Holy Smokes!! HowLong??

Wow!! Two years since my last post!! And 4 ½ Years since I started this blog … Check out the beginning if you wish …

http://my-new-life-blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/re-born-on-4th-of-july.html

In that time I’ve had over 46,000 hits (I know, not a lot) and in my absence – about two a day. I’m sure mostly from people doing a Google search on quitting smoking.

When people log on and see the last post date, I’m sure they’re now wondering … is the author of this blog still smoke free?? How’s he doing?  Healthy? Off the wagon? Dead?

If you’re reading this for the first time and wondering what ever happened to me here it is –

STILL SMOKE FREE – and going on 5 years!!!

I did it and so can you!!!

In a recent conversation with a friend who wanted to quit for his 50^th Birthday – all I could do was wish him luck and let him know if I can do it anyone can. I was a serious smoker! I wouldn’t even sleep through the entire night … I’d get up to use the john and have a smoke … can you imagine that??

Not even 8 hours of sleep would interrupt my nicotine habit.

Trust me when I say: If I can do it, so can you!!!!

If you check my blog ledger on the left side of the page you can see that for the first couple of years I took my blogging very seriously … I let it slid quite a bit in 2011 … then totally stopped in 2012. But for the first year and a half I was posting often – it was my therapy – it made me feel good about me and the journey I was on; and I was hopeful others would find it helpful in their own quest to be smoke free.

I’d share my personal stories and all my struggles; I’d search the net for news articles and pictures to post. I’d reprint graphs and various statistics … (hopefully you’ll go back and read some of it.) I even have a couple of cartoons I’m surprised have not been spotted by their originators!

Also, I use to keep track of each and every day I spent smoke free. I would frequently calculate how much money I was saving.  At 500 smoke free days I had estimated a cost savings of over $4,000.00!

http://my-new-life-blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/500-days-smoke-free-holy-smokes.html

Read this if you want …….

Now, I am well over 1,600 smoke free days – figuring it all out would take more work than I am in the mood for today J … Although the simple part of that math is I’ve saved enough to buy a fairly nice used car!

Now it’s December once again … almost exactly two years since my last post … and closing in fast on the end of another year. Maybe a few more Google searches for quitting smoking help than usual in anticipation of the New Year.  Maybe a new post from one person’s success will inspire you to move forward and before you leave this page, ask yourself;

If not now? When??

Good Luck – FJW 

Quit Smoking Tip Sheet ~

Thinking about quitting Smoking midnight New Years Day?? Here's an oldie but a goodie ... Some tips that have really helped me in the past.

1. Quit cold turkey with the help of drugs (prescribed!).


2. Do not carry cigarettes.


3. Quit smoking one day at a time. Do not concern yourself with next year, next month, next week or even tomorrow. Concentrate on not smoking from the time you wake up until you go to sleep.


4. Work on developing the attitude that you are doing yourself a favor by not smoking. Do not dwell on the idea that you are depriving yourself of a cigarette. You are ridding yourself of full-fledged smoking because you care enough about yourself to want to.


5. Be proud that you are not smoking.


6. Be aware that many routine situations will trigger the urge for a cigarette. Situations which will trigger a response include: drinking coffee, alcohol, sitting in a bar, social events with smoking friends, card games, the end of meals. Try to maintain your normal routine while quitting. If any event seems too tough, leave it and go back to it later. Do not feel you must give up any activity forever. Everything you did as a smoker, you will learn to do at least as well, and maybe better, as an ex-smoker.


7. Make a list of all the reasons you want to quit smoking. Keep this list with you, preferably where you used to carry your cigarettes. When you find yourself reaching for a cigarette, take out your list and read it.


8. Drink plenty of water the first three days. It will help flush nicotine out of your system.


9. To help avoid weight gain, eat vegetables and fruit instead of candies and pastries. Celery and carrots can be used safely as short-term substitutes for cigarettes.


10. If you are concerned about weight gain, do some moderate form of regular exercise. If you have not been exercising regularly, consult your physician for a practical exercise program which is safe for you. See also: Exercise Shown To Powerfully Decrease Cigarette Cravings


11. If you encounter a crisis, (e.g. a flat tire, flood, blizzard, family illness) while quitting, remember, smoking is no solution. Smoking will just complicate the original situation while creating another crisis, a relapse into the nicotine addiction.


12. Consider yourself a “smoke-a-holic.” One puff and you can become hooked again. No matter how long you have been off, don't think you can safely take a puff!


13. Don't debate with yourself how much you want a cigarette. Ask yourself how do you feel about going back to your old level of consumption. Smoking is an all or nothing proposition.


14. Save the money you usually spend on cigarettes and buy yourself something you really want after a week or a month. Save for a year and you can treat yourself to a vacation.


