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You’ll be relieved to know that this blog is not about turkey, cold or otherwise, not about turkey recipes, not about Thanksgiving, and not about Turkey Day leftovers.
This blog is about quitting something cold turkey.
The idea of quitting something cold turkey, as in you stop doing something you did a lot of in an instant of decision making and weeks of withdrawal pangs, is so old school these days. Since I’m the Queen of Old School (I was nominated and elected for this lifetime position without my knowledge or consent), I miss Going Cold Turkey not being in the mainstream of lifestyle choices.
My parents did everything cold turkey. Like quit smoking. My dad smoked 3 packs a day and my mom smoked 5 packs a day. My dad quit, but my mom didn’t. No “we have to do it together because if you keep smoking I won’t be able to stop” nonsense. Nope. He quit. Then he broke his leg, was laying around for months (it was a complicated break) and started again because he was bored. My mom told him he was an idiot for starting again, but she didn’t say, “Oh, good! Now we can be smokers together!”
My mom, little miss 5 packs a day for 40 years, woke up one morning and said to herself, “I wonder how long I can go without a cigarette?” And she never smoked again. Did she miss it? Brutally and every single day for the rest of her life. She didn’t bug my dad to quit. No, quitting was her thing. Then he quit, again, and cursed himself for having to do it twice.
Cold turkey. I quit everything cold turkey. The idea of aids to ease me off something I yearn for is weird to me. I quit caffeine a year ago. I was drinking a lot of caffeine, became aware that I was probably addicted to it, so I quit. Cold turkey. I quit sugar cold turkey 15 years ago and it was WAY harder to quit sugar than to quit caffeine, in case you wondered.
Have you quit anything? Did you do it cold turkey or did you have some modern miracle help? Do you have any addictions you’d like to share with the class?
121 Comments on “Cold Turkey”
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My addiction is books and I’d rather not quit.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:06 am.
If that’s your only addiction, you’re in good company here!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:53 am.
I am addicted to books, potato chips, chocolate, certain tv shows and refuse to quit any of them. My dad quit smoking 11 years ago. How it came about was that I had caught some evil bug and was coughing my lungs up and got better, then dad came down with that bug and couldn’t inhale properly so stopped for the time that he was sick. When he went to have a smoke after getting better he found that he couldn’t stand the taste and never picked up a smoke again. It doesn’t stop him from craving a smoke though.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:47 am.
While this wasn’t actually an addiction in the classical sense, I do have a self destructive behaviour like B but not like B. When I hit my 20′s I became very easy and would believe a guy when he would say that he loved me. I treated my body with absolutely no respect and it was only after I got some therapy in my late 20′s that I started to realise that I am actually a worthwhile person and that I do matter. It is a constant battle to prevent myself from slipping back into that mindset but I have more good days than bad at the moment and when I have a bad day it isn’t as bad as what it once was (sharing a house with someone and having both a cat and dog does a lot to ease the angry depressive side of me).
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:10 am.
Oh, don’t even mention potato chips. I could eat an entire bag without a hiccup.
Isn’t that great about your dad? What a nice way to quit–hating the taste of it all of a sudden. Aversion therapy, the natural way.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:54 am.
Claudia, it is because I will happily eat a large bag all by myself that my hips, butt and belly are big. Heck I almost have a shelf for my girls to sit on between my girls and my belly. I really need to do some form of exercise to shift the belly and hip fat so then I can get healthier but salty things are my weakness.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:06 am.
Sometimes I feel like ALL food is my weakness! I love salty things, but then again, for my last meal I’d choose ice cream (with a side of Fritos, please).
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:45 pm.
I used to smoke a lot and my friend Rick just happened to be my doctor when starter husband #1 was in the Air Force. I had gone in for a checkup and Rick asked what my favorite flower was, so he could send them to my wake. It seems my lungs were getting very black with tar. He bet me I didn’t have what it took to quit. My friend and doctor was also a smoker so I felt he was being a tiny little bit hypocritical so I in turned bet him he couldn’t quit either. The loser would buy the winner a steak dinner at the O Club. We each pulled out our cigarettes, I had just left the BX with two new cartons; his were in the bottom drawer of his desk, and we threw them away. To keep it honest he had an orderly empty the can, you should have seen the look that man gave us. I quit for 10 years before I started smoking again once in a while, usually on New Years Eve. I would buy a pack of St Moritz cigarettes at the smoke shop and then put it in my drawer when we came home.The year I found the previous years’ cigarettes still in the drawer is the time I quit for good, a four dollar cigarette was a bit expensive.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 2:08 am.
Wow! That’s a great story! It’s amazing to me that you could dabble with cigarettes and not get hooked again. And isn’t it horrible how expense cigarettes are? I don’t know how anyone can afford it.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:56 am.
I’m betting that the orderly didn’t toss those away!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:41 am.
I’m pretty sure that he didn’t either,it was a total of four cartons and two open packs, Rick’s and mine.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:50 am.
