Susan's Place Transgender Resources

So, yet again i'm trying to give up smoking- must be about the eighth time this year. The thing is i think i've got a real chance of being prescribed hormones next time i go to the clinic- but not if i'm smoking. I ve tried patches ive tried tablets now i'm on the lozenges, or at least i would be if i was taking them. I know all the bad things about smoking, i know that the rest of my life actually hinges on me being able to quit- so why do i keep reaching for the packet? Am i that much of a loser? Apart from the fact that i'll smell of stale tobacco will the doctors be able to tell when they do my bloods that i'm still smoking? Argh its really annoying cos i know this is all in my hands but....

To be honest hun, they probably won't need to do your bloods, as someone who has recently quit after 25 years of heavy smoking, they would most likely be able to smell it a mile away. It's actualy one of the things that I don't like about quitting as some people really smell quite strongly of it and it's not very nice (I was blissfully ignorant of this when I was smoking! :embarrassed:)

However, it's also quite likely that they will use a breathalyser thingy that measures carbon monoxide and if you are smoking, they will be able to tell. Smoking is hard to quit, I gave up booze and drugs years ago but was still in total panic about giving up the ciggies, for me it was important to look at the reasons that I started smoking, what it did for me (at least what I thought it did for me) and whether these perceived benefits were a good enough reason to give up on the hope of a sucsessful transition for. It's very easy to say that it does nothing for you and you just smoke out of habit but in my experience this is rarely true, there is something, and knowing what will help.

The other thing that I have found helpful is using a smoking clinic, mine was at my local surgery and it can sometimes help just to have someone to go and discuss these things with, they also saved me a bundle on patches and gum as I got them on prescription ;D

The other thing that has helped me is a trick that worked for my dad, and that is spend your smoking money, for dad it was a new car, and for me a new kitchen. If I pick up smoking again now I'm financialy screwed and as I said, it worked for dad because he paid for the car on instalments and he couldn't have afforded both.

The simple fact is though, nothing you try is going to work, most of the things out there can help, but at the end of the day you will be sucsessful or you will fail, the work comes from you and nothing will make it easy, just perhaps a little easier.

I'm only a few months into it all and I've got to be honest, half the time I want to smoke but I want to transition more, and the help that I have got has at least got me to the point where it is that straight choice.

Good luck! ;)

Not sure if youve tried it, but my best friend and 3 other people i know used chantix and it worked for 3 out of the four of them. Its been years since 2 of them have quit and it only took about 3 weeks. Theyve all told me it was almost easy and it made them just want to stop. Ive been a smoker for about 7 years and Ive smoked at least a pack a day for the past 3 years. I have a very addictive personality, and evrytime I tried to quit, I didnt last more than a day, but when I get health insurance, I really want to try the chantix myself because my friends swear by it. Best of luck to you!

the second hardest thing to quit is Heroin.  The first?  Tobacco.  Nicotine is the hardest drug to quit.  You will never succeed tell you realize that you are killing yourself.

Now that I have bummed you out.  I can tell you that if you are trying that is what is important.  Yeah they can smell it, but you can cover it up by washing your clothes, and showering.  and as long as you are trying they should not deny you.

After your last cigarette you body begins repairing the damage within 20 minutes.  But you are still ingesting nicotine, the addictive substance.  But you are still trying.  Once you get over the hand to mouth habit the nicotine can be reduced slowly.

Why do you keep reaching for that pack?  Because you are an addict, pure and simple.  And like an addict you let it run your life.  Can you beat it?  NO.  Why?  Because you are an addict.  You are hooked.  Just like an alcoholic, you will always be addicted.  You suffer the withdrawal symptoms.  The bitchiness, lose of concentration, the shakes.  All of it.  You will be hell to even be around, even for yourself.

Do I sound like I am totally anti-smoking.  You're damn right I am.  You stink, your clothes stink, your house stinks, your car stinks.  And I know it is a fact.

Why?  Because I am a fellow addict.  I have smoked since I was 13 and I am now 56.  43 years of being an addict.  And like you, it is time to quit.  Like Micheal said on Chantix 3 out of 4 people were successful.  But in 3 weeks, who is kidding who.  It just does not happen that quick.  It takes your entire life to quit.  The only day that you are truly free of smoking is the day you die, and that is a fact.  You will never quit.  You are an addict.  You can't quit.

BUT you can choose to not smoke the next one.  That is how it is done.  No magic pills, patches, e-cigarettes, gum or lozenges, are going to make you quit.  These things are just substituting one addiction for another.

Sounds really really depressing.  But all you can do is not smoke that next one.  Don't think of the one after, just the next one.  that is all you can do, period.

You will fail.  That is a fact.

But try again.  And keep trying.  Use what you have to, to get over the symptoms.

Oh and if I got you depressed about quiting,  Good.  Now get up off your depressed butt and quit being so full of I'm a loser.  And just not smoke the next one.

