It’s okay to want one still… I’ve had one cig in the past 9 months, and I still have cravings. It also took me about 1500 attempts at quitting before I actually got to this point, just keep trying!
I missed this the first time around, but I’ve been told that this is a very successful technique by those who’ve used it. Its not torture; rather it plays on your sense of delayed gratification: “It’s okay, I can hold off for now, I’m going to have a smoke later.”
I believe in you, Marli. You can do this.
Cancer I hope will be my cure. It’s not how I wanted it though.
I am currently in discussions with my siblings and my mom’s husband about when we are going to have the talk with her. Which has too be soon because time is not something we have. She was diagnosed with lung cancer about 2 months ago. It spread to her stomach, lymph nodes, brain, kidneys, leg. It’s everywhere. It’s also terminal. By the time it was discovered it was already too late. She can’t eat because everything she swallows comes back up. She vomits whatever foam builds up in her stomach every couple of minutes. She’s lost 17 pounds in the last two weeks. That’s in addition to the 70 she lost since she’s been diagnosed. The doctors say she may very well die of starvation before the cancer gets her. I’ve seen her in tears because all she wanted for the longest time was one good meal. She hasn’t had a meal in months. She won’t have another. She lives off of rootbeer floats, popcicles and the occasional IV bag. She sleeps most of her time away. She doesn’t want to talk about it. She is preceded by the cancer deaths of her father and 4 of her sisters. All smokers…all lung cancer. All of which must be constantly on her mind. I didn’t start smoking until I was 19. That was after three family cancer deaths. I was dumb. The two deaths after that didn’t stop me either. I coughed up blood a few years ago and that scared the shit out of me. Turns out I had bronchitis. Once I was sure I didn’t have cancer I started smoking again. My mom is going to die soon. We have to ask her things like where she wants to be buried. I decided to quit. It’s only been a month and a half since I’ve decided to quit and I’ve had an occasional breakdown but for the past 3 weeks I’ve had nothing. The one before that didn’t taste good at all. My brain still wants one real bad but it’s easier to decline when I think about my mom. I hope it stays easy after she’s gone. I don’t want my loved ones to try and make lifestyle changes because they had to watch me die. Of course…I’m telling this as much to get it off my mind as I am to hopefully give you a little more incentive. I’ve heard this same story from others a million times and just brushed it off. Those stories weren’t so close to home. This story won’t be too close to home for you either but if it’s enough to sway you just a bit the other way, well, there’s no harm in that.
Pack-a-dayer here, reading this thread with interest.
Also thinking a smoke would be heavenly.
sigh
I am right there with you, too. Today is day #10 for me, after 20 something years and maybe 10 real tries at quitting. I started when I was about 14. I won’t tell your mom if you won’t tell mine!
I have the Carr book, am on Wellbutrin, and I have the lozenges. I know I will be physically sick if I have one at this point… I think I am finally, really, for sure, positively, done.
Trying to quit here too. Seventy bucks for a carton of cigarettes is ridiculous and it’s my main motivation.
I’m doing it without patches, gum, etc. I finished the last of the cigarettes that I had in my desk at work yesterday. I wasn’t smoking on weekends or in the evenings prior to yesterday for about three weeks.
Now is the real test. I keep thinking of the money I’m saving and hope I can manage to stay off the damn things.
So far, I haven’t had a real craving for one today. My husband has managed just fine. He started out with the patch, but quit using the patch after a week because it made him feel ill. He keeps a patch with him, just in case, but so far, he’s doing fine.
One thing some people find helpful is to only smoke as much as you really want to. It’s a way to avoid the cycle of ‘I can’t have one so I desire it more’ and ‘I don’t really want more but I should finish the whole thing’. If you want a cigarette, light one up, but only smoke it as much as takes the edge off, and then snub it out. Don’t smoke the whole thing just cuz it’s there.
I’m on my second cold turkey after starting up again due to a rather heinous break-up/house-loss quinella. I feel your brain-stem headache. Godspeed.
I quit smoking last year using Champix (Chantix in the US). I’m 64 years old and had been smoking since I was eleven. When I packed it in I was up to fifty-some-odd cigarettes a day. My experience with Champix was magic. I can’t speak highly enough in praise of it. I know it has a bad reputation in the US but, for mine, it’s undeserved. I believe a few bad reports which may or may not have had anything to do with Champix were exaggerated by the sensationalist media and mass hysteria took over. I haven’t taken Champix for so long now that it’s just a distant memory. likewise with cigarettes. I can certainly recommend Champix.
I don’t know. It worked for me, years ago. I would even carry a pack (unopened, still sealed) around with me and just tell myself “I’m not quitting. I’m just waiting until later to have a smoke.” It helped.