I’m thinking how personal I should get here… ahhh, whatever, you guys know like everything else about me already, right? No one judges here. I never had addictions like smoking or drinking or drugs or even chocolate or books — nothing I *couldn’t* stop anyway. But when I was younger, confused and pretty desperate, I went into some self-destructive spirals that led to some addictions… that I became dependent on. And when I quit them, it *had* to be Cold Turkey, or I’d never stop.
The first time I was 16 and my friends found out I’d been cutting myself. People say teens do it for attention, but I was terrified of anyone ever finding out, so, I cut the inside of my thighs where no one would ever see, except my gynecologist, to whom I started going that year. I asked her not long ago why she’d never made me stop, and she told me that the initiative had to come from me, so, she just followed up with me. I went to her every week back then, almost like therapy, so she could clean my cuts and make sure I didn’t do anything stupid. So, anyway, my friends found out — because I lost it at school and cut my shin instead, and my friend followed me to the bathroom and made me show her why I was in a stall with scissors — and cried, and told the school principal, who threatened to tell my mom if I didn’t stop. I cried, I begged, and they promised not to tell, if I promised to stop. So, I did. I was so terrified of my mom finding out, that I stopped. From that day on, I stopped. To be fair, I slipped a few times, but I took deep breaths, and told myself I’d gone long enough without it, that I didn’t need that, and took control of myself again.
Second time I was 19, and I was… well, throwing up everything I ate. After my grandma died, I had just had dinner, and I felt so sick, I threw up. And it made me feel like I was letting go of all the bad in me. After that, I also started to lose weight, so, it was a win-win. Soon, I was doing it after every meal. But, then, it was so much about control, that after a while, I would get sick just by eating, I didn’t have to force myself. And it stopped meaning anything. I knew it was harmful. I knew I was getting out of control. So, made myself stop. Again, Cold Turkey. Again, I slipped a few times.
Believe me, it gets a hell of a lot of self control to quit like that, and the cravings are so strong at first. After a while, they lessen. Nowadays, they’re few and far between, but I still get them.
But everyone has the strength to quit, I believe
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 2:55 am.
B, you are an extremely strong person and we all love you very much. I am so glad you stopped though. Sometimes things just get to be too much for us to handle and we do stupid and destructive things. Please when you feel the world caving in on you again, talk to someone instead of hurting yourself.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:02 am.
I love you guys, too, evlqn!!! And, I’m in therapy now! One of the “pacts” I have with my therapists is no self-harm in any form. I’ve been good for a good while, though. But I have that extra assurance. Thank you for caring!!!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:32 pm.
B, to stop doing self destructive behaviours deserves brownie points so high that I can’t even count that many. You should be proud of yourself with overcoming what are actually quite serious mental illnesses. Many people don’t have your inner strength to just stop. Slipping up a few times is normal (I do it myself when I sleep with a guy that I may have dated once or twice thinking that he is actually interested in me as a person and not some hole with a body attached) but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for it.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:00 am.
Kelly, we’re counting sleep with a guy we’ve had a fling as an “addiction”? Oh, heck, then I quit the ex, too! Now, that was an addiction hard to quit, but I’m clean for four months now.
I’m not sure in my case it was “a” mental illness or triggered by mental illness, either way, my doctors are impressed I managed to stop on my own, though they kind of attribute it to my need to control everything. Oh, well. Use it for good, right?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:34 pm.
It’s been roughly that long for me too. Maybe we can make a pin or a coin to commemorate it when we hit 1 year?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:09 pm.
Deal, Kelly. We’ll celebrate when we’re ex clean for a year, LOL!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:14 am.
Lol!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:30 am.
I agree wholeheartedly with Evlqn. (((((HUGS)))))
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:00 am.
((((((((((((((((((((Jen))))))))))))))))) <3
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:34 pm.
I can’t even begin to understand the strength it has taken for you to not only quit, but stay quit. Behaviors like that are seductive – as are all addictions – and you are amazing to have been able to stop. I cannot express my admiration strongly enough.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:00 am.
Thank you so much, Liz. It means a lot to me, you have no idea. I’m humbled, and even a little shy, because I can’t see myself as owning up to all that strength. But thank you!
(and, I remember, not long ago, I said something about getting burned at something I tried by getting out of my comfort zone, and you offered comfort words, but I didn’t see it until the next day. Thank you, for that, too!)
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:40 pm.
Yes, let’s hear it for having the strength to quit! It’s always inspiring to me to hear that someone has quit an addiction, any kind. It takes a certain kind of willpower.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:57 am.
Willpower. And willpower. And willpower.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:41 pm.
Awww, guys, you’re all so sweet. THANK YOU!!! I don’t know that I’m so strong. I guess I just did what I had to not to end up completely destructing myself. Is it really strength when it’s done out of desperate need?
Anyway, I’m better now, it’s been years and I’ve found better, healthier ways to cope with the pain. And I’ve learned A LOT by going through those hard times, including that when we HAVE to quit, because it’s do or die, then we quit.
Thank you so much for the support. I love you guys so much!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:30 pm.