I am not going to be your cheerleader and say you can do it.  NO.  I am not because it is a bunch of BS.  Your are no quitter, because you are an addict.  And as an addict you just can't live without your next fix.  But you can stall that fix.

Oh and BTW!  I am going Monday for yet another try at Chantix.  And it takes months for Chantix to totally keep your addicted little butt from shooting up.

I am a long time smoker and I will tell you the truth.  No Rah Rah junk.  No Go Go Go AL.  not of the BS.  Because I know where you will be in a few days.  Jonesing for your next fix.  Because I have been there.

So quit listening to the cheerleaders and just don't take that next fix.  Only the next one.  There is only one person that can be your Rah Rah section and it is the junkie you look at in the mirror.

So junkie, are you going to shoot up that next fix?  Let it run and ruin your life.  So are you, junkie? 

I am really in your corner.  But until you realize you are nothing but a junkie, you will go back to your drug.

This is from one junkie to another.  I am not putting you down, or making light of your attempt.  But most nicotine junkies, aka smokers, will try at the least 20 times.

So go ahead and skip that next fix, junkie.  Oh and I will continue to call you a junkie, because like me, you are a junkie and always will be.  Just just skip your next fix.

And one day some may ask you how you quit, you will tell them you didn't.  You just skip the next fix.  You have been skipping that fix for X years.

Hey Junkie, got a hit?

My wife and I were 20+ a day smokers. If one gave up no use. So we didn't. we kept one last ciggie, we never gave up smoking, we just never had the next one. And lordess it was well sucked ::). That was before patches etc. I'm not saying that out of any impression but if you want to give up an addiction there is only one way, cold turkey and avoid people who smoke and tell friends that you are giving up and NEVER to give you a cig even if you offer or give them a blow job (MorF :-*). It tookabout two weeks for the major cravings, we also drank, so cigs and booze live together,  you have one you have to have the other. Took an effort.

I can smell people who smoke from yards away. And there is a different smell to those whose clothes have been polluted to those who smoke. I can come home form a club and be so pissed off that a new outfit smells like an ash tray. I can't even hang it in my closet. But yes totally sympathy, I have an 'addicted personality" but I gave up the fags (pun intended).

Cindy

Al - if the main issue is hormones, you just need to be able to go *one day* without smoking. Maybe not even that. Wash a clean set of clothes (twice, with scented detergent) and put them somewhere clean away from where you smoke and away from all your other smoky clothes. Take a shower the night before, right before bed; take another shower when you wake up, and a third right before you leave to go to the clinic (if you spend any time in your house/in smoky clothes before leaving). Brush your teeth each time. Have OTC nicotine replacement ready for that morning. Go to the clinic and tell them you don't smoke. Get your hormones. Then go home and decide if you want to stay quit or not.

If they detect nicotine in your blood - I doubt they'll test for it, but if they do - just tell them you still occasionally use nicotine replacement gum when you get cravings. They'll pat you on the back, tell you you're a good boy for using the tools available to quit, and send you on your way. If they detect other signs of smoking, like depressed HDL cholesterol, they'll chalk it up to having recently quit, and assume it'll resolve itself in time.

You should still quit smoking, it's bad for you. But it's a stupid reason to deny you hormones. They don't castrate bio-men who tell their doctors they smoke..."Sorry, testosterone's dangerous for smokers, we'll have to take your balls!"

A pretty vain but effective thing for me was the fact that the doc told me that smoking would drasticaly affect the amount of feminisation that would happen from the hormones, as nicotine works as a blocker. I'm not even sure if it was true, but it was enough for me :embarrassed:

Quote from: MillieB on November 26, 2010, 06:27:35 AM
A pretty vain but effective thing for me was the fact that the doc told me that smoking would drasticaly affect the amount of feminisation that would happen from the hormones, as nicotine works as a blocker. I'm not even sure if it was true, but it was enough for me :embarrassed:

Yeah, your doc was right...but won't really help here. Problem is that smoking doesn't just indiscriminately interfere with the effects of hormones - it specifically blocks the effects of estrogen. So while that fact might motivate MTFs to quit smoking, it's sort of the opposite for FTMs...

Ahh, I'm getting confused cause I thought that it affected all hormones. Thanks for that Kyril :)

Thank you all for your replies-especially Janet. That one hit home but i think in a good way. So, just delay the next fix. I can do that. God help the people around me but yeah, i can do that

Hugs, Al.  I am still going Monday to see about getting the monkey off my back.  After all it is part of my New Years Resolution (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,87954.msg628529.html#msg628529).

You will, Junkie, you will.  :D

You can do it.  Just don't give up quitting!  I had smoked from when I was 14. Yes it was not easy but it is worth the effort. You can do it!