15. Practice deep breathing exercises when you have a craving.


16. Go places where you normally can't smoke, such as movies, libraries and no smoking sections of restaurants.


17. Tell people around you that you have quit smoking.


18. Remember that there are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit. You decide you want to go back to your old level of consumption until smoking cripples and then kills you, or, you decide you really enjoy withdrawal and you want to make it last forever. As long as neither of these options appeal to you - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF

If Quitting is your goal and any of this helps Please write to me and share both your success and your frustrations. FJW

My 8 ~ 8 ~ 8 Plan!!!

I've just returned from Vegas, one of the most smoking friendly Cities in the United States... And I've just completed 888 Days Smoke Free!!

I know I really haven't blogged about my nicotine addiction struggles lately and I've probably lost most of my followers ... 'cept maybe one person in Missouri :)

But, in case anyone was wondering I am Still Smoke free nearly Two and a Half Years Later!

I had attempted quitting this vial habit so many times I lost count. But from all those attempts I did learn one very valuable lesson ... No matter what, don't try just one!

There is no such thing to just one cigarette for an addict. One will always lead to another. Every now and then, but not too often anymore, a cigarette sounds appealing however, the feeling always goes away.

So -- if you're a recent quitter learn from my past mistakes and never take another puff :)

Happy Holidays ~ FJW

Genes May Make Quitting Tougher for Smokers

Your particular DNA may explain why you can't break the habit, study suggests.

By Mary Brophy Marcus, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Dec. 1, 2011 (HealthDay News) — Despite decades of public health efforts aimed at snuffing out cigarette smoking, 20 percent of Americans still light up. New research suggests it might be because of their genes.

While anti-smoking campaigns are credited with slicing cigarette use drastically over the past 40 years — from 42 percent of all Americans in 1965 to just under 20 percent in 2010 — the number of people who haven't been able to nix their nicotine habit has flatlined in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two out of three adults who smoke want to quit, a CDC report out earlier this month said, and more than half (52 percent) had attempted to quit in the past year.

The authors of the new study, released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of Demography, say new tactics may be needed to help the remaining smokers.

"Federal and social policies may be somewhat less effective now because maybe the composition of those at risk [those who smoke] has changed," said study co-author Fred Pampel, a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science there. Those who can quit easily have probably done so, the authors said.

Study lead author Jason Boardman, an associate professor of sociology, said anti-smoking messages, higher taxes and restrictions on smoking have made a difference. "But for hard-core smokers, there may be something else going on," he said. That "something else" is likely genetics, he added.

The researchers drew this conclusion after analyzing the smoking habits between 1960 and 1980 of nearly 600 pairs of twins who answered an extensive health questionnaire — 363 were identical sets of twins and 233 were fraternal twins. Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg before it splits into two embryos and they share the same genes or DNA, while fraternal twins come from two separately fertilized egg cells and only share some genetic similarities.

In the identical twin group, 65 percent of both individuals quit within a two-year period of each other, while only 55 percent of the fraternal twins quit within that same stretch of time.

"The logic here is that the identical twins share genes, so if they act alike it probably reflects a genetic component," said Pampel.

The new research adds to a growing body of literature suggesting there is probably a substantial genetic influence when it comes to nicotine addiction, said Dr. Aditi Satti, an assistant professor of medicine and director of the smoking cessation program at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. But scientists are still trying to pinpoint the gene or genes involved, she said.

"There has not been one specific gene linked to nicotine addiction," said Satti.

She noted that while numbers of smokers have decreased over the years, smoking is up among women and black Americans, possibly another clue as to who is genetically at risk. Inner city, low socioeconomic and less-educated populations are more likely to be smokers, too, Satti added.

"I think the combo of finding better medications and educating people, even if doctors just spend five minutes talking with your patient about smoking, will lead to higher quit rates," Satti said.

Boardman said a policy shift might be in line. Instead of government anti-smoking campaigns focusing on high taxes and splashy advertisements, he said current smokers may discover more success using medication aimed at nicotine addiction, as well as counseling.

"I'd argue that nicotine replacement therapies may be far more effective with existing smokers still trying to quit than the posters showing images of smokers that are not cool. Behavior-changing efforts — I don't think that's going to help the two-pack a day smokers," said Boardman, who is also a research associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science.

Smoking-related diseases lead to approximately 443,000 deaths a year in the United States, including babies born prematurely to women who smoke while pregnant and those harmed by secondhand smoke, according to the American Lung Association.

Satti is concerned that cigarette addiction isn't taken seriously enough by some.

"Maybe we don't see smoking as being as important as alcohol and drug addiction, but I'm a pulmonologist and I see chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and lung cancer every day," she said. "And we know tobacco smoke is linked to cardiovascular disease and stroke. It's one of the most preventable things you can do. If you quit smoking, you'll see a huge impact on health."

When COPD Symptoms Worsen

Find out how to prevent a COPD exacerbation and what to do if you experience one.