B, I am so glad you are around with such a story. Stay around, my dear. We all need to know the possibles. It’s possible to stop and keep stopping.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:59 pm.
Thank you, Louise, you’re so sweet! I don’t plan on going anywhere. Not that easy to get rid of me, LOL!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:15 am.
B you are an inspiration to us all. keep up the good work and stay positive. I admire you not only for quitting but to telling us all too.
I admire each and everyone of you who has quit something it is not easy to quit and stay quit!!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:50 pm.
Paula, you know, I used to be really ashamed of everything I’ve done, but now I’ve realized it’s part of who I am, and I’m proud of having overcome that. Of course, I’m posting here, because I trust my mother won’t find out any of that through this blog, I wouldn’t be too comfortable with her knowing, but it’s not a die hard secret, either. If she did find out, I’d deal with it. I just don’t want to put her through the pain of knowing what I dealt with and that I never told to protect her, and I don’t want her asking questions of why, but I’m not ashamed anymore. So, I tell if it works in the context
Thank you for the kind words!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:18 am.
I’m relatively new to The Goddess Blogs, so we don’t know each other well yet, but I wanted to say that I also admire you for quitting both these things. My little sister cut herself for about a year before anyone found out. She tried to hide it, too. I was so afraid for her, I think partially because I didn’t understand cutting and what it makes a person feel and partially because I worried about what might be driving her to do it.
She is doing well now, and I know enough about her behavior to recognize the signs of similar things in myself, except that I dealt with the pain differently, and not always in constructive ways, just differently. I admire both of you for being able to quit.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:11 pm.
Monica, I’m so glad your sister is doing well now!!! And, you’re right, it’s very scary to learn someone you love is doing self-destructive things. I know because my little sister is self-destructive in different ways, and I worry like crazy about her. You sister is very lucky to have someone like you who loves and cares about her. She’ll be fine with the love and support!
Thank you for the kind words! Keep hanging around here! The people around here are the best! I’m looking forward to getting to know you better!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:32 am.
I intend to keep my vices thank you. I have never succumbed to drugs or alcohol or smoking, but my little indulgences of reading, snacking & watching television shows that are mindless drivel.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:42 am.
LOL I’m with you, Mary. I can’t even begin to count the TV shows that have snared me. I have no intention of giving up TV, my number one addiction.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:58 am.
I smoked for 16 years of so. I am indescribably lucky in that, for some reason, when I was pregnant with my second child, some switch flipped and I quit. It had to be a hormaonal thing in just that pregnancy because I smoked during my first (4 a day). But something happened and one day I just didn’t want them anymore. I’ve never smoked again. That’s not to say that I haven’t wanted to but it’s not the absolutely devestating cravings that people talk about. No, I’m so very lucky that it worked out that way.
I’m still addicted to caffeine but I’m OK with that. =]
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:04 am.
Four cigarettes a day?? Okay, forgive me, but in the house I grew up in, that wouldn’t even qualify as smoking. LOL My mom once told me that a friend of hers didn’t smoke, and I said I knew she smoked, I’d seen her smoke. My mom snorted and said, “A half a pack a day. That’s not smoking!”
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:00 am.
Well, I was pregnant. My doctor actually told me that the withdrawls (I never am sure if I’m spelling that right…) from quitting would be worse for the baby than smoking would be. As long as I kept it at around 4 a day, we’d be fine. And sure enough, we were. The doc also pointed out that there were whole generations of babies born while their mothers smoked a pack or 2 a day. I liked my doctor.
The most I ever smoked was a pack a day and that was only for a little while. Mostly it was around a half a pack a day, so not really smoking at all according to your mom!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:15 am.
Liz, my mother smoked when she was pregnant with me and smoked for years afterward. My father smoked too.
I have never and will never smoke because it gave my father lung cancer than spread to his brain and killed him and it gave my mother throat cancer, emphysema, etc. that eventually killed her. Not to be preachy, so no offense intended, I just knew I didn’t want that path for myself.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:05 am.
OY…hit enter too soon.
I also meant to add that my father was 57 when he died and he had been smoking since he was 16 (I was ten when he died), and my mom was 76 and she had been smoking since she was about 18 and I was 30 when she died). They were very stubborn and ‘weren’t going to let some doctor tell them what to do.’ My mom did have to quit when she started needing oxygen and got moved into nursing home. She stopped cold turkey at that point, but it was very hard for her and she never stopped wanting one. She would see the staff go for smoking breaks and sometimes they would stroll by her window and she would see them and want to go out and join them. After seeing more of what it did to my mom than my dad, I knew that I didn’t want to do that, of course we had more health information when I was in high school about the long term ramifications of smoking. My mom said that she probably would not have started if she had known that then, but she said in the 40′s there was really nothing else to do and people just stood around and talked and smoked. It was more odd if you didn’t.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:11 am.
