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I haven't done so well. But, on the other hand, I am kind of doing well.
This fricken habit is the hardest thing to break, hardest thing I've ever had to do. My breaking point was when I was at work and had to run that 1/2 mile that we tested for in the beginning, (which is why they test us), and I did NOT FEEL ANY BETTER! I was still gasping and ready to fall over after that little run. (And again, it was very cold out which did not help with the breathing even if I had never smoked a day in my life.) But I thought I was supposed to be able to breathe better...NO. It's not happening when I have to run.
I've read those websites...they say "x" happens 20 minutes after you quit, "x" happens a month after you quit, blah, blah, blah.
Um...yah...WHERE? Not here!
HOWEVER! I will say, when I started I was working 8.5 hours a day and there is no smoking allowed anywhere at work, not even in the parking lot in your own dang car. And I have actually gotten used to it. I do still think about smoking...usually about 2 hours before I'm going to be off from work but it's not every hour. Used to be I'd watch the clock for my next break so I could go have a smoke. Now I only think about it when it's close to quitting time.
I asked to be switched to 12 hour shifts, (financial reasons), and when I was asking, NOT ONCE did I think, "Oh man, I'm going to go 12 hours without a smoke!" It wasn't until many hours later, when I was driving home, having a smoke, that I realized, I did not think about how I would go that long without a cig. That's a first! So, there is SOME hope there that maybe I can eventually completely quit.
But no, I didn't do it this time.
I really want to get an e-cig. I've heard from so many people who say that it worked for them. Yes, I know, there is still nicotine in them but these same people say they don't feel the urge to keep puffing on that e-cig all day. That they would take a puff here or there and were fine and now don't even use the e-cigs anymore. They have completely quit because of those things.
I want to try those. In maybe a month, I might be able to afford one and we'll see if this time I can actually stop this.
I do have a love/hate relationship with cigs now...which is good..meaning, it's no longer, "I LOVE smoking!"
I do like smoking. I genuinely LIKE it. BUT, I do NOT like feeling like a damn slave to these things. "Oh, I have to get up and get smokes" even though I'm tired and don't want to get out of bed that day to deal with people. I just want to stay home but NO, there's that fricken addiction again, rearing it's ugly head...poking at me, every second of every minute of every hour...that whole thing about, "Oh just push yourself to three minutes when you feel a craving, it will go away after three minutes..." That one?
HORSE PUCKEY!
I don't want to do Chiantix because I don't like taking any kind of medication...I'm one of "those" people. I will take Ibuprofen if my neck and back are causing me pain, (from a car accident years ago) but even then, it has to be pretty bad pain before I'll succumb.
So...yah, I failed but not gloriously. My mind set IS changing, albeit extremely slowly.
Most importantly though, I have to find a way to do this where I'm not yelling at everything...and I mean, EVERY. Thing!
When I tried to quit in 2006, it made me feel really depressed. Couldn't stop crying. This time around? I was angry. Like angry for no good reason. Things just pissed me the hell off when they shouldn't have. Even when people said, "Oh good for you!" when I told them I quit...it pissed me off! I just wanted to yell at them to shut! UP!
So...we'll try this again in about a month when I can finally get an ecig. Oh, and a fan. My fan broke about a month ago, my white noise is gone, I hear EVERYTHING. My cats grooming themselves, a bug walking on the wall and it is maddening! I need that white noise to block things out and an ecig and just maybe then I can make it.
Before you get discouraged by the changes you've been told would happen, that didn't....keep this in mind.
Those are things that take place once you have stopped smoking.....something you haven't yet done.
Cutting done substantially is good but it's not getting it out of your system.
As far as your emotions and getting angry....you may be making it harder on yourself by putting yourself through lots of , let's call it, mini-withdrawals, rather than a 'final' one
But, it is easier to quit from, say, 6 a day than from 20 so don't give up.
In the same way that you can be more comfortable going many hours at work, you can get there when you're not .
That part is mental.....not physical.