Though patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can keep symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath, or sputum under control most of the time, they're susceptible to experience exacerbations, or severe worsening of those symptoms, at any time.

"An exacerbation is when a chronic disease gets worse for some reason. With COPD, this is usually because of infection,” explains Richard Castriotta, MD, professor at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

COPD exacerbations result in about 1.5 million emergency room visits every year in the United States, but a person's risk of an exacerbation varies depending on the severity of his or her condition. People with severe COPD have about 3.43 exacerbations a year compared with 2.68 on average for people with moderate COPD.

COPD Exacerbations: Signs and Causes
To recognize an exacerbation, look out for these COPD symptoms:
· Worsening cough
· Worsening feeling of being short of breath (dyspnea)
· Changes in sputum, such as changing color (clear to yellow, green, brown, or red) or quantity (either more or less than usual)

Many COPD exacerbations occur without any known cause. However, the most commonly understood causes of COPD exacerbations are respiratory infections such as colds or the flu.

If you have increased COPD symptoms such as a fever, chills, and "purulent" sputum (yellow in color), you should call your doctor immediately. You may need a prescription for antibiotics to help fight the infection.

COPD Exacerbations: How to Handle an Occurrence
How you handle a COPD exacerbation will depend on how controlled your symptoms are under normal circumstances and how severe the exacerbation is. If your symptoms are under control most of the time and your exacerbation is not severe, you should talk to your doctor about how to treat your symptoms at home. You may be able to use your bronchodilator or steroids to address some symptoms under a doctor's supervision.

If you have followed your doctor's instructions and your efforts to control symptoms at home have not worked, do not take more medication. Instead, call your doctor's office or go to the ER.

If you're having trouble breathing, you should go to the ER immediately. At the hospital, you may receive ventilator treatments or medication to help you breathe. In some instances, you may be hospitalized until you get better.

COPD Exacerbations: Prevention Strategies
There are several ways that you can prevent exacerbations or reduce their severity:
· Stop smoking. The more years you smoke, the worse your exacerbations are likely to be. Chronic and heavy smokers are at increased risk for severe exacerbations.

· Take antibiotics as prescribed. If your doctor gives you antibiotics to treat an infection that might lead to an exacerbation, make sure you take all the medication as your doctor instructs, even if you feel better before you have finished every dose.

· Get your flu shot. Get a flu vaccine every year when flu season begins and make sure that you are up-to-date with your pneumococcal vaccine.

· Find a primary care doctor you can see regularly. Data from a study of 388 COPD patients showed that those who did not have a regular doctor were more likely to need to go to the ER. The researchers estimate that 10 percent of hospital visits could be prevented if more people with COPD had regular doctors. You also can reduce the risk of having to return to the ER with a relapse if you have a doctor you can visit about a week after your initial exacerbation and hospital visit.

If you understand which COPD symptoms to watch out for, you will be able to respond to COPD exacerbations quickly and learn how to prevent them in the future.

Sometimes Will Power Just Isn't Enough~

By: Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.

Do you snack every night in front of the television? Do you drink a little too much when you are out with your friends? Do you ever find that you've smoked a whole pack of cigarettes, bitten off half your nails, or eaten an entire bag of Doritos without realizing you were doing it?

That's the real problem when it comes to ridding yourself of bad habits -- back in the beginning, when the behavior was new, it was something you did intentionally and probably consciously. But do anything enough times, and it becomes relatively automatic. In other words, you don't even need to know that you are doing it.

In fact, as new research shows, you don't even need to want to do it. If you develop the habit of snacking in front of your TV at night, how hungry you are or how tasty the snack is will no longer determine whether or how much you eat.

Many bad habits operate mindlessly, on autopilot. They are triggered by the context (e.g., watching TV, socializing, feeling stressed), rather than by any particular desire to engage in the behavior. So the key to stopping a bad habit isn't making a resolution -- it's figuring out how to turn off the autopilot. It's learning to disrupt the behavior, preferably before it starts.

Take for example a recent small study of movie theater popcorn-eating. Researchers invited about 100 people to watch 15 minutes of movie previews while seated in a real movie theater. They gave the participants free bags of popcorn and varied whether the popcorn was fresh or stale. (The stale popcorn was actually a week old. Yuck.) Then, they measured how much popcorn each person ate.

Not surprisingly, everyone who got the stale popcorn reported liking it less than those who got fresh. And people with a weak popcorn habit (e.g., those who didn't usually eat popcorn at the movies) ate significantly more fresh popcorn than stale. But here's the kicker -- for people with a strong popcorn habit (those who always ordered popcorn at the movies) it didn't matter how stale the popcorn was. They ate the same amount, whether it was an hour old or seven days old.