I am so sorry that you and your parents had to go through that. I knew that I didn’t want to smoke my whole life and had tried to quit (actually did for several months in boot camp) before getting pregnant. They say it’s as hard or harder than quitting heroin. I know how lucky I am that I was able to quit pretty much painlessly and I’m grateful every time I walk past someone who smokes and I smell it on their clothes. I knew what it was doing to me and at first didn’t care and later couldn’t quit. My Dad smoked when I was so young I don’t even remember it but he quit what I was about 2. He didn’t feel like he could say anything much to me about it without being a hypocrite but he did try. Like I said, I know I’m lucky. My doctor now said that I’m young enough and quit smoking early wnough to almost erase the damage it’s done. Lucky.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:15 pm.
Thanks Liz. It’s definitely hard to watch, I have to admit.
My mom smoked during all of her three pregnancies, and none of us smoke. I know a lot of the ‘experts’ say that the women that smoke during pregnancy are likely to have children that smoke, but none of us did. I think it just depends on the person. I really noticed the smells after I moved out of Mother’s house and I would walk in her house and it would smell like smoke and there was a yellowish tinge on things. But she was glad that she finally quit when I had my children and she was able to enjoy them so much. She was definitely addicted to the nicotine, but I think it was more stubborness that kept her from quitting than the addiction. She was so stubborn, I bet if one of us had been smart enough to bet that she couldn’t quit, she would have just to win the bet.
Actually, my mom would drink beer or a bourbon and water every now and then during those pregnancies too. There wasn’t as much medical evidence then, so nothing was really said. None of us really drink much either. She didn’t drink a lot, but she would have a beer watching the Cowboys play football, or have a bourbon and water after dinner with my daddy.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 5:07 pm.
I’m a HUGE fan of Cold Turkey. That’s how I quit smoking also. I used to smoke about a pack a day, from when I was 16 years old until I got married at 27 and decided I wanted to start a family. I smoked my last cigarette outside the airport when flying home from our honeymoon, threw the rest of the pack in the trash and never looked back. Best choice ever.
Now, sugar, caffeine and fat I have found WAY harder to quit. I have tried to “ease off”, but if you’ve seen my butt, you know it hasn’t worked. I have had to quit CT on white potatoes, eggplant & bell peppers, since I have reactions to them. (Just discovered after HOW many years of eating them and feeling crappy? Sheesh!) Gluten and Fired foods are mostly likely next. Sob, sob…
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:04 am.
Dana, I know just what you’re saying. I quit drinking milk and eating ice cream (my most hallowed addiction) 15 years ago and IMMEDIATELY started feeling better and not getting sick as much. Who knew I was allergic to dairy???
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:02 am.
Oh, and BTW, good luck tonight, Claudia! In case you don’t know, she is reading at the Lady Jane’s Salon RDU, in Cary NC. Come by if you are in the area, it’s fun AND a good cause!
http://ladyjanesrdu.blogspot.com/
(Sorry, had to do it!)
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:06 am.
Thank you! And I really must “rehearse” my part. That’s on today’s agenda, so if you goddesses hear me mumbling in the background, ignore me.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:03 am.
I also quit white sugar and white flour cold turkey about 6 years ago. Once I’d been off the sugar for about 2 weeks, I didn’t miss it. But for that time it was hard.
I do have a bit now and again over the holidays but I just don’t enjoy it anymore.
I will never give up caffeine. Nope. Ain’t happening. No way. No how. Nuh-uh.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:22 am.
LOL Caffeine won’t kill you. The easiest, cheapest pick-me-up EVER.
And isn’t it horrible how hard it is to quit sugar?! I just couldn’t believe how much I missed it at first.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:04 am.
My sugar is in the soft drinks that I drink. If I want a cup of tea then I use honey to sweeten it otherwise it would be a little bitter – that reminds me I want to get a couple of more types of tea.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:10 am.
Wow sugar? You’re my hero!
Eh, I’m not a vice person, liquor I can give or take, smoking same way. However I want to quit bread, so…if you can quit sugar, I can quit bread. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:23 am.
I quit bread too (yeast intolerant) and it wasn’t as hard as sugar, but it wasn’t easy either. I’ll be rooting for you!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:05 am.
Hey, me too! I never knew anyone else who had a yeast intolerance!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:04 pm.
No! Really? I knew we had a lot in common, but this is ridiculous.
Have you had people not believe you when you say “yeast intolerant”? It’s happened to me.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:46 pm.
Of course! I didn’t believe it. How goofy is that, anyway?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:46 pm.
Eating when I am bored is my biggest weakness. I don’t think I would call it an addiction, but it can be hard to fight at times. When it comes to smoking and drugs, I have tried both and neither one of them stuck, thank god.
My dad quit smoking for 15 years and then one day picked it back up again. Having witnessed what he went through to quit and how healthy he had become, it made me angry that he started again.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:48 am.
Isn’t it annoying to watch? I couldn’t believe it when my dad started smoking again. What on earth are they thinking?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:06 am.
