Promise of a Car Did Not Deter Her from Smoking

My friend, Elizabeth, sent this story of her smoking history - she was a really determined smoker!

"I started to smoke when I was a senior in High School. I was 17 at the time, and even tho my parents had offered a bribe -of a car -if I didn't smoke or drink till I was 21, the fact that seniors were allowed to smoke in the common room with the head of school was a stronger motivator. There was no attempt in the parental bribe to prevent my smoking but only to delay it, both my parents were smokers. I also had an older sister who I admired, who smoked. So I thought it was cool and sophisticated to smoke and I got lots of praise for being "a natural" when I inhaled with out coughing on the first drag. I didn't become a heavy smoker until about 2 yrs later in college, when I started studying, playing bridge, and hanging out in the "smokers". These were rooms where smoking was allowed, and I found that there was always something fun going on there, and most of my friends were chosen from the smoker crowd.

I was a moderate to heavy smoker, 1 to 2 packs a day- sometimes more, until I started to quit at age 43. I quit for the first time in 1986, and I finally succeeded in quitting in 1991!! During those years I used almost every quitting aid imaginable (I never tried the patch or gum) and they all worked...to get me off cigarettes, but nothing could keep me off cigarettes. Hypnosis and Acupuncture both really helped with the withdrawal cravings and creepy feelings I got in my body during the first 3 days. The support group gave me lots of ideas and techniques like breaking the sub habits, such as smoking while driving, and/or smoking while on the phone, etc I'm not sure which was harder quitting slowly or going cold turkey. With all this experience, I think I would recommend a combination of the support group/cold turkey/acupuncture if someone were to ask for my advice! During the 5 years of my quit/relapse phase, I smoked less heavily. The pattern was that I would stay off nicotine for a month or a few weeks, and then be so proud/cocky, Id think to myself "I can have just one" when I was tempted at a party or after a nice dinner.Then it was easy to bum a cigarette, lots of my friends smoked and so did my husband. There was never a time when cigarettes weren't available to me if I should get tempted. So I would go through the next few weeks just bumming and not admit to myself that I was failing my attempt to quit. Denial is a cornerstone of addiction. When I was so ashamed to bum another cigarette, I would finally break down and buy a pack, then work my way back to 1+ packs/day in weeks to come. The whole process could take as much as 6 months but the bottom line was, I was still smoking!

The turning point came when I finally separated from my smoking husband, and by then most of my friends had quit. At that point I was even more determined to over come this addiction that had humiliated me so, to quit and make it stick! When there was no longer any support for my mooching and relapsing, I was FINALLY able to STAY OFF CIGARETTES. An added motivation was the fact that my mother had died of lung disease in 1988 when she was only 70, she hadn't managed to quit until she was in her 60's. I hoped that by quitting for real at 48 I might escape her fate and my lungs might recover. However that was not to be. I was diagnosed with chronic asthma and emphysema (COPD) when I was 57. I am now 64 and my lungs function at about 50% of normal for my age.

I have never gotten over wanting a cigarette at certain times, but the moment passes and I don't take action. I usually deal with it by saying "this would be a nice time for a cigarette" and I laugh with the awareness that NO time is a good time for a cigarette!"

Elizabeth