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The bad part is, I have to give up coffee. I drink 2-3 pots a day. I'll report back in a week and let you know how this works out. I'm eating sugarless suckers, one every ten minutes. ;)
You do not try to stop smoking.
You stop smoking.
Hope you took off that patch 'cause if you didn't, you're gonna trade one addiction for another. Take it off now and sweat it out for the weekend. You'll survive, trust me.
How' bout you, ulstrup. You're over the hump aren't you? Just don't let your guard down ... you're going through a tough psychological time now. You don't crave the nicotine much anymore and you wonder if you can, maybe, just maybe, be a social smoker. In the back of your mind, someone is saying "can't hurt to light up just one over at the bar". Don't listen. Don't do it. Go to the bar and enjoy your drink, but don't dare light up a smoke. Get a few whiffs of second-hand smoke. That's OK. But that's all. You'll survive and learn that you can be just as socialable a person without having a smoke in your hand or mouth. Then the next time you go to the bar, you probably won't give smoking a second thought.
I can socialize without smoking, I can drink without smoking, I'm not in anyway going to give in. Guess most of the physical addiction is gone (still use 2-3 patches during the day), habits has changed but I'm depressed.
Hope it will pass soon. As mentioned before, all these symptoms only confirms my discision to stop. I don't want to be addicted to cigarettes.
DG - Still fighting?
Hmmmm....may I suggest that buying a new shotgun and trying to quit smoking are not activities that are mutually beneficial;)
this might work as a possible motivator, pop the same amount you used to spend on smokes into a pot each day and when there is enough, buy yourself a present with it.
I can think of a couple of lenses I would buy which would not take long to save for at the rate I smoke at the moment.
Plus in the UK its a good tax reduction strategy also :-)
Before I quit, I had tried the patches. Slept with one. I'd wake up at night with this horrible taste in my mouth. That was my excuse to switch back to smokes.
I really think if you just dump the patches within a few days your state of mind will improve. Just be prepared to deal with shaking the addiction ... but get it over with now before you find excuses to change back to cigarettes for your fix. It's gonna take several days to shake the addiction.
Anyone heard from digitalhost? Yooohooo, digitalhost!
Nick
I "quit" about ten times in 35 years as a heavy smoker before I wound up in the hospital and was forced to quit cold turkey. Havin' to quit that way sux, but the morphine drip does take the edge off.
If only I had known that life can go on quite nicely without tobacco and that the habit and addiction can go away quicker than one might think, maybe I would have got serious about quitting sooner.
And I hated being treated like a leper ... "oh, we don't allow smoking here" ... "Sir, would you please step outside with your cigrarette" ... "Sir, would please put that out".
Hated those long airplane trips where I had to suffer withdrawal every time I went somewhere. Hated running through the airport to get to a smoking bar, or outside, in time for a fast smoke, and hoping not to miss my connection.
Hated burning my clothes and my car seat. Or my kids avoiding me because of the cigarette smell. The list goes on and on.
But quitting is tough, and I know that. The smokers have my sympathy, and my encouragement.
So far, it's terrrible, but I'm not smoking.
The problem with smoking is it's both a habit and an addiction. For many, the habit is harder to give up. When I quit, a former smoker told me "Every time you are faced with a situation, event etc. that you have not experienced as a non-smoker, the urge to smoke will be really strong." How true, but what happens is, as the days go by, you are faced with fewer and fewer of those situations.
This is the trick that I used. First, I worked down from my high nicotine level brand to successively lower ones with each carton - took about 4 weeks to get to the lowest/lightest smoke available. Then I gave up the nicotine, but not the habit. I carried a smoke around, had it in my hand while I was driving, drinking tea or coffee, after dinner, anytime I would normally smoke. I even pretended to smoke it, I would stick it in my mouth and even draw on it - JUST DIDN'T LIGHT IT! The security was still there. My kids called it my "faker" and I didn't go anywhere without it. After about 6 weeks of doing that, I started to forget it. I'd go out and forget to bring it. I'd sit down for a cup of caffiene and leave it sitting in the ashtray. Another few weeks and I didn't bother with it anymore.
I really think that the habit is harder to give up than the nicotine.
I smoked for 29 years - pack (sometimes more) a day. My husband smokes, and he didn't give it up, so I even had a smoker in the house.
This trick worked for me - really well. Hope it can help others...
After quitting about 20 times over the years, I have now slowly reduced to around 1 or 2 rollups a day. I still enjoy a smoke with a beer or coffee, dont think ill ever give up completely.
I think changing to rollups and cutting right down has just about cured the niccotine addition.
Nick_W, try again!
I made the discision to stop back in june or july, oct. 1st. I'll stop smoking, i was determined and told everyone, took a week off work, told my family and friends that i would be part time lunatic with the right to be a jerk, etc. That gave me the "space" that i needed.
The single most important thing is to be determined. The 3 month prior to the stop, did give time to convince myself that it was the right descition, arguments which supports my descition.
I'm amazed this stuff is legal, the addiction heavy.