I smoke. I won’t admit to just how many years I’ve been smoking but I’m not there yet in the yes I’m gonna quit department and no I can not do cold turkey. Ever. I can freely admit that I’m not emotionally capable of doing that and I’m thrilled by the honesty of the other women and am just as proud that you can overcome such difficult circumstances. That is not easy. Not everyone can accomplish that. I have a brother who quit smoking cold turkey but just recently started smoking cigars. I’ve given up quite a bit recently though for my health. No chocolate, junk food, processed food and I use very little sugar. Mainly in my coffee. I only drink water with very little else on the side. I did it for my health and I’ve never, ever felt better. Wish I had done this a long time ago.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 9:55 am.
Hey, you do what you can, when you can. Some people smoke their whole lives without a problem. I don’t see smoking as the Great Evil—just for the record.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:08 am.
You seem like a Cold Turkey kind of person, Claudia. That’s a good thing.
I quit shampoo cold turkey. Weird one, I know.
I wish I could quit guilt cold turkey. Not remorse– that’s useful. I’m just talking crippling, useless guilt over stuff that I can’t control and/or is not my fault. That I would like to quit right now and never, never do again.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:04 am.
Good one, to quit guilt.
Thanks for the links, too. I ended up on a long round of blog post reading. Right up my alley…might try the oil cleansing method.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:48 am.
You’re welcome Barbara.
I’m a big fan of that one, too. My skin has never looked better!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:15 am.
I do? I wonder what it is about me that screams COLD TURKEY!
Shampoo—I’ve heard of this before. What made you do it and how did it go? Was it hard?
Yes, let’s all agree to quit useless guilt! That’s an addiction most suffer from.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:09 am.
I think it’s your no-nonsense, no-excuses, no-prisoners attitude. I love that about you. You get things done without drama or BS and you expect and empower other people to do the same. (There’s my fan-girl moment for the day. Ha!)
Quitting shampoo was hard for like a week. I looked like a disgusting greaseball and I HATE THAT. But after that, it was just fine. I do wash with baking soda twice a week still, but I don’t miss shampoo at all. Neither does my hair. I quit because my hair didn’t look good and my stylist told me I needed this expensive shampoo, and my frugal (cheap) side rebelled instantly.
In this case, I was right.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:17 am.
I was wondering how that worked out! I remember you saying you were grossed out, but then it seemed to be working. Glad it helped! When my hair was to my elbows last year, I only washed it three times a week. It was MUCH healthier, but it did take some getting used to not to shampoo every day. I’m cheap too, so I bought the more expensive stuff and just used less of it, lol. But now that I have a super short cut, I have to wash every day or it gets nasty and weird. Oh, well.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:51 am.
Thank you for the fan-girl moment! We all need those. Hmm… maybe my next blog? We could all fan-girl each other. Not enough of that going around, imho.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:39 am.
I’ve quit lots of stuff and its usually cold turkey, Claudia. Otherwise, I don’t really quit. I quit smoking eons ago. I quit coffee, too, and felt like I was having heroin withdrawal. But then I read that some coffee is recommended, so now I have a cup a day. Slippery slope alert!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:15 am.
I didn’t know you’d quit coffee! That must have been gruesome. One cup a day… is that really the slippery slope? Maybe you’ll stay there forever!
A girl can dream.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:41 am.
My Mom also quit smoking. Smoked her last cigarette in August 2008 and that was it. She too was a multi pack a day smoker. Dad & I (non-smokers) knew she had quit, but kept out mouths shut as in “do not poke the surly bear with a sharp stick, you will regret it”. After a month she was like “Hey, no one said anything!”. We told her we were not crazy and valued our lives way too much.
Shortly after her cold turkey, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Even though it had been caught very early, it was a rough chemo treatment. She has said she was glad she did not have any hidden cigarettes around, because it would have driven her right back to her hold habit.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:20 am.
Good for your mom! When my mom quit smoking it was like the tolling of the bells…
“It’s been 36 minutes since my last cigarette!”
“Yeah, that’s great, Mom,” was my bored reply.
“It’s been 42 hours since my last cigarette!”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s been 6 days and 7 hours since my last cigarette!”
“Wow. Do you think you might, uh, actually really quit?”
This is the kind of ‘encouragement’ my mom got from EVERYONE. No one believed she’d ever quit. There was never, in the history of tobacco, a more enthusiastic addict.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:43 am.
Lol! Claudia, that’s priceless!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:25 pm.
Another “Quit smoking cold turkey” one here.. I guess it has been almost 10 years ago.. somewhere around there. I was in a huge fitness kick and my friend and I decided to walk the stairs in our hotel after a huge Greek dinner.. we were on the 22 floor.. so we went down and on the way back up, we were at the 18th or 19th floor.. I really had trouble breathing. She said “you can take the elevator from the 20th” I looked at her, said “bite me” and ran up the rest of the way.. took me forever to catch my breath. I quit my pack-a-day habit 2 days later.
Best decision ever.. I love all the money I have now saved in addition to the health benefits.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:27 am.
Congrats, Sheridan!!! Love your story of quitting. I mean, aside from the health benefits, you’re practically a millionaire on the money you don’t spend on tobacco!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:45 am.
