Other than trying a cigarette a few times in college many moons ago, I have never been a smoker (and dislike cigarettes and cigarette smoke), so cannot relate to this, but within this past week, 3 different people I spoke with all talked about having just relapsed and had “just a few cigarettes a week” after having been cigarette free for quite a while (ranged from 8 months to several years cigarette free). I found this curious.They varied in how they handled their initial smoking cessation (cold turkey, the nicoderm patch, prescription for chantix, etc) but why now, all of a sudden, do they all want to start smoking again? Is there something about this time of year that is a trigger for smoking, or was this just coincidental? I also just happened to notice a chantix commercial on tv this morning as well, and wondered if this too was coincidental (or I happened to notice it because of these 3 people). So, for you smokers, former smokers, etc, what are your thoughts and experiences with this? Is springtime any kind of trigger to want to smoke, or was this a coincidence? While these individuals have said they have used cigarettes to deal with stress, there was no specific additional stress at present that caused them to start smoking again.
Thanks in advance.
I quit smoking almost 34 years ago (I could tell you the date, time, and place) and I still crave them from time to time. When I quit, I promised myself I could have two more in my lifetime (just in case I was ever put in front of a firing squad)–I’ve had one but the other is still in reserve. It’s an incredibly addictive drug. I quit multiple times before that last round “took.”
I quit 32 years ago and will still have a craving for one, even though I mostly detest the smell of cigarette smoke. I was a heavy smoker (2-3 packs a day, along with lots of diet coke. Was skinny then :> )
I notice my cravings especially after a great dinner of steak and red wine! Not sure of the validity, but was told many years ago that there is something in steak & red wine that triggers the desire for nicotine. Does for me! And the season of the year has no effect on me at all…
Fascinating. Any thoughts on why these 3 might have all relapsed recently other than coincidence?
I am sure that there are people relapsing every day . . . I hope, though, that the number of people quitting exceed those relapsing.
I smoked for over 35 years, starting with a cigarette or two socially (living in a European country, where there was no issue about my ability to buy them), then switching over to almost entirely a work-pressure thing. When I had a lot of pressure, working around the clock, etc., I could get up to a pack a day, but mostly it was more like three packs per week. I quit fairly often. I could usually get through vacations without smoking at all, and then maybe a week or two when I came back, but something would trigger and I would be smoking again.
I finally quit cold turkey six and a half years ago. I quit on a Sunday, panicked on Wednesday afternoon, bought a pack of cigarettes and smoked them all by Friday noon, and was just disgusted with myself. I was way too old for self-destructiveness like that to be cute. So I just stopped. I haven’t touched a tobacco product since.
My health plan at the time sent me what was considered a two-month supply of nicotine gum. I used a piece a day for about a week, then stopped that. But I kept the gum. I still use it very occasionally – it’s great for restoring attention on long drives if I’m tired. In six years, I have used about a quarter of my “stash”.
I definitely still dream about smoking sometimes. And I have lots more trouble controlling (or not) neurotic eating.
I quit 8 years ago and haven’t had a cigarette since. I dream about smoking now and then. When my son underwent emergency surgery in the middle of the night I remember thinking afterwards, “if I could get through that without a cigarette there’s no reason to ever have one again.” Sometimes I think if I live to be 80 I’ll give myself permission to smoke again (I read that Leonard Cohen did that.) Not because I need it but I sure did like it.
Although the commenters above describe quitting successfully and never smoking again, I thought the norm was to quit for a while, fall of the wagon, quit again, etc. and eventually the non-smoking periods become longer and longer.
I don’t know many who still smoke regularly but I know quite a few who have quit and relapse periodically. 2 friends are Swiss and tend to smoke if they are entertaining a group that includes many Europeans who smoke. Another took up smoking again when working in China. She said it was hard to not smoke when it was all around her. I have another friend who is down to just a few cigarettes a day who is traveling soon to visit an area with old friends who are all heavy smokers. I have another friend who quit when she moved back to Ca. She said it just wasn’t comfortable smoking in Ca.
2 very close friends have recently begun smoking again. Both are coping with the aftermath of ugly divorces and are stressed.
I also am recently back from a trip to both the Netherlands and France. I was shocked at the number of smokers in Amsterdam. Parents smoking around children.
Impressive how many of you have been able to kick the habit. These three individuals who relapsed are people I speak to frequently, and I found it fascinating that all three of them relapsed at the same time. I’m sure there are many others who do too, but these three, who again I speak too often, all did it at the same time. These are not three people who know each other
Both my parents quit cold turkey when I was in middle school. We kids were nagging them to stop and showered them with flyers and Reader’s Digest articles about how bad it was for them. My Dad commented at some point more than 30 years later that he occasionally really wanted a cigarette if he was around a lot of smokers.
I never smoked cigarettes (and only very ocassionally pot) - I’d have been embarrassed to come home smelling like cigarette!
I quit 3x in my life - both pregnancies (started again not too long after) and the last time. The last time has been the only one without cravings or a sense of deprivation. A miracle to me not to miss smoking at all.
I did it by reading a book after several friends quit after they read it.
I quit when I became unexpectedly pregnant, about 26 years ago. Much easier to quit when you have such a good reason! It was a struggle to not start again but I managed. Still, if I’m around old friends who still smoke, I might have one with them even though it now tastes like dirt to me. It’s just terribly addicting. My sister never managed to quit and I think she might have if she didn’t live in Europe.
Your relapsing friends might be under more stress or they might be empty nesters who suddenly think that a smoke free example doesn’t matter anymore. I have a friend who is sure that her kidney disease will kill her first so why bother quitting. It’s not exactly logical, but smoking is not a logical habit.
My dad, a three-pack-a-day smoker, was not permitted to smoke while hospitalized for pneumonia in his 40s. When he got out of the hospital, he realized that he had already gone through the worst of the cravings and decided to make his new smokefree status permanent.
He lived another 40 years. He never relapsed, but he never lost the desire to smoke, either.
@jym626, you’re the common denominator!
My mother quit for a decade. But my sister, who smoked,moved in with her. As mom60, #7, said. Being around a smoker or smokers made it very difficult to continue to not smoke. Mom started again and got COPD. That ultimately resulted in her death.
I was a light smoker but gave up over 30 years ago. I have no desire to ever smoke again, thank goodness.
VH-- interesting thought, but not for the reason you might think 
I quit shortly after discovering I was pregnant 21 years ago. I had one cigarette after having my daughter. It tasted horrible and I have not had one since. But I crave them, enjoy the smell of a cigarette just lit, and dream about them all the time. If I thought I could casually smoke instead of my couple of packs a day habit I would start again,
So there is no compelling reason why these folks all relapsed at the same time? Nothing in the spring air??
Well, in the modern world, where you often/usually have to go outside to smoke, people probably smoke more when the weather’s nice, or at least not horrible. (When the weather’s really nice, you may not feel as much like smoking. For me, at least, I didn’t feel a need for cigarettes when I felt elated.)
But if memory serves, @jym626 , you (and presumably your friends) live in one of those places where it doesn’t get cold and snowy in the winter. So maybe that factor doesn’t apply.
It doesnt often get much snow, but it does get cold.