Do you use tobacco products?

[LucyPurrs]

I smoked my first cigarette on a day when I was very stressed out and it seemed to relax me. I think that was what hooked me as I'd never considered it cool.
Yeah totally agree it is an addiction- one of the reasons why my self -esteem was so low while I was smoking is I found myself acting like any other addict and hated that. I felt so trapped by the addiction and never thought I could quit. I used to think that if I could just really quit I'd feel so much better about myself- well, I did but it wasn't quite the miracle cure for low self-esteem I had hoped it would be. Glad to hear Chantix worked for your partner Progster. I found the low starting dose helpful but couldn't tolerate the higher regular dose. I do recommend it over vaping (doesn't get rid of the addiction) or the gum. But some may have issues with it.

 

[Progster]

I smoked my first cigarette on a day when I was very stressed out and it seemed to relax me. I think that was what hooked me as I'd never considered it cool.
Yeah totally agree it is an addiction- one of the reasons why my self -esteem was so low while I was smoking is I found myself acting like any other addict and hated that. I felt so trapped by the addiction and never thought I could quit. I used to think that if I could just really quit I'd feel so much better about myself- well, I did but it wasn't quite the miracle cure for low self-esteem I had hoped it would be. Glad to hear Chantix worked for your partner Progster. I found the low starting dose helpful but couldn't tolerate the higher regular dose. I do recommend it over vaping (doesn't get rid of the addiction) or the gum. But some may have issues with it.

I still don't undertand that, I get that you were hooked because you smoked one day because you were stressed, but the question remains: why smoking? Why choose this method, in spite of the knowledge that it is addictive and harmful to health? Why not something else less harmful to relieve stress, why not listen to a song to make you feel better, going for a short walk, making yourself a cup of tea, or eating a tasty snack to feel better? Why that particular thing, when that thing is so harmful? I'm not judging or wanting to criticise you, I'm just trying to understand this. I've always had sensory issues and a really negative attitude to smoking and it is really hard for me to understand what it is that makes people start. At no point in my life, no matter how stressed I've felt, I've never wanted to start smoking because I find it so repulsive - it never even occurs to me as something that's a valid option.
My partner also found the higher dose of Chamtix too much, he had some side effects and stuck with the lower dose. I think he doesn't need it now and has stopped taking it. No drugs without side effects.

 

[LucyPurrs]

I still don't undertand that, I get that you were hooked because you smoked one day because you were stressed, but the question remains: why smoking? Why choose this method, in spite of the knowledge that it is addictive and harmful to health? Why not something else less harmful to relieve stress, why not listen to a song to make you feel better, going for a short walk, making yourself a cup of tea, or eating a tasty snack to feel better? Why that particular thing, when that thing is so harmful? I'm not judging or wanting to criticise you, I'm just trying to understand this. I've always had sensory issues and a really negative attitude to smoking and it is really hard for me to understand what it is that makes people start. At no point in my life, no matter how stressed I've felt, I've never wanted to start smoking because I find it so repulsive - it never even occurs to me as something that's a valid option.
My partner also found the higher dose of Chamtix too much, he had some side effects and stuck with the lower dose. I think he doesn't need it now and has stopped taking it. No drugs without side effects.

Well, to answer your question about why smoking: when I started it was, 1962? Back then we didn't know how harmful it was, plus both my parents smoked so I was used to the smoke. Once hooked, which truly seemed to happen within a couple of weeks, it felt like I couldn't stop. The first time I smoked, it was on a commuter train and someone offered me a cigarette which I decided to try. I didn't have the aversion to the smoke you did because I was used to it at home. I have 2 younger sisters- one who's never smoked and hates it and one who's switched to vaping about 4 years ago. I wish she'd try to quit too but I can't control that. What's so strange Progster is now I don't feel stressed very often and have to wonder why I thought I was so stressed in the past. Maybe work was more stressful than I realized or maybe the cigarette smoking added to the stress?

 

[Progster]

What's so strange Progster is now I don't feel stressed very often and have to wonder why I thought I was so stressed in the past. Maybe work was more stressful than I realized or maybe the cigarette smoking added to the stress?

I can understand it for people who were brought up in that time, but not for people who start now. I can't answer your question because I don't smoke and never have, someone else might be able to, but it's good that you don't feel so stressed

 

[Mr Allen]

IMO the UK smoking ban was in Pubs etc was THE best thing the UK government ever did, now I can visit the Pub on quiz night without coming home smelling like an Ashtray.

 

[Rayner]

No, I don't use tobacco products. I'm too poor to use drugs. nuff said.

 

[tlc]

No way.

Smoking and stress, they were talking about that at work the other day. They said smoking is a stress reliever, and studies show that quitting smoking causes more problems from stress than if you just kept smoking to begin with.

The whole thing about smoking being on the decline, sure doesn't seem to apply here. Despite smoke free workplace laws here, they reallowed smoking in our company handbook, and have at other places up north. We were smoke free for awhile, but popular demand wins. Every business I go, more workers are out smoking than not. I used to be able to enjoy a concert in the park but not anymore, the smoke just surrounds me from all directions. At one time there was the sticker shock of $6 a pack, but that's worn off, maybe that's something to do with it. And I've given up on my dream of playing music, in the rare case the band doesn't smoke, then the venue is still full of it.

My folks smoked when I was growing up, mom only quit just long enough while I was in her belly. Wonder how much good it actually did, I still had defects. Used to make me carsick and it's certainly reduced my lung capacity over time. Mom battled cancer so she quit. Dad still does, despite watching my grandpa, and his own brother die in the same house of lung cancer. It's gotten to where I don't even like going to see him anymore, he goes out to the garage to smoke but his clothes reek so bad, I have to leave I just can't stand it, choking while breathing.

Never smoked a cigarette in my life, never will. It's just sad that 2 different doctors have told me I have smoker's lungs.

 

[Darius]

Not really. I have tried and could smoke if I wanted, happened on some occassions in the last year I think, but generally I don't. Never knew what's so great in it. It's too smelly And I get migraines from the smoke around me, unless I join in the crowd and smoke. But I still prefer to just leave the smelly place.

 

[Progster]

Never smoked a cigarette in my life, never will. It's just sad that 2 different doctors have told me I have smoker's lungs.

It's so unbelievably selfish to smoke in the same room as non-smokers. I don't understand how people can ever think that this is ok and acceptable.

 

[Nervous Rex]

When I was in college, I found a box of cigarettes and a lighter left behind in a study room. I was curious, so I smoked one cigarette. Unlike everyone's first experience smoking on TV and in the movies, there was no violent coughing or vomiting - I enjoyed it. I was surprised that the cigarette tasted good to me and didn't taste like what smoker's breath smells like - I understand now that smokers won't ever know how bad their breath is (unless they give up smoking).

After I smoked that cigarette, I understood what the appeal was and why it is so addicting. I realized that, in order to not get hooked, I had better never pick up another cigarette. I never have.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I have never smoked, unless you count all the times it was second-hand because of ignorant people who were always smoking around me, even when I was a little kid. Public smoking is banned just about everywhere now and I don't see it as a social norm at all. I think most adults don't these days. Most adults see it now as an awful, disgusting addiction that can end up killing you and harming people around you, at least in this country. And it's not cheap, either, that's usually the one reason.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Yuck no!!!