I wish both of my parents had quit smoking “cold turkey” a long time ago, and then they would not have both died from Heart failure due to COPD…
The only thing I have quit “cold turkey” on is men, can’t remember the last time I dated or had the “S” word….I think I gave up Sex for lent sometime ago and just never went back to it….lol
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:30 am.
Oooh, can’t even laugh about that, Kathleen. About the S word, I mean.
My parents died fairly young as well. I think it was the smoking that did it, even though they’d both quit.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:46 am.
I was a serious smoker for more than 20 years. I tried quitting ten times, with varying degrees of success. Finally, I told myself I could not have even more drag. Nada. Nothing. And I finally was successful.
It wasn’t cold turkey, however. I used patches & they gave me a tool to get through the withdrawal.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:39 am.
I think more people are quitting because of the modern miracle aids—and isn’t that fantastic?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:46 am.
Also a smoker and then a cold turkey quitter. Both my parents smoked. My dad quit, but he told me that he’d have dreams where there would be a smoke in the ashtray and as he would reach for it…… he’d wake up from the dream… He died a few years later in an accident.. but I always wondered if he’d still have those dreams…
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:46 am.
My mom said she missed it every single day. She’d dream about smoking. She said a meal never tasted as good again since she couldn’t have a cigarette at the end of it. Watching my parent’s various addictions is the reason why I’m hyper sensitive to it. I knew as a kid that I never wanted to be addicted to ANYTHING.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:48 am.
Claudia- My sister always says that if she gave up smoking she would have to give up so many things along with it. She says her morning coffee would never be the same with out a cigerette niether would a glass of wine. She is pretty certain she could never have either without a smoke in hand.
For me I never understood how people could get up in the morning and light up a cigerette first thing. Yuck.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:24 pm.
My mom smoked half a pack before she got out of bed every morning and a half a pack in bed before she fell asleep every night. It takes a lot of effort to get through five packs a day!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:51 pm.
I always said I’d quit smoking when they made it as easy as it was to start. I tried cold turkey once. It didn’t stick. I ended up using the patch and haven’t smoked since. It’s been 15 years. Quitting drinking was a snap because I can’t stand the smoke in the bars. No caffeine after noon. But I still buy new books pretty much every new release Tuesday.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:00 am.
Oh, my gosh! You thought it was easy to start?! I hated it from my first puff. Blech. Eeeww. My mom loved it from her first puff.
I’ve always wondered if smokers are born, not made. How else to explain why some people love it and some can’t stand it?
You’ve quit so many things! That’s impressive! And look, only the good stuff is left! Books.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:50 am.
Now, chocolate…I’ll claim that as an addiction. We have pretty much cut Cokes out of our diet–we used to drink 4-6 a day without even blinking. Then we hit our 30′s and the caffeine started keeping us awake and our butts and/or bellies started getting bigger because of all the calories.
We still have one on occasion, but it’s rare, and it’s a treat when we do get one. Whenever we go to a movie, we get the large Coke and a large popcorn that’s usually refilled at some point. Other than that, I don’t eat popcorn, but there’s just something about having a Coke and popcorn with extra butter at a movie. I’ll keep that one, too. 
I also will claim coffee. I am not any fun to be around until I have a cup of coffee in the morning and sit and read whatever book I happen to be reading at the moment. I usually get up a good solid hour before anyone else in the house for that reason. I am my mother’s daughter in that sense. She was the same way. She liked quiet, her coffee and while I like to read, she played solitaire. That’s usually the only quiet time that I get, so I soak it all up.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:14 am.
You’re in good, vast company with a chocolate addiction! Chocolate addicts keep the economy of several nations going.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:52 am.
I quit smoking cold turkey 21 years ago. Very difficult. I have quit sugar many many times. Quitting sugar is much more brutal.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:49 am.
Isn’t it amazing? Quitting sugar is BRUTAL. Now that a former smoker has weighed in, I’m going to take that as gospel.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 11:53 am.
My post went missing. I also quit smoking cold turkey 20 years ago. And I quit caffeine, and the withdrawal was horrible. But then several years later, I read that some caffeine is beneficial, so now I have a cup a day — unless I am traveling, and then I seem to suck it up
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:05 pm.
No, I saw it! Your post about the slippery slope of one cup a day? Did that post get zapped?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:14 pm.
You seem to have hit a nerve with this one, Claudia!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 12:20 pm.
I guess so! I guess there’s not a person alive who hasn’t quit something!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:12 pm.
I don’t have any major vices, but I’m a big believer in going cold turkey. That’s what I did when I gave up fried foods 3 years ago. I briefly missed French fries at the 2 month mark, but realized I could bake my own fries. Now, the smell of fried foods makes me feel nauseated. I’m working hard at getting my children to give up their chicken fingers.
When I was 17 I gave up soda for 3 years. My parents were big soda drinkers, too, and my dad’s ended up with Type 2 diabetes because of it. Now, I’ll have an occasional soda, but I prefer water. I like water better than juice, too.
This morning my dd told me that I was addicted to jewelry because I have so much of it and don’t sell it. I loved the look on her face when I told her that I was selling it (just click on my name to see my etsy shop). Priceless. Now, if we could do something about her stuffed animal problem . . .
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 1:38 pm.
LOL A stuffed animal “problem.” I used to have one of those!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:13 pm.
How did you kick it? I don’t buy any new stuffed animals, but that doesn’t stop her from getting ones from her friends. She really only cares and sleeps with one of them consistently, too. Since she’s only 8, I hope that she outgrows it soon.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:44 pm.
I just decided one day that cigarettes were coming between me and my friends (one was allergic and it caused dangerous coughing attacks) as well as, and maybe more important to me in my youth selfish thing that I was, damaging my vocal chords — I love to sing and used to be an actress — so I stopped “cold turkey.” Where does the term “cold turkey” come from?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 2:03 pm.
I would LOVE to know where the phrase came from. It’s a weird one, isn’t it?
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:14 pm.
Wow, sugar, Claudia! I did that for three months about seven years ago. Hard at first, but easier after a couple of weeks. Trouble was I couldn’t stay away from dessert forever.
25 years ago I was addicted to daytime soap operas. 5 hours a day when my first child was a baby and I stayed home with her. After a year I gave them up cold turkey and have never gone back.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 2:07 pm.
Oh, YES, so many people were addicted to soaps. I was a Ryan’s Hope addict–got started in college–lost it when I started working, picked it back up whenever I was home sick. The only thing that ‘saved’ me was that they took it off the air! LOL
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:15 pm.
That was one of my favorites too! I wanted to name one of my daughters Siobhan, but DH said people would never pronounce it right.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:30 pm.
I have an addiction of buying and reading romance novels and collecting movies/tv series. I can’t seem to stop myself I have this mental picture of me curled up by a fire/heater reading a book or watching a movie but unfortunately reality creeps in and the fantasy doesn’t happen.I have to sneak into the bathroom and lock the door to read and watch movies late at night after everybody goes to bed.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 2:44 pm.
No! Really? You can’t read in a real chair with good lighting? That’s a shame.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:16 pm.
Luckily I never did smoke and can’t drink alcohol anymore (not that I was addicted) due to restrictions by my meds, but I still have caffeine in my diet. I won’t say it’s an addiction, oh well, yes it is, because I forgot that caffeine includes chocolate.
I don’t know what I’d do without my music. I’m more addicted to that than the books I love so much. Then there are the few television shows, and baseball, and football and …
I recently had a nuclear CAT scan on my kidneys and fear I’ll have to go cold turkey on several things I love, especially the caffeine, when I see my doc on Friday.
~Donna
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:14 pm.
Oh, Donna, no. That’s so sad. It’s one thing to go cold turkey because you want to, and another thing because you’re under doctor’s orders to. I’m so sorry!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:17 pm.
I’m thinking of giving up wheat. Ms. London posted about a book called Wheat Belly on her website, which I ordered. Going to read it first, but my doctor has been saying something along the same lines, that wheat isn’t healthy, especially when it’s tucked into/hidden in so many processed foods.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:28 pm.
Yeah, I don’t eat wheat or yeast, or not much. Maybe one serving a week, accumulated. It’s amazing how flat your stomach gets without wheat and/or yeast.
You know, I make it sound like I don’t eat anything. I actually eat most things (that I like the taste of); it’s just that I’ve deleted those things that were not good for me. The list of “good” items is still quite long.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 3:53 pm.
Good for all you ladies giving up the sugar, wheat, white flour, etc. You are rock stars! I’m a bit jealous, I’m the “cheater” who just has to sneak one slice of toast or a candy bar or a cookie, you get the idea. HOWEVER, when I do give something up, cold turkey is the only option. I don’t drink pop. I gave it up for Lent one year, and that was it, no more pop; that was five years ago…..maybe I should try that with sugar this year?
Have a wonderful day!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:20 pm.
If you try it, you’ll know it. It’s HARD. Let us know how it goes!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:25 pm.
Quit smoking cold turkey in April of 1995 – my dad was in the cancer ward with lung cancer and I saw someone smoking thru a trach hole in their throat. Just lost another family member to smoking related illness this past week. STILL – I am one drag away from buying another pack. It is tough!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 4:51 pm.
Oh, Christy, that is so tough! But look how great you’re doing!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:25 pm.
Like Tina F said I am addicted to reading and that is something I won’t give up!!
I quit caffeine when I was pregnant with my 2nd son, I used to drink loads of tea but when I was pregnant with him I couldn’t drink it, boy were the headaches bad! The first thing I wanted once I’d had him was a cup of tea!! A few weeks later I went cold turkey again as he wasn’t sleeping weel at night nor was I. i now drink de-caffeinated tea and sleep really well but if I drink caffeinated tea late in the day (I still have a rare cup) then I wake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep.
I won’t give up chocolate though!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:03 pm.
Very little reason to give up chocolate!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:28 pm.
Ooooooh, you are a courageous woman! I realized long ago that I’m addicted to caffeine, but I’ve learned to live with the shame of it. I do love my Starbucks.
Sugar, I could probably quit… as long as you don’t lump “pastries” into the sugar category. Or chocolate.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 6:22 pm.
LOL That’s funny!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:28 pm.
It was give up caffeine or have a grotty baby who after the night (as in middle of the night) feed wouldn’t go back to sleep and when he eventually went to sleep i then couldn’t get back to sleep!!
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:51 pm.
I quit smoking over 20 years ago cold turkey. My kids were little and they were learning all about the evils of cigarettes in school. They were like little rats biting at your ankles telling how bad cigarettes were. I finally gave it up but my husband didn’t. He still smokes 3 packs a day COPD and all. It was hard being around it at first but as time has gone by, I don’t even like being downwind of it anymore. I can tell when someone has just had a cigarette when they step into the elevator at work. Not my favorite smell. I don’t nag the hubby about it because I remember how I use to enjoy it and I don’t want to be considered “one of those reformed smokers” . My daughter has asthma and I always wonder if our smoking contributed to it. Probably.
I do love me some chocolate (especially dark) and my reading and I am not giving up either one! If hubby makes a comment on how much I spend on books, I tell him when I spend as much on my books as he does on cigarettes, then he can say something.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:19 pm.
Too funny! Books are a better bargain than cigarettes any day!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:29 pm.
I suck at quitting thing voluntarily, but I’m really impressed by people who can. My dad quit drinking cold turkey when I was about 5. My mom told him that he could either quit drinking or move out, so he checked himself in to rehab and never went back. … He works for Anheuser-Busch, as a route manager and originally a Budweiser delivery driver. Still never took a drink, in over 20 years. He also quit smoking cold turkey a few years later, when the doctor told him that the reason I was getting bronchitis and sinus infections all the time was my constant exposure to his smoke. So he stopped, that day. I admire my dad, very much.
I’ve never smoked, and I have never liked it. I hate the smell and it always makes my eyes dry and gives me a headache to be around smokers. I tend to stay out of bars for that reason. I drink occasionally, like a glass of wine with dinner or friends will come over for a few beers, but otherwise I’ve pretty much avoided that, too.
Personally, I’m addicted to sugar. I’ve quit it before, and lasted about a year. It is so brutal. Ugh. But I feel so much better without so much processed crap… but like… it’s so delicious. *drool*
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 7:40 pm.
Wish I read this in the morning like I usually do….I need to quit smoking cold turkey. I promised myself that when my grandma died, i would. She’s been gone a month. My dad, too, quit smoking cold turkey. He just decided to quit, and that was it. I guess I haven’t made the flip in my brain that I’m going to just do it. I always have an excuse. Sigh.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 8:26 pm.
Monica, no doubt about it, sugar is a BAD addiction, almost impossible to give up. Once you do, it’s incredible how you notice sugar in nearly everything.
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:32 pm.
I am a half quitter on some things. I gave up half of my sugars, and half of my coffee. Trust me, that wasn’t fun at the time, but is wonderful now. I considered myself a sugar queen. Now if I have anything with sugar it seems sssooo sweet. I totally gave up soft drinks. Then about a month later I gave up smoking after twenty years. I did not do that cold turkey, but I haven’t picked up one since, so I consider it a success. It has been a year and a half now! Congrats on your awesome ability to be a cold turkey person!
Posted on November 30, 2011 at 10:49 pm.
OK, you’ve all convinced me to try to give up sugar again. Some of us here did it together a few years ago but I only stuck with it for a year. I need to give it another go.
Therefore, I will not be giving up caffeine or wheat at this time.
If I did, I’m not sure I’d have the will to get out of bed.
Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:02 am.
Wow, thats so impressive that your mom smoked 5 packs of cigarettes a day for 40 years, and was able to quit cold turkey! I didn’t know people could even really smoke five packs a day on a sustained basis, much less for decades.
I currently smoke three and a half to three packs a day, and I’ve long considered myself hopelessly addicted. I started smoking daily before I turned twelve years old and was smoking a pack and a half to two packs a day by the time I was sixteen or seventeen, and my horrible nicotine addiction only got worse from there for the next decade, and it never got any better.
There have been times that I have actually finished smoking that whole fourth pack of cigarettes in a day, and then I just sit there and cry uncontrolably and think to myself “I can’t believe I’ve just smoked four packs a day, what am I doing to myself?”
I read somewhere that once you crossed the twenty-five “pack years” ie a pack a day for a year, that your chances of getting lung cancer are pretty much irreversable. I’d always figured that since I would have gone way past that mark before age 25 that me getting lung cancer or emphesyema was pretty much an inevitablity, so there wasn’t much point in trying to get serious about quitting. Oh, the lies we tell ourselves to justify our addictions.
Anyways, I was just out looking at different boards where people have helped chain smokers with severe smoking addictions, ie three packs a day or more, and I ran across this website. It looks like yall have some great folks here.
I don’t know if I have the will to really go through with another failed quitting attempt, and just the thought of it has me licking my lips thinking about going and smoking another cigarette in just a minute; but I absolutely commend everyone else’s efforts at quitting. Its very impressive and inspirational!
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