How I quit smoking: 3 ex-smokers share their successes

Amanda's story
(Amanda Cooper, 52*)

I have a favourite memory. My husband and I were at a fancy social event with dinner and dancing. We'd had a great evening, and as we were leaving, we had to walk through a group of smokers. I can clearly see myself walking out that door, my husband behind me, us holding hands. I looked at him after we'd walked through and said, "Isn't it nice we don't have to do that anymore?”

Control is the word for this addiction. It's in you. When I used to smoke, if I was at a dinner party, I couldn't just enjoy myself. I'd have to leave to administer to the need. In my career I've worked in senior management positions at a number of big corporations. One time, I was with my international VP, who had flown in for a meeting. I was determined I was going to open this new business line, and he was determined I wasn't. We were in the boardroom hashing it out. At one point I said to him, "OK, hold those next two thoughts. I have to go for a cigarette."
I started smoking in 1979 at one of my first jobs. All of the women there smoked -- right in the office! I first tried to quit in 1996, using the patch. It worked for six months, but then my husband's father died. It was a really hard time for us, so, of course, I went back to smoking.

Two years later, I read the short version of Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking (Deadwood, 1985, 2004), a self-help classic. I did try to quit again, but it didn't last. I was astounded by how hard it was. I couldn't believe there was this thing in my life I couldn't control.

In 2000, when I was 44, I read a longer version of Carr's book, and it had a huge impact on me. I also started using nicotine gum. And I was determined. I finally made it. I've been enjoying the freedom ever since.

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Patti's story
(Patti Gill, 69)

When I was 58, I woke up one morning and had a dark cloud over my left field of vision. It took a while, but eventually I was diagnosed with an eye disease called age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which distorts the centre of your vision. To my surprise, I found out later that smoking had probably contributed to my AMD.

I started smoking at 16, in the 1950s, and at the time everyone smoked. As an adult I always found smoking comforting. As I got older, more information became available about tobacco, and I knew I had to quit. And I tried, 15 times in 10 years. But whenever I was on vacation or at a social event, I allowed myself to smoke. Then, of course, it was impossible to stop after I started again.
Finally I picked a time to quit when I wasn't going to be going away for a while, and I succeeded. I felt better immediately -- I slept well, had more energy and could breathe easier. And a persistent cough I had went away.

AMD came along six years later, and now I have it in my right eye, too. I might have developed AMD anyway, because my mother and aunt had it, but maybe I would have gotten it when I was 80, which would be a lot different than getting it when I did, at 58. I've learned that smokers are up to four times more likely to get AMD than nonsmokers, and are even more likely if they have a genetic predisposition. Smokers who have a family history can have almost 144 times the risk! If I'd known earlier, it might have helped me to stop sooner. But AMD only gained profile in the late 1990s.

I'm 69 now. I stopped driving some time ago, and I no longer read. I have trouble seeing the faces of my friends, children and grandchildren. I'm getting treatment, and my vision has been improving a bit. I wish I had never started smoking, but I'm grateful I quit when I did, because things could have been worse.

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Desiree's story
(Desiree Gaw, 25)

Basically, I quit on a bet with my fiancé. He didn't smoke that much, but when he did he'd smoke a pack in an hour with his friends. He has cancer in his family, so he was scared of that. After a night of smoking, we would both have phlegm in our throats and feel terrible. We'd go, "OK, you know what? Let's just stop." But it didn't work. I'd let my friends convince me I could have just one. And later on I'd buy a whole pack.

At first the bet was for money, but we realized it was too easy to get out of. So we picked something embarrassing each of us didn't want to do. His involved wearing a Speedo if he started smoking again. I'm not saying what mine was! But it worked. We haven't smoked for two years now.
I started smoking in high school. Back then you weren't even inhaling; you just wanted to be with your friends. In college I smoked when I went clubbing. Smoking made it easy to meet people. But when I started sneaking out of my mom's house to smoke when it was freezing outside, I realized it wasn't just social anymore. I would also smoke when I was stressed out at work.

Smoking gave me headaches and was expensive. I wanted to have kids someday, but I didn't want to be smoking when it happened. It just got to the point where I wanted to be healthy.

Around the time I finally quit, I stopped clubbing so much. I saw less of my friends who did smoke. And I got a puppy. When I first started walking him, I'd feel tired and dizzy. After I quit, I had lots of energy to take him out. My fiancé is now doing 10-kilometre runs, and he's getting me into running too.

Stopping smoking made me concentrate on things I needed to do. I'm 25 now, and I just got a new job. I'm taking night school, and my fiancé and I just bought a house.

This year has been great. I've been happy.

* Name and some details have been changed.

You can be a quitter too! 3 steps to butting out for good has everything you need to know about becoming an ex-smoker.

This article was first printed in the February-March 2008 issue of Homemakers Magazine. Click to subscribe online and never miss an issue.

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