I quit smoking 14 months ago, but I still have one leftover indicator that I used to smoke

[Tobin S.]

I used to smoke with my left hand even though I am right handed. To this day, when I am just sitting and thinking about something, I will unconsciously bring my left hand up to my lips in a gesture that looks like I am taking a drag off of an imaginary cigarette. I usually only notice that I've done it after the fact. I smoked for 19 years.

[rurallib]

1. do you have a dream that you start smoking again?

I heard on a radio show many years ago that a high percentage of ex-smokers have a dream where they start smoking again. By that time I had not smoked for about 15 years and was still having the dream @ once a month, so what the doctor was saying was not news to me.
My dream was always the same. The doctor that was on the show said the dream is usually the same dream over and over.
It has now been @ 35 years since i quit and I still have my little dream about twice a year. I used to wake up in a cold sweat and for a few minutes would sit there and cuss myself for starting the bad habit again until I finally realized I had been dreaming.
Now when I have the dream, I still wake up but go right back to sleep.
And I can still relate nearly every detail of that dream.

[Tobin S.]

2. Yes, and it was usually always the same

and I felt exactly the way that you did when I woke up until I realized that I hadn't really started again.

Something different happened the other night, though. I had a dream that I was smoking and I also had two unlit cigarettes. Before the one that I was smoking was spent I tossed all three of them aside. I awoke feeling alright. No feeling of dread or dismay.

[rurallib]

7. Well most ex-smokers have the dream. Strange isn't it?

the frequency has dissipated over the years for me. But 35 years later I still have it.
Just so you don't feel like it is something spooky going on in your brain trying to get you to smoke again.
Must be some lingering effect of nicotine.

[Symarip]

3. I used an e-cig to stop smoking

I don't use it as often as I first did when I quit initially. I noticed now, if I'm in front of the computer, my hand is always on my face and sometimes I rock a pencil between my index and middle finger.

[Tobin S.]

4. Yep, I can relate. And congrats on quitting.

How long did you smoke?

[Symarip]

5. On and off, 14 years

There was a 4 year period I was dipping.

The e-cig works in a pinch (it's basically a fog machine). I've given some folks here and at my job pointers and tips on the e-cig solution to quit smoking. I know three people who are currently smoke free because of it. It is, figuratively and literally, a lifesaver.

[madeline_con]

6. I used straws. I'd chew on them, and I think that helped me get over

the physical "drag" mechanism sooner. It served as a reminder of how ridiculous the starw was, and I got rid of them pretty quick, too. Also, hard candy for an oral fix.

[UndertheOcean]

8. I sometimes have dreams where I mistakengly eat meat , then feel

unbelievably guilty , until I walk up with a sigh of relief .