That's worth thinking about for a moment -- people with a strong habit were eating terrible popcorn, not because they didn't notice it was terrible, but because it didn't matter. The behavior was automatic, not intentional. So if tasting like Styrofoam won't keep you from eating something, what will?

The researchers found that there were, in fact, two effective ways to disrupt the automatic popcorn-eating.

First, you can disrupt the habit by changing the context. When they conducted the same study in the context of a conference room with 60 people, rather than at a movie theater, people with strong popcorn habits at the movie theater stopped eating the stale popcorn. The automatic popcorn-eating behavior wasn't activated, because the situational cues were changed.

If you have a habit you'd like to break, spend some time thinking about the situations in which it most often occurs. If you snack in front of the TV at night, consider doing something else in the evenings for a while -- reading a good book, spending time with friends or family, even surfing the web. Any alternative activity is less likely to trigger mindless eating. If you just can't give up your favorite shows, you might try rearranging the room or sitting in a different chair -- anything that alters the context can help.

Second, you can disrupt a habit by changing the method of performance. In another study, the researchers found that asking strong-habit popcorn eaters who were in a movie theater to eat with their non-dominant hand stopped them from eating the stale popcorn, too.



So if you can't change the situation, you can change the way the habit gets executed. If you mindlessly eat or smoke with your right hand, try only using your left. If you mindlessly drink from the glass that the bartender keeps refilling, try sitting at a table instead of the bar so you'll have to consciously get up and ask for a refill. Making the behavior a little more difficult or awkward to perform can be a great way to throw a wrench in the works.

Too often, we blame our failures on the wrong things. When it comes to ridding ourselves of bad habits, we usually chalk our difficulties up to a lack of commitment or willpower. But as I've argued in my new book "Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals," conquering your behavioral demons needs to start with understanding how they really work and applying the most effective strategy. In this case, success comes from not making it quite so easy for your autopilot to run the show.

Smoking Can Be Just Plain Goofy!

Quitting Even Tougher When Smokers Battle Other Addictions

FRIDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) — Four out of every 10 smokers is also burdened with alcohol or drug addictions, or mental health disorders, and getting them to quit cigarettes can be a big challenge.

But a new study finds that these patients are five times more likely to give up smoking if they receive smoking-cessation counseling from their primary care doctors.

Finding ways to help them kick the smoking habit not only boosts their health but also reduces tobacco-related health care costs, said study author Dr. Michael Ong, an assistant professor of general internal medicine and health services research and a researcher at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In the study, his team looked at success rates among almost 1,400 smokers who tried to quit. The rates were 6 percent for those with so-called "comorbid disorders" (for example, mental illness and/or substance abuse issues) who did not receive smoking cessation counseling from their family doctor, 10.5 percent for those without the comorbid disorders who did not receive counseling, about 31 percent for those with the comorbid disorders who did receive counseling, and nearly 35 percent for those without the disorders who received counseling.

Ong's group also found that smokers with alcohol, drug or mental health disorders were just as likely as those without the disorders to receive smoking cessation counseling from their family doctor — about 73 percent and 80 percent, respectively.

"It would be very effective for primary care physicians to provide help in quitting smoking to these patients," Ong concluded in a UCLA Health Sciences news release.

"However, in the context of everything these physicians are trying to do in a day, smoking cessation may fall by the wayside," he added. "It's also been thought that with this patient population, doctors should only take on one thing at a time, for example treating an opiate addiction and opting to deal with the smoking cessation later. But at the end of the day, we showed that smoking cessation counseling is effective in this patient population and should definitely be pursued."

The study was published Aug. 23 in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Smoke Free in Memphis!

750 Smoke Free Days!!

Holy Smokes!

The two year anniversary passed with out much fan fare and now her I am over 750 Smoke Free Days!

Every so often it's fun to do the math ....

When I quit, I was smoking approximately a pack and half a day. I was going to the store and buying one 'premium' pack and one 'generic' (cheap-ass) pack and alternating the two. My surprise back then was that the cheap-ass smokes weren't really all that bad .......... back to the cost:

Every time I bought two packs of smokes it was costing me around eight bucks .... divide that out on a per cigarette basis and I was paying approximately twenty cents per smoke.

Twenty Cents for each cigarette and smoking thirty cigarettes a day I was spending right around $6.00 a day just for permanently damaging my lungs ... And that was two years ago ... prior to the Obama Tax Slap ....

Thirty Cigs a day multiplied by 750 days and that's 22,500 cigarettes I have NOT smoked! Let me spell that one out .... that is TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED cancer sticks un-smoked by me! Now that's alata tobacco! At cost of twenty cents each or six dollars a day that's $4,500.00!

Four Thousand, Five Hundred Dollars! In my world that's a lot of cash .... and most of that doesn't even go to the evil tobacco companies ... it's taxes directly to the feds!

If you've quit smoking recently ... take the time to do the math ... it's fun and rewarding!

FJW