What was your "final straw" moment?

[Soonerfan]

For the last two winters, I got pneumonia and could not get well. This year my dr. had to order a home nebulizer and diagnosed me with early COPD. I knew I had to do something to quit. My son suggested the e-cig and so did my dr. so I looked into it and my son bought a crappy beginner kit for me to try and I knew it would be my answer to quitting analogs and it has been. It's been 2 weeks today since I got my starter kit and I have not looked back. I will never smoke again. I love vaping. My 2 grown sons have switched to vaping and quit analogs as well. To me they are miraculous.

 

[Magnushawk]

I think my final straw came a while before I took the plunge on this e-cig. It was the simply knowledge that if I didn't stop smoking first my wife would never stop and she really wants to stop. I got tired of deliberating out internally when I was going to quit... the next time she asks? (it's been awhile but what if she doesn't ask again?)... when the weather gets cold? (too late now!)... when I go back to the gym? (but I won't go if I don't quit).... In a lot of ways it was that constant questioning. I knew there had to be a time. But when? I'm turning 35 this year. I always had it in my head I'd be done by 30 much less 35!!

I've been smoking since I was 19 so that's 15 years now. That number kind of hit me this past year too. It's too big of a number. I have things I want to do indoors and I can't be running outside every few hours. It's a pain in the ... and started taking too much time. I do love smoking though, but when the time is right and when I'm doing it because I enjoy it and not because I have to... i.e. after a meal, with a drink, etc. About a year ago, I quit for 4 or 6 months after taking Chantix. Then I started again because smoking turned out to be the antidote to the horrific anxiety attacks that "medicine" caused me while driving, or trying to get to sleep, or just sitting on the couch reading.

Anyway, I don't want to go on too long. That was the major thing. I had to do it for myself so I could consequently help my wife. I know I'm going to make it because I still have it in a form via the ecig and besides I've never posted anything this personal on a forum in my whole life so I must be up to something. So that's that!

 

[Hotwire]

My doc said they were good idea when I had bronchitis.

Funny how the docs are reccomending pvs but the FDA and other nation's health / regulatory bodies aren't on board...

Blow some analogue smoke on a tissue and then do the same with a vape.....

 

[mari897]

When my 4 year old niece started telling me that I smelled stinky.

 

[jadeite]

When my great state of Washington put another sin tax on cigs and I was paying up to nine bucks a pack in convenience stores I started rolling my own. Talk about NASTY!

 

[JB Goode]

For me, it was making love to my wife. 1/2 way through, I started palpitating. I have emphysema. My breathing became extremely shallow and my heart felt like it was going 4 times as normal. I had to sit on the edge of the bed and it eventually slowed down. I thought I was gonna die. I went to my specialist and he was somewhat concerned. He said that he had to find out if it was the emphysema or the heart or both going at that extremely fast rate. So, he made an appointment for me at a hospital to have a Stress Test which was very painful, long and exhausting. Because of my emphysema, a tread mill was out of the question so everything was done by injection. I was attached to a huge machine that put extreme strain on the heart. When the results came back, it was from the emphysema, not the heart. That was my final straw. It took quite a while afterward before I could be with my wife again. The MD looked at the results and blamed the whole thing on the emphysema and then he said that I had to make a serious decision about stopping smoking.

 

[Abubika]

I'm only 19, and have been smoking since 14.

Last straw is tie between starting to be out of breath walking up stairs, $7 a pack, and smelling like an ashtray (never realized how gross it smelled til I quit). Couldn't be happier
Tho I'm so glad they came out with electronics so I can still sit in my recliner and relax after work without taking years off my life

 

[fallon74]

I had the same issue I would lay down at night and literally kept myself up at night wheezing and coughing I was like enough's enough and now I've been vaping for 6 months and I can finally breath.

 

[DC2]

I had been smoking an average of 3-10 cigarettes per day for over 25 years.
Usually it was somewhere around 5 per day.

I have no last straw either, although I've been dealing with a couple of little straws for quite awhile now...
--Hacking up a small blob of gunk every morning
--Wife telling me I stink when I come back in from having a smoke
--Slight wheezing at night when lying in bed

But I had never tried to quit, had any thoughts of quitting, nor had any intentions to quit.
And I mean pretty much never.

Then my sister showed me her NPro after dinner on Father's Day two years ago, and offered me a drag.
My first thought immediately after taking that one drag was that I was about to quit smoking.

The very next day I drove 60 miles to the nearest Pilot truck stop and bought my own NPro.

 

[geminimind]

Smelling like smoke and my heart racing after a cig. Bad cough and a chest cold that seemed to last for months.

 

[Ciego]

I had to jump in here. All of your stories ring true with me one way or another.

It wasn't a last straw, it was a whole bale of last straws that continued over 35 years of smoking.

It * started with the loss of vocal range. I am a singer. Suddenly, the higher notes were *gone*. Still didn't stop.

* It's living in a state that is absolutely fascist about smoking. Our governor ran on a "no new taxes" platform and then promptly initiated a $.75 per pack "use fee," even though we can't smoke anywhere.

* It was watching my father at age 74 die of lung cancer. And yeah, we hospiced him at home, so I got to watch the whole amazing process, the loss of something like 2/3 his body weight, the agony from the cancer (kids, it's real painful), his inability to rise from the bed.

* It was becoming friends with a man who has serious COPD who is even now, dying from it.

* It was watching a beloved lady friend, a woman who is like a second Mom to me in the hospital with congestive heart failure, complicated by COPD.

* It was losing my ability to function in the bedroom.

* It was stench on my breath, clothing, hair, and in every room of my home (even in rooms I don't use for smoking areas).

* It was the generalized (and I still think, rude and unfair) public condemnation of smokers which turned us all into third-class citizens.

