EEM1974 said on 31 October 2011
I am 38 years old and I smoked for 21 years. I was a student in a healthcare profession (and I still work in the NHS) when I started, and I am also asthmatic - having been diagnosed aged 23. Either way I should really have known better, but i quickly became addicted and saw smoking as a stress reliever, especially when sitting my finals to qualify in my field.
My husband quit smoking in February 2011, but never ever put me under any pressure to stop as well. However, I quit smoking nearly 6 weeks ago and I honestly have never looked back. I used an electronic cigarette with menthol filters, and gradually over two weeks reduced the amount of nicotine in the cartridges until there was none in them and I stopped using the device altogether after that. I feel the wind down gave me time to find something else to do with my hands and I now do a lot of creative writing.
I have found, like many others, that my sense of smell has changed (for the better although for the first week after coming off the ecig I was sure I could smell domestic gas all the time!), and my food tastes better. As also stated, I do have asthma which is actually very well controlled but at my last check up I had my steroid inhaler reduced again which was great news.
I have noticed that I can tell who the smokers are when I come into contact with them at work. I honestly did not think that I ever smelled as bad as that but I clearly did! To not have to worry about that musty horrible smell any more is a huge bonus, and it makes me feel good about myself to smell much fresher and cleaner than I did.
One other thing I noticed is of course that my walk to work is much more pleasant in the morning, and I can do the walk from the train station to work in half the time.
My 5 year old is much happier now that I do not disappear out the back door into the garden for a quick smoke in the evening, and there are abvious benefits for him in that he no longer gets 2nd hand smoke from me.
