I am a smoker...now how to tell my parents

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This .</p>

<p>"What has made you all start smoking? Do you just think the feeling it gives you is worth the financial costs/negative health effects? "</p>

<p>I started smoking when I turned 18. Bought a pack cos I could (some friends egged me on), had a smoke. It was awful but the buzz it gave me was great. Started having smokes while drinking. One day I was stressed and had one, realized it de-stressed me pretty well, and ever since it’s become a habit/addiction. Luckily I don’t have more than 3 cigs on a regular day, I usually only break that when I’m hanging with my friends. No I don’t think it’s worth it, sadly.</p>

<p>As for what it feels like, well, it doesn’t really feel like anything for me. I’m not a heavy smoker, so if I stop smoking for a few days I don’t get withdrawal symptoms. Most heavy smokers do become rather irritable and have trouble focusing when they quit. For me, smoking becomes associated with certain things. I get a cup of coffee, I want a cigarette to go with it. I finish a meal, I want a cigarette to go with it. Hell, I finish school for the day and I want a cigarette to go with it. It also gives me something to do with my hands/mouth. That sounds weird, but when you’ve smoked for a while it starts to become standard practice to have something in your hand and then your mouth every so often.</p>

<p>I believe cocaine (at least pure cocaine) is actually less addictive than nicotine, I still wouldn’t try it though. And definitely keep resisting the temptation to smoke, individualized. Like I said in my first post, I love it but I think that’s partly just because it’s linked to pleasurable things. I know it’s bad for me, and I do want to quit. Trust me, when I started it was “just one pack that I’ll split amongst my friends and that’s it.” Oops :P</p>

<p>Interesting post, DC. It reminded me of what interesteddad wrote in that PC thread I linked…</p>

<p>“Even worse, the nicotine hijacks the receptors to such a degree that it blocks anything else from causing a dopamine release. That’s why nicotine junkies need a cigarette after a meal to feel “satisfied”. Normally, the food alone would cause a dopamine release, but the receptors have been hi-jacked. Combine that with the relentless reinforcement of the nictoine = dopamine and it’s no wonder that smoker develop such strong associations between everything they do and needing a cigarette.”
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1066092623-post10.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1066092623-post10.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I have a friend that just quit after around 8 years of smoking. It was hell for him. He felt sick all the time and was constantly agitated and frustrated, he was tearing his hair out for weeks, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. He seems better now but I don’t know if he’s still abstaining.</p>

<p>anti-smoking education would be much more effective if they didn’t just say “LOL U CAN GET TEH KANCER.” Nobody thinks that long-term about consequences. </p>

<p>I will say though, the worst things are the people who pretend to cough when you walk by. Some dumb ***** said to her friends “quick, everyone cough” the other day but thankfully they were a bit less vapid than she was and didn’t do it. Had they done it I would’ve turned around, told 'em that they ought to get those coughs checked out and then blown a big cloud of smoke in their faces :cool:</p>

<p>I have asthma and am allergic to smoke, so I actually do cough rather violently if I can’t hold my breath long enough to get by. People probably think I do it on purpose, but oh well. I make the effort to hold my breath for gods sake!</p>

<p>I don’t understand why people smoke when they know how bad it is for them.</p>

<p>If you KNOW your parents won’t approve and you KNOW it’s something you shouldn’t be doing, why are you doing it?? </p>

<p>I just don’t get it.</p>

<p>Most of you probably don’t think it’s that bad, but that’s because you’ve built up a tolerance. For non-smokers, smoking actually is pretty gross (generally…not for everyone). The smell gets in everything, it makes your teeth and fingers gross, and it’s just…yuck.</p>

<p>And that’s not even touching the financial side. When I was in middle school one of my health teachers made us do an exercise where we figured out that if you smoke a pack a day starting when you’re a teenager and going through your 50’s or 60’s, you spend over a million dollars. And that was in/around 2002. Think about what else you could be spending that money on.</p>

<p>And if you think you’re not addicted, try quitting. There’s a reason people smoke their entire lives: because nicotine is one of the most addictive substances out there.</p>

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<p>Yes: [Newsvine</a> - RNC Hopeful “Homosexuality Kills People”](<a href=“http://littlemuscle.new.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/22/5509141-rnc-hopeful-homosexuality-kills-people]Newsvine”>http://littlemuscle.new.newsvine.com/_news/2010/11/22/5509141-rnc-hopeful-homosexuality-kills-people)</p>

<p>“I just don’t get it.”</p>

<p>And if you’re not a smoker, you never will.</p>

<p>Of course being gay is worst than a smoker. I’m surprised you have to ask that. </p>

<p>I’ve smoked spliffs before with a couple buddies. But that’s the most I’ve done as far as tobacco goes and probably won’t go any further than that unless a hot chick were to persuade me otherwise.</p>

<p>Just tell them your life long dream is to die of lung cancer:)</p>

<p>Nearly every family member I can think of died because of cancer/medical problems that were caused, or worsened, by their lifelong addictions to smoking. </p>

<p>For me, personally, I was born with serious heart and health defects. Some of us weren’t given good health and we have to fight hard to live healthy lives. I can’t believe some people just take advantage of the health they have to fulfill an addiction or just because they can.</p>

<p>Dude just quit smoking.
If you can’t, you’re weak.</p>

<p>If you are going to smoke, smoke marijuana. It’s better for you, it’s has better effects, and it doesn’t kill you.</p>

<p>Best advice? Don’t do any drugs, alcohol, etc. Be cool like me.</p>

<p>I agree, but actually any smoke (even wood smoke) contains carcinogens…ciggarettes have a lot of extra chemicals though.</p>

<p>Wigginn, I have to disagree. I smoke weed and drink alcohol, and I would have to say it helps sometimes. There’s nothing like smoking or drinking a night or so every week to help relax and enjoy yourself. :slight_smile: It may not be why, but since I started doing these things my grades have actually gone up. It’s all about careful balance. Don’t drink on school nights, don’t smoke when you have work to do, etc.</p>

<p>As far as why start smoking, I started with alcohol and got an interest in weed and psychedelics from there. Started smoking weed a few times a month. Quit smoking weed for a bit, and tried hookah…and it’s flavors are just amazing, and a hookah session is so calming, and goes well with alcohol. Never really got too much into cigarettes. I’ll smoke like one or two times a semester with co-workers who are out on a smoke break, and then maybe 2-3 times a semester at a party when I’m drunk. </p>

<p>I’m not a big cigarette fan, probably a result of starting with hookah. I don’t even like smoking weed too much (love the weed, but hate the smoking part, the smoke irritates the **** out of my throat). Cigarettes smoke burns my throat everytime I smoke, thus why I’ve been completely **** faced drunk everytime I’ve smoked a cigarette.</p>

<p>I’m not addicted at all, at least not physically. The only time I think I had any withdrawal type of stuff, was when I smoked some cigars just for the hell of it, long before I smoked weed or hookah. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to inhale the smoke, so I inhaled all of that smoke, and felt like **** all of the day. Same horrible feeling I had when I got addicted to nyquil. You’re stomach just feels at complete unease at all times for like a good 24 hours, then it subsides, and you feel really lethargic too.</p>

<p>But as I said, I highly doubt I have any kind of physical addiction. I just stopped smoking for a month earlier this year with no problem, and I never bring my hookah or the e-cig for the 2-4 week breaks from school, and don’t feel anything. I don’t even really have the urge to smoke when I’m on breaks at home.</p>

<p>It’s more of a habit thing. Get home from work, turn on some tv, and light up the hookah to calm down from the day. It’s just nice and relaxing.</p>

<p>“And that’s not even touching the financial side. When I was in middle school one of my health teachers made us do an exercise where we figured out that if you smoke a pack a day starting when you’re a teenager and going through your 50’s or 60’s, you spend over a million dollars. And that was in/around 2002. Think about what else you could be spending that money on.”</p>

<p>I’d like to see the math on that because that works out to be $55/pack for if you assumed it was for 50 years. At $40/carton (depends on what you smoke and where you buy it), it’s about $73,000 in a lifetime for a pack a day.</p>

<p>Substitute cigs with weed</p>

<p>Trust me, they know, unless they have some sort of olfactory deficiency. Smokers smell like smoke, especially to ex-smokers.</p>

<p>Well I told my parents yesterday…both of my parents were shocked…said they had no idea I was smoking. But they were both very upset and disappointed in me, and my mom started to cry… :(. It was a big relief to have it off my chest, and was really weird going out and having a smoke. My parents have tried talking me into quitting, but at this point, I have no desire too. Its been great being able to smoke whenever I want, except for the constant lecturing and saying I smell etc. But ultimately my parents both agreed that its my body and if I want to smoke I can. They said they are cutting off giving me any money…but thats only like gas for coming home. They are going to continue taking out parent plus loans and buying me supplies and covering my car and health insurance.</p>

<p>That kinda sucks dude, but it’s because they care. I know how it’s weird to smoke when they know… I still kinda do it stealthily at my mom’s and my dad’s. Trust though, nothing’s weirder than your dad offering you a cigarette hahah.</p>

<p>You really should consider quitting… and you probably will, when you wake up with a hard cough. Try to smoke as few cigarettes as you can man… it’s not a fun addiction to have.</p>