I stopped smoking almost... *have to count* ...3 months ago after 30-ish cigarettes a day and over 30 years of smoking. I used Chantix as an aid and I have top admit: it made it so much easier. My previous try was a year ago without any aid, and I was going nuts after a couple of days. Chantix did the trick for me. It's never easy, but it does help to deal with the physical component of the addiction.

Love,
Emma

Hey Fellow Junkie  ;D,

I went to the doctor yesterday and guess what?  I am on day two of Chantix, in the perp week.  I can smoke, but I have to write down every time and why and where.  December 5th is my quit date.

Soon we will be just a couple of ex-junkies. hehehehe

I quit cold turkey 10 years ago...my wife is a nurse and we hooked up 10 years ago and four month...kinda didn't work for me to smoke.  She didn't force me .. just supported with me

ive decided 1st december is my day- 2 days away from work, no one to cadge fags from! Dont know whether to try the lozenges again or just go cold turkey. If Chantix is the same brand as our Champix i was ready to commit murder on that after 2 days- they had to take me off it. But i can do it- after all, its the rest of my life at stake and ive waited so long to get to this point i'd be a fool to waste the chance.

keep reminding your self of your reason EVERYTIME you get the urge, and hang onto it. The first week is the worst, if you can get through that it gets easier!

Oh and when you get an urge: do something else: go for a walk, go get a bottle of water, eat an apple... It's not you wanting to smoke, it's your mind playing tricks on you

Love,
Emma

Definitely talk to a doc and see if they can get you a script for Chantix. I've never been a smoker myself, but with my mother working at a hospital, I've heard plenty about the miracles that stuff does.

And, I'll be the odd one out on the crowd on this, but really REALLY think twice about getting hormones while smoking - it only takes one little blood clot to cost you your life.

Well a few more days passed than i would have liked but it has now officially been 29 and a half hours since i had a cigarette. At the moment i'm not even doing that thing where youre constantly thinking about smoking or cigarettes or anything connected to it- just occasionally having a random passing thought. So good luck to all of us who are trying to stop this wonderful disgusting habit

Well done.  ;D Stick at it Al, It is worth it! :)

I am on week three of Chantix.  so far so so.  I have slipped but I get right back on the wagon.

After 40 years pipe smoking in January 2010 I had to quit smoking before a very drastic surgery in March were my oesophagus, my lymphatic nodes and part of my lung had to be removed due to cancer. I had given up a few times before (for lent) but always went back as I really missed a  good smoke after a good meal or a few pints. Anyway my eldest daughter told me about the Pfizer's Champix programme. For 3 days you take one 0.5mg capsule of Varenicline in the morning, for the next 4 days you take two, one in the morning and one in the evening. on the second week you switch to two 1mg tablets a day. On the third week you stop smoking and keep taking the two 1mg tablets. By then when I tried to smoke I just got a physical reaction of disgust. To be sure, to be sure I completed the treatment with a fourth week of twice daily 1mg Varenicline tablets. It is now nearly one year and even now if I still miss the comfort of the pipe I cannot smoke as all I get a very unpleasant taste and fits of coughing. It's like being a born again "Tobacco Virgin". :D
So good luck to you.
HLL&R
Maebh

Sorry if i keep popping back onto here but having some sort of group is keeping me on track. I know its only 6 days but in that time ive survived going shopping on boxing day with my wife, sitting at home being bored on wednesday THE busiest ny eve at work we ve had in years and a week of being ' she'd, her'ed,sweethearted and all the other female pro nouns that anyone can think of including by my wife who swears she only thinks of me as male now. BUT its a new year ive started it not smoking and hopefully on Tuesday i get the go ahead for T so yay to a tobacco free 2011

Quote from: MillieB on December 28, 2010, 06:24:14 AM
Well done.  ;D Stick at it Al, It is worth it! :)

Awesome Al, it is totally worth it!

Jennifer

got my levels checked today on one of those things you blow into and managed to get a reading of 1 which is like super low so im actually happy about giving up at this point

Ha, in all of the time I was getting measured the best I got was a 2!! That's what living in a dirty little industrial town will do for you :laugh:

So glad that you are sticking to it! :icon_joy: :icon_dance: O0

Week Six I can not believe that it has been 31 days when I made the decision to give them up.

We are going thru this together, Al.  Keep going.

Yeah we can do this. Its weird- feels different to my last few giving up attempts- this one feels right

So ive just hi jacked a friend and nicked a fag off him and it was revolting. But i was in my self destruct mode and was gonna have one no matter what. Hopefully that will get it out of my system for a while

Hi,
I know it is difficult to stop smoking but my father was a chain smoker 10 years ago and he stopped smoking with out any help or treatment.
You just need the decision power to be strong enough to do so.
Thanks

it isn't easy, but I keep trying day by day.  I am a non smoker and that is what keeps me going.  I guess it is like being Trans.  You are because you say you are.

Bad James.  No nicking fags from a mate.  :eusa_naughty: