I’ll be quitting for the second SERIOUS time on Sept. 1. First time I quit was January 7, 9:50 pm. I kept half a pack in the desk drawer “just in case”. Slapped on the patch, and quite frankly, after the first 2 days, never thought about smoking again. I used to go out on smoke breaks at work, but didn’t smoke. It did not bother me to be around smokers, and my soon to be ex husband is a chain smoker. I didn’t start smoking when my dad had quad bypass, I didn’t start smoking when the 4 people I supervised were fired, I didn’t start smoking when I quit my job and got a new one, I didn’t start smoking when my husband told me he “loved me but wasn’t in love with me,” I didn’t start smoking when I went into marriage counseling BY MYSELF (isn’t that ironic) I started smoking the day I DECIDED to leave his sorry ass. (Cigarettes are not your friend–they don’t like you. You like THEM. )
I guess what I’m saying is that (in the words of George Carlin), ya gotta really wanna. If you are not committed, then don’t quit. There will always be an excuse, a reason to start up again. I didn’t have to start up again, I just used the reason of the failed marriage. I was scared when I quit, and I remember crying that I was losing a friend. What was scary was change. But I also lost the nagging yip cough I had every morning, I lost the stink on my clothes and hair. It really is scary to quit, but you realize that there is nothing to be scared of. I could still enjoy my morning coffee without smoking (smoking with a cup o’ joe is my favorite). My world would be just fine with smoking. But I truly believe that unless you really really really want to, you won’t be successful (and I have little to no willpower!)
You can waddle over to the newsgroup alt.support.stop-smoking. A great group of people–quitters, soon to be quitters, relapsed quitters.
I hope to God that nothing I said came across as flippant-if it did, I truly apologize.
I hope you’re still off them, and I am sending prayers and good thoughts your way-you popped into my head throughout the day today, just wondering how it was going.
techchick, update us. How are you doing? Have you started sweating? Is everyone pissing you off? Good, because that’s a sign that the addiciton is trying to overcome you, and every second that you don’t give into it, it loses more and more. Screw the addiction. Spank it like the bitch that it is. Roll it over onto its stomach and have your way with it, and forget the lube. Make the addiction wash your windows, do your laundry, walk your dog, and tell it that you want your nails painted before it picks dinner up for you tonight, not after, because that’s when it’s gonna get honkered again, and again, and again.
Ok, I got a little excited there.
The point is that you are doing a good job. I am not flippant about this one bit.
Hey, Techchick, you and me both, babe. I’ve smoked for about 16 years, and a week ago today decided to quit. So far it’s been kind of up and down; I’ll admit to having caved in a few times over the past week and smoking one, I tell myself that may make it easier, by letting me come down gently, instead of in one hard drop going completely cold turkey (though I also suspect it’s really just the sinister addiction making me think that, just so I can excuse myself having another cigarette). I’d advise you not to go that way, even though that’s what I’ve been trying, deep down I feel like I’m only prolonging the inevitable pain of it all.
So far this week, I’ve only been able to manage a couple of spans of two whole days completely smoke free before I caved in. The important thing I feel that I’ve learned from that fact is that, if I can go two whole days without it, certainly I ought to be able to quit entirely before long. Plus, I can even feel a physical difference just in this past week; before, if I just took a deep breath, it would often provoke a coughing fit, now I can breathe both deeply and comfortably.
Anyway, this is the best advice I have to give at the moment–even in a worst case scenario, quit for a few days just to prove to yourself that you can do it, and to see just how quickly your body will feel a difference, so you can have that extra motivation needed to quit for your health’s sake.
I am sorry, I was being a bitch…that was not directed at you at all.
It’s been almost 24 hours, have had about 8 nicorettes. I even found 2 cigs left in a pack I had purchased over the weekend, I was talking on the phone with my brother when I found them and I ripped them up in little peices so there was no moment of weakness where I would try to smoke. You know, that one little feeling…oh one cig wont hurt. Well, it would, it’s too soon to even attempt to smoke or be around it.
Well, 24 hours and I am still alive. I have not gone ballistic although I did scream and a yell a bit. More to release some frustration while driving. Someone had a cig behind me today and I could smell it. God, smoke never smelled so sweet.
My thoughts are a little choppy though, is that normal? My ability to concentrate is even worse than it normally is…ya know, that ADD thing.
Thank you to all that have responded, sorry if I sounded stupid, I was being stupid. I hope this will pass.
Oh, and you are chewing your nicorettes the correct way, right? You don’t chew 'em like regular gum. Just give them a dozen chews until you get that peppery taste, and then stop. One piece of gum every 1 or 2 hours.
At least, that’s according to the doctor who sits beside me at work.
Who does these researches? ROFLMAO…I smoked when I was happy, when I was sad…shoot all I had to be was awake. Granted, stress (where my adrenaline spiked for some reason) was a smoking trigger but all I needed to be was awake to smoke.
Oh, I just realized I have my Kava Kava…oh, man, I am going to go take some now. I am not stressed but I am afraid that my lack of nicotene will trigger my panic attacks again. Damn, don’t wanna go down that road.
Yes, this is incredibly normal, or at least it always is for me. I learned that the first couple of days, I’d better not plan on getting anything done, or not have anything serious planned, because I’ll start doing it and all of a sudden wander off becuase I was struck by something else that sounded interesting.
I prefer vodka…but seriously, you don’t need to apologize. I was just concerned that something I said was taken poorly during a wild craving, and I know that having people be flip(or even thinking they are) is not what you need right now. This is serious and it’s a good thing you’re doing.
Keep strong, techchick68… I just quit (4th attempt in 22 years) Saturday night. I’m a singer, and got very short of breath on an couple of uptempo songs. Fortunately, it was just rehearsal, but it was the sign I’d been looking for.
I’ve been told the best way to quit smoking is to quit smoking… I know this sounds trite, but the point is that if you have the “occasional” cigarette, the behavior patterns you are trying to break are reinforced. Cigarette use is a powerful manifestation of the “hand to mouth” urge. Try this experiment…close your eyes and place the index and middle fingers of the hand you smoked with against your lips. Do you feel a little rush? That is a conditioned response. This is the psychological component of cigarette addiction. The hand to mouth urge is why people use lollypops, gum, pens, etc. as a substitute for cigarettes.
Cigarettes are not your friend.
The makers of cigarettes, who manipulate you like a puppet by intentionally modifying their product to increase the “rush” are definately not your friend.
The government that uses smokers as a cash cow and as a class of people it is OK to hate is not your friend. If those hypocritical bastards had any real intent to do anything but fleece smokers, cigarettes containing nicotine would be illegal. But then they’d lose all that revenue…
Do you want to really quit? Do you want to quit wihtout going crazy? Do you want to be happy about it instead of bitchy about it? Do you want to quit for the rest of your life, and completely get over the desire to smoke? Do you want to lose the drama about it and get your life back? * Maybe even get back to feeling like the person you were before you started? *
As i have had occasion to say many times, I quit a year ago September 9 with the help of this book. I had been a hardcore smoker for 26 years at that point, averaging nearly two packs a day. I had tried to quit many times,and the attempt before the winning one I ended up pretty much like you, techchick. I was in tears and a basket case inside of hours.
When I quit after reading this book I was fine. I did need to sleep quite a bit the first few days, I gave up caffeine and nicotine simultaneously and I had to learn how to find my natural energy…years of artificially stimulating myself into action had permanently fatigued my body. Now that I’m a non-smoker, I sleep about 2 hours longer every day.
You do NOT have to suffer, I’m serious. That is a LIE. It does NOT have to drive you nuts. That is another LIE.
As I said, I’m coming up on my one year anniversary and I know that I will never smoke again in this life. But I knew that within a week of quitting.
If my word isnt’ sufficient, ask Auntie Pam. Or read the comments in the above link, and these.
stoid
PS: Regarding ADD concentration: you are not imagining anything. That was a side effect of quitting that it took me months to recognize and understand, that I had been using nicotine to medicate myself and regulate my moods as well as focus my concentration. Poisoning myself to help me concentrate…how fucked up is that, eh? But you get over it.
I have to tell you, I love being ME, being my true self, completely free of all drugs. It’s a good thing.
Criminey, Liz! You should know by now that I take EVERYTHING (and nothing) personally! Hell, I don’t even pay any attention to it anymore. And believe you me, I’ve been at that stage you were at a few times myself.
