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Any other idiots (like me) still smoking? This virus means time to stop & wld love mutual support.

bimble

bimble

floofy
Evidence suggests that you are very significantly more likely to get the most severe version of this virus if you're a smoker.

This is likely to be what explains the different death rates between men and women in China.
Evidence re vaping less extensive for obvious reasons but not at all good either from what I can see.

Am shitting self and stopping. Buying a stack of NRT patches today.
If I can stop today and also do my best to delay getting the virus until the peak is passed I reckon I stand a better chance of not you know competing for a respirator with someone who is not an idiot (ie with a non smoker).

Not a great time for it as am anxious as hell obvs but it is.. motivating.
I know hardly anyone still smokes but if you do please consider joining me?



tobacco.ucsf.edu

Reduce your risk of serious lung disease caused by corona virus by quitting smoking and vaping | Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

tobacco.ucsf.edu tobacco.ucsf.edu
www.reuters.com

Smoking or vaping increases risks for those with coronavirus: NYC mayor

Smoking or vaping makes people more vulnerable to suffering severe illness once infected by coronavirus, a spokeswoman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
Gave up in 2016, did about 18 months with no smoking at all, then it started creeping in originally when having a few beers, then the odd one in work, then a cheeky pack every so often, then from about xmas 2018 until 1st jan this year I was basically a smoker again, just hiding it from other half like a teenager. Haven't smoked since 1st jan at all but funnily enough this morning I woke up and straight away thought 'I might buy some fags today' and have had this desire all morning.

So good timing for your post bimble cos now I suddenly don't want to.

Edit it was 2016 I gave up first time, 2019 makes no sense
 
Been cutting down (to maybe a pack a week) for aaaages with the intent of quitting properly, the emergence of this virus was the trigger for me too, stopped dead 4 weeks ago when it became clear it was going to go pandemic, haven’t even had much in the way of cravings yet - fear is VERY motivating (and the science is compelling). Go for it! Good luck!
 
Btw if bimble or anybody else knocks it on head I recommend those quickmist things initially, they get rid of actual nicotine craving (obv not the psychological part) instantly and stop the aforementioned flu like/chesty symptoms, or did for me. Cost pretty much same as fags though
 
SO bimble if you have not tried to give up nicotine before and your experience goes anything like mine ...
  • you will be a miserable unpleasant cunt for about 3 days. Just go with it. Being in isolation is a great idea.
  • after that keep reminding yourself that you have now BEATEN the nicotine addiction. Oh yes, you are done
  • then it's the hard part. Beating the desire to stick something in your gob, do something with your hands ... no, that's not where I'm going ... you'll want to eat more, you'll be fidgety, you'll tell yourself that having a fag will make all that stop ... but remember the three days of withdrawal you just did? Yeah, then you'd have to do it again and it's fucking awful ... so stay strong, buy lollipops, take up crochet, find things to occupy yourself that aren't eating lard and punching people.

You. Can. Do. This.
 
I've stopped before for a few months each (twice) but the last time I ended up vaping for a bit which I'm not going to do this time.
It might help me (as a psychological trick) to think of this not as a forever thing but as something I can do to try to reduce my chances of getting seriously ill this year, when it seems really possible that medical staff will have to choose who gets intensive care. I know this may sound really paranoid but in the circumstances of the zombie respiratory disease apocalypse its not like i'd be happily puffing away anyway. :(
 
That’s it your done. No matter how shit you feel, you will never smoke another fag. Get a craving, use NRT. You’re free of it, and every day from now on will only get easier. Congratulations!

And to anyone telling you it’s not the right time, bollocks. It’s the perfect time. Even a few days, let alone a few weeks, of not smoking will improve your respiratory function.
 
Not smoking is bloody ace, I smoked fags for about 30 years, had forgotten how clean lungs feel, not being able to proper belly-laugh because It'd make me have a huge coughing fit etc, etc. taking a deep satisfying sigh now is lovely 😎

Wish you all the luck :oldthumbsup:
 
If you want to do it then it's the right time.

I only smoke baccy in spliffs, I can maybe have 4 or 5 on a heavy day, 1 on a lighter day. So I don't view my smoking as excessive.

In September I just stopped, no baccy and no weed, and if we'd never got any more weed I'd have been fine, I did stop for a few months twice last year ... But we do get more weed :rolleyes:
 
Proper Tidy said:
Gave up in 2016, did about 18 months with no smoking at all, then it started creeping in originally when having a few beers, then the odd one in work, then a cheeky pack every so often, then from about xmas 2018 until 1st jan this year I was basically a smoker again, just hiding it from other half like a teenager. Haven't smoked since 1st jan at all but funnily enough this morning I woke up and straight away thought 'I might buy some fags today' and have had this desire all morning.

So good timing for your post bimble cos now I suddenly don't want to.

Edit it was 2016 I gave up first time, 2019 makes no sense
Click to expand...

If you do have a fag now you'll feel like shit twice over, from the actual smoking which is horrible after any kind of break from the stuff but also from having needlessly broken a good run of no fags. Feel the craving, take it to pieces in your head, observe the associations that go with the thought of smoking (a nice pint and a chat with mates, or a quiet five minutes on a busy day at work) and then let it go past you.
 