Before you get discouraged by the changes you've been told would happen, that didn't....keep this in mind.
Those are things that take place once you have stopped smoking.....something you haven't yet done.
Cutting done substantially is good but it's not getting it out of your system.
As far as your emotions and getting angry....you may be making it harder on yourself by putting yourself through lots of , let's call it, mini-withdrawals, rather than a 'final' one
But, it is easier to quit from, say, 6 a day than from 20 so don't give up.
In the same way that you can be more comfortable going many hours at work, you can get there when you're not .
That part is mental.....not physical.
The physical part is pretty rough. I didn't have all the other things others go through, just the cravings and feeling irritated at the world. But I could not take one more butterscotch candy and my jaw was sore from chewing all that gum to the point of headaches.
The mental? Yah, that's the hard part. That is most definitely the hard part. In fact, I would say that is THE hardest part about quitting.
I want to find the right e-cig. I did buy one some time ago from the counter at Rite-Aid. Trust me, one should not just buy any random e-cig. That thing made me feel so sick from just one puff that I didn't use it past two times. In fact, I don't even know where it is now.
So I need to get a good one which, from my understanding, costs about the same as a carton of smokes. But I want this to work. I want to be able to stop buying smokes and stop thinking about smokes and stop having to go to the store when I don't want to go to the store. And stop wondering, (since I started this journey), just how badly do my clothes smell of smoke? Do I reek? How bad do others think I smell? There's other people who smoke and I can tell when someone just had one....and even now I think, "Dang, that stinks!" But they don't smell all the time, just after they had a smoke.
UGH, these things **** me off...why are they so enjoyable?!
Hearing your story kind of makes me understand better my BF's reluctance to quit. He only smokes about 5-6 a day, and has tried and failed a few times. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help him, but I know it has to be something that he wants to do and is willing to. (He has stated many times he needs to quit and wants to start exercising again.)
I guess because I am now fighting with my own health issues, I don't want to see him have to go through the same kind of things I have to with doctor visits, medications, etc.
Everyone has to quit in their own way, whether it's cold turkey, a gradual cut down, or with meds. I applaud you for at least recognizing where your weaknesses are and trying to work on them. Some people don't even get that far and stay permanently in denial.
I'm a Respiratory Therapist, and would like to offer support to those quitting smoking. First, congratulations on your decision to quit smoking.
Second, almost all (if not all) states offer programs to assist in quitting smoking. Simply google your state name + quit smoking and you should be brought up to this.
My mother stopped smoking after being a chain smoker most of her life... but she did it for her own health , like many smokers and not for the passive smokers who had to put up with my mum. aunties and friends all in my house smoking while I tried to complain.. as I had two kids with asthma.. but I was laughed at and told to leave off and they were sick of non smokers on their back moaning constantly... My husband stopped about ten years ago.. as he smoked during the night and was burning the duvet constantly when he would fall asleep and I have allergies and would cough all night keeping me awake... I had never nagged about his smoking but enough was enough and I think he knew it...... he tried acupuncture first, which did work for a few weeks, but he started again , then he tried some new pills off the doctor that drove him mental.. it really did, so he stopped them after a week and never smoked again after that..... not only is my house fresh.. I dont have to worry about the house going up in flames. or the families health suffering anymore... and we can go holidays too now... so its been a blessing all round... good luck to anyone whos trying to stop...
I wondered how you were doing with this. If you're not smoking for 12 hours at work then that's something! You want to quit, you'll get there! Good luck!
I tried cutting back many times but that just never worked for me.
I finally just had to rip off that band-aid and go cold turkey. It was hard but in many ways it was easier than trying to deal with "portion control" (cutting back). As long as you have nicotine coursing through your bloodstream you are going to get nasty cravings for cigarettes. Not what you want.
As it is, you don't smoke for 12 hours straight work, you don't smoke when you're asleep (lets say that's for 6 hours). So what's left is 6 lousy hours during the day that you have to get through without a cigarette.....
Look at it this way - for 3/4 of the day, you are a non-smoker already....
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