quitting is....a complex thing of many parts, though it seemed like a simple test of commitment for me. Hmmmmmm......thoughts?
 
I quit because:

1. It's expensive
2. It's a hassle needing them, especially when you don't have them
3. Not enough payoff for the problems it causes (aka, doesn't get me stoned :D)
4. Hard to do Muay Thai and be a smoker
 
I didn't really have a purpose. Well, the same reasons Centered mentions(1-3 at least), but those are elementary. I just didn't want to anymore. I did it as a spur of the moment New Years resolution. I stayed off the tobacco for a year and a half, and started again, also without a purpose. Some people seem to have a much harder time with it than I did. Still, the desire to pick it up again is pretty relentless. I don't think that's a function of how good a reason you have for quitting though.
 
I haven't smoked for over a year. I started smoking ~6-7 years ago. I quit for one year around 4-5 years ago, and before I quit this time it took me a year of "quitting" to try. Most times I could last two or three days, sometimes I could go a month, then I just really needed a cigarette, or I'd see them when I was with friends and just cave, tell myself it's okay to have one and then boom.

Right now, it doesn't make much sense, or at least I know that I was in a different state at the time, but whenever I tried to quit, or when I was just a regular smoker, I often thought to myself, "I don't understand how the majority of the world can live without cigarettes." As if it's natural after you wake up before you shower to step out for a smoke, it's like breathing or drinking water. I know there are a lot worse vices in the world than cigarette smoke, and I know I'm not a very strong-willed person, but quitting smoking is a major fucking accomplishment.

Why did you quit shooterman? I quit for the same reason most people do probably:
1. It's terrible for your health.
2. Too expensive
3. Sports
4. etc.
 
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