Good luck! I really recommend vaping as a good way to taper off the nicotine but each to their own, you need to find something that works for you.
 
PursuedByBears said:
Good luck! I really recommend vaping as a good way to taper off the nicotine but each to their own, you need to find something that works for you.
Click to expand...

I'm not a vaping adovcate but I've heard that sudden nicotine withdrawal can temporarily weaken the immune system (and this goes with my own experience of feeling shitty and run down when going cold turkey from a 10-20 a day habit) so if you're smoking a lot it might be wise to taper off a bit with some kind of replacement.
 
SpookyFrank said:
If you do have a fag now you'll feel like shit twice over, from the actual smoking which is horrible after any kind of break from the stuff but also from having needlessly broken a good run of no fags. Feel the craving, take it to pieces in your head, observe the associations that go with the thought of smoking (a nice pint and a chat with mates, or a quiet five minutes on a busy day at work) and then let it go past you.
Click to expand...

You are bang on with the associations, that's what makes me want to smoke, especially the quiet five minutes, also right that having a fag after not smoking for ages is minging and makes you feel shitty but my big flaw with this is getting pissed. Not that I do very often any more, but when I do then cigarettes taste lovely again, then for me if I start smoking when pissed it will start creeping in after one pint, then just cos I'm with somebody who has fags so ok I'll have a cheeky one, so since beginning of year I've avoided going out for a few at all (weirdly if I get tipsy in house I don't even think about smoking). I wish I could be one of those people who can smoke socially (or do drugs socially) but I'm not so total abstinence ftw
 
Proper Tidy said:
You are bang on with the associations, that's what makes me want to smoke, especially the quiet five minutes, also right that having a fag after not smoking for ages is minging and makes you feel shitty but my big flaw with this is getting pissed. Not that I do very often any more, but when I do then cigarettes taste lovely again, then for me if I start smoking when pissed it will start creeping in after one pint, then just cos I'm with somebody who has fags so ok I'll have a cheeky one, so since beginning of year I've avoided going out for a few at all (weirdly if I get tipsy in house I don't even think about smoking). I wish I could be one of those people who can smoke socially (or do drugs socially) but I'm not so total abstinence ftw
Click to expand...

I started smoking as a youth because it was the only acceptable way to get five minutes to yourself on a twelve hour shift. Just sitting outside and catching your breath wasn't allowed. Later on with the smoking ban it became more of an escape from busy social environments like pubs and venues or whatever, which I find overwhelming sometimes. That window of relative quiet, that time in the cool air, you don't need a fag for that. A cup of tea or something provides something to fidget with and a thermodynamic process by which to keep track of time, and humming or whistling can provide the conscious slowing of your breath that helps kick in the parasympathetic, de-stressing branch of your autonomic nervous system.
 
Gave up in July 2017 - was a 20 a day man, then cut down and vaped as well, then ran out of fags when I was on holiday and thought I'd stick with vaping. Have had the odd fag since - maybe 20 over 2 1/2 years so I don't regard myself as a smoker anymore. Still vaping though.
 
I wont give up the vape (almost 5 years without any proper smoking) until I can make more sense of the science in regards to smoking and ACE2. If anyone manages to get anywhere when researching this, I'm all ears.
 
Have used various nicotine replacement stuff - those quickmist sprays are magic cos it's instant hit, discrete, tastes nice, don't want a fag after a spray, but not cheap and some people just end up on them for years cos they are alright so maybe not great for tapering off. Gum, not completely minging if you buy mint or fruit, never 'original', it's never going to be that pleasant but that's good for tapering off, you don't want it to be a comfy replacement. Same with the lozenge things which have added advantage of being the cheapest. Patches are a bag of shit.

Vaping - I did try for a bit but imo it's too much like smoking so you don't really break the habit of smoking, so best case scenario you just vape forever and if you do it while walking down the road with clouds of steam or whatever the fuck it is around you everybody else in area thinks 'what a bellend', at worst you run out of vape juice or the thing breaks or you can't get your favourite cinammon blueberry mocha flavour or something and cos you've never broken the habit you have a fag instead.

Horses for courses innit, these are just my thoughts.

Also sadly for me smoking spliff regularly was incompatible with not smoking fags or roll ups, I did try just smoking bongs or pure spliffs every time I had a craving on one occasion when I tried to give up tobacco/nicotine a few years ago now, I did give up nicotine but I also gave up work and leaving the house
 
elbows said:
I wont give up the vape (almost 5 years without any proper smoking) until I can make more sense of the science in regards to smoking and ACE2. If anyone manages to get anywhere when researching this, I'm all ears.
Click to expand...
www.preprints.org

Susceptibility Analysis of COVID-19 in Smokers Based on ACE2

Background: Cigarette smoking (CS) is a global public health problem and a high-risk factor for various diseases. In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (HCoV-19) was identified in Wuhan, China. Because ACE2 has been identified as a receptor for HCoV-19, we hypothesize that CS affects the...
www.preprints.org www.preprints.org
 
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