Three days, huh? Does that mean this headache under the back of my skull will go away then? Because I’d really appreciate that. I feel horrendous right now.
And AuntiePam: thanks. Well wishers are highly appreciated, especially ones who were once in my boat.
And yes. I didn’t think I’d be eating more but…hoooooo man. Roll me down the sidewalk in February.
The headache will end. Drink alot of water or any other non-alcoholic, non/low calorie drink. That helped with my headache and overall bodily crapass feelings.
Also, just start walking, or puttering around your house alot. Eventually your energy should increase and if you are wont to workout, you’ll find that it’s not so hard. I started going on very long bike rides in the beginning. Anywhere from 5 to 25 miles day a few times a week. One particular ride after about a 2 weeks off the smokes I had to stop riding about 10 miles into my ride. I coughed non stop for about 20 minutes. I horked up blobs of phlegm that would make a Troma film look like Bambi. After I was done, I felt surrealistically fantastic. That was the last post-smoking coughing spell I had. It’s a wonderful feeling.
Stopping in to wish you all luck! Sending supporting thoughts your way!
Hypnosis made my quit painless. Afterf our failures one even with a different hypsntist. Best $75 I ever spent 20 years ago. I can be done!!!Good luck.
I read Allen Carr’s book about 2 weeks ago, and am going to quit sometime in the next 2 weeks or so; I haven’t quite set the date yet.
The funny thing about the Carr book is that its actually got me kind of psyched up to quit… weirdness…
So Carr’s book seems universally endorsed here. If not universally, roundly at least. Hopefully just plain ol’ cold turkey works for me, but if not, he’s on my list.
I’m at the end of the second day of quitting, without having made it a conscious decision. I was too ill yesterday to even want a smoke. I woke up this morning wondering if I could go all day, and more importantly all evening without a smoke. So far so good, although I feel like I need to get up and do…something. Nicotine is only in your system for 3 days, eh? Cool. I will definitely look up the book you all have been recommending. It sounds helpful. I like some of the quotes. Thanks for being in the right place at the right time folks.
D
P.S. Carr died this year, of lung cancer.
The book is short and easy to read. No scientific jargon or quotes from health studies. There’s a lot of repetition though, and while that would be annoying in a work of fiction, I think the repetition is the key – reading it is almost like brainwashing yourself, or self-hypnosis.
Don’t read it critically, like you’d read a novel. The guy’s not a writer, but he’s sincere about what he’s saying. (Or rather, he was.)
I’m resurrecting this, but with reason. That reason: How are y’all doing with this?
So far, my cold turkey strategy has worked out splendidly. That first week was a horrific muddle of grumpiness, headaches, and unwarranted hatred of all things animal, vegitable, and mineral, but since then: not as hard as expected. It took until a week or so ago for me to feel normal not smoking after meals, but I think I’m done. It feels really nice, actually.
Successes? Failures?
I quit 8/7/2006 after reading Allen Carr’s book. I relapsed at an after work function 2 days later (got slightly buzzed and had 2 cigarettes), and then had 1 cigarette about a month and a half later. It didn’t do anything for me at all. I mean I literally experienced no physical, mental, or emotional effects from that cigarette; it was like drawing on air. I knew I was out of the woods then and it’s been a little over 6 months now.
I’ve been running, biking, and swimming a lot, and even did a sprint triathlon in December. I plan to do many more and eventually work my way up to half-ironman or maybe even Ironman one day. I never had the confidence or physical ability to do that when I smoked.
I got it for Christmas. So it was the best $11 I ever had gifted to me. Haven’t smoked since.
My wife picked it up and read it over the weekend. She came upstairs Sunday and said “That’s it, I’m done smoking.” Our 6 year old son immedeately whooped it up and marched around chanting “No more cigars! No more cigars!” (He’s never seen either of us smoke a cigar, even though I used to have an occasional one, so I don’t know where that came from.) He was so proud of her. That is the best reinforcement she’ll ever get.
I didn’t even get a “Good job Dad” from him when** I** quit. :mad:
Now that is sad.
Birdmonster, get Carr’s book, you won’t regret it.
I’m ashamed to say I relapsed after a 3 month quit a couple years ago, but I never would have done that well without his book.
Last week I set a new quit date, March 5th. I have a doctor appointment on Feb 19th and I’m gonna ask doc for that new Chantix pill. A few of my co-workers are having great luck with it. Hopefully between that and re-reading Carr I will kick it this time.
I never had headaches last time I quit, but I got whacked with the worst case of flu in my life and (TMI warning) was very constipated for two weeks straight.
Anyone want to form a quitters support thread? We could whine and moan to each other about the withdrawel process and support each other through temptations.
Here is a post I made about quitting smoking just about a month ago.
My method being this:
The update of that,. so far it WAS the last pack of cigarettes I bought.
I don’t know the day I smoked my last cigarette. It was non-eventful and I didn’t feel like making a big deal out of it.
About 9 days ago I stopped using full patches. I used two patches cut in half for two days and went without any patches for a week. I’ve been using about one nicotine inhaler cartridge a day (you are supposed to use 7 or more a day).
Today I was at job interviews all day and was a little burned out when I got home. Of all days I really felt like a cigarette tonight. I put on a half patch for a couple hours until the feeling went away. I just took it off a few minutes ago.
In all, the quit is going well. The times I thought were going to be hard (like after eating) were the easiest.
When I quit my approach was just the opposite. Instead of cutting down I chain smoked the last pack while reading Carr’s book. When I got down to 8 cigerettes left in the pack I was so sick at my stomach I couldn’t finish the pack. I threw them away and that’s when I went 3 full months without so much as a puff, no patches, pills or gum either.
We truly are like alcoholics though, you can’t have JUST ONE. Thats how I backslid. I thought “oh I miss that last cigerette of the day, I think I’ll just start having that ONE”. HA! Of course just one led to just two, or three. Before you know it I was back to a pack a day. Oh well it was a lesson learned and to be remembered when I quit again this time.
Aside from the Chantix prescription from my doctor, I plan to arm myself with these. I know for me the physical addiction is not so bad, it’s the ritual of holding, lighting and all the other motions you go through. And the situations, like driving and break time at work. I’m hoping if I tote these babies around with me I can still get my “ritual” fix. And I like that they don’t contain nicotine, so I’m not still feeding that monster.
I’m a failure! I didn’t even make it past that one day.
Poop.
Your not a failure. Just about everyone who attempts quitting tries it several times before it sticks. Give it some time and try again.
Not a failure failure. You just had your last cigarette more recently than you thought. You’re now a non-smoker again. Congratulations again.
Just popped in to offer encouragement to all who are trying! Keep it up!
My girlfriend has promised to quit as part of our pending cross-country move from Atlanta to Silicon Valley. I believe she is going to try cold turkey.
The last phase of the move will involve me, her, 4 cats, and 2 dogs driving some 2000 miles in a Subaru Outback. I’m considering buying a football helmet for the drive.
Hell I would consider a bullet proof vest as well.
Also, you have the best username EVER.