* It was cost, most of that cost coming from unfair and excessive taxation.

** Actually, I had given up the idea of giving up smoking. I figured I would just accept the junkie's destiny, die painfully and out of breath before my time. Like a ...... or ....... addict, I had accepted that I never would be free. Ever.

Then the lady friend came out of the hospital and got herself a KR808. She let me borrow it.

I am not making health claims, nor am I claiming that the vaporizing is a way to quit smoking. God knows that would be illegal; after all, even with an 86% failure rate, the gum, Chantix, Zyban, Wellbutrin, Commit lozenges and Nicoderm are legal cessation aids. Of course, Fostering Death and Agony (FDA) folks won't even consider vaping a way to quit. I guess the Big Pharma lobbies and Big Tobacco really *are* that powerful, making our employees fail to do their jobs.

But you know what? Here's some anecdotal evidence that the FDA can shove up their actuaries. I quit. I'm breathing better. Yeah, I'm still a nicotine addict, but I find myself using lower and lower nicotine strengths just as a matter of course. I feel better, and I'm very glad to read that all of you are sharing in this same joy and success.

 

[Ace6607]

Mine was when I was spending $210 a month in smokes, I had acid reflux all the time, and whenever I couldn't stay in the gym longer than 30min without wheezing and needing to step outside for another smoke.

 

[quittoride]

I have smoked for 30 years 1.5 packs a day. My Dad died of emphysema and that did'nt deter me. I had never tried to quit but the wheezing and shortness of breath was getting worse. Two years ago I got my usual bronchitis after a chest cold and could not breathe. I had never experienced that before. So what did I do? I switched to menthol. Big change huh? Well then I got 2 more colds with the same result. I got my first ecig about 2 years ago. But I had problems with them. It is a learning curve and I put them away for a long time. I had been thinking lately about trying again and quitting smoking completely but had'nt done it yet. Well I guess it was 2 months ago, I got another cold. I was like OMG I cannot go through this not breathing thing again. I think I felt it worse than some people because I have horses to tend to and it's very hard physical labor, and this was worse in the mornings. I was laying over the wheelbarrow of hay trying to get some air into my lungs. I sat down on my mounting block and I said THATS IT! i'M DONE. I had never tried to quit before, but it was time. I went into the house and dug out my old 510's and decided no matter what I had to make it work. I never smoked another one. I still have some wheezing and some shortness of breath, but only when I really exert myself. I am also overweight so i'm working on that now. I want the whole package of health and i'm determined to get it. The docs say my lungs are clear and I had a chest xray last year which was good. I hope my lungs heal completely and I can do all my horsie things without much struggle in the future. Good luck to us all. BTW thanks to you all I think the last of my learning curve is about to be solved with the Riva.

 

[DawnsDone]

It was when I had to start setting my morning alarm 30 minutes earlier so I'd be done coughing and vomitting (that's how bad the mucus is, sorry) and could start actually getting ready for work =0

 

[Pissy]

The price, the stinky smell, the wheezing, going out to smoke in the cold(-12) last night, oh and did I mention the smell and I was tired of not being able to smell anything but stinky ashtray smells everywhere.

 

[upStomp]

$6/pack pushed us (my Wife and I) to rolling our own pipe tobacco. When we got a bad lung cold and never fully recovered (dang, that pipe tobacco is heavy stuff!), we made the final jump.

 

[RY4Junkee]

Bright and early every morning I would take a hot shower and brush my teeth then I would go out to the garage to smoke...then I would reek to high heaven again. I was starting to get really self concious about it...more than usual. More importantly, I was always dragging ... and feeling just BLAH all the time. I knew *something* had to change.

Then Shell and I were at our local smoke shop with some extra cash to spend and I just went for it! This was back in mid November of 2010. I haven't picked up an analog since! When I bought that NJoy NPro starter kit, it turned out to be the smartest decision I ever made!

 

[eyegirl]

My brother died from lung cancer four years ago, my mom died from breast cancer three months later, my 16 year old nephew BEAT testicular cancer two years ago, my dad died from lung and colon cancer last March. After losing half my family in four years and witnessing my nephew battle cancer, wtf was I doing still smoking?? I hid it from just about everyone because I was ashamed that I couldn't quit. I was tired of standing outside at night terrified my kids would find me and then avoiding kissing my wonderful hubby cause I knew I was gross. I started smoking at 16 with brother 2 years older than me (four brothers and I'm the baby AND only girl- spoiled!) and we quit together on Jan. 3rd. The freedom is amazing! But since I hid smoking from everyone (or so I thought , pretty sure many had a clue) I can't even talk about it really anywhere but here!

 

[Raynen]

My final moments were mainly because I was so psychologically addicted that the stress from quitting gave me a seizure. At least that's what one doctor said, but another said it was the nicotine... regardless, that really, really scared me.

I also because my annual buddy called chronic bronchitis that only would appear for a week or two would stay for a minimum of a week, and sometimes last a month. My grandfather died from smoking, my uncle is dying from smoking.

My final epitome was when I was at school and got really angry because I got to the cafeteria (I usually study there before I go to class) and saw that my pack was crushed. I had to go to the gas station and get more. S friend on mine had shown me her e-cig, and though ironically doesn't use hers anymore, and I was in love with it. I texted my friend that DAY about her e-cig and went straight to the mall after class. Even though they squeezed the money out of me, it was worth it in the long run for sure! Never bought a pack since.

Another moment now that I think of it was worrying about how my yarns smelt because I was a smoker. Sometimes I would be too embarrassed to sell anything because of the gross smell.

 

[juicejunky]

I didn't have a final straw moment, unless you count getting a pv, taking the first hit, and realizing, *wow* I can stop smoking. Call it an epiphany.

Well said. Ditto for me.