Real Quitting Experiences

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Kim

Dee

"I’m 41 and have been smoking since I was 14. I had been told many times in hospital that I should quit because of my chronic asthma. Every night I would need my Ventolin, wake up all night wheezing and finding it hard to breathe. My children would ask almost every day, ‘when will you quit?’ I would also think every day - why am I even doing this? When I smoke I feel drained, dirty, smelly, tired.

One day I downloaded the My QuitBuddy app and decided that was it. I needed to cold turkey it and go through the withdrawals. I was grumpy, and had this feeling of a lump in my chest for the first week, my head was screaming, ‘Have a smoke! Have a smoke!’, but once I got through day one I was thinking – ‘I’m never doing a day like that again’. Once I got through week 1 I was thinking I’m never ever doing that week again… Same with week 2, then it was 1 month and finally, one year.

I started at the gym after I quit and lost 20kg in that year, after a few months I no longer needed my Ventolin, I can walk my dogs without being out of breath, my skin went from looking dry and greyish looking to healthy with colour. I don’t have the drained all day feeling, I don’t feel dirty. I recently had a health scare which put me in hospital and I’m not sure my body would have been able to fight the fight if I was still gasping for air...Guess you could say quitting played a part in saving my life in more ways than one."

Kim

Liz

"I gave up 7 years ago. One of my reasons was that I had a very bad dose of the flu and couldn't breathe. I knew giving the cigs away would help. For me, quitting was something I could do to improve my health for myself. I convinced myself that smoking was a habit that I didn't want to have any more. I feel fantastic and look a lot younger than I am and have lovely skin. Also the cost! I nearly fell over when I heard someone in front of me at the supermarket paid $50 for a pack of 50 - good grief!

Fast forward to today. My mother has been diagnosed with COPD after a lifetime of being a heavy smoker. To see her now is very sad. She cannot walk more than around 10 meters before she needs to stop and catch her breath. In short, I am watching my mother die a cruel horrible slow death caused by smoking."

Kim

Sheree

"I started smoking when I was 12. My doctor told me that I had high cholesterol because of a genetic condition, and it was high enough that it could cause a stroke. I thought to myself, I need to quit smoking to reduce my risk. If I get a smoking related illness I’ll be really angry, because I’ll only have myself to blame.

I found making a list of things to do instead of lighting up was a very useful, and I kept repeating to myself over and over: ‘the cravings will decrease and it will get easier’.

Since quitting I have more money, more energy and my house doesn’t smell of smoke. Food tastes better too, and my nails and teeth don’t have that yellow tinge anymore. It’s like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. I don’t miss out on things because I have to duck out for a smoke, and I’m looking forward to enjoying good health in my later years."

Tracie

"I have a mental illness. I have bipolar and I’m a mum and a grandma, and I’m a reformed smoker.”

Watch the video to hear Tracie’s quitting story.

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Phil

"I gave up smoking in about 1993. When I had my last cigarette I know it was the last and I have never smoked since. I knew why I wanted to quit. I wrote down all of the reasons including personal health, my young daughter, the cost, and so on. Finally, I realised how cross I was that I was was tied to this cocktail of drugs. I got myself angry and that made it easy to quit. If you can convince yourself to not smoke, all of the withdrawal and lack of a reward system in your day just fade away. Do it for yourself. Do it for those that care about you."

Liz

Liz

"I always knew that I shouldn’t smoke, that smoking could kill me but cigarettes were my best friend; the best friend you trust with your life and then when your back’s turned, they stab you in it!

I had many attempts to quit but as I didn’t show any of the common negative effects (I was able to do my aerobic exercise, I wasn’t ever breathless, I didn’t have a cough, my skin was better than average for my age and I could afford it), I always told myself that quitting was something I could ‘put off until another day’. Thankfully that day did come eventually; I picked my day to have my last cigarette and managed to become a non-smoker. I so missed my best friend and for almost five years I wanted them back in my life, until the day I was told that I had lung cancer. That day all my dreams of a reunion stopped dead.

My lung cancer treatment was swift, radical and extremely unpleasant however my outcome is better than most and at present I’m lung cancer free although I do have other serious lung issues which are smoking related.

Simply:

If I hadn’t stopped smoking five years prior to my diagnosis, my lung cancer would have been more advanced and I wouldn’t have had my positive outcome.

If I hadn’t been a long-term aerobic exerciser I wouldn’t have recovered as I did after my lung lobectomy.

And, if I hadn’t smoked in the first instance, well, I wouldn’t be writing this today."

Melissa

Melissa

"My someone who was my inspiration to stop smoking is my 5 year old son. On 26th February this year I was sitting outside having a smoke when he asked me why I smoked, then went on to describe what a smokers lung looks like (after watching the ad's on TV where they squeeze the tar out of the sponge). He told me that’s what my 'breathing things' would look like so why would I smoke. I had no answer for him, put my smoke out and threw my packet in the bin!"

John

John

"Because I love playing sport, people automatically think it's the reason I stopped smoking, but that wasn't it. I'm saving for a house, so I didn't want to keep spending all that money on cigarettes, which are costly.

Another reason is that it's pretty hard to get dates. I've found that women don't really care too much for a smoker. They don't really like making out with ashtrays and that's fair enough."

