How I Quit Smoking to Fight Cancer

If I can quit smoking, anyone can quit smoking. I was a hardcore chain smoker for 22 years. I was only able to break free from this addiction after finding out I had cancer. In this article you will learn exactly what I did to quit for good. I guarantee that no matter how addicted you think you are, you can quit too.

I started smoking when I was only 14. The taste of it was disgusting and made me want to vomit. My friends kept urging me to try it, as it was considered to be the cool and the grown up thing to do. After much practice I was finally able to tolerate it. Within a few weeks I was addicted and even began to crave it. I became a chain smoker, with the stinky house and yellow teeth to prove it.

Prior to smoking I would compete in long distance running competitions. I was a fast runner and was healthy. After smoking for a while I could not keep up anymore. Somehow I never put 2 and 2 together, or understood the damage I was doing to my body. I became lethargic and never really felt that great but not sure why. I would get sick easily and got bronchitis every single winter. Smoking causes much misery, sickness and ultimately death. It isn't just about cancer.

Eventually though I was diagnosed with cancer. I was going through the standard treatments. I had surgery and was scheduled for 6 months of chemo. I will always remember a conversation I had with my oncologist. I asked him if I would be cured from cancer after chemo. He answered, "I don't think so, we are using the chemo to prolong your life, but there is a very good chance the cancer will be back." Sometimes in life you will get a second chance and sometimes you won't. I started reading books on holistic health and nutrition to try to increase my chances for long-term survival. I was reading one book that was giving a step-by-step guide on fighting cancer holistically. At certain point in the book it explained if you are a smoker, do not even proceed reading the book. It explained either continue smoking to accept death, or quit smoking to fight for your life. Quitting smoking is not convenient, but then either is being sick or dying. It is one of the most important things you can do to be healthy and live a happy life.

How I Quit

To be successful, forget about the mindset that you are going to "try" to quit smoking. If something must be done, do you "try" to do it? No, you just do it. To "try" suggest that you will abandon your goal as soon as it is not convenient. Believe me, quitting will not be convenient. Someone that is merely trying to quit will probably bail the first time it gets really hard. If you are of the mindset that you will quit smoking and there is no other option, you will succeed. First of all, understand you are becoming a non-smoker and there is no going back for any reason. Second, focus your energy on how you can make this process easier for yourself.

Because of my degree of addiction, I chose a gradual and easier approach. I decided to first conquer my habit of smoking and then work on my nicotine addiction. It involved reducing my smoking each day and supplementing it when necessary with the commit lozenges. First, I estimated how many cigarettes I was smoking each day. Then, I made a calendar of a 30-day period of time. I wrote on the calendar how many cigarettes I was allowed to smoke each day. I was smoking less and less until by the end of the month I had completely quit. During this time I allowed myself to use the commit lozenges when my cravings got out of control. I won't lie to you, it was still hard. I think there is something in cigarettes that is addictive besides nicotine. But after 30 days I had stopped smoking. I was still using the commit lozenges but my doctor said that is not a problem, and the most significant danger was smoking itself. My doctor did a blood test to check my cancer count a month after I quit and it went down drastically. He attributed this to quitting smoking. At any rate, you can use the commit lozenge for awhile. Then when you are ready, just start cutting down the amount of lozenges you have each day. You can quit the lozenges the same way that you quit the cigarettes.

As an update, the last chemo I had was back in 2004. They keep checking for the cancer to come back. I have tests every several months, but no farther traces of cancer have been found. I will remain a non-smoker and am a firm believer in second chances.