You've got to break the addiction and every day you mess with the other forms is one more day you're at very high risk of finding an excuse to switch back over to cigarettes. Some crisis arises or a weak moment comes along and you say I just can't be bothered with this stopping smoking business and you're right back on them like nothing ever happened.
Remember, digitalhost, when the morning comes, step outside and take a deep breath. If your lungs are even half as messed up as mine were, you'll really start to appreciate the fresh air. It'll take a couple weeks for them to really clear up to where the coughing stops and the white junk stops coming up (you thought that was natural, didn't you? Well, it's not). But each day is better than the last.
Ulstrup, you've been suffering with kicking the habit. Now for the addiction. Fortunately, you haven't switched back so now go for kicking the addiction. You already know how much your lungs appreciate what you're doing so you're well on your way. But kicking the addiction is very hard ... it's a physical thing and a mental thing. So take it one day at a time, but don't dare touch nicotine in any of it's many forms, and especially a cigarette.
Yes, it never hurts to warn you friends, family and co-workers that you're kind of hyped up because of nicotine withdrawal. Hopefully, they'll understand if you snap at them or aren't productive with your work. But if not, they'll get over it and so will you.
Hat, you're right about those triggers. They're all over the place but each time you survive one it pretty much goes away. Like driving to work. I had my routine. Light one pulling out of the driveway, light one coming up on the spot where the traffic jam normally occurs, light one in time to just finish walking into the office. But drive to work without lighting up one day (a difficult experience the first time) and the next day is so much easier ... you've already had one experience of driving to work without a smoke.
Wanderer, my faker was my last unfinished pack of smokes, which I kept in the house but not where I could get them easily and fortunately I never did. If I had one in my hand, I probably would have lit it even if it was plastic.
Wanderer, my faker was my last unfinished pack of smokes, which I kept in the house but not where I could get them easily and fortunately I never did. If I had one in my hand, I probably would have lit it even if it was plastic.
Ahhh.....the bane of smokers. I smoked almost a pack a day for about seven years. I quit for the first time for a year before returning to smoking cloves on occasion ("cloves"...a fancy name for imported cigs that I can justify smoking with). Now I buy a pack once a month. I think I craved smokes everyday for that year, but it's usually just for a minute or two at a time.
I quit with the patch (and some CRAZY-ASS dreams). It took me quite a couple weeks I think, but I learned to take them off while I slept. I'm very glad that I quit smoking a pack of camels a day (if only for the financial savings).
Anyhow, my last pack of camels (half full) is still in my desk drawer, as a reminder of just how easy it would be to go back to puffing and that I want to enjoy grandkids one day. I also wrote a little "note to self" in it that I can't remember what it says.
I digress...keep up the good work DG...ya gotta find alternate things, but I'm sure in the long run you will be very glad you did...maybe compare it to spamming or building content;)
(viewable on my website) and offering a $100 reward to anyone who sees me smoking on it.
Rich
I've not felt this good in years.
- never have to worry if I have smokes on hand any more.
- hey - where did that extra C-note-a-month come from? ;-)
- don't have to worry about smelling like an ash tray any more.
- don't have to worry about the pin hole burns on my favorite satin shirts (only funny if you like pink floyd)
- chicks dig it. (atleast one any way ;-)
- don't have to air out the house any more.
- no worries about cancer-by-50 any more.
- the morning hack is gone.
Stay committed to your health first, and quiting smoking just becomes a part of that committment. All-in-all, it's been a very positive experience.
Now if we can only get DG to give us his update. My expectations are low at this point.
I'll let you know next week if having needles stuck in my ears, yes ears, helps.
thanks for the update.
i run a couple of businesses, live a joyous life, a lovely wife (just learned my wife is pregnant today (shhh- no thunder stealing here) and you know what.... there are some things that *i* am a complete and utter failure at ~ smoking and dipping are amongst those things~ again, as i chew my nicoteen gum and write.
thank you for sharing your story with us, and more than that, thank you for making us apart of your personal goal. that is the best sign of them all, dg.
i have tried everything, gum, patch, that drug, etc. etc. ~ i always go back. but you know what? i am utterly convinced that this weekend will be it. my latest trick, well, my being a daddy of course.
i am going to do it.
that is what seperates winners from losers. winners never stop believing in themselves.
thanks again, dg, and hey, don't try the public announcement thing again, leave that to me this time:)
Again, the comittment to your health should come first.
It took me three times trying over a year to finally kick it.
Three days, 22 hours, 49 minutes and 14 seconds. 98 cigarettes not smoked, saving $320.99. Life saved: 8 hours, 10 minutes.
Don't give up, digitalhost. You slipped, but so do a lot of others on the way to getting the monkey off their back. Think about giving it a try again soon. Like tomorrow morning.
Brett, congradulations. Glad to see the patch worked for you. The patch and/or gum never worked for me ... just got me more addicted. With four months behind you're way over the hill. I'll bet the thought of a having a smoke rarely enters your mind and now you're taking better health for granted.
lawman
a smoke-free PubCon
Chin up, DG. It gets easier with practice, so just call this a trial run.