Liz

Liz

"I had tried to quit numerous times without success. I was sick and tired of being smelly all the time and the cost was getting too much. I also had a horrible cough that was keeping me awake at night.

I finally decided to quit after a long term relationship had just ended and I wanted an entire new start and direction in my life. There was no more room for cigarettes. I’ve now been smoke free for nearly 20 short months.

Since giving up I have more money, have travelled overseas numerous times, bought a house, learnt how to ride a motorbike and bought a bike."

Sherri

Sherrii

"After smoking for 12 years I quit for the health of my children.  My daughter born with a lung condition was sick her whole infancy and I had a second baby and he too was always having regular respiratory illnesses. One day a friend of mine who was also a smoker told me how she managed to quit. My friend said to her son that if she ever smoked again, it was the same as telling him that she didn't love them and didn't care about him and would help him move out. I said the same to my own family and I have never looked back. After I quit my daughter’s health rapidly improved and she doesn’t need to visit the hospital nearly as often anymore and my son hasn’t had any lung-related illnesses since. There are benefits for me too, I don't stink, my lungs are clear no more coughing up black muck!"

Kim

Kim

"I tried every technique there was to quit smoking. It turned out the only thing I did need was a good reason. That reason was my kids. I've got three children aged six, three and two. It hurt me to think that sometime in the future I might not be around when my wife and children need me the most. "

Liz

Liz

"I smoked from the age of 13 and quit aged 30. At my worst I smoked 60 ciggies a day. I gave up when I fell pregnant with my son but took it up again when he was 2! It was when he was three and could talk that he asked me "mummy why do you put that fire in your mouth?", that's when I thought it's time to give this away!

So I started smoking rollies, drum menthol, the most disgusting rolling tobacco ever made, and reduced the size of my ciggies until one night I got half way through one and decided it tasted so bad that I put it out and haven't touched one since! That was 15 years ago! I haven't missed it at all! It did take five serious attempts of giving up before it happened for good!"

Melissa

Melissa

"I started smoking at about age 11 out of sheer peer pressure. It was something everybody did. When I tried to quit, I found it was extremely difficult. I started researching and tried every known method on the market at the time, many times over. Finally my motivation was clear, I had to quit for my kids' sake.

I've been a smoke free champion for 17 years. After 6 months of being smoke free I realised I didn't have any more bad acne or oily hair. I had no idea my smoking had caused that.

Words of wisdom for others wanting to quit…

  1. Don't give up giving up.
  2. Don't crucify yourself if you have a relapse.
  3. Do your homework and make a quitting plan."

Val

Val

"I started smoking when I was going on 18. I was away from home and I remember the first cigarette I ever had; I bought a packet of cool tip cigarettes for what I think was around one-and-sixpence! Lighting one up and smoking felt so strange. I thought my mother would kill me but she didn’t!

I gave up smoking in 2011 when I was 71. My doctor was always at me telling me to quit, and then one day he handed me a script for patches. The patches worked for me, they really did. It took about three months to quit and I think if I had a cigarette now I would probably have a heart attack! I honestly would because of the shock of the nicotine going back into my system.

Since I stopped smoking I feel on top of the world. One of the greatest things about quitting is that it relieves stress. Smoking’s a stressful habit that people use as a crutch; like when something’s wrong they immediately light up a smoke. I used to do that. You can cope with situations much better if you’re not reaching out for that cigarette and trying to escape. Now my breathing’s better and my lungs are clear. You’re accepted in public more as a non-smoker too, I can go anywhere now. Quitting also makes you more aware of yourself; I dress more nicely and take better care of my appearance, because when you’re smoking you get to the point where you don’t care about yourself anymore.

I was motivated to quit because of my health; you worry about your health more as you get older. I have a lot more self-esteem now and quitting has also helped me manage my type 2 diabetes. Financially too- I wouldn’t be able travel like I am if I hadn’t quit smoking. (Look at the price of a packet!) I’m going on holiday soon, a few thousand miles to Sydney and Melbourne. I used to live in Melbourne so that will always have a place in my heart, it’ll be nice to see it again."

Gilbert Crossley

Gilbert

Gilbert was just 11 years old when a school friend offered him a cigarette out of a packet he’d stolen from home. This kick-started a 40 a day habit which lasted for 32 years. After joining the army at 17 years old, Gilbert would receive a ration of 200 cigarettes a week, and his mother would send him extra cigarettes on payday so he would never be without. “I smoked anything I could get my hands on – cigarettes, cigars, a pipe. I’ll be 80 in February, but I shouldn’t be alive.”

One day he went to clean his teeth and as soon as he put the toothbrush in his mouth he felt like he was going to be sick. His gut told him it was because of cigarettes and he immediately set a quit date.

 The following Monday he took a full packet of cigarettes to work in his jacket which he hung in his locker. Whenever he had cravings he went and got the cigarette packet out of his jacket pocket, held the packet in his hand, reminded himself of how many days he had been smoke free and put the cigarettes and his jacket back in his locker. After four weeks he gave that packet of cigarettes to a friend who was a smoker.

‘”You’ll be asking for them back” he told me…But I knew I wouldn’t. If I can quit, anyone can.’

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