There are very few people who will tell you they dont want to stop smoking. Some kids may actually think they want to smoke, but it wont take long for them to change their minds. I smoked for forty five years but let me assure you, that is not intended to be boasting. There was no reason whatsoever for me to have started smoking. I like to think that, had I known then of the hazards of tobacco smoke, that I would have had better sense. Who knows? I was fifteen and trying to look just as grown up and suave as the next one. You could buy a pack of Lucky Strike or Camel cigarettes for twenty-three cents. A bag of Old North State or Country Gentleman tobacco cost a dime, cigarette papers included, and would make twenty or thirty cigarettes depending upon how large a roll you made. You could get a smaller bag of Dukes Mixture with papers, for a nickel. Military personnel in World War 2 could buy cigarettes for fifty cents per carton while onboard ship, where there were no taxes. A nickel a pack!
But as my age increased, so did the price of tobacco products and by the time I had served a military tour of duty in the Korean War, I could see that I had made a mistake by starting the habit. And a strong habit it was. I told myself for several years that I just enjoyed smoking too much to consider quitting. Plus, I still did not believe that smoking caused all those horrible diseases some were saying. My wife and kids finally started to nag me to stop smoking and I decided I would. But let me side track a moment. I was born with a problem of hyperacidity and even during my teen age years, I had a severe problem with it. I ate enough Rolaids and Tums to fill a box car, and when at home Id drink a glass of water with a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda to keep the fire out. This had to be inherited because my mother was the same way. It was in no way imagination. Anyway, back to the decision to stop smoking. I stopped completely. I did not try to taper off, I just stopped buying cigarettes. I wont begin to say it was easy, it wasnt. Id go through short periods with such an urge that I almost went to the store to purchase some. But after about three weeks, I was about to begin seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My cravings were not nearly as severe nor as often.
Eventhough it appeared that I would be able to continue to avoid smoking, I noticed that my acid stomach, heartburn, etc. was getting much worse. I had to have some type of antacid much more frequently. It did not occur to me that there was any connection to my ceasing to smoke cigarettes. But after two or three more months, it had gotten so bad that I was having to ingest some type anti-acid as frequently as every hour, night and day. Even if I had eaten nothing for several hours, I had severe heartburn. So I visited a medical doctor who suggested I might have ulcers, so I had to have a thorough examination, GI series, and all. No ulcers, no answers. He gave me Maalox which I took but hated, and it did no more good than my soda water. So I kept making the antacid companies much richer for another few months and finally could not stand it any longer and went to another doctor who, after hearing my entire story, asked me if I smoked and I told him no that I had stopped smoking about 7 months previously. He then told me he had known of this happening before when someone stopped smoking, that the tension caused an already hyperactive stomach acid to just go berserk. But he still advised me that it would be better to continue to take medication than to resume smoking. I went a couple more months and decided that this just wasnt going to work out. I was, and still am, convinced that something very bad would come from so much constant heartburn. So guess whatyes, I began smoking and it did relieve the excessive amount of heartburn.
I smoked for another couple of years while listening to more and more evidence that smoking would cause cancer, emphysema, and heart troubles. And to cap it off, cigarette prices were skyrocketing. Soon they were to seventy five to eighty cents per pack. I decided that, if they got as high as one dollar per pack I was going to stop smoking. They did, and I did. Within two weeks my acid stomach was eating me alive again. My wife and I tried putting me on a bland diet and I kept trying new antacids, but nothing helped the root cause of the indigestion. The antacids would get me through the day and bicarbonate of soda through the night. After dealing with that for some 6 months, I started back smoking again. So I smoked until 1990 when I began having angina pains.
I went to a heart specialist and the first question he asked was did I smoke. When I told him yes, he told me that I must quit. When I began to plead my case and told him I would die from stomach trouble if I stopped smoking. But he said no, we can handle that now. I didnt believe him but I didnt smoke another cigarette, and lo, and behold, he completely solved my stomach problem. I have no heartburn now at all and even the medication is now over the counter. I have not held a cigarette in my hand since July 1990. So, you can say that I successfully stopped smoking 3 different times and would have never started again except for the stomach acid thing.
Those people who will not give up cigarettes now, are just stubborn or weak or both. You cant even use chronic heartburn for an excuse. And if you are a heavy smoker, you can just about count on some serious illness from it if you pass 60 or 65 year old. I never was a really heavy smoker such as a chain smoker. I usually consumed about a pack per day, not 3 or 4 like some do. I cant say that smoking caused my heart blockage, but it may very well have contributed to it. My life is so much better now, not only because of the lack of over acidity, but my sinus are much better, I rarely get viruses or colds and I dont cough continually as I used to. No matter what age you are or the length of time you have smoked, you need to quit now. Besides, to pay $30.00 and up per week to die a slow death is insanity. You wont need patches or pills, all you need to do is resolve that you will never take another draw on a cigarette. You are tough enough to handle it. Try it